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Santa Cruz Sentinel

November 20 2011

Nonprofit with ties to Santa Cruz County finds older dogs new homes

One of life’s little-known tragedies is where an older dog, who after giving unconditional love and loyalty to an owner all its life, too often ends up in a shelter facing euthanasia. This heartbreak is what volunteers at Muttville Senior Dog Rescue want to prevent.

“We have a saying, it’s never too late for a new beginning,” said Muttville Senior Dog Rescue founder and Executive Director Sherri Franklin. “Older dogs, like older people, have so much love left to give. They shouldn’t be forgotten.”

The San Francisco-based Muttville began as a one-person startup by Franklin and has grown to 200 volunteers achieving nonprofit status in 2007.

Older dogs are given up by owners perhaps because the owner died, relocated to nursing care, or lost their home in a foreclosure. Other dogs were abused or abandoned. Animal shelters from throughout California contact Muttville and offer senior dogs for possible adoption. Volunteers find temporary foster homes for the dogs waiting to be adopted, and then permanent homes called “Forever Homes.”

“We always have about 60 dogs in our foster care waiting to be adopted at any time,” Franklin said.