Old Dogs Go To Haven

Nonprofit finds senior dogs with foster home

Story by BEN OLSON Photos by MATTHEW TANGEMAN

Benny’s teeth were rotten. The 12-year-old poodle was deaf and blind, his black and gray fur matted. After being shaved, Benny was brought to the home of a samaritan, who, despite her good intentions, was familiar with rescuing a very different animal.

Benny found himself living alongside bobcats and lynx for the next six months at his rescuer’s house. In order to protect him from his new roommates, he had to spend his days living in a large dog cage.

After six months, Benny’s rescuer contacted Old Dog Haven so he could receive the care and attention he needed. Old Dog Haven, founded by Judith and Lee Piper in 2004, provides dogs over the age of 8 in Western Washington with a foster home. The nonprofit based out of Lake Stevens has a network of foster homes around the area where dogs can find a loving environment.

When Deeanne Matz took in Benny as a permanent foster dog, it was her first time fostering through Old Dog Haven. Matz, who is now an administrative coordinator for the organization, has taken in about 10 dogs.

“She was really doing her very best, but it was not good for poor Benny,” Matz said. “By the time we got him, he was almost feral. He didn’t know about being held, he certainly didn’t know about where you go to the bathroom.”

After getting settled in to his new home and having all his teeth removed due to infection, Benny went on to live over three years with Matz before passing away. Matz is currently fostering three dogs; Ophelia, a 15-year-old one-eyed shih tzu, Ella Mae, a blind, white poodle around 15-years-old and Amelia, a deaf 15-year-old chocolate poodle. All of the dogs Matz has fostered have been on a permanent basis, referred to as a “final refuge” home.

“How little Ella Mae, [who’s] blind and will not leave the house, managed to be a stray is quite the puzzle,” Matz said.

Currently, there are more than 300 dogs living in foster homes set up through Old Dog Haven. Like Benny, most of these dogs are put into permanent foster homes. While there are some dogs who are given a temporary foster home and then adopted, the majority of the dogs are too old or sick to be adopted. This wasn’t always the case for Old Dog Haven.

“Partly because of our efforts at raising awareness that older dogs are good to adopt, shelters are having more and more success at adopting older, not-too-sick dogs,” Matz said. “We used to have four, five or six dogs available for adoption. We have none right now in our care that are available for adoption.”

The medical bills for all the dogs in the Old Dog Haven foster home network averages around $90,000 per month, which comes from donations.

In order to raise awareness about their program, Old Dog Haven uses their Facebook page, which has over 250,000 followers, to show people pictures and descriptions of the dogs.

Because older dogs usually require medical attention, adopting an older dog can be very expensive. Old Dog Haven covers the cost for all veterinary bills and medical supplies for dogs in foster homes. This was one of the reasons Julie Kerr chose to become a foster parent for the haven.

Kerr, who lives in Bellingham, is currently fostering two dogs; Jack, a 16-year-old chihuahua/miniature pinscher mix and Nellie, a 14-year-old dachshund. Nellie is on five medications, so her medical costs are high.

“I financially can’t afford the medical piece of having old dogs,” Kerr said. “So that’s why Old Dog Haven works really well for me.”

Many of the dogs posted on the Old Dog Haven Facebook page and website are cross-posted from shelters and rescues around Western Washington that are seeking adoption rather than a foster home.

Zakia Kaminski, whose role is outreach and humane educations for the Whatcom Humane Society, said they will occasionally contact Old Dog Haven to have one of their dogs posted on the Facebook page so the information about the dog can reach a larger audience.

“They have an even better chance of getting adopted if Old Dog Haven crossposts for us on social media,” Kaminski said.

Some shelters or rescues will contact Old Dog Haven along with other rescues when they get dogs that don’t appear to be adoptable. Depending on the health of the dog and if there is an available foster parent for them, Old Dog Haven will take the dog in. If there is no available foster home, then they’ll advertise the dog on their website to try and encourage one of their followers to become a foster parent.

“Because we don’t have a shelter, we don’t have a place where we can just put a dog,” Matz said. “[Judith and Lee Piper] didn’t want any dog to live in a shelter. They wanted dogs when they got older, if they were homeless, to have a loving home to live in and not exist in a shelter.”

Whatcom Humane Society is an open admission shelter, meaning they will take in all dogs regardless of their health. Unfortunately, this means some dogs are too sick to save.

“If we get a dog that has really advanced cancer or something like that, sometimes we’ll have to make the humane decision to euthanize them if they’re in pain,” Kaminski said.

In 2017, 29 dogs were euthanized for medical reasons according to the Whatcom Humane Society’s Domestic Animal Summary.

If the dog is healthy enough, Kaminski said the humane society has good luck finding homes for older dogs. To encourage people to consider older dogs, the humane society has a lower adoption fee for dogs over the age of 5.

While a dog living in a shelter won’t receive as much one-on-one attention as they would in a foster home, Kaminski said it can be helpful for adoptable dogs to be in a shelter.

“Obviously, most dogs are going to do better in a foster situation,” Kaminski said. “But sometimes having them in a foster situation makes it so they don’t get adopted as quickly because people aren’t coming in everyday and seeing them.”

Kaminski said the humane society makes sure the dogs receive proper medical care and plenty of love.

“It depends on the dog, but usually older dogs do pretty well [in a shelter],” Kaminski said. “We have over 300 volunteers that help us and a lot of them work with the dogs specifically. They get out every day and they get two walks every single day.”

When choosing to become a foster parent, Matz said you have to be prepared for the dog to live a short amount of time or for years to come.

“We had one dog that came and we didn’t know how sick she was and she lasted eight hours. She just laid down on the floor and passed away,” Matz said. “Some of the dogs on our ‘final refuge’ list have been in their home for five, six years, so it really varies a lot.”

Regardless of the complications fostering an old dog can have, ever since learning about Old Dog Haven and taking in Benny, Matz was hooked.

“It’s kind of like potato chips, you can’t just take one dog,” Matz said. “I do the Old Dog Haven website, so I post all the dogs who are in urgent need of homes. I see all those faces. It would be easy to have more than three.”

Like Benny, every senior dog has a unique story. Kaminski said despite their age, they all have love left to give.