I have always had a profound love of animals since I was a kid. If you asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up I always said confidently “I want to be a dolphin and whale trainer” (until I was in high school and realized the implications). We had small mammals growing up (guinea pigs and hamsters) and I always wanted a dog. I must have hundreds of photos in my phone of dogs that aren’t mine but had to interact with. 

I considered becoming a Veterinarian in college but didn’t want to commit to all that school (haha). I instead inexplicably went the route of hospitality despite liking animals much more than I like people. After college I moved to DC and my guinea pig had just died and I was feeling sad without a pet but couldn’t get a dog just then. 

To satiate my need to be around animals I googled “volunteer with animals” and just like that Lucky Dog Animal Rescue popped up. I attended my first event in May of 2018 and spent 3 hours with lucky “Sassy” (you always remember your first!). She didn’t get adopted that day but it was still a wonderful experience. I continued to handle at events until COVID and picked it back up about a year and an half ago and have attended just about every event since (including Penny who is featured with me in this article)! Wanting to have even more animals in my life, I also started fostering kittens. Due to the fosters, and my own dog and snake my husband affectionately refers to our house as “The Zoo." Fitting since we do make it a point to go to the zoo in every new place we go (best so far is The Bronx Zoo!)

It still amazes me the work that Lucky Dog does. The amount of dedication and hard work it takes to organize the events and care for the animals is profound. It is rare that you find a group of people so united for a common goal and I am honored to be a part of that community.