Susie is a 14 year old Chihuahua mix whom my boyfriend, Brandon, adopted almost three years ago. She is 100% of the inspiration! As all loving pet owners would say about their own animals, we think Susie is the best dog in the whole world. She and Brandon have a particularly strong bond, it sounds cliche, but it's beautiful. There's been nothing lost in adopting a senior, as compared to adopting a puppy. Love is love. Sure, we'll have less time with her, but I'd rather have less time with Susie than no time with Susie.
Susie is unique, for us. And I know there are other senior dogs out there (especially the ones sitting in shelter cells!) that would give anything to give their unique love to a human that will love them back.
Tell us more about you:
I grew up in Connecticut with a childhood dog. My parents adopted Pepper, a mixed breed rescue dog, when I was about six months old. I always thought every family had a dog, just like another sibling. My brother and I certainly considered Pepper our third sibling, we "tortured" with endless playtime, I'm guessing! She was such a good dog, she was very calm and always loving. When I was in high school, my mom was alone with Pepper when she had to be put to sleep. She was almost 16 years old and had gotten very sick. I always feel guilty for not being there.
I currently live in New York City.
When did you decide to make a difference for animals?
In the past couple of years, Susie has grown her own following on Facebook, just for fun. A dog company reached out to Susie a few months back to raise money together for a dog charity of our choice. A senior charity first came to mind to help, since Susie is a senior herself. A quick Google search did not bring up many reliable senior specific rescue organizations, at least not in the New York area. In hindsight, that's what planted the seed, but Susie's Senior Dogs was never officially planned. The starting of it has all flowed so easily, like the floodgates were opened and this was just supposed to happen.
Tell us about your decision to tackle this cause. What convinced you to do so, and what did it take to actually create your movement?
One day, I posted a photo on Susie's page with the caption "Discussing our retirement. We're thinking of starting a senior dog and human match making service." Again, this was on a whim. I put up Susie's posts in the moment and whatever comes to mind within a few minutes. Right after I posted that, I had the thought to make a page about this "retirement plan" and call it Susie's Senior Dogs. I would research senior dogs around the country and post their information. Right from the beginning I knew I wanted it to be more than just putting up a photo with contact information - I wanted it to be more quality, lengthy postings to bring the animals to life, not just their photo with a few stats.