It started with a beagle. At a home near LS, older dogs free to live their best lives

As a new volunteer at the Independence animal shelter, Russell Clothier was saddened to see older dogs being overlooked by potential adopters.

“My wife and I adopted one, Shep, a slow, gentle 8-year-old beagle, and fell in love,” he said. “So we thought, what can we do to help other senior dogs like Shep get out of the shelter and back to a ‘normal’ home life?”

The couple’s idea grew into Shep’s Place Senior Dog Sanctuary, which opened in 2019, around two years after Clothier first began volunteering with the Independence Animal Shelter.

Clothier serves as president of Shep’s Place, a non-profit foundation. The sanctuary is located in a renovated older house just north of Lee’s Summit in Independence. The home can legally house up to 20 dogs, but Clothier said Shep’s Place prefers to care for around eight dogs due to the house’s small size.

“The goal of Shep’s is to let senior dogs live as normal a life as possible,” he added. “They live openly in the house, not in kennels, and are free to jump on the couch or sleep or whatever they feel like. As a sanctuary, the dogs are welcome to stay as long as they need, maybe forever. But if a good family wants to welcome one of our dogs into their home, we are glad to assist.”

Close to 75% of the older dogs are eventually adopted, with several finding homes in Lee’s Summit. The dog sanctuary does not accept dogs from individuals, but instead works with shelters and rescues to provide a home for dogs left at these facilities.

“Most of our dogs come from smaller, rural shelters that often lack the space or resources to care for senior dogs,” Clothier said.

Shep’s Place employs just three part-time staff members: a medical coordinator, who organizes the dogs’ veterinary care and records, as well as two kennel techs who make sure the dogs are fed, medicated and cared for each day. In addition, the sanctuary has a number of volunteers. Thanks to its nearby location to Lee’s Summit, the sanctuary draws around 20% of its volunteers from this community.

“There are compassionate dog-lovers everywhere, and some are generous enough to donate their time and energy to make a home for our senior pups,” Clother said. “The volunteers are the organization. We would be nothing without them.”

Shep’s Place is currently seeking new volunteers to sign up for two-hour shifts. For more information about volunteering or donating to the charitable foundation, visit shepsplace.org/volunteers.

Julie McGuire, a volunteer at Shep’s Place for almost three years, was encouraged to get involved by her daughter, also a volunteer at the sanctuary. McGuire, who lives in Lee’s Summit, said she began her visits to Shep’s Place with a focus on what is best for the dogs.

“I will give them all the love I can because they deserve it,” she said. “Most of them are confused because they don’t know why they are suddenly in this new and strange place. They don’t understand why their human isn’t there anymore.”

McGuire said every dog at the facility has impacted her. But Jenny, an older dachshund with multiple health problems, especially stands out.

“She was almost blind and she had trouble getting around so she walked very slow,” she said. “She didn’t like to be picked up because her little joints hurt. She loved going outside and trying to get her back in was a challenge. It sometimes took several minutes to get her to waddle back inside.”

Jenny lived almost a year at Shep’s Place.

“Her health finally deteriorated so much Russell made the painful decision to put her to sleep,” she added. “I’m certain I’m not the only one who cried that day.”

At Shep’s Place, the abandoned older dogs have the opportunity to spend their final days in a loving environment.

“No senior dog chooses to be in a shelter,” Clothier said.

“They used to be part of a family, but something happened, and suddenly they are alone in a strange, noisy place. The only way to make a dent in such a big problem is for local groups of animal lovers to band together, and see what they can do to help.

“Realistically, we know we can only save a fraction of them. But every old dog who comes to us gets a second lease on life, and that makes our community a nicer place to be.”