Today we’d like to introduce you to Hilary Woodworth
Hilary, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
In 2013 I went online to look for a cat friendly dog that was also good with kids and maybe housebroken and thought it would be a challenge to find, because rescue dogs are all broken, right? I was so wrong and instead of finding one dog, I found like 10 that were everything I needed them to be. That’s when the rescue bug bit me. I couldn’t get these dogs out of my mind and ended up adopting 5 dogs over the next 6 months. It was then that a friend told me about fostering dogs, so I didn’t have to try to adopt them all. Over the next 2 years, I fostered for 5 different rescues and learned from each one before i decided, Hey! I think I can do this rescue thing on my own! So in March 2015, I came up with a name for this little adventure called rescue and Charming Pet Rescue was born!
I used the back room of the house and filled it with 25 kennels the dogs would sleep in at night but all day, they had the run of the house as if they were pets, I didn’t have anything set up in the yard to contain them and that was a LOT of work. Let’s fast forward to once my amazing team began to take shape, those first years were so exhausting and stressful. As time went on, I had people that also loved rescue join the team and it’s been magical watching the rescue grow. Every year it’s better and better. One year we built covers over all of the outdoor kennels, then installed fans, we’ve built fences, and last year we built a beautiful Cattery! The fact that we are completely funded by donations and that we continue to grow and pay all of our vet bills is nothing short of a miracle! They say you know when you are doing what you are supposed to be doing it’s easy and fun! I have absolutely no doubt that Charming Pet Rescue was definitely my life’s work plan. We are all excited to see what more we can do in 2025 as we approach our ten year anniversary this March!
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?
Oh my goodness, struggles, so many struggles in the beginning. It was very hard having 2 small kids and build a rescue. I don’t really know how I managed it. It was hard to find vets that wanted to work with a brand new rescue, it was hard to take care of the dogs, market them and get them adopted all by myself. Sometimes I would get so busy doing the daily things, it would be weeks before I had time to get good pictures and a bio posted so they could be adopted. Before the structures were built for the dogs, every time it rained I had a house full of muddy footprints. Raising funds in the beginning was also hard because no one knew who I was. For about the past 5 years, each year just gets better and better! We are now a team of around 60 that each juggle different things that have to be done to keep the rescue running smoothly. I am happy to be able to say, Charming Pet Rescue runs very smoothly now!
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Charming Pet Rescue ?
Charming Pet Rescue specializes in family friendly pets, we are temperament specific, not age or breed specific. Since I started the rescue when my kids were little, I could only take in dogs that were good with kids and other dogs, since I didn’t have space for them to live separately at the time. That made for a lot of dogs that were easy to handle and easy to find homes for. It’s remained our guidelines when we are deciding if a dog is a good fit for our rescue. Although we have an amazing amount of large covered kennels now, we still prefer to stay with our roots, which was all of the dogs running together like a big dog play yard! One thing we hear over and over is how happy all of our dogs and cats are, how peaceful it is and what a wonderful place we have! Since we allow the dogs lots of kennel free play time, we get to really know each dog well. We get to see who runs non stop, who likes to be lazy and sleep under a tree most of the day, who loves it when kids come over, who barks a lot, who hardly barks at all and I think as a rescue, this is one of the most unique things about us. Aside from the dogs and cats at the rescue, we have many in foster homes and the information we can get on a dog from a foster is extremely valuable!
What was your favorite childhood memory?
My favorite childhood memory was when my little sister and I were about 4 and 8, after we opened all of our Christmas presents one year. We took all of them and brought them into a fort we made and I think we might have gone through a magical portal of make believe! I just remember being very immersed in it all and it feeling like more than a regular play day. I was magical that day!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Charmingpetrescue.Org
