This winter, we have partnered with the Sunshine Coast Animal Refuge (SCARS) to help rescue dogs with the launch of our truly pawsome Dog Mum Jumper. Through the sales of this knit jumper, we will raise money for this wonderful animal rescue to support the dogs in their care that have had a rough start to life, and are still waiting to find a Dog Mum (or dad, aunty, uncle, sister, or brother!) of their very own.

$25 from the sale of each and every Dog Mum Jumper will be donated to SCARS.

This means that when you purchase a Dog Mums Jumper between now and August 31, $25 of what you pay will go directly towards providing a better life for a dog that truly deserves it. Boom Shankar will also match the $25 from each jumper with an extra $25 donation of our own. The more jumpers sold, the more we will help animals in need!

That’s what being a Dog Mum means to us - giving the animals we love a good life filled with joy.

Many of us at Boom are Dog Mums ourselves, including our amazing Dui, and this jumper was designed for all the dog lovers out there who know just how pure and beautiful it is to have a dog in your life. The Dog Mum Jumper gives you the chance to help other dogs that are just as precious as your own, live a wonderful life full of happiness, security, comfort, and MOST of all, big, big love.

“Harry and B are my four-legged babies and I love them so much. I couldn’t live my life without them. We’ve got dogs in Australia and we’ve got dogs in our India home. Everywhere we go we fall in love with our dogs.” - Dui

About the Sunshine Coast Animal Refuge (SCARS)

SCARS has been saving animals on the Sunshine Coast since 1979. They provide temporary refuge and find new homes for abandoned, abused, stray and unwanted cats and dogs. The Refuge is an independent, non-profit, charitable organisation with a regulated non-euthanasia policy. They also run education programmes for the community on responsible animal ownership.

In order to tell our beautiful Boom community more about SCARS, we sat down with Penny Brischke, the President of SCARS, to get to know more about what they do and how your donation will help save the lives of the vulnerable animals in their care. 

Watch the video below or read on to hear from Penny.

Could you please tell the Boom community a little bit about yourself, SCARS and the dogs that you help to find homes?

• I am Penny and the President of SCARS. I have volunteered at SCARS since Feb 2006, so this is my 16th year. I am a nurse by trade and spend my time between volunteering at SCARS and working as a nurse. We rescue and rehome about 1,000 cats and dogs every year. We were established on the Sunny Coast in 1979 so have been operating for 43 years this year. As a non-government funded charity, we rely on the support of our community for donations, linen, food etc. Most of our dogs come from the local pound, where if we didn’t step in and rescue them, they may not get a second chance. We also take in dogs from private surrenders. A lot of these over the last two years have been related to the rental crisis, with many families being forced to surrender much-loved pets because they simply can't find pet-friendly accommodation. Such a sad situation.

What can people do to help the dogs of SCARS?

• There are so many ways people can help our dogs (and cats) at SCARS. Volunteering to help walk, clean, feed etc. Ideally, this is on a regular basis. We are always looking for physically fit people who can walk big breed dogs. Going through your linen cupboards for towels, blankets etc, grabbing a few tins of food or bags of dry food and popping them in our food donations bins around the coast, adopting not shopping, spreading the word about adopting from SCARS, doing their own fundraisers like the team at Boom  Shankar is doing! Donating balls, toys, beds and other goodies that our pooches can use. Share our social media posts about our furkids looking for homes.

What can people do to make sure they are a good Dog Mum or Dad?

• Research the breed of dog that will suit your lifestyle, home, family. Make sure you know what a dog needs as the basics for care. Please make sure you use preventative treatments to stop your dog getting heartworm, ticks, worms and fleas. Make sure you include your pooch as part of the family, outings and general time at home. Train your pooch if you adopt a puppy! Helps make them a well rounded adult dog. Provide enough physical and mental activity for your pooch. Bring them inside for family time, especially in bad / cold / hot weather. Make sure you have good quality leads when walking and appropriate car restraints when they are travelling in your car. Always call us for advice if the dog you adopt is doing something you need a hand with. Love and care for your dog all of its life, from puppy phase to when they are old and slow. That’s when they need you the most.

How will the money raised by this campaign help the animals of SCARS? 

• $25 will microchip a cat or dog
• $50 will feed 8 cats for a week
• $100 will vaccinate 4 dogs
• $200 will de-sex a cat or dog

It costs the Sunshine Coast Animal Refuge Society (SCARS) over $2,000 per year to rehome and care for each dog and cat that comes in their door. This amount covers food, desexing, annual vaccination, worming and heart guard and incidental vet costs – all the basics – however the price of love and comfort that comes for these animals finding a forever home is priceless.

SCARS rehomes between 800 – 1000 cats and dogs each year. The average time a dog spends at the refuge waiting for a forever home is 4 months. Research from around the world suggests that long periods of time spent in shelters is detrimental to the well-being of cats and dogs, and it is for this reason we work tirelessly with the help of volunteers from the community to find new forever homes for our cats and dogs within one month of them arriving.

We would love for our Boom community to come together and support SCARS as they do such amazing work!

Shop the Dog Mum Jumper or make a donation directly to SCARS here.