Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Stephanie. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Stephanie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

A Bark to Remember is what I call our rescue dog retirement home. My goal is to adopt as many senior rescue dogs as I can throughout my life. I adopted my first senior dog in 2019 and fell completely in love. She was 10 at the time, and in pretty poor health. She is now 15 and in better health than at age 10!

Senior dogs are overlooked a lot because most people would rather adopt a younger dog or a puppy. I believe all dogs deserve a loving home. So, I take in the seniors. We are currently on our 5th adopted dog!

We also take in hospice fosters. These are dogs that will not be adopted out due to their poor health. So we care for them until it is time for them to cross the rainbow bridge.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am married to a high school wrestling coach and we live in a small town. We currently have four dogs.

I have been on a journey to save as many dogs I can since 2019. I especially love adopting senior dogs with ‘special needs’. Currently our ailments include: epilepsy, chronic pancreatitis, legs that cannot be used…but I tell you what – all of our babies are extremely active and do not let these ‘issues’ slow them down. One day I hope to win the lottery and quit my job so I can just continually adopt/save dogs. That’s my life goal.

I also spend time educating myself on dog care so I can ensure our dogs have the best care possible. Some courses I have taken include: Animal Physical Therapy, Animal Psychology, Care of the Senior Pet, Dog Socialization & Obedience, and Cat & Dog First Aid.

Aside from adopting dogs, I love: reading, taking pictures, horror movies, craft fairs, and Halloween.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I love sharing our dogs with everyone. It builds a community with other dog lovers and it’s so much fun connecting with those people. I have learned a lot from other dog parents about what to do in certain situations to what supplements to give to what dog beds are the best, etc. It’s a great community to grow in and learn more about dogs.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Caring for senior dogs is difficult. You don’t get them for as long as you want. Your time with them is much shorter than if you had them as a puppy. You have to be prepared for loss. Prepared to say goodbye. You have to be resilient and still care for the other dogs.

We lost our first dog in 2023. She had cancer and it was incredibly difficult. Then, we lost our second dog in 2024. A few short months later we took in our first hospice foster and lost her shortly after. It can be very difficult to get through these times, but I pushed through and made sure our other dogs were well taken care of and loved. I made sure they were getting through their losses as well.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.abarktoremember.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abarktoremember
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abarktorememberFB