Today we’d like to introduce you to Christina Allen
Hi Christina, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Rescue has always been important to me, but when my husband and I moved to Texas, what I saw in the shelter system was both incredibly eye opening and devastatingly heartbreaking.
That first day volunteering at BARC, Houston’s city shelter, I fell head over heels in love with a little pittie mama, A volunteer next to me shouted “just so you know, she’s on the euthanasia list tomorrow.” I started hysterically crying right then and there. I was thinking to myself, “how can this perfect angel of a dog be face-to-face with death tomorrow?” I went home, sobbed to my husband, called my mom, called my sister, and developed a plan to get that dog out of the shelter. She was not going to die on my watch.
That dog’s name is Penelope aka Pippy. She was a 2 year old, high heartworm positive, pittie mama whose chances of getting out of the shelter alive are slim to none. I brought her home the day she was supposed to be euthanized. She has changed the course of my life forever – for the better.
Fostering Penelope, learning the ins and outs of the shelter system, educating myself on the devastating yet preventable disease that is heartworm set me on a new path. I became obsessed with pulling dogs off of the euthanasia list that rescues didn’t pull. I did it one dog at a time, fostering them at my home, networking them, and finding them wonderful forever families.
However, one dog at a time wasn’t enough, it felt like the tiniest teaspoon in the ocean of animal welfare problems – I wanted to make a bigger impact and save more dogs. Just like Penelope, there are wonderful dogs sitting at the shelter, who are overlooked for one reason or another and find themselves on the euthanasia list. Most of these dogs have no behavioral or medical issues – they were simply going to be euthanized for lack of space. So, I teamed up with my sister, Dana, who lives in upstate NY, and a friend, Sam, who owns a doggie daycare in Vermont. to build a rescue that would provide premium vet care, nutrition, and training to the at-risk and euthanasia-listed dogs in Houston.
Pippy’s Pals Rescue, in honor of Penelope, my very first foster dog, was then formed. After evaluating a dog at the shelter and determining they are a good fit for our rescue, we place them in wonderful foster homes in the Houston area while they are vetted and we can assess what kind of home would be best for them, then they are available for adoption in Houston or in the Northeast.
PS- Penelope landed the most ideal home: with my sister, Dana.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Rescue is never smooth or linear. Dogs can always present challenges – whether it’s an unforeseen medical issues, latent behavioral issues or simply lack of demand from adopters. Despite the near constant stress, I wouldn’t change it for the world. We are saving lives and even though it’s a drop in the bucket, it’s something. I can’t imagine living a passive life that doesn’t contribute something material to the lives of other living beings on our planet.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
While I have a full time job as the VP of Sales at Cure Hydration, a premium electrolyte drink mix brand, I spend my free time and weekends fully dedicated to Pippy’s Pals Rescue. You can either find me at the shelter meeting dogs, planning an adoption event, or making ridiculous noises in my front yard to get the perfect shot of a foster dog.
At Pippy’s Pals Rescue, we try to differentiate ourselves by focusing on quality over quantity. While we would love to pull every dog from the shelter that we can, we know that isn’t feasible financially and often not in the best interest of the dogs. We want to be able to focus 100% of our efforts, energy and finances on a small number of dogs – provide them with premium nutrition, get them high quality vetting, provide training to address any behavior issues, and provide our fosters and adopters with lots of support. Communication is key for us – it allows fosters to feel supported and adopters to feel that they know the exact temperaments of our dogs so we can find the perfect match.
What’s next?
For us, it’s one day at a time. We aren’t very forward looking since we really have to live in the here and now to attend to all of the dogs that are under our care.
The biggest changes aren’t going to come from rescues – the current animal welfare situation in this country is not one that we can rescue our way out of. Change is going to come at the legislative level – we need to enact and enforce spay and neuter laws, we need to have very strict laws around breeding and restrict breeder licenses so we can route out backyard breeding, and we need to have stricter rules and higher fines around quality of care for our animals.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.pippyspals.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pippyspalsrescue/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61557658377426&paipv=0&eav=AfY5YDk61HNDbmPI79nq673gAl0etB0GXx7NSh5MTPLYf6nAJheZpG2p_53R1QO3Qsc
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@pippyspalsrescue
Image Credits
Aspen and Willow Photography
