EATON — Reflections Salon held a benefit for new dog sanctuary Liberty Acres United Rescue Animal Sanctuary on Saturday, Aug. 19. Thanks to the benefit, two dogs may have found their “Furever” homes.
Owner of Reflections Salon, Elaine Buckler, organized the benefit with Director of Liberty Acres Jayne Knox.
Buckler said, “We heard about the sanctuary starting up and we wanted to help them raise some money. That’s why Reflections is a part of this.”
The sanctuary is located in Liberty, Indiana.
“The sanctuary is very new. We’re not even officially open yet,” Knox said. “But we really started out with a bang. We are so busy and we are full already. We’re waiting for our houses to be done. The whole concept of the place is Liberty United Acres. Liberty tells people where we’re located, Acres lets people know that we have plenty of room, and United lets people know that we are here to work with all the different shelters and rescues in the area.
“That’s what we’re all about. We are building tiny houses for the dogs to live in. They’re indoors with climate control — air conditioning and heat. They get shutters on the outside. On the inside there will be places where people can sit down, read a book, and socialize with the animals. Then they have the 22 acres they can run on. People can even walk them.”
If the idea of making tiny houses for dogs seems unique, that is because it is — for this area of the country.
“What we’re most excited about is the sanctuary is the first of its kind in this part of the country,” Knox said. In Utah and Arizona, places like that, they are becoming popular, but in Indiana in Ohio there is nothing like this, that I am aware of. Where the dogs get to live in a home-type setting and get away from the stress of traditional shelters.
“We have to have shelters, but they are stressful for a lot of dogs. If the dogs are elderly or sick it is very hard on them. We also don’t discriminate against any breeds of dogs.”
“Most of the dogs we have are adoptable,” Knox said. “We actually have two here today who are adoptable. One is a Great Pyrenees who was on the brink of death when I got a hold of her, she was over 50 pounds underweight. The other one is a little Yorkie who was found running as a stray in pretty bad condition. They are both up for adoption.”
“There will always be dogs who are not quite adoptable, they may be terminally ill,” she added. “In that case we put them in hospice care and let them peacefully live out their lives.”
Knox added, the sanctuary is funded through fundraisers and donations. Their founder put up the initial cost to build the houses and purchase the property, but to keep the sanctuary running it needs help in the form of donations. They will also be looking into grants, Knox stated.
The benefit itself had dog treats, dog toys, crafts, food, and t-shirts for sale. There were raffles as well. It also gave people the opportunity to meet two adoptable dogs.
One couple came to meet the Great Pyrenees, named Liberty. Cheryl Koeller of Lakengren came to the benefit with her husband to meet Liberty specifically. She said she saw pictures of Liberty on Facebook and after meeting the dog was going to fill out adoption papers at the event.
“We have Labs and we have a Lab that is Great Pyrenees also. We love that type of dog. Plus Liberty’s story drew her to us,” she said. “They found her on the streets starving and somebody had taken her to a kill shelter so Liberty Rescue rescued her from the kill shelter. They pretty much brought her back, because she was pretty much giving up being on the streets like that.
“We only adopt dogs. They need a home — its the situations they’ve been in before and you just want to be there for them. I rather, myself, mainly we go for the older dogs. Now, Liberty isn’t really old, she’s three to five, but it is that grey area.”
The Koellers were actually able to take Liberty home on Saturday, Aug. 19, and report she is doing well in her new home.
Another couple came to the benefit after seeing pictures of the Yorkie, Noah, and did not know that he would be there. Tim and Kayla Moore saw pictures of Noah online and figured they would go to the benefit, since they are Eaton residents, but were surprised to see the dog they were interested in at the benefit.
“We got real fortunate and we’re going to put our application in,” Kayla Moore said. “We were attracted to Noah because we’re too old to have babies and we wanted a baby.”
“That is it in a nutshell,” Tim Moore confirmed. “We want a little dog in the house and out of the house. He can go both places.”
Kayla Moore added, “We want a snuggle buddy and a playmate for our kitten so she’s not lonely. I firmly believe in rescuing. I have had shelter animals before. Every dog I have ever had was either shelter, rescue, or even our kitten managed to find us. Last year we found her under our deck. There are too many animals out there that need homes.”
They put in their application and are waiting to hear back from the sanctuary.
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