Aron Jones, MA, grew up a deep, abiding passion for animals, even though she was not allowed to have pets growing up. As she began her career as an associate professor at Red Rocks Community College in 2006, and through her time as a technology teacher at Eagle Ridge Academy from 2013 to 2017, she volunteered with and helped to organize a number of civic groups helping children, elderly persons and dogs. This, combined with her fostering of a pregnant cattle dog-mix named Kady, led Ms. Jones to establish the Moms and Mutts Colorado Rescue for Pregnant and Nursing Dogs, also known as MAMCO Rescue, in 2017, the same year that she earned her Master of Arts in philosophy and religious studies from Regis University.
A nonprofit organization, MAMCO Rescue is dedicated to rescuing pregnant dogs and their litters. Since its inception, the group has saved more than 8,000 nursing dogs and their puppies, notably rescuing 800 dogs in the first four months they were in operation. Taking in dogs from shelters and other rescue organizations as well as from individuals, the dogs are immediately placed in foster homes upon acquisition while their care and upkeep is entirely paid for by MAMCO. Standing out in the rescue nonprofit world for having an established paid staff in addition to their volunteers, MAMCO has a network of over 400 foster families. Having a paid staff has allowed for the consistent presence of knowledgeable and skilled staff members to guide volunteers and maintain quality care for the dogs at the rescue.
Attributing much of her success to the support of the people who have helped her along the way, as well with her stellar team, Ms. Jones notes that MAMCO has persevered through catastrophes that could have shuttered them. One such difficult time was when they lost several puppy litters to canine distemper, a highly contagious, incurable and often fatal disease, due to an owner failing to disclose that their surrendered dog was sick. For all the challenges they have faced there have been an equal, if not greater, number of happy and inspiring moments. On a trip to Texas to pick up a litter of puppies as well as some dogs from another rescue, Ms. Jones found herself having to crawl under a trailer home to retrieve said puppies, which she was still doing when the other rescue arrived. Impressed by her dedication, their two rescues now have an established partnership.
Learning to deal with cruel and negligent owners has been one of the many things that Ms. Jones has had to manage as she has grown in her position as rescue owner. She is a naturally kind person and, as such, her default is to assume kindness and does her best to make others happy. In that vein, she emphasizes the importance of showing care and compassion to the people who adopt her dogs, even going so far as to provide post-adoption support if they need it. Her compassion also extends to people who surrender their dogs, because not all circumstances are equal, and she feels they deserve the benefit of the doubt. Ms. Jones feels that this approach to people and developing good relationships with her adopters has led directly the number of quality fosters they have.
Looking toward the future, one of Ms. Jones’ goals for MAMCO is to acquire a main facility where they can shelter dogs while waiting for foster placements to become available. It is always difficult to turn down a dog and having an established location for a shelter facility would go a long way in enabling them to take care of even more mother dogs and their litters. For their excellence, MAMCO was named Best of the Best 2021 Rescues and Shelters by Colorado Community Media. Above everything, Ms. Jones cites the most gratifying aspect of her career to be seeing a dog go from terrified of the world to a happy, healthy dog who has learned how to trust and be a part of someone’s home.
