LHMF 04-28-26 Dawn from Old Dog Haven

I love how many faces, seed in the eyes, look right into your soul, love, how many faces, proud and humble, beautiful and plain and young and old.

Well hello and welcome to another conversation here on love has many faces you're listening to alternative talk 1150 and I am your host Marilyn Milano.

And so today we are going to be talking with an organization we haven't talked with in a little while and we are going to be having a discussion with Don Ford from old dog Haven which was founded back in 2004 to help with placement and care for senior dogs.

So we're going to learn more about it how things are going what's new. This is a wonderful local organization and again it serves a huge need because there are many senior pets where an owner has died.

Someone doesn't have the finances to take care of them. The family doesn't want them and they step in and help make things right for these senior dogs that still have so much love to give.

So I'm very excited to be brought up to speed again to learn what's going on with old dog Haven and possibly find out about some upcoming events.

So please stay with us just a quick reminder our shows are now podcast so you can type in love has many faces podcast in your search bar and it should take you to this podcast to the whole love has many faces group of podcasts or just look for them wherever you get your podcast normally.

And of course we're here 9 to 9 30 every Tuesday morning on the radio on alternative top 1150s so just wanted to remind you of that anyway we're going to take a very short pause and then we will be right back to top with Don Ford from old dog Haven.

I'm Marilyn Milano your host of love has many faces here on alternative talk 1150.

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Well welcome back to love has many faces I'm Marilyn Milano here with our guest today Don Ford of old dog Haven Don thank you so much for joining us I'm taking time today.

Thank you for having me this is just lovely I'm excited well I am too so you know for those that don't remember previous conversations with old dog Haven or maybe it's brand new to them.

How about just the general overview for the uninformed listener who might want to know what old dog Haven is all about.

Yes I do find that our mission can be a little confusing because it's just too good.

So old dog Haven takes in unadoptable senior dogs from X Y and Z local area shelters owner surrenders but primarily local area shelters to the Seattle western Washington area.

And we place them in forever foster homes forever foster home is a home that will take in a senior dog and old dog Haven pays all of their expenses for however long that dog lives with them so if it's seven years seven weeks seven months.

They cover everything from start to finish so they receive the utmost care and as anyone who has taken in a senior dog before would know that the medical expenses are usually the most inhibiting and the most reason why you might not want to adopt a senior dog because they are just so full of love and so loving and.

We bridge that gap by paying all the medical bills and all you have to do is provide the love the warmth and the home so it's just completely rewarding.

We have been operating since 2004 we have currently just under 300 dogs in our forever foster program.

Wow that is amazing and you know you are right it is such a win for everyone because first of all I mean the priority is to get these dogs out of shelters and into homes where they can be loved part of a family where they can have a nice bed to snuggle some good treats some safety some companionship and sometimes the owners have died or the owners can no longer care for the dog and the family isn't taking care of the dog they can't they don't want to.

And so people worry of what will happen and as you mentioned I have lost 11 dogs in my lifetime I adopted some in middle age and some as younger dogs but always when they got old there were expenses and I also work with a pet loss support group with Seattle animal shelter and one of the things that we hear from people is well you know i'm older now you know or I would love to help out a dog but I just don't have the budget to do that and they can't believe it when we tell.

When we tell them that there is an organization that would love to place a dog in their home and that they will take care of the expenses for them.

You know my husband and I started fostering initially for old dog haven 12 years ago and we didn't believe it either because it it seems like there's a catch right like there has to be something that you have to pay and wait to be reimbursed or or they won't cover everything that maybe you would cover for your own person.

There's a lot of personal dog on it 12 years later I will say none of that all my fears have never been met because they they have accounts of all these offices they have such a wonderful reputation and they take the utmost care things that you probably maybe wouldn't do for your own dog like an extra cardiovascular check and extra blood work exam just to make sure everything was looking okay.

We had a dog that had our first old dog haven dog had one only one I and it was blind but they had me take him to an I specialist just to make sure that I wasn't painful and you know they absorb that expense and they just want to make sure that there there is comfortable as possible and it's it's just unbelievable the amount of care they give these dogs like they.

They go to great lengths they won't do just drastic surgeries or you know crazy things like that but they will do anything to make them as comfortable as possible for as long as possible and it's it's just so fulfilling to see these dogs blossom out of the shelter where they most likely would have met a demise that wasn't so great.

Because there's a lot dental work hard issues you know x y and z these dogs go into the shelter with and you don't really know until you get them to your own vet and know what's really going on you know the shelters are over populated they're doing the best they can but places like old dog haven't do give a little hope that we can alleviate some pressure on the shelter system.

Well and I know I've talked to a few representatives from local animal groups over the past 10 years that I've been doing the show and what I've heard from people is that whereas before Washington used to be a state where overcrowded shelters in the south for example could send pets to get homes.

We are not overcrowded there's a lack of space and neutering there are people turning in pets there was the whole COVID thing where people adopted and then went back to work and didn't really take the commitment seriously.

And so so as a person who knows people who have considered fostering and so forth how do you make the determination.

I mean there is a medical commitment I know in the notes that I have here you said that the costs for old dog haven't for the dogs that you have average over 150,000 per month.

And so with no government funding how does the organization sustain itself and how do you make the difficult decision of which dogs to take in when multiple seniors are facing those deadlines at the shelter.

Yes you know those are all wonderful questions that get asked a lot luckily you know I after beginning fostering for old dog haven't I then joined the board I served on the board for five years.

And that was right around well right before COVID and then during COVID and that was a common topic not necessary but like what if everything goes away tomorrow like how do we maintain the care for the 250 300 dogs that we will have in our program.

And we are so blessed with the donors that we have we have a lot of support but it is a grassroots effort I mean we don't have government funding we don't have big backers like Nordstrom or anything like that Subaru.

So I just I honestly believe everyone just loves an old dog so it where we're pinching pennies every time you know everyone's donating what they can and it but it makes ends me and we're financially sound where if the end.

Not to double back but during COVID the donations didn't stop and that's what was our main concern if something catastrophic happened with the donation stop and i'm happy to report that they didn't and so we were able to maintain what we were doing.

But to make the call on to what dogs come in what dogs don't it's it's just a heart wrencher because it really does come down to the ones that we think a need need need us the most but also can.

Handle the medical treatments that they potentially need shelter vets will give us a thorough as much as they can of what they think is going on so it's like this this guy's urgent he needs to get out of here he's shutting down in the shelter.

Yes that's our priority and then we'll work on this that me other and a lot of it also comes down to people see a dog that they like that reminds them of a dog they had before or breed they like and so you never know who's who's going to be the winner sometimes these real cute ones come in but nobody puts their hand up for quite a while but if someone does you know but yeah it's it's heart wrenching on now that I'm on the staff.

I see the back end of it and it's tough because you just want to say I'll I'll do it I'll do it but you know that's not reasonable as well you know I have three dogs I can't really handle four or five or six I mean I think I could I don't know if my husband would agree with that.

If I can get rid of him I could probably pack in another 10 dogs in here but yes it's it's a lot yeah you want to make it reasonable but then they also most of these dogs require at least something I'm education a pill two pills three pills a day just to live comfortably so we want to make it great for everyone we don't want to overwhelm people either.

No no that's true and I mean having had dogs that became old because they lived longer lives you know I've been through kidney treatments I had cancer treatments glaucoma in nucleation with the eye just different things my last little guy that passed away I still have two wonderful dogs but I lost a little guy last year to cancer of the spleen

and so I mean I'm sure as you're looking at the animals that are there you're thinking okay this dog maybe only has a month to live can we put him in an emergency situation what about this one do they have a good prognosis or they desperate and you're weighing all of those things so how does it work for the shelters note to call you how do you come in contact with the dogs that need old dog Haven.

Yes we have wonderful relationships with the shelf local area shelters that we work with and you know the shelter workers I mean God bless them I don't know if I could ever do that job you've been working in the amount of rescue I do it so heart wrenching and so what they see every day I mean is unbelievable and they'll reach out and kind of give a synopsis this is what I see with this dog this is what I'm I think he'd be a good fit for you for old dog haven't because he's.

You know we only take in dogs eight and over across the board so they're like he's nine he's this his it was an owner surrender because of this they kind of give you as much as they can to hope to give that dog a chance and it's really you know it's almost like a dating profile like doesn't get along with cats but great with other dogs good with kids not good with men and you know all these things that's right it's so important

I mean that's funny the dating profile I thought well some of those didn't work too well back in the day when I was doing that anyway had better luck with the animals you know it seemed like whatever and I have for the homes I've had you know couple from just rescue organizations I had one off the street back in the day and yet I will say you know some of the dogs had a little bit of quirkiness but they've all been wonderful the two I have now I swear angels on four feet

but you just really don't know but they've all been they've all been wonderful now one of the things that comes up there people are like okay I want to help an older dog but I know and I know of people who've helped many older dogs but they're like okay I'm not only have that dog two or three years or maybe a year and then we have to say goodbye so I mean how do you support these foster families when there can often be a high frequency of loss with these animals and we all know how animal people we bond you know I mean

we bond with these yeah yes I I we have a younger dog who is also rescue but he goes to daycare has once a week in the daycare owner was just asking me how we do it and I said you know it's it's a different mindset it's more of one of to me and I think my husband feels the same of we want to just give him all the things they never got like

we want to if it's a year if it's a month if it's our first guy that we have was Marvin a little blind peak knees that I still just adore to this day we had him four and a half years and we filled those years up as much as we could and and our last one that passed away barley was another one I pomeranian or one I dog I guess they say they say I'm the eye dog but I don't know why that happens I'm not looking for one

eye dogs but they send him my way we just we only had him 18 months and we filled those up as much as we could with you know trips to the beach whatever he wanted to do and it's it's so fulfilling for us to see them blossom and have fun and just be themselves and like you said like you know it can be a motley crew but once I think they've been faced with the down side of life

the rescue you know the the shelter system and and who knows what they're telling each other in there but once they kind of get sprung from that situation they're so appreciative and they're just so happy to have a bed and a home and and some treats it's really it's just the simplest active love I think you could do and so rewarding it's so rewarding yes I wouldn't regret any of it we're on our 11th old dog haven dog we've had some

intermittent other rescues in the mix but I just love them each so much and the hardest ones for me have been the ones that haven't lasted so long

that were only with us we had one for a month we had one for three months and and you know that was harder than just because you couldn't do all the things you wanted to do but it was still I'm glad they were with us and in a safe place

than scared or the alternative oh you know that that's so true because the ability and the opportunity to to give them something that they will feel that love these creatures know they understand

and I mean it's really a beautiful thing if you if you can handle it you know and I always think I'm sort of an emotionally sappy person I'm very empathetic I cry a lot I thought you know I don't like the movies if the dog dies in the end

but I'm so grateful that I've been able to love many animals now your mission also mentions helping dogs without the judgment of the humans who left them what what makes that so critical to this rescues success

you know when we post a dog needing a new home or a dog that we want to bring into our program needing a foster I guess the same thing but

and people often want to criticize what that situation was you know and and by no fault of the dog themselves are they in this situation and I don't want to believe that people are just tossing away dogs I do believe it's a tough decision and circumstances have made it impossible for them to to move forward with this dog and they're trying to do what's best

they're reaching out to old dog haven we do have people you know whose parents or relatives have passed away and there's a dog that well that dog won't get along with their resident dog and they feel terrible or finances have changed as we know finance financial situations are harder and they can afford the surgeries and the things we do our best to aid in whatever we can

um but sometimes it's I just can't believe anyone who's ever had a dog is is giving away that dog very lightly and I think that's our mindset no judgment yeah and I mean honestly now it's important is moving forward not as much one right before but moving ahead so as always when I'm talking about things that matter like this when I have a wonderful conversation the time seems to go quickly but I do want to ask you a couple more questions before we run out of time

we ran out of time so um first of all you are celebrating your 20th anniversary or you did celebrate your 20th anniversary in 2024 and so has the perception of senior dogs and what that means is that change in the public eyes since she started

gosh I hope so I mean we do our best we do so many events we try to show uh that there's more to them than just you know sleeping on the couch or sleeping in their bed like um

where we get every dog we had is out for an adventure out for fun they're up for anything it's um as you said so rewarding um give them a chance it's you know if people can foster dogs this is a permanent foster situation so it's it's similar in the fact that this is a thing forever you can go and get a brand new lab puppy but cancer may come or things may happen

then nobody's guaranteed anything right so um right i hope the perception has changed i i wish it does uh you having us on today you know things like this helps us bring awareness to the cause

because i think a lot of it it is an instant heartache transitive heartache that isn't there yet you know

well and you're right we don't know it's like with the person right may live to be 30 or 102 um but i mean it's it's one of those things that we take that chance um i was working with the pet law support group on the um online zoom meeting last week it was my turn to facilitate and you know we had a person who lost a young dog because of an accident and yeah we had a person who lost an older one so i mean anything can happen but now and i also want to make sure i throw in here of the website

which is olddoghaven.org is that correct yes yes okay so people can go there and learn more but let's say the people are listening and they maybe can't foster maybe they like you already have some dogs but they love your mission what are the best ways that people can support you and then do you have any events coming up in the next couple of months that people would want to know about

yes i mean go to that website olddoghaven.org you can donate um you can donate your vehicle if you have an old vehicle there's many ways to support you can volunteer um we have are we have two big summer events coming up pups on parade one is July 11th in shoreline at Cromwell Park and the other is August 1st in Lacey at Woodland

Woodland Creek Community Park a mouthful there um but these are our big summer events and they're more for outreach and just to share our love for what we do come and have fun come and see

these senior dogs uh they'll they'll be all around we have a costume contest we're having the best smile contest which is

by over by we'll have oldest in attendance will win an award oldest dog of course um we have lick art we're

gonna have we just have so many fun things it's just the best day ever and you get to just really embrace

what we do and um well food trucks and music and all sorts of things so just come and enjoy

you can find more information on the website olddoghaven.org and yes and i think once you

see these dogs in their element you'll want to jump on board i think it's wonderful um you know

Dawn i'm so glad that you could join us and bring us up to speed on what's going on with your

organization and um i i just have such a heart for all of the animals and i know that most of the

people who have animals feel the same way so again olddoghaven.org is the website you can find out more

about volunteering about donations about attending the events just to have a wonderful day

and you can you know take a little deeper dive into some of the topics we talked about so we

will have you back again maybe we'll want to catch up after the events and kind of see how things

went that would be wonderful we'd love it okay terrific we've been talking with Dawn Ford

from old doghaven i'm Marilyn Milano your host of love has many faces here in alternative top

1150 we will take a very short pause and be right back

hi this is Marilyn Milano your host of love has many faces the music that you're hearing during

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well welcome back to love has many faces what a wonderful conversation first time on for our guest

Dawn Ford we have had old doghaven on before but this is the first time Dawn has joined us

and so good to hear about what is going on there again the website olddoghaven.org they have

events coming up this summer which is fantastic one in the north end in shoreline one down in

lacy and you can learn more about those events or just if this touches your heart you know more

ways that you can help volunteering making a donation just spreading the word and such such a

worthwhile cause i'm so glad that they're here the other thing i want to just remind you is that we

are on the air on Tuesday mornings from nine to nine thirty and that's specific time and again the

podcast wherever you find your podcast type in love has many faces podcast and you will find us

we are here to raise awareness touch hearts and save the lives of animals and in doing that

we are helping their people too so thank you so very much for joining us for our show today

until next time Maryland Milano here on alternative talk 1150 you've been listening to love has many

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