08/11/2026
⚠️ WARNING: A very long ramble is ahead. 😂 You absolutely do not have to read all of this… but if you do, thank you for coming to my TED Talk. 😅
The Paw Plan turns 5 today!
And because every shelter dog deserves a birthday, we celebrated with a little birthday photoshoot for The Toledo Paw Plan and DOG-ust (the universal birthday month for shelter dogs.)
Five years. I honestly don’t know where the time went.
Looking back at my anniversary posts from the past few years, I always had a long list of new organizations I had worked with, new trainers I had met, and all of the places The Paw Plan had taken me. This year looks a little different.
I haven’t been able to work with as many organizations as I would have liked. I haven’t had the opportunity to say yes to every request, and I haven’t had a long list of new places to share. Instead, I gave a lot of my time, energy, and resources to LC4 and tried to be available to anyone else who needed me.
This year, I took a much more active role in the rescue community. I became part of LC4’s Friends of 501(c)(3) nonprofit board and eventually transitioned into the president position, an honor I don’t take lightly. It has asked a lot of me, but I’ve willingly poured my time, energy, and resources into it because I believe in the work and want to be part of creating meaningful change for the dogs in our community. I wanted to do more than just show the dogs. I wanted to be involved in the conversations, the rebuilding, the hard decisions, and the work that happens behind the scenes to try to create real change for the dogs in our community.
But honestly, this has been the toughest year in rescue for me yet.
Rescue has brought me some of my highest highs and some of my lowest lows. Seeing the brand-new building for LC4 for the first time brought me to instant tears. It is such a privilege to volunteer in such an amazing facility, and seeing the difference it has already made for the dogs is something I’m incredibly grateful for. But the lows have been really low, too.
Just when you think you have a success story, you learn that success doesn’t always stay a success. Or a promise you made to a dog becomes one you’re not sure you can keep. And it’s hard not to beat yourself up when you feel like you personally failed a dog you told you would be there for. It’s even harder to remind yourself that you gave everything you had when the outcome still wasn’t what you hoped for. Some days, it makes you question how you can keep making promises, keep showing up, and keep putting your heart into dogs when you know there is no guarantee of how their story will end.
But I’ve learned that maybe showing up isn’t about being able to guarantee the ending. Maybe it’s about being willing to be there for as much of the story as you can.
It hurts to see the same dogs sitting in the same kennels month after month, hoping that THIS will be their week. Sometimes it is. And sometimes it isn’t. It even hurts to walk back into a shelter and see their kennel empty, because you have to stop and ask yourself whether that empty kennel means something wonderful happened… or something heartbreaking did. To dogs like Nick and Jerome I’m so darn proud of you and so excited for your new lives and to dogs like Mak-aroni I’m so sorry there wasn’t more we could have done.
I’ve seen dogs I’ve photographed find families. I’ve watched shy dogs come out of their shells. I’ve met people who became volunteers, fosters, adopters, and advocates. And every once in a while, I get a message saying that one of my posts or videos was the reason someone decided to give a shelter dog a chance. Those messages will always be my light. Because at the end of the day, that is still what The Paw Plan is about.
Showing people these dogs for who they really are.
They are resilient. They are loving. They are goofy, loyal, silly, complicated, forgiving, and full of personality. They can go through things that I don’t think most people would be able to handle and somehow still choose to lead with love. That will never not amaze me.
This year, I’ve found myself becoming much more of an advocate than simply a photographer or someone who shares dogs online. I’ve had difficult conversations. I’ve made plenty of mistakes. I’ve had to learn, listen, change my mind, and figure things out as I go. I’m still learning more than I ever thought I would.
I think that’s one of the biggest lessons five years of rescue work has taught me, you don’t have to have all the answers to make a difference. Sometimes you just have to keep showing up.
So if you’re thinking about adding paws to your family, please look at a shelter first. I’m not saying every person needs to adopt a shelter dog. I know shelter dogs aren’t the right fit for every lifestyle or every family. But sometimes, all it takes is one person willing to see past the kennel door and give them a chance. And that chance could mean everything.
Ask questions. Meet a dog. Foster. Volunteer. Donate. Share a post. Tell a friend. Give a dog five minutes of your time.
You might end up saving a life. You might end up changing your own.
And to every organization, volunteer, foster, adopter, donor, trainer, supporter, and person who has ever let The Toledo Paw Plan into their world, thank you.
Thank you for trusting me with your dogs. Thank you for letting me tell their stories. Thank you for letting me be part of the messy, heartbreaking, hilarious, exhausting, rewarding world of rescue.
And most importantly, thank you to the dogs. Five years later, this is still my favorite part of every week. Here’s to another year of showing up, learning, advocating, celebrating the wins, surviving the hard days, and giving as many paws as possible a chance.
Happy 5th birthday, The Paw Plan.
And happy DOG-ust to every shelter dog waiting for their birthday wish to come true.
