Finally Home Senior Dog Rescue and Retirement Home Announces the

North Yarmouth, ME Finally Home Senior Dog Rescue and Retirement Home announces the establishment of two funds available to the public to help provide care for senior dogs: the Sierra Fund and Teddy’s Friends.

The Sierra Fund, named for founder Laurie Dorr’s Australian Shepherd who passed away at 16, will help qualified Maine residents with older dogs pay for vet care, medications, follow-up visits and other expenses, allowing them to keep their dogs with them. Teddy’s Friends, honoring a senior dog who suffered from severe toxicity, seizures and a brain tumor, rescued from 10 years in an extreme hoarding situation and adopted in late 2022 by Finally Home where he passed away, will help financially challenged Maine seniors pay for end-of-life care for their dogs.

“We believe that if any dog deserves a fund in his honor, it is Teddy,” said Dorr. “His life was marked by unrelenting pain and suffering, and if we can help people avoid that for their dogs, we will do it.”

Finally Home Senior Dog Rescue and Retirement Home adopts and cares for needy senior dogs and networks to help other senior dogs find their “furever” homes.

Please help us celebrate the implementation of these two public funds with a celebration on Thursday, March 2, 6-8 p.m., at Trudy Bird’s Olbar, 424 Walnut Hill Road, North Yarmouth.

To donate or apply for funds visit: www.finallyhomemaine.org.

For a second exciting year, we were joined by James Spear and his dog, Hailey, for a day of surprise sponsored adoptions at Bangor Humane Society—the event has been dubbed Hailey’s Heroes! Spear is relatively new to the area and wanted to find a way to give back to his new hometown and given his love of animals and dedication to Hailey, Hailey’s Heroes was born. Last year’s event was so heartwarming, with Spear sponsoring adoptions for 16 animals to the surprise and delight of some very moved adopters. He didn’t hesitate to come forward again, and this year’s event included a donated lunch to our hardworking staff. Hailey is a friendly, happy Golden Retriever who happens to celebrate her birthday on Valentine’s Day, so the timing of this event was wonderful. In honor of her birthday, Hailey got to give the gift of fur-ever homes. James and Hailey visited from open to close for pats and hellos, and excitingly, to sponsor the adoption of every animal that left our shelter that day. The waived adoption fee was a surprise to adopters as they completed their paperwork. I know James is thrilled for the opportunity to talk about his passion for animals and we are very excited to talk about this extremely generous gift to the community.

FMI about Bangor Humane Society visit: bangorhumane.org

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Dear Dog News Readers,

We hope you survived the crazy cold snap without any issues. What a winter! Within one week’s time the temperature fluctuated about 70 degrees. We’ve had mud, rain, sleet, snow, more rain, and more mud. I wonder what the upcoming seasons will bring. I will say that it feels as though winter has gone quickly, for me any way, and for the first time in I’m not sure how long, I am taking a vacation in the first quarter of the year!! I am heading to Arizona and very excited because I have never been. Miss Pepper will stay home with my roommate Jess. I’m not sure if she will be more content to stay home or if it will be worrisome because I am not coming home. It will only be about 5 days, and she and Jess are buddies, so I’m sure she’ll be fine.

This month is poison prevention month. We have mouse problems at our house, but I am too scared to try anything that could potentially harm Pepper. I don’t trust things that say they are safe for pets. I stick to the old, cheap snap traps in hopes that it is also over quickly for the mouse as well.

I am fortunate that Pepper doesn’t eat much that is not edible. She doesn’t really scurry to eat food off the floor until I say it is ok. She also still has tremendous eyesight at nearly 9 years old because she has a little pad to lay on in the kitchen and I can toss peppers or carrots to her, and she does not miss them. It is almost effortless. People used to be so impressed back when we went to the dog park because I could chuck the ball to her really far away, and she would catch it.

This month we wish Pepper’s cousin Phoebe a very happy 5th birthday! I can’t believe you are 5 already! We wish everyone else a very happy March and soon to be spring! All the best, Jenn and Pepper

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Doreen M. asked about her Rottweiler Maggie who passed in May of 2022. “Did she greet my husband when he joined her? She sure is missed. Mack, our male Rottweiler who is here with me, misses her also.” I’m sorry for the loss of your husband but knowing he was going to see her as he transitioned gave him the peace to go gently through the light. I see him down on his knees, sort of sitting on his heels, hugging her, and she's so excited she’s wiggling all over the place. The gift she gave both of you was the assurance they’d take care of each other. That’s beautiful. Mack does miss her but also loves the quiet. Having Maggie around was like having a house guest who was always on the