Author: eliu

A long-time resident of Cherry Hill converted her two-story home to a sanctuary for dogs in 2018.

Lea Brandspiegel – founder of the nonprofit Paws Give Me Purpose Inc.- has been doing rescue work with canines for close to 30 years. With a background in hospice foster care, she decided to self-fund her own sanctuary to have more opportunities for saving dogs.

The facility is based in the same home where Brandspiegel’s children were raised, but it has since been sectioned off and organized to keep certain groups of dogs together in their own spaces. The basement was made into a play area, and there are beds and toys for the animals. There are also cameras in each room that allow Brandspiegel to keep an eye on all sections, along with a team of four staffers who regularly work with the dogs and 10 volunteers who come and go.

The dogs that come to Paws Give Me Purpose Inc. are seniors, special needs and hospice animals who would otherwise be euthanized. They come from all over – New York, Philadelphia, Texas, Maryland, North Carolina and beyond. The sanctuary doesn’t always know the dogs’ back stories; that depends on whether they were surrendered or found on the street.

Though there are a few dogs at the sanctuary because of behavioral issues, the majority have various medical conditions, included cancers, heart conditions and respiratory disease that requires oxygen therapy. Many others are on daily life-saving medication.

As of early November, Paws Give Me Purpose Inc. has 36 canines, some considered hospice dogs, and 24 dogs that have passed away.

“The heartbreak is that someone decided that these dogs were garbage,” Brandspiegel explained of her work. “Every dog here has a heartbreaking story; every one of these dogs came from either being thrown out on the street or the owner decided that at the (dog’s) age of 20, they don’t want them anymore. And they bring them to a shelter and say, ‘My dog is too old and doesn’t play anymore so I want you to euthanize them.’

“Some of the stories,” she added, “they’re one more heartbreaking than the next. It’s just unfathomable how people treat them. … They’re still dogs. They still deserve love, they still give unconditional love and they still deserve to be loved.”

Brandspiegel estimates the sanctuary has cared for about 183 dogs since it began, though many have since died. When a canine spot opens, she carefully considers her finances to determine whether she can afford to bring in a new animal.

“Some people think that hospice dogs should be euthanized,” Brandspiegel noted. “There’s a lot of people who think that … Just because they look like they’re dying now doesn’t mean they’re dying tomorrow. Just because they’re old doesn’t mean they’re worthless.”

One of her dogs, Penny, was paralyzed from the neck down when she came to the sanctuary. In the beginning, Penny wouldn’t eat and a veterinarian thought her condition was likely cognitive. But there was nothing on her X-ray, so the sanctuary worked with the vet to make medical decisions. They fed Penny and nursed her back to health before she started physical rehabilitation and underwent cold laser therapy.

Today, Penny not only walks, but runs. She has since become something like a mother figure for new dogs; she looks after them and seems to befriend those that might require more care.

Brandspiegel revealed that the sanctuary budget for this year was based on the dogs residing there at the beginning of 2024, a total of $93,000. The biggest expense is vet care – which to date has cost about $53,000 – then food. That cost is harder to calculate because some dogs are on a vet-prescribed diet, but the facility just brought in 50% of the funds it needs.

Paws Give Me Purpose is solely donation-based, with various options for those who want to help. Donors can sponsor specific dogs, give a lump sum or give regularly. Leslie Harris, a sanctuary volunteer from New York, first heard about the facility while running a grant fund under an organization that cares for unwanted canines.

“It’s humbling to know that in a world that is burning, there are people like this to care for these underdogs,” she observed. “I’d hate to see sanctuaries like this disappear.”

While many sanctuaries accept volunteers, there is a training process required to get adjusted to the dogs and the environment. Brandspiegel acknowledged it requires a strong heart to volunteer regularly, since there are dogs that pass more quickly than others. Her volunteers are encouraged to visit before committing to anything, so they know what they’re getting into, and visitors must sign a waiver prior to entering the sanctuary.

“We’ve had people come and go through the whole process,” she pointed out. “The application process is not easy, and they don’t come back because of the emotional component or the work is not for them.”

What’s helped Brandspiegel continue her work is that she’s able to give her dogs more time, whether it be a few hours or years, and that for the animals, days with the sanctuary may be the best of their lives.

Having a disability is not the same as a dog dying, Brandspiegel remarked, as there are different accommodations that can help. She encourages people to not just dump their dogs on the street, especially if their condition is poor.

“If you love your dog, don’t give up,” she remarked. “Your dog is family. It’s not yesterday’s newspaper … If you’ve been in a home with someone for 15 years, and that’s the only home and family you’ve ever known, there’s an additional component of abandonment.

“And that feeling never goes away.”

November is National Senior Pet Month. To learn more about Paws Gives Me Purpose, visit https://www.pawsgivemepurpose.com/.