Touch of Grey Rescue helps senior and special needs dogs

Local shelters are full of dogs who need forever homes. And here's the kind of sad thing. The odds are definitely stacked against the older dogs that are there. So if they're seven years or older, they only have about a 25% chance of getting adopted, which is the reason why this dog rescue in Melbourne popped up. They are hoping to help this specific group of animals. David Martin joining us live to tell us more about their mission. And we're all just in awe, David, of how beautiful this facility is. Yeah, it's only two months old right here. But the touch of gray senior dog rescue has been in operation since 2019, saving hundreds of dogs every single year. It is my sincere honor and pleasure to introduce you to some of the folks who run it. Say hi to Wendy Johnson on my left. Hello, Wendy. Hello. And on my right, Karen LaFawn. Hi, Karen. Hello. And to Powell's right. Oh, that's adorable. Who is that? That is tubby. What's the story on tubby? So tubby was accidentally run over in his driveway and was surrendered because they couldn't afford his surgery. So we were called in to help and we he just had pelvic surgery and he's recovering and he is ready for his forever home. So how old is he? He's about nine years old. Oh, my goodness. So he's got plenty of years in front of him. Yes. So right now, who's holding him? So this is Nancy. Nancy is one of our veteran fosters. Nice. So she takes home dogs for a few weeks and and then sends them off to other homes. I presume. Absolutely. She's wonderful at getting our dogs adopted. So Karen tubby needs a forever home at this point. Yes, he does. He is still going through physical therapy and he has a couple weeks of that. But other than that, he is a lover. He is a sweet boy and he deserves a second chance at a forever home. I'll tell you, they might get spoiled in this home. What a beautiful property we're in. It's called the landing. It's you. You actually were the one responsible for getting underway, right? Yes, I was. I was actually one of the lucky space like stockholders. And so Elon Musk does not realize that he's giving back to the dogs. I hope he's watching right now. Thank you. It's a beautiful place with brick fireplaces and wood ceilings and wood floors. The dogs are in paradise right here, but they're not here forever. Obviously, we don't want them here. We want them to go to a family that needs them. Yes, we don't want them here long at all, actually, because that means the shorter they're here, the more we can save. Great. Let's go outside and show the audience what you have in the backside because it's just as nice as the interior of the house. This is touch of grace. Senior dog rescue. And I would ask you, Wendy, what's the average age for a dog here is what? So seven years and up would qualify as being a senior. We get them at every age, and really, it's hard to estimate how old they truly are. Okay, but the majority are estimated between eight and 10 years old. Okay, very good. And that is a tough age for shelters. They get them and people want the puppies. Absolutely. And it's a little bit harder for the older dogs to be comfortable in the shelters on the concrete. They get arthritis and, you know, yeah, absolutely right. It's tough living in there. Got folks in blue shirts. They are the trainers. Yes, ambassadors. Dog training. We thought we'd try something here live on television. Oh, there he goes. That is rocky. The ambassador chocolate lab. Is it right? He is a purebred chocolate lab. He was surrendered by his family, and he is now our house dog. He's our resident therapy dog, and he helps all of the other dogs kind of calm down when they come here. And he's also being trained to go out in the community and prove Karen that senior dogs make great partners. Yes, senior dogs make the best great partners, especially for seniors. Well, that's a good point. Yeah, because you don't have to train them. They're mostly most of the potty trained, right? They're just coming in and want to be a couch potato. Essentially, that's exactly right. They're very easy to take care of. And for senior people just hanging out on the couch or short walks, that's what they love. This is so great. All right. So what's it gonna cost for people to take home a dog from touch of great. Our adoption fee is $200 donation. But for seniors, we do reduce that to $100. Nice. Very good. And they're available seven days a week, I presume on the website. We can look at all of them. How many you have right now? I believe we have about 26. Okay, and you have eight of them right here. So if you're watching right now, you see a dog in Paolo's camera angle that you want to not rocky, not rocky, understood the rest of them would love a home. Oh, my gosh. Is this rocky's first time in the pool? Yes, he had an ear infection, but that's resolved. So now he gets to swim and play. Seems alike. He loves it. What's the website for all the info? Touch of gray rescue dot org. Amy, are you in love? Danielle's deputy. Do you see a dog you like back to you in the studio? All of them? They're so you adorable. I love a dog. Bad. Yeah, me too. Yeah, look at that. They're so sweet. Local shelter. Speaking of amazing are full of dogs who need forever homes. And so if they're seven years or older, sometimes they're not really adopted. In fact, they only have a 25% chance of being adopted. A senior dog rescue in Melbourne wants to change that. It's really a unique and beautiful place. David Martin is joining us live this morning to tell us more about their mission. Hi, David. Hi, Amy. Hello, Danielle. Hello, Stephanie. Hi, everybody at home as well. You're looking at a pretty dog named Mooney. Wendy Johnson. You are the founder and president of Touch of Gray Dog Rescue in Melbourne, Florida. I love what you do here. Thank you. I love what I do, too. You've been inside the landing this gorgeous house here for two months, but you've been in operation since 2019, rescuing hundreds of dogs a year. And what's the story on when you give us his back? Mooney came from our local shelter. He actually spent about eight months there. Believe it or not, he's the perfect dog. Um, but so we rescued him six months ago. We brought him into our care and he is still waiting for his forever home. But he has a meet and greet tonight. A meet and greet tonight at six o'clock, which means he could be getting his forever home. If what? What do you look for in the right match? So they're gonna come and take a look at him and and see if it's a fit. Love it. And eight months of the shelter is a long time. It is, especially for the seniors. It's tough. Yeah. Was he close to? Well, you know, so luckily here we have a no kill shelter here in Brevard. However, that's not the same at other shelters across the country. Unfortunately, we're swapping up all the water here. This is Doc here. Doc is the, uh, the touch of key. Now he's got touch of gray. Definitely has a touch of gray. So he was actually found drowning in a retention pond by one of the animal rescue coordinators at our local shelter. Her husband jumped in, saved him, brought him to the shelter and we took him home. My goodness. We say drowning like literally, literally on edge of dying. Yes, he had water in his ears. He had to recover the whole thing. Yeah. Oh my goodness. But he's wonderful and a great pup and ready for a forever home. Absolutely is. You're watching right now and you want to have a story to share with your friends and family and a good dog to doc is it? I love what you have in your backyard. Let's go ahead and look at the pool here. This is considered a therapy pool now. It is therapy and fun. You know, okay, why not? So we have a dog that's in the water right now. His name is Brogan bone in Brogan. No, we'll get it right eventually. What's what's the story here? What are you doing? So Kim is working with Bogan currently just to kind of, you know, um, doing some physical therapy. He's got a little hurt shoulder, so the water is really good for that. Now, is he, uh, does he need rescuing? No, no, Bogan is safe. Our two labs out here are buddies. So we had rocky out here swimming with Bogan and sometimes they just like to blow off some steam together. So you allow folks to bring the dogs were for some pool therapy. You know, that's coming. We are absolutely going to be looking at that program in the future. Right now, it's more of our trainers and people we know. Yeah, okay, gotcha. So Bogan is setting the stage for some other dogs that will potentially need some therapy as well. Absolutely. All right, so we're gonna go down to the garage and to do so, we go back into the house here and remind our audience as we head down there. How can they contact you and take one of these dogs home? So our website is where everybody's gonna want to go. It's www dot touch of gray rescue dot org touch of gray rescue dot org. Okay. And how many dogs you have in total right now that could use some home? So total, we have about 26 dogs, 26. Okay. And on property we have here right now about eight. Now we have about eight and we're gonna meet Bart, who is our hospice dog. Hospice dog. Yes. Good morning. Hello. Hey, Bart, what's your story? What's our story? So Bart was found stray. He came in, he was looking pretty pathetic. He's heartworm positive. He has some of the worst arthritis we've ever seen. He had an upper respiratory infection, intact skin and ear infections, basically a mess. Um, we didn't think he had much longer to live. We brought him here and he just revived and found a will. So how old do we suspect? Oh, gosh, 14. Okay. But he's got a lot of spirit. He does not like other dogs. If you want to bring Bart home, maybe this is good just for humans. Yes, exactly. All right. You do a lot here besides just play with dogs. You have a big mission in kelly. We talked to you earlier about the silent auction you have on the website touch of gray rescue dot org. And what are you holding there? I am holding a Children's book. Wendy has actually written two books and is in the process of finishing up a third. It was the night before dog mess and the other one is called Farkel finds his forever home and they are also signed by Mr. Yeah, that's a very nice. And what's the story on Farkel? So Farkel has narcolepsy with cataplexy and that's not Farkel. No, Farkel is up in new york right now. He's summering in new york. Um, but he has narcolepsy with cataplexy. So every time he eats, he gets really excited and he falls asleep in his bowl in his bowl. And that went viral on tiktok. It sure did. Yes. His first video hit nine million views. Oh my goodness. All right. So but Farkel, does he need a home? No, you can't have him. Okay. Very good. Any any other programs you want to mention? We actually have two new programs that we are starting in august. One is our sit stay read program for Children ages 4 to 10. We are inviting 10 to 12 at a time in with one of our certified trainers who has also written a book. We will have story time and then she will lead the Children through guided introductions, interactions and appropriate play with stuffed dogs. And once the kids are confident in their skills and we're confident with them, we will transition them to our foster dogs and the house dogs. And we'll also guide interactions and make sure that they're safe and understand how to approach and play with dogs. Teach them young. A touch of gray rescue here in Melbourne florida now available for you to come on down and meet and greet these dogs as well. Take one home there, Stephanie and Amy and Danielle and grab some merch here. The garage is full of it. It all benefits the touch of gray rescue. So you like that one, Amy? I know I do too. So cute. All right. So David, while you were talking about Farkel, we had to look him up. So we're now we're watching the viral video that you were talking about. Really cute. Really cute. Such an incredible place. I've seen it. Oh my gosh, she's out. Thank you, David. Who doesn't love a little doggo or a big doggo? I love to hug a big or a small one. We've been talking about it for a while. Local shelters full of dogs who need forever homes. And here's the thing. The odds are actually stacked against the older dogs out there. Yeah. If they're seven years or older, they only have a 25% chance of getting adopted. Right. A senior dog obviously needs extra care and there's a rescue in Melbourne. They're hoping to change that. David martin joining us live this morning to talk about their mission. And and it's true, David, right? Because a lot of times senior dogs, they have medical issues and that requires, you know, extra money and not everybody can do that. That's exactly right. And that's why touch of gray exists. Heck of a rescue been operational since 2019. They save more than 100 dogs every year. And you can thank Wendy johnson for her efforts and all of her volunteers. Wendy, congrats on an incredible journey you've had for the past 78 years now. Um, we are standing in front of what's called the landing. It's your newest acquisition for the rescue. It's a home. It is a home. It's a beautiful one. Let's go inside. I thought if our audience is just tuning in, they can see the whole operation here inside. Oh my goodness, who's this? That's rocky. That's our house dog. He's going off for an adventure going out for his adventure. Maybe a little walk will let you take rocky the ambassador out. But rocky doesn't need a home. He's got one. Rocky lives here. He helps all of these guys settle in and get comfy. Very good. Okay. Hi gang. How y'all doing? Okay. So I thought we'd give our audience an idea of some of the dogs you have available to adopt. They all have a unique story. Let's start with our friend Mia who's in the sun here. Yes. Mia is a beautiful big girl. She's about 11 years old and we got her from Palm Beach Animal Control. Um, she is actually going in on the 28th for a dental and an eye inoculation and she's gonna be ready for forever home right after that. Excellent. Next to her is champ champ champs are local boy. He came from the Brevard County shelter. He's got extreme osteoarthritis going on, but we've got him on lots of meds. He just came back from his therapy appointment, so he's feeling good. And so where was he for the past several years? Well, we don't know a lot of these dogs. We don't know their background. We just know from when we get him. So we just got him a few weeks ago from our local shelter. He was found stray and there was a third one we were trying to get. Yes, low key on this. Yeah, low key is chilling on the couch. What's low key story? So low key actually came from Orange County Animal Shelter and he had a raging infection and he was on what's called their last chance list. Um, so we had to get him out of there and we did. He we had his surgery and he's doing great and he's ready for his forever home. What made you decide to choose low key because you get a lot of offers. I'm sure it is really hard. I've got to be honest. It's you know, a lot of it has to do with who we have in our rescue at the time. We actually need fosters. So when we have fosters, we can go save a dog. That's true. So you need humans. We need humans to open their home. We can only hold four here, so we absolutely need more foster homes. You got four right here in the house, obviously for tv. We have a few more, but on the website you've got 28 that could use about. Yes, yes. And we do have hospice dogs as well. Some of those will live in our foster homes forever if they need to. But if somebody is open to adopting a hospice dog or fostering a hospice dog, we need that as well. Let me add this. We've been here since 7 30 and there hasn't been one instance where the dogs been made us uncomfortable or made us go that one. In fact, quite the opposite. Paolo wants to take all of them. Paolo can take all of them home. Why do you do this? When do you must have something in your heart? Oh, well, you know what? Um, it was actually inspired by my senior dog Tucker, who lived to 17.5. And so he is the face of our logo. If you go to see our logo, that's my dog Tucker. Uh, and he really is the one that kicked off this whole thing. I realized how amazing seniors are. And when I volunteered at the shelter and saw a lot of seniors laying on the cement and just makes your heart break a little bit more because they often make the best companions because they are quiet. I've got a dog at home who's now seven or eight years old. She's like a cat. And I like the calmness. And that's what senior dogs automatically bring to the house. 100%. That's why we always say, you know, a lot of people like the puppies, but they're a lot of work. And these guys will just come in your home and take a nap and feel like they've been there forever. You at home. Come on now. Help out. We got great. Good day. Orlando viewers. I love them all. And they just need to pop up 200 bucks to get one of these animals. And if you're a senior, it's only $100. That's correct. What a bargain. Yep. And we also have other ways you can support us on our website. We have our online auction. We have a pampered chef fundraiser. We're selling our ferkel books. Volunteer. Lots of ways. Good. You do it all here. The website's very easy. Jot this down, everyone. Touch of gray rescue dot org. Thanks again, Wendy. It's been a pleasure meeting you. Congrats on what you do here. Thank you for coming out and to your volunteers and helpers. Thank you very much for coming out here on Good day. Orlando to remind us that even though you got a little bandage on your front right paw, that's right. Who's that one? That's Mooney Mooney. That's right. You still need some love. And this one right here. Champions is ready for you. P. I'm telling you what. These are great dogs. All right, T. J. And Stephanie and Amy, get us out of here before we take one of these wiggle butts home. David is none of those dogs look like they want to leave. They're all like, you know what? They don't want to leave. There is a gorgeous facility here.