Anyone run a rescue?

I've been interested in starting a St. Bernard Rescue for some time, and I was wondering if any of you own/run rescues or know of anyone who does. I don't really know how to get started and what I would need to do (I know there's a lot of legal paperwork to do in the US to file as a non-profit to be able to receive donations, but I wasn't sure what kind of financial resources and space requirements I would need before starting off and how I could go about getting the first dog into rescue.

It's not something that I am planning for right this minute as I really need to find a full-time job first to save up some money, but when the economy rebounds it is something I would like to do.

Anyone have any advice or suggestions?

I've thought about this some more. My boyfriend and I have come up with an idea for a rescue, and I was wondering what you think.

Once we have more stable employment, I'm going to talk to a family friend about purchasing her land, as she has 80 acres and used to run a greyhound rescue with her mom. She would probably help us out, as she just doesn't want to see her land go to developers for more homes to be built in the area.

We were thinking of going through the necessary training to be able to teach Canine Good Citizen/ Therapy Dog International prep classes. We would make it a goal that each dog that we adopt out will have passed the therapy dog/good citizen tests (provided they are of the right age) and also provide training to those whose dogs were not yet old enough to take the test so that they could get there.

I'm not sure if this type of rescue situation exists, but I really liked the idea of taking in saints and only adopting them out when they have passed that type of training. Of course, if I can get or have access to a large enough property, any dog that wasn't able to pass the test would be adopted out at my discretion or remain with us on our property.

What do you guys think of this idea?

as much as its a wonderful idea i expect alot of rescues wount pass, that would then create a large amount of dogs that could be homed if it wasnt for this test

i would not aim only to put them through the test and then rehome but maybe look to rehome and if they are there long enough then train and do the test but not let the fact they havent passed stop them from getting a home

cheri