We were lucky to catch up with Susan Friend Le Tourneur recently and have shared our conversation below.

Susan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

The mission of Golden Years Dog Sanctuary is to provide a loving home to at-risk and senior dogs in the shelters and to provide foster care to at- risk cats and kittens, giving all animals in our care the best of the rest of their lives. My husband and I were always helping dogs dumped in our canyon or seeking out the old and sick dogs at the shetler. In 2017, I decided I wanted to do more to help the dogs at the shelter, so we obtained an excessive animal permit allowing us to have 18 dogs at our property. Then, in July 2018, we finally incorporated and Golden Years Dog Sanctuary became a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to saving senior and at-risk dogs from shelters. We seek out the old, sad, sick, never-going-to-get-adopted dogs and give them the best of the rest of their lives, In some cases, they only have a couple of months remaining. More often though, many of these old dogs that we thought were sick or on their last legs, thrive at our sanctuary and live not only months, but years! We rescued about 30 dogs between 2017 and 2019. In 2020, we started our foster program to save more dogs and rescued 29 dogs in that year. Since then, the number of dogs we have been rescued has increased with each year. We have now rescued over 280 dogs since our start in 2017.
Since Covid, the number of dogs being dumped at the shelters has erupted, and so many of those dogs are seniors. People don’t want to care for their old dogs. People move and don’t want the old dogs in their new home. .Because of the increase in intakes at the shelters, all the shelters are operating at over 100% capacity. That means that every kennel in the shelter has more than one dog. It means that more dogs are brought in than are adopted. The only way the shelters can keep up is to increase the number of dogs euthanized daily. The first to be killed are always the old and sick dogs or dogs with behavior issues. We are doing our best to help one dog at a time. As the saying goes, we can’t change the world ( yet), but we can change the world for the dog we save.

Susan, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I have always loved animals. My mom said the first word I ever said was “cat.” I had cats growing up but was never allowed a dog. I started riding horses when I was 12 years old. I purchased my first horse when I was in college; working three waitresses jobs to pay for him while carrying a full load with a biology major! It was a dream to have my own horse property. The day I closed escrow on Goldspirit Farm, back in 1999, I went to the shelter and adopted my first dog, I couldn’t have a farm and not have a dog! I asked the shelter staff for the dog that was next on the kill list and I came home with a young shepherd/malinois/chow mix I named Cody. While riding is a passion and my vocation; saving dogs, and helping the environment is my passion and reason for living. I feel it is a responsibility, not an option, to contribute something significant in this life to make the world a better place. As my 50th birthday approached in 2017, I wanted to start a legacy. Elephants and wolves are my favorite wild animals, but since I can’t keep them in my backyard, I decided that improving the way shelters are managed across the country would be her pursuit. Creating the dog sanctuary and thereby enhancing the future of dogs and cats is one step toward that goal.

Running a dog sanctuary and a horse farm is a lot of work. It is not for the faint of heart or those who want weekends off…or even vacations! It is lifestyle and a life choice. I am up early to care for the cats and dogs. then it is off the barn to work horses and manage the farm. Then it is back to the computer to do hours of paperwork no one tells you about in rescue and running a business. I do love the day-to-day chores of walking the dogs, caring for the horses and maintaining the property. It is a more than full time job that does not give me much time to work on my goals of education and improving the shelter system.

The reality is that I often feel like a hamster on a wheel. I am working and not getting anywhere. While I am grateful for the nearly 300 dogs we have rescued since 2017; my actions have not improved the shelter system. II have to remind myself that I may not be able to save the world, but I can save the world for one dog at a time.

But I am a dreamer and I think big. My goal is to change the shelter system and educate the public. We need to educate people on the importance of spay and neuter for their pets and the truth about backyard breeding. We need better laws to enforce both of these things. We need protection for renters so they do not have to give up their furry family member when they move to a new house or apartment. We need shelter staff and government to be compassionate about animals; looking at their lives and not just the money and numbers. I am not sure how to get from where I am now helping dogs at our sanctuary to changing the world; but I will figure it out.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Running a rescue is tough. It is more than a full time job, yet it is not my full time job. I put countless hours into this rescue. it is more than just saving dogs and giving them a home. We have to market ourselves for donors, for fosters, for adopters. We have to have fundraisers to raise money to help the dogs. Then we have to send thank you notes for every donation we receive. We have to file tax returns at the end of each year. We have to constantly post on social media for dogs we have saved, dogs we want to save and everyday events at the sanctuary. We need volunteers to help us walk dogs and someone to be a liaison for those volunteers. We have to check in on our foster dogs regularly plan vet visits and manage the care of all the dogs for which we are responsible. In the beginning I wore all these hats. My board members now help with interviewing potential fosters, sharings dogs we want to rescue and corresponding with the shetlers. I have a volunteer who helps with our thank you notes. Other board members are helping us create fundraisers. Our rescue is a business and to be successful we have to look at it as such. We always need help and welcome anyone who wants to help in any way. Some of the easiest ways to help are to share our posts on local groups and animal related groups on facebook, instagram and nextdoor. We welcome volunteers to come walk dogs at the sanctuary or foster a senior dog! For those who shop at ralphs or kruger, we encourage you to sign us up as your community charity. most people do not know this: kroger has a program similar to amazon smile. Sign up and we get pennies on every purchase you make!

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

….

Contact Info:

• Website: www.goldenyearsdogsanctuary.com
• Instagram: @goldenyearsdogsanctuary
• Facebook: @goldenyearsdogsanctuary
• Youtube: golden years dog sanctuary
• Yelp: golden years dog sanctuary

Image Credits
i took photos