How WWLDO Got Its Start
We exist to support the people who care for homeless dogs, helping shelters and rescues access the resources, guidance, and community they need to save more lives.
Supporting Shelters, Saving Lives
The first time I visited a rural southern shelter, it wasn’t the noise that surprised me or the presence of so much poop. It wasn’t the rows of sad faces, the callused elbows, the defeated and desperate postures of dog after dog. I expected visiting shelters in the rural south to be hard.
What I hadn’t expected were the people. People with enormous hearts who sacrifice their lives for these animals. The Animal Control Officers, shelter staff, and volunteers I met spent their days playing an endless shellgame to keep animals alive. Moving dogs out through rescues, doubling and tripling up kennels, finding room where there was none.
Too often, they spent their own money to buy supplies like puppy formula or flea/tick treatments. They worked more hours than they were paid and missed family events and holidays to help dogs who have no one else.
When I first began going to the shelters in 2018, I had fostered well over 100 dogs and written a book about fostering and rescue, yet I had no idea of the conditions or the challenges shelter staff faced. So, now I wrote about what I was seeing and learning, and invited Nancy, a photographer, to join me. Together, we documented everything we saw, convinced that the problem wasn’t that people didn’t care, but that they didn’t know.
Who Will Let the Dogs Out grew from these initial tours to become a 501 (C)(3) not-for-profit organization. Nancy and I continue to travel to shelters and rescues, but now we’ve been joined by dozens of volunteers who fundraise, facilitate our grant programs, gather ideas for our Resource Guide, stay in touch with our shelters, organize community events, write our newsletter, maintain our website and Resource Guide, and come up with more ways we can raise awareness and resources for homeless dogs and the heroes who fight for them.
Because we believe that through leadership, veterinary access, and community engagement, together we CAN let the dogs out.
You can help make life better for homeless dogs and the people who care for them. Every bit of support, whether volunteering, donating, or sharing our mission, strengthens shelters and rescues. By joining our community, you become part of a network working to save more lives. Click “Get Involved” to start making a real difference today.