•  Dog-Harmony Alumni

    11 Dogs

    • Addison

      Picked up as a stray. Nancy thinks Addison had been on the road for a while. She had health problems and she was very scuffy. Cheri and Rob Marchewka fostered Addison and they fell in love with their little escape artist. She is now living her best life in a cabin with her paw-rents, two other dogs, a cat and a bird in Suches, Georgia.

      From Rob: Addison was an abandoned puppy trying to be caught by the neighbors and she ran to me into my arms and started licking me. It was an instant connection. She and I have been buddies ever since and she reminds me of myself when I was younger. Full of energy, just wanting to play, explore and act goofy. Even when she won't listen it still cracks me up because that's how I was. She's my little mini me.


    • Belle

      Belle is Denny’s littermate and she found her fur-ever home with Tammy D’Agostino, who loves brindle coated dogs.


    • Denny

      Denny was one of eight puppies in a litter dropped off at a vet’s office in Pensacola. After they were healthy enough to leave the vet’s office, Dog-Harmony pulled them and started searching for new homes for all puppies. Amy Yanora, Manager of Robin’s Bikes & Fitness, had just lost a dog and wasn’t quite ready to adopt another one, but Denny stole her heart. He goes to work with her every day at the bike shop and with her on all her adventures hiking, camping and travelling.

      From Amy: Then I saw him at Hidden Dunes when Robin donated a bicycle for a fundraiser. I said, "Nancy, if you ever need help fostering, I wouldn't mind helping with that cute one, he's so handsome.” I had him for a week or 2 before hurricane Michael was coming and I told her Denny could evacuate with us. He was amazing! He drove in the back seat with the shop cat, Bubba and never made a peep. He slept curled up around my head and followed me anywhere. Everyone who knew me, knew I was going to fail at fostering. My husband Mark said "oh! I thought you were bringing Foster, the dog home, not, we are going to "foster" a dog"🤣🤣 He knew the first time he saw him, we would keep him. Denny has truly been a Godsend. I do not know what I'd do without him. He is TOTALLY my Therapy Dog. He goes everywhere, and I mean everywhere, with me.


    • Dublin

      Dublin came to Dog-Harmony from another shelter due to overcrowding.

      From Corey Flynn: Dublin found us. She brought her personality and charm into our household when things were just getting a little – well, shall we say - boring. She spiced up our world, challenged our patience and showed a new kind of love to us and our other pup, Irie.


    • Finn

      Finn came from another shelter along with Chloe. He was very shy at first and would not let anyone touch him. Janie Schmidt-Harris, a Dog-Harmony volunteer, and her husband decided to foster Finn about a month after their wedding. Finn absolutely completed our little family. He's been with us through so much over these past three years, and I can't imagine our life without our little snuggle bug.


    • Lucy

      Lucy came to Dog-Harmony from another rescue due to pet overpopulation. Elaine had just finished building a house with a yard perfect for adopting a dog.


    • Maggie

      Maggie came from a family who could no longer care for her and Shantelle Dedicke stepped up to foster the adorable Maggie.


    • Mercy

      Mercy was picked up as a stray by animal control. The shelter called Dog-Harmony to pull Mercy because she was not adjusting to shelter life well.

      From Maria Ramos, who adopted Mercy: How Mercy found me: I went to a Dog Harmony event to meet a specific puppy. While waking up, another dog, Mercy, ran up to greet me and got her head stuck in a fence trying to get to me. This happy dog with her head stuck in the fence is not who I intended to go home with but later she laid down on my feet I was done.


    • Olivia

      Olivia belonged to a family that didn’t have the time to spend on Olivia the way she deserved. Kathy Lamb, a Dog-Harmony volunteer and sponsor, met Olivia and fell in love. Olivia has been evaluated as a therapy dog. She and Kathy give back to the community by participating in programs with Intermountain Therapy Animals.


    • Pepsi

      At the age of 2 years old, Pepsi’s previous owner became pregnant and had the child. She decided that she no longer wanted Pepsi and took her to the vet to be euthanized. The vet refused upon the seeing perfectly healthy Pepsi and contacted Dog-Harmony to help find his fur-ever.


    • Rudy

      Meet Rudabaker James Brundage (AKA: RUDY). The Brundage family fostered Rudy through Dog-Harmony several years ago and just couldn't let him go. He was rescued off of a porch where he was caged 24/7, malnourished, diseased skin falling off of him, no hair and sleeping in his own feces. Somewhere along the line his left paw broke and was never reset so he walks a little funny. While captive, he wore down and lost many of his teeth from trying to chew his way out of his caged nightmare. Dog-Harmony rescued him near death. We took him in as a foster in hopes we could get him the medical attention he needed and eventually be well enough to be adopted out to a loving family. After many months of doctor visits and lots of love, this sweet baby's rashes began to heal, his hair began to come back and he was finally gaining weight. In the meantime, we all fell in love. We had all lived through something with him. Rudy and Chris became best friends, Kenzie and Payton fought over who could snuggle with him at night and I continued to wrap him in blankets and love to making sure he was living his best life. We whole-heartedly adopted Rudy.

      I know that Dog-Harmony is much more than rescue adoption. They go into schools and teach young children about bite prevention and work hard to train both animals & humans...….but Dog-Harmony is so much more to our family. They brought us a fur-baby we never knew we needed. I am so honored to fundraise for this local rescue that not only recued Rudy and countless other animals, but also rescued my heart. Please consider supporting. There are so many "Rudy's" out there waiting to be rescued off porches and free from chains & cages. This is a smaller local organization that could really use the support!


  •  Therapy Dogs

    3 Dogs

    • Chloe

      From fur mom, Christie Solomon: I adopted my adorable, energetic, brown dog, Chloe, from Dog-Harmony in Santa Rosa Beach, FL in November 2017 when she was less than one year-old. Chloe came to Dog-Harmony from another shelter due to overcrowding. Too many companion animals find themselves in animal shelters, which are overwhelmed in northwest Florida and by necessity have high euthanasia rates.

      New to the Panhandle area of Florida and looking for volunteer opportunities involving rescue dogs, I applied to Dog-Harmony in 2017. After meeting Chloe, I knew my life would change. I was in love with the exuberant, brown puppy in front of me and already wracking my brain to figure out how I could take care of a dog.

      Dog-Harmony emphasized that there was no pressure to adopt Chloe at that meeting, and that fostering-to-adopt was an option. The most important thing was to take the time to make sure Chloe and I were a good match and that we had fun in the process of getting to know each other.

      I have been happier than I have been in several years since I adopted Chloe, who has become my official office partner at Elevate Next. In fact, I started my own marketing and business consulting firm due in part to Chloe. It was a venture I had thought about for years, and I needed a work lifestyle that still allowed time with Chloe for training, socialization and adventures.

      With Nancy Bown’s encouragement, we became a certified therapy dog team with Therapy Patient Connections when Chloe was about six years-old in July 2023. We now volunteer through Dog-Harmony's therapy dog program at HCA Florida's Rehabilitation Center in Destin once per week and we absolutely love providing both staff and patients with laughs and smiles. 

      Chloe's favorite place at the rehab center is the physical therapy (P.T.) gym, because she can aid patients with their movements in the form of receiving pets or playing fetch (on a leash). She likes to gently lean into one for pets and massages. She genuinely loves people, and she seems to know instinctively when they need help.

      Once, we actually saw her reduce a patient’s blood pressure on a monitor while the patient gave Chloe an excellent back massage. Chloe has this wonderful presence that visibly reduces stress and anxiety for patients and staff she spends a short time with at the rehab center. The staff even nominated Chloe as employee of the month in February 2024!

      Best of all, Chloe has introduced me to an incredible network of dog-loving friends and colleagues. We both have made great friends at the local dog park and now new friends at the rehab center. Our favorite state park is Rocky Bayou, where Chloe loves to swim with her larger sister, Marmite.

      I can’t thank Dog-Harmony enough for the opportunity to adopt Chloe, who has truly rescued me, and become a therapy dog team to help those in our community.


    • Murphy

      From fur mom, Jane Taylor: I met Murphy in 2019 when he was 4 months old. I had recently lost my first therapy dog, Riley, and I was hoping to find another dog to be my partner in a new therapy team. As I was sitting on the floor waiting to meet my prospective new partner, this brown curly bundle of love came racing towards me, looked right into my eyes (actually, into my soul), and sat on my lap. It was a promising beginning for our partnership. His training took longer than I anticipated, thanks in part to Murphy’s free spirit and the lack of socialization opportunities during Covid. He trained me as much as I trained him, as he has a very different personality compared to my first therapy dog. After almost two years, we passed our evaluation and started our adventure together, eventually as a registered ITA/TPC team.

      Murphy and I started visiting the Point Washington Medical Clinic in 2021 and have been visiting weekly since then. Currently we are the only therapy dog team there, but the all-volunteer Clinic would love to have more teams on board. We see a diverse client population, including many toddlers and young kids. They love hugging Murphy and checking out his very fluffy tail and big floppy ears. Murphy has learned a little Spanish and always makes our Spanish-speaking clients smile when he does a few tricks in response to my commands in Spanish.

      Murphy and I also visit Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital in Santa Rosa Beach once a week with the team of Chris (my partner) and Sammie (Murphy’s younger “sister.”) Our time in the hospital is approximately evenly divided between interacting with clients and their families and interacting with staff in all hospital departments. We mostly visit with adults, but occasionally see kids in the Emergency Room and out-patient waiting areas. The hospital would love to have many more therapy dog teams, as we are the only two teams in the hospital now.

      Visiting with our dogs is one of the most rewarding experiences ever for us. The typical reaction from patients and staff alike is “The dogs made my day.”  People who aren’t familiar with therapy dogs often ask us what they do. We say their job simply is to make people smile. I’m proud to say our dogs have a near-perfect success rate of producing smiles.

      In Murphy’s free time, he enjoys playing with his sister and stealing her favorite squeaky toys, and hiking, camping, going to the beach and kayaking with our family. We also enjoy making public appearances at community festivals and events and in schools with Chris and Sammie. We help educate people about therapy dogs and encourage them to consider becoming a therapy dog team.


    • Sammie

      From fur dad, Chris Kent: I’m 70 years old and retired from my practice as a Real Estate Consultant and Counselor in 2021. Jane, my partner, and I have been together for 20 years and have savored significant travel (we camp in an Airstream) and our 3 generations of dogs during that time. Jane and her therapy dog, Murphy, were previously a PetPartners team and have just registered as an ITA/TPC Team this past year. Our dogs, Sammie and Murphy love to play with each other and are excellent travelers as we camp around the Southeast, and beyond.

      Therapy Dog Work:

      I worked with my last dog, Sam III (an F1 Labradoodle) for 12+ years as a PetPartners team. The first 10 years were exclusively with a local hospice (Covenant Hospice) and the final 2 years at Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast until his passing in 2021. Sam III and I also assisted during local PetPartners evaluations on multiple occasions as well as demonstrations and visits to benefit local charities.

      In July of 2021, I adopted Samantha Grace (Sammie), an Australian Labradoodle, with the specific intent of hospital therapy work.Though Sammie is a wonderful companion and personality, she required significantly more training and socialization time than Sam III:

      Local Classes:

      • - Dog Harmony: Puppy, Adolescent, Intermediate Obedience 1 & 2, CGC (3) and Therapy Team training

      Online:

      • - Sue Ailsby: Training Levels (Manuals)
      • - K9 Training Institute
      • - Fenzi: Working with Reactive and Hyper-aroused Dogs, Your Daily Zen, Teaching Polite Greetings, Reducing Overarousal and Reactivity, Greeting Skills: From Friendly Tornadoes to Warm Hellos, Engagement, and Relationship Building Through Play
      • - Suzanne Clothier: Really Real Relaxation Protocol

      Sammie and I passed our evaluations and became a Registered ITA/TPC Therapy Dog Team in November of 2022. We began working immediately in two local hospitals (HCA Ft Walton-Destin on Wednesdays and Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast one other day/week) and have continued weekly since that time.

      We enjoy hospital work immensely and hope to continue well into the future. We also enjoy participating in demonstrations and educational events to show the value of therapy dog teams.

      As a matter of fact, Jane and I constantly remark that this is the best job that we’ve ever had!


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