“If I don’t love them, who will?”
That has long been Katie’s guiding principle in her mission to rescue senior dogs.
She has fostered, adopted and deeply loved many elderly pooches in the past 15 years, sometimes taking the oldest, sickest shelter dogs home so they could live their final weeks or months happy and cared for.
Her rescues have included Polly, a blind and deaf cocker spaniel. Ruby and Gunther, two little hospice rescues with frosted faces. Pumba, a smiley black dog. A golden retriever mix named Benne. A min-pin dumped at the shelter because her owner said she was “too old.” And Fozzie, a small mixed breed dog who was dying of bone cancer.
“You adopt a senior dog, you know you don’t have much time,” says Katie, who is married to Tyler and has a toddler. “What are the options? They’re probably going to be euthanized in a shelter if I don’t adopt.”
When she and Tyler got married, they had four dogs. But one by one, the dogs she adored passed away. This past summer, their remaining two dogs – foster fail Sadie from Poodle and Pooch Rescue, and Tank, a 15-year-old beagle/boxer mix Katie had adopted shortly after college, died.
The pain was deep for Katie and Tyler – and their young child, too. “I wish they didn’t have to die,” her daughter told Katie.
Their home was so quiet – too quiet. They needed another dog. A senior, of course. “My husband says I don’t want a dog unless there’s something wrong with it.”
Her latest rescue? A 7-½-year-old bassett hound blend who had scaly, itchy skin, hair loss and inflamed ears with discharge. Poodle and Pooch Rescue found him at a rural shelter and knew he deserved better.
Katie fostered the dog and decided to keep him forever. She named him Scooby.
“He’s the most angel dog. Everywhere we go, everybody loves him. He has to make friends with everybody,” she says. Even better: he has lots of traits and characteristics similar to her other rescues.
“This dog was made in a petrie dish for you from all the dogs you’ve loved,” Tyler told her.
Katie fully acknowledges that it’s not easy adopting old dogs who may not have much time. Yet she goes back, again and again, to save another senior dog in need.
“A lot of people, when they lose an animal, it’s really difficult to adopt another one for a while. But I’m the opposite. I think the best thing I can do to honor their memory and heal my heart is to use that vacancy for another dog,” Katie says.
Her family also has a 2-½-year-old Australian cattle dog mix named Rusty. It’s Katie’s concession to her husband, who wanted a dog their daughter could grow up with.
But for Katie, senior dogs will always have her heart.
“I sing the praises of older dogs. It baffles me that everyone wants a puppy,” she says. “Yet most people don’t have the lifestyle to deal with a puppy. Older dogs are so chill. They just want to hang out with you.”
And if you’re looking to adopt a dog, she has some advice.
“Forget what you think you want in a dog – just forget it,” Katie says. “Just go meet dogs. I’ve had every type of dog. It has dispelled the notion of what type of dog I want. Every dog is unique.”