Johnson County ranch gives old dogs a place to roam — and find a new home

It was a quiet afternoon at Imagine FURever Ranch.

Co-founder Kathryn Lask stepped into a building with “Lucy’s Lodge” in cursive lettering hung above the door. Lola, a 7-year-old lab mix with gray hair growing on her muzzle, barked in excitement.

“It’s OK, honey,” Lask reassured her. Two more dogs, 9-year-old Penny and 14-year-old Peyton, stood by quietly. The ranch was “light on dogs” at the moment, Lask explained, thanks to adopters and fosters taking them in.

Lask, alongside long-time partner and co-founder Todd Mitchell and a slew of volunteers, has spent the past year fixing up four acres of land in Shawnee to create the non-profit rescue for senior dogs. Its grand opening is set for Aug. 27, but it has already started taking in and adopting out dogs.

A mailbox painted to look like a dalmatian stands outside the entrance to the ranch, next to a sign that overlooks 47th Street.

The property was once Oaklawn Christian Montessori School, but the school buildings have been repurposed for their new residents. Inside Lucy’s Lodge, a fence acts as a partition between two large pens. There’s a tub for baths and a table for grooming. The dogs have couches to lounge on to give the space a more living room-type feel, Lask said, “so that they feel more at home.”

The dogs currently up for adoption range from 6 to 16 years old. There’s no age requirement — a 2-year-old dog named Dougie resides in the office — but the primary focus is on those that are older and therefore often less adoptable.

The idea began to take shape three years ago, when Lask rescued Phoebe, a small white dog who was scared of everything. Not long after, Mitchell’s dogs began experiencing age-related medical problems. Caring for them led Lask and Mitchell to begin talking about the problems elderly dogs face.

“Watching Todd’s dogs age and the problems that came with that, that to other people might seem like an inconvenience or a difficulty, it just made our hearts grow bigger for them,” Lask said.

According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, senior dogs have an adoption rate of about 25%, compared to 60% for younger dogs and puppies.

People tend to shy away from adopting older dogs because they often have medical issues, Lask said. They require patience from their owners, especially if they struggle with mobility.

Senior dogs may also mean high vet bills, which Imagine FURever Ranch pays for through donations.

But senior dogs can also be much calmer than a puppy and have more training — and, of course, they’re just as loving.

“They will bring so much peace and joy and comfort to you,” Lask said, “and they need that in return.”

Lask and Mitchell started the ranch with all these aspects in mind. In December, Mitchell’s dog Lucy died, leading to “Lucy’s Lodge” as the name for the rescue space and “Lucy’s Lounge” for the office.

Lask, an online professor for Kansas City Kansas Community College, has little formal experience with animals. She was “inadvertently introduced to rescue” when she was a kid and her parents would bring home rescue dogs, she said.

“Interestingly, both of us founders were more dog lovers than knowledgeable, so we probably have the biggest learning curve,” she said. “We’ve always had little dogs, and we’re learning about the bigger dogs, how they work together. It’s been fun but, you know, learning.”

She knew running the ranch would take more than her level of experience, so she brought together a seven-person board of directors, all of whom have experience in the field.

But Lask is all-in. She’s even planning on moving from her home in Overland Park to the brick building just off the office so she can be on site in case of an after-hours emergency.

She envisions herself stepping out onto the front porch in the morning with a cup of coffee and watching people walk dogs and play on the lawn outside. The slogan on the ranch’s website is, “Where pooches & people come together.” Lask wants the ranch to be a community space where people can walk around or just hang out.

When the property was a school, she and her kids would come to camp-outs on the property, and she hopes to create a similar sense of community along with helping people fall in love with the dogs. The mission is strongly based in her Christian faith, and Lask emphasizes kindness and acceptance for the ranch’s volunteers.

“It’s like coming home for me,” she said. “And that’s what I want, for people who come here to feel that way, too.”

The ranch is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays for the community to visit, whether that’s to walk around the property or play with the dogs, as long as they sign the participation waiver on the website.

People looking to adopt can fill out the form online to set up a meet-and-greet time. For those looking for a more hands-on experience, the ranch has plenty of space open for volunteers and fosters to join “Lucy’s army,” as Lask calls supporters.

Lask also wants to hold events in the open space, the first of which will take place Aug. 27 to celebrate the ranch’s grand opening. It will host food trucks, inflatables and an obstacle course, and the proceeds will go straight to the ranch.

And in the end, it all comes back to helping dogs.

“You just want to save all the dogs, and you don’t have enough time. You don’t have enough money. You don’t have enough people. And it takes all those things,” Lask said. “So the more we can build Lucy’s army with the financial support, the more we can build Lucy’s army with the volunteers, the more dogs we can take.”

This story was originally published August 6, 2021 at 5:00 AM.