Heart Hounds Rescue Network

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I remember the first time I saw a Rez dog.

I was 11 years old, at our summer cabin at Delaronde Lake , Pickerel Point Resort. My family and I were having lunch at the store, and my golden retriever was tied up outside.
I was sitting with him when I saw a pack of four big dogs coming from the reserve across the creek.

They weren’t rushing. They weren’t threatening. They were just moving down the road together, playing, relaxed, like they belonged exactly where they were.

My dad rushed me and my dog inside.

“Don’t touch them. They’ll hurt you. They’re full of disease.”
But I remember looking at them and thinking… they don’t look scary. They don’t look mean. They looked happy.

The next time I saw those same dogs, they were following two kids on bikes. Not chasing them. Not biting at them. Just following them to the store.

The kids went inside to buy candy, and the dogs waited outside for them.

I was standing there with my dog on a leash. The dogs came over, sniffed him, and then moved on. They didn’t attack. They didn’t seem sick. They seemed social, connected, and calm.
When the kids came back out, I
asked, “Are those your dogs?”
They said,

“They’re everyone’s dogs.”

At 11 years old, I couldn’t wrap my head around what that meant. I remember thinking how lucky they were to have more than one dog.
I am Indigenous. I am a Métis woman. But I did not grow up on reserve, and this way of life was new to me.

The beauty of reserve dogs stayed with me into adulthood.

Many reserve dogs are deeply loved. They are cared for by community members, and especially by the children. They are part of the community, part of the rhythm, part of the life there.

Are there dogs who shouldn’t be free roaming? Absolutely.

Are there safety concerns that need to be addressed? Yes.

But the answer is not always removal.

Sometimes the best thing we can do for these dogs is support the community members who already love them.

Reduce barriers.
Provide food.
Provide vet care.
Provide spay and neuter access.
Listen before acting.

Taking a dog away from the only life they have ever known is not always rescue.

These dogs have their own way of life, and unless you have spoken to the community, listened to the people, and understood the situation, you have no business deciding that dog does not belong there.
Support the community members.
Reduce barriers.

Respect the dogs, the people, and the life they share

😴Who’s sleeping on their dream dog?!😴

Our sweet and cheeky is still waiting, and it’s starting to break our hearts.

This girl is “the perfect medium” of everything - size, energy levels, an ideal mix of silly and sweet. She’s been with us over a year, and we just can’t figure out why. Kyra is someone’s dream dog!

Her foster mom Natalie and her canine sister Abby have nothing but awesome things to say about Miss Kyra - she’s developed a routine and a love for everyone in her life, and is definitely comfy where she is - but that’s now part of the challenge.

Our fosters don’t sign on to keep their foster dogs for a year+. They’re often fostering because they DON’T want any more pets themselves, but see a meaningful way to help animals in need by offering temporary homes until they find their forevers.

Kyra is now officially our longest stay dog in our history as a rescue, for no reason besides that she’s been overlooked. The “long stay effect” seems to be a self-reinforcing sequence - there’s less interest for dogs that have been in care longer, people assume there must be a reason, so they don’t inquire or apply, and the dog waits longer. It’s a really heartbreaking equation.

We’ve lost several amazing fosters in the past couple of years to “foster fails”, and while I love that for our dogs I also really appreciate that folks like recognize their capacity and remain super committed to rescue on a foster basis. They know their impact is tremendous each time they say “yes” to welcoming that foster dog in need, and we really want to keep these dedicated individuals able to continue fostering dogs in a sustainable way - Kyra needs to find her family, so that Natalie and Abby can take a break before their next foster adventure!

Can you help us find her people?!

KYRA 🎀
~6 yrs | spayed female | mid-sized | medium energy | mixed breed | smart, loyal, couch companion | $500 adoption fee

In other news - a HUGE thanks to all who donated items and came out to support our Yard Sale Fundraiser at the Ice Palace on Saturday! We raised $205.75 towards our most recent vet bills. Stay tuned for Online Auction action soon! 🐾💛

💛Happytails, garage sales and auctions, oh my!💛

A belated but heartfelt HAPPY TAILS to Jimmy and his new BFF, Karen! These two have been getting acquainted and settled at home for a couple of weeks now, and Karen reports Jim is doing well getting into a routine.

Heartfelt thanks to his fosters Judi and Rae for giving this sweet old man the Royal treatment and tons of TLC over the past couple of months, and the staff at for making sure Jim was snipped, chipped, and all up-to-date before going home.

As promised I’m tracking costs for rescue vs. adoption fees for all of our 2026 intakes, in an effort to demonstrate how much rescue organizations are putting into our dogs.

In Jimmy’s case, his final vet visit brought his total costs of care to $1074.77 after being added to his prior vetting and supplies costs (see previous posts). With a senior dog adoption fee of $500, this leaves a difference / cost to rescue of $574.77. Please remember these behind-the-scenes expenses before jumping to judgements about “high adoption fees” - we always want to send dogs home fully vetted and with everything they need to thrive and will continue to uphold this standard.

With spring fundraising top of mind, we want to invite you to mark your calendars for this Saturday, May 9th when we’ll be at the Georgina Ice Palace for the annual Swap and Sell event, 8 am - 1 pm, rain or shine!

This is a great opportunity to get rid of any unwanted items and clear space in your closets - if you’ve been spring cleaning and want to donate items to our sale please message us, or email [email protected] to arrange dropoff or pickup. 100% of funds raised from our booth at this event will go directly towards rescue expenses.

We’ve also got some super exciting online auction items being donated and prepped for your bids soon - if you’re a small business, individual or group with an item or service to donate as an online auction item, please get in touch! We’ve got Sephora gift baskets, handmade quilts, cottage getaways, the ultimate Baby Shower bundle, gift certificates, dog and cat goodies and more, stay tuned for details on when and where to cast your bids! 🐾💛

It was a big week for our ol’ pal Jimmy the hounddog 👀🥰🤞🏼

A check-in at for some final boosters, summer heartworm prevention, and face rubs from his favourite Kristen of course! This good boy might just have some good news loading… stay tuned! 🐾💛

🐰A Houndy, Hoppy Easter!🐰

If you were hoping to spot the world’s cutest Easter bunny today, we’ve got her right here - and she’s adoptable 💁‍♀️

I’ve seen AI-generated images getting a bit over the top lately when being used to doctor images of rescue animals, but this is one occasion where I couldn’t help myself… how can anyone resist an Easter-Bunnified Kyradog?! 😆🫶

Kyra has been waiting over a year for her people, and she truly makes it easy. She’s an easygoing, affectionate girl who thrives in a calm, loving home and just wants to be close to her humans — a total Velcro dog in the best ways.

She’s grown really comfortable in her foster home and would do well with a confident canine companion to help her feel safe and settled in a forever home.

Kyra is a Canadian dog from our Ontario shelter system — and like many local dogs, she’s being quietly overlooked while rescue trends continue to slowly creep back towards importing dogs from elsewhere. The reality is, there are incredible dogs already here who don’t get the same visibility or urgency.

If you’ve been thinking about fostering or adopting, Kyra is the kind of dog who will quietly and quickly become your whole world - a soul dog through and through.

Comment below tagging some of your favourite rescues who support Canadian dogs like Kyra and let’s give these lovable locals an Easter boost to get these dogs SEEN and ADOPTED! 👀👇

Even one share might help Kyra her reach the audience that she needs to find her home, so your help with that part is everything 🤍

If you’re interested in filling out an application to adopt, send an email to [email protected] 📩

We also have a lotto raffle fundraiser and online auction coming soon to help cover recent vet bills and upcoming board & train costs for a dog returning to our care. Stay tuned — we’re going to need all hands on deck for this one 🎟️

Thanks again for all your love and support for our rescue dogs, and Happy Easter from our Heart Hounds family to yours!🌷🐣💕🐶

💛Adoptable Jimmy💛

This sweet senior hound is on the hunt for his forever home!

No, this isn’t an April Fool’s joke. Despite our hopes that Jimmy’s foster placement would turn into his adoptive home, and due to no fault of Jimmy’s or his wonderful fosters, this boy is officially an eligible bachelor. While they adore him, Jimmy is proving to be more active than his fosters anticipated for a senior dog, and they want the best for him. We agree that he’ll be happiest with a young family or individual/couple wanting to include Jim in their life adventures, so we’re hoping you’ll help us share him to find them!

Jimmy is a sweet, gentle senior hound mix who is ready to kick back and relax for his golden years. He arrived at a rural Ontario animal shelter as a found stray and was never claimed - another wandering hound with nobody looking for him :(

Since joining us in rescue and living in his foster home, he has been friendly and loving towards all he meets - humans of all ages, dogs, cats, this guy doesn’t seem phased by anything. Jimmy is estimated approx 8 years young, has been neutered, vaccinated, microchipped, heartworm/lyme tested (negative) and is up to date on all his flea/tick/heartworm prevention.

If you’re a hound lover with a soft spot for this deserving senior to spend the rest of his days, please contact us via email, [email protected] 🐾💛

😔A promise made😔

Lately it feels like something is shifting in rescue — and not in a good way.

Please excuse my rant, but we need to talk about commitment and what it means with regards to rescued pets.

With increasing frequency over the last year, we are seeing more and more adopted dogs being returned. More foster dogs needing to urgently move placements. More situations where commitments made to these animals are not being followed through on — whether that’s post-adoption vet care, training, or simply staying the course when things get challenging.

When someone adopts a rescue dog, it’s not just about giving them a home when it’s easy. It’s a commitment to their care for the entirety of their life — including the hard, expensive, inconvenient parts. Emergencies. Injuries. Behavioural challenges. Aging. Growing families. Moves. Career and routine changes. These are family members, and that’s the agreement.

More and more, we’re seeing that agreement not being honoured.

I’m going to share a recent example that has honestly shaken me to the point that I’m not sure where we go from here.

The dog pictured below is Asha. She was a beautiful American bully mix. Healthy and under a year old when we pulled her from the shelter a few years ago. She was fostered, then adopted into what we believed was a committed home - a family who promised her everything.

Last week, they contacted me in a panic. Asha had injured her knee and now required surgery. They told me they couldn’t afford it and didn’t want to lose their dog. I was actively texting them, trying to find solutions — payment plans, alternatives, ways to support them, second opinions to seek out, surrendering back to rescue if ultimately necessary.

While I was doing that, Asha’s family chose to euthanize her.

I wasn’t informed until after they had already pulled the plug.

In the same breath, I learned from her adopters that they had purchased and brought home a puppy earlier that very same day.

Two weeks prior to that, they had also adopted a juvenile rescue dog from another organization — and returned that dog to the rescue within 24 hours because it was “too puppyish” for their household.

If your head is spinning, so is mine.

There were options. There was time. There was a dog who trusted them to keep her safe. Instead, she was treated like something disposable.

This is what we are up against right now.

Animals are being treated like replaceable commodities. When they’re easy and convenient, everything is good. When they require investment — time, money, effort — they’re returned, rehomed, bounced around rescue, or worse.

Last week marked 5 years of rescue for us as well as my own birthday, but if I’m being completely honest those things didn’t feel much worth celebrating this year. On a personal note, my physical and mental health has taken a beating that I should be focusing on healing from - I’ve tried on several occasions over the last year to hit pause and prioritize my health, but I can’t maintain those boundaries because taking a “break” from rescue feels impossible once you’re here. Candidly, this is the closest I’ve ever been to stepping away from rescue completely, so that I can finally take that “break”.

What I’m feeling at this point goes beyond burnout. I’m traumatized from this work in a way that’s difficult to articulate. When you give every ounce of your heart and soul to this work and the animals we set out to help, every loss is gut wrenching and personal, and quietly adds to the invisible emotional burden each of us carries in rescue. It’s a unique type of heartbreak to feel like despite all of our efforts and care taken to do right by every dog, we’re still failing them.

We currently have over $6,000 in fundraising to catch up on. Dogs are being returned faster than we can stabilize them after years being adopted. Dogs needing new foster homes and others needing placements to avoid becoming statistics in our shelter system. Others are being euthanized in homes that promised to protect them. Right now, it’s difficult to point to anything that feels hopeful.

But here’s the reality: Rescue only works if people mean it when they say “yes.”

Yes to the dog.
Yes to the responsibility.
Yes to the long-term commitment — not just the version of the dog that’s convenient.

The rescue community is in desperate need of adopters who understand that commitment and are prepared to follow through on it — including vetting, emergency care, training, and the patience it takes to support a dog through their life.

If that’s you, we need you now more than ever - because dogs like Asha deserve better. And the ones still in our care are counting on us to do better for them. 🐾

👯‍♀️Kyra & Friends👯‍♀️

If ever there was a dog that loves a sidekick, it’s Kyra!

This beautiful bestie has formed a very close bond with her foster sis, Abby, and there isn’t much this dynamic duo doesn’t tackle together. As a senior, Abby leads a pretty “chill” lifestyle which Kyra doesn’t mind! Between cozy couch naps, and late night trips to the fridge to collect the Cheese Tax from their human (see pic 2) these two lovely ladies make a perfect team.

Kyra would thrive in a forever home with a laid back canine companion. Her amazing foster host Natalie has given her such a gift in a foster home to decompress and be herself, but it’s beyond time for Kyra to find a family to call her own now - this girl has been waiting far too long!

Due to no fault of her own, Kyra has been sadly overlooked despite all the things that make her so great. She is a “Velcro dog” to her core, making her an immediate best-friend kinda gal as soon as she’s decided you’re her person. She is also incredibly smart and eager to please - both qualities that make her incredibly trainable and FUN to work with!

When our volunteers step up to foster, nobody envisions keeping their foster guests for over a year. Kyra’s foster has been so patient while Kyra waits for her people, but she’s got major life events on the horizon with a busy family, work and school schedule. She knows she won’t have the time and capacity to continue giving Kyra what she wants to be her happiest self, so we really want to find this good girl her permanent spot ASAP!

We need your help to SHARE Kyra far and wide and help us find her HOME - Kyra is a medium-size, medium-energy, mixed-breed, spayed female who came to us as a found stray through one of our Ontario shelter partners. She was cat-tested after initially leaving the shelter and could likely live with a feline roommate provided there were appropriate introductions. She would thrive in a home with a canine companion, and a family ready to give her all the time, love and belly rubs that she deserves!

If you’re interested in adopting this sweet, silly insta-bestie, email [email protected] to start the application process 🐾💛

✅Annual Checkups and Prevention✅

Adoptable Kyra here, with an important Friday Reminder: BUG SEASON IS ALMOST HERE

With the seasonal thaw and rising temps comes the re-appearance of alllll the creepy crawlies, and the diseases they carry. I was thinking about prevention while checking our vet records recently and realizing miss Kyra is due for her annual physical exam and boosters, and now feels like the perfect time to talk about prevention meds.

Many Ontario vets now recommend year-round flea / tick / heartworm prevention due to our winter temperatures now not remaining reliably below freezing. Warmer winer temps means ticks can stay active year-round (or whenever temps are 4 degrees Celsius or above) which puts our pets at risk for tick-borne diseases like Lyme.

Bravecto, Simparica Trio, and Nexgard are just a few examples of flea / tick / heartworm prevention meds that your vet may recommend at an annual exam to proactively protect your dog from disease carried and spread by pests.

While it’s important to always discuss your specific pet and any concerns with your vet, it is crucial that prevention become part of every pet owner’s annual care plan.

Many rescues in Ontario are faced with astronomical vet bills and long, painful recovery periods for dogs when they wind up in our care after testing positive for Heartworm or Lyme disease - these treatment for these ailments is hard on the dogs, the people caring for them, and the veterinary teams responsible for their recovery. Nobody wants to go through this - please discuss a prevention plan that works for your dog with your veterinarian at your annual checkup!

While at your annual exam your vet will also likely check things like your dog’s body weight and condition, teeth, ears, eyes, boost any vaccines that need updating, trim nails, and ask YOU if you have any concerns about your pet’s health. Working with a vet that you trust and feel comfortable with is the very best way to keep your pets happy and healthy into their senior years - we encourage everyone to speak up, ask questions, and advocate for their individual pet’s needs.

Adoption inquiries for KYRA -> [email protected] 🐾💛

🛌Old Dog, New Tricks🛌

Jimmy has been in his foster home for just over a week, and every day he’s spent there he’s been a reminder to never underestimate a senior dog.

This lovely boy has proven to be incredibly resilient, smart, and sweet while getting settled in his foster home. His humans report he’s seemingly unphased by his recent neuter, and his visit to Darlington Veterinary this week for a full work-up revealed that aside from being perhaps a little hard of hearing and weak in his hind end, Jimmy is in pretty good shape over all. Great news for this older boy.

I recently discussed all things senior pets on the latest episode of the Rescue Chat: unfiltered podcast with Mattie's Place and Happy's Place- Retirement Home for Dogs and we all agreed - seniors rule! Jimmy (and his fosters) have been a joy to work with, and I love welcoming these dogs into our care. Jimmy immediately proved you can indeed teach an old dog new tricks - despite probably never living in a home environment before, he caught on to this whole dog bed thing really fast and thinks it’s pretty awesome!

As promised, I’m tracking our expenses for each intake this year to show our supporters where your donations go and what it costs rescues to get pets adoption-ready. If you’d like to donate towards Jimmy’s expenses for his vetting and care, you can do so via e-transfer to [email protected] and indicate “Jimmy” in the memo. Thank you for your ongoing support for this lovely boy! 🐾💛