INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) — A new Missouri retirement home of sorts gives homeless senior dogs that don’t get adopted from shelters a place to romp and roam.
Shep’s Place Senior Dog Sanctuary opened about three weeks ago in the Kansas City suburb of Independence. Founder Russell Clothier says he came up with the idea after he started walking shelter dogs. The high school physics teacher says he watched the older dogs “being overlooked” and it “hurt my heart.”
The sanctuary is named after a 10-year-old beagle-basset hound mix that Clothier adopted.
So far there are just two elderly dogs in the shelter and a third staying with a foster family, but he plans to gradually add more. He has room for 20, although he’ll likely limit the number to around a dozen.
