Cleveland, OHRESPECT THE DOG™
Inspired by one dog left and tied to the door at our founders dog socialization center Secondhand Mutts was founded in 2006 and operated as a grassroots community organization until establishing itself as a registered nonprofit in 2009.
Each rescue dog has a history and its own story. Although they can’t tell us about their past, the dogs can show us their desire for a new life. Our mission is to provide them with every resource possible to ensure they find loving forever homes and a fresh start. Many of the dogs that come into our program are pulled from high-kill or at-risk city and county shelters where their time has run out or the shelter is full. Some of our dogs come to us through other rescue organizations, and a few come from owners who can no longer keep them. Because we have a cage-free environment, we can only accept socialized dogs into our program. Dogs of all ages and sizes are socialized together, and we evaluate each dog before admitting him or her into our program. We tend to focus on shy dogs because they are often overlooked by potential adopters and rescues.
RESPECT THE DOG™
We started by rescuing a few dogs at a time, but as our volunteer and foster programs have grown, we can now admit additional dogs. We invite you to peruse our website to learn more about our mission and our dogs. We hope you find a furry friend that you can take home to call your own! Even if you do not find your future dog on our site today, we would love to help match you with the pet you are looking for.
Our Volunteer Board of Directors
Founder and Executive Director and Board President
Pictured with “Bob the Bloodhound“
Becca has spent the last few years building friendships and relationships with many of her clients at The Mutt Hutt as well as adopters and volunteers for Secondhand Mutts. Through these relationships she has created a small team of dedicated, committed and loyal folks to serve as board members. Read more about her journey helping animals here.
Medical Adviser & Care Coordinator
Emily Sestak currently works as a Veterinary Technician at Gateway Animal Clinic, and has been in the field for about 7 years. Her passion is thoroughly about the love and care of all animals, particularly dogs. She owns 3 dogs which are her life; and she’s been quoted saying “I would do anything for them”. Emily was introduced to Secondhand Mutts through the Mutt Hutt, when I brought her high energy dog there about a year and a half ago. She believed that the idea of daycare, connected with a dog rescue was brilliant, and points anyone looking for a dog, towards Secondhand Mutts.
Secondhand Mutts is a rescue that she firmly believe does “Respect The Dog”. Which when working in the animal field, this is undoubtedly the most important thing for the dogs. Emily is a great asset to the board because of her knowledge and eagerness to give new ideas. She is looking forward to giving insight on some adoption education, as well as new projects working directly with Becca. Her clear ability to think creatively, drive business initiatives and give my time are some of her greatest contributions she can provide to Secondhand Mutts with. The well being of the dog is something Emily is passionate about and always will be.
Fundraising & Marketing Committee
Kerry Capwell is an avid volunteer driven by her love for community involvement. Over the years she has served in various board & volunteer positions with Visiting Nurse Association, Tremont West Development Corporation, Tremont Community artist-in- residence program, and the Tremont Trek and the Friends of Cleveland Institute of Music. A banker for the past 20+ years, she has been employed by U.S. Bank for more than a decade and enjoys her role managing the corporate recognition programs including celebrations of Years of Service and peer to peer recognition. While Kerry is a loving cat owner, she is a true lover of all dogs, and any animal great and small (but mostly Bora the beagle), but will happily be a cat tester for any Secondhand Mutt’s that need an evaluation with their feline friends. She has been an emergency foster mother for needy pups and says that her house has all the furkids it can handle right now – but that can change!!
Alysse Boyd is a Physician Assistant working in Cleveland, Ohio. She has long been an advocate of rescue dogs, adopting as well as fostering with several local organizations primarily Secondhand Mutts. She and her husband maintain a 2.5 dog household, the .5 being for a dog (or litter) in need. Her heart has a particular soft spot for special needs (medical/hospice) as well as pregnant dogs and new litters. She is passionate about ensuring those around her are “living a good life”, both people and dogs. She has two rescue dogs of her own, Ivy and Lyla, who teach all the “newcomers” how to doggy.
Fundraising & Marketing Committee
My name is Brooke Foor. I live in Brook Park, Ohio. I am a litigation paralegal for a local law firm foror 15 years. I have been married to my husband Donald for almost 12 years. I have adopted a dog from the Medina SPCA this week and I also have 2 cats and lots of lizards. I have grown up with animals all my life. I am currently an active volunteer with Secondhand Mutts and the Medina SPCA. I am a lead chaperone for Secondhand Mutts and I also help with transports, fundraising and meet and greets. I volunteer at the Medina SPCA taking care of the cats on Saturday mornings as well as the rescue horses/pig/goats that the SPCA has at their rescue barn. I began actively volunteering with Secondhand Mutts in early 2015. The reason I decided to volunteer for Secondhand Mutts was because of Miracle. I saw the story on the news when she was rescued by Secondhand Mutts and the care they were giving her and not giving up on her, inspired me to fill out the volunteer application.
Our Community Partner
We are very proud to have such a wonderful group of professional supporters. Knowing they support great causes like ours, we encourage you to seek out their services for your own needs.
Gateway Animal Clinic
The majority of our dogs receive medical care from the wonderful staff at Gateway Animal Clinic. Established in Tremont in 1999 the clinic is a walk-in facility serving the greater Cleveland area.
PetFix Northeast Ohio
PetFix is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to ending pet overpopulation in Northeast Ohio by promoting the importance of spay/neuter and making spay/neuter resources affordable and accessible to all pet owners, feral cat caregivers, shelters, rescues, and animal control agencies placing animals for adoption. PetFix has been operating its mobile spay/neuter clinic since 2006 and opened a stationary spay/neuter clinic in Euclid in 2013. The PetFix medical team has altered over 30,000 dogs and cats, preventing hundreds of thousands of animals from ending up in shelters or living as strays.
Pet People
Every month as featured on our events page Pet People hosts our dogs and volunteers to raise awareness for our cause in an effort to place more dogs in loving homes. Pet People helps their customers take care of their pets by offering superior and unique pet foods and supplies. Locally, please shop at the Rocky River and Avon store locations near you.
Tremont Animal Clinic
Most often servicing our pets for specialized services and surgeries Tremont Animal Clinic is a local favorite providing all services focuses on the health and well-being of dogs and cats.
