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Repo’s Rescues l Homestead & Sanctuary, Manistee, MI (2026)

06/01/2026

One thing I don’t show very often is what caring for Ginger Snap actually looks like behind the scenes. Most of you see the happy photos. The little walks, the fresh haircuts, the little adventures, and the moments where she’s feeling her best, cozy with us.

What you don’t always see is the diaper bag, the stroller, the medications and me changing her little pads and washing her rug and beds, daily.

Whenever Ginger goes somewhere with me, her little diaper bag comes too.

Inside are diapers, cloth wraps and washables, wipes to clean her afterward, puppy pads, treats, her harness and leash, a support harness for potty breaks, fresh water, a travel bowl, a clean set of clothes for her and all the little things that help keep her comfortable throughout the day.

Then there are her morning and night time medications.

Ginger is currently being treated for several medical conditions, and some of those treatments may become part of her long term care. Giving medications isn’t always easy, especially for a little dog who doesn’t understand why she’s suddenly getting eye ointment, liquid medications, and frequent vet visits. She often times gets sassy with me and we’re finding our way to make it easy for her. Making sure she gets optimal exercise for a dog with her age and condition is also a priority, to keep her strong and stimulated.

Caring for a senior dog with medical needs means planning ahead, adapting routines, keeping supplies stocked, and sometimes carrying a diaper bag that rivals an infants, and that’s okay. Many of you know I’ve been a special needs mom for some time. I’ve done the NICU, I’ve lived in a hospital while my son had emergency brain surgeries and I’ve navigated an autism diagnosis. Its not exactly rookie hour over here 😅 but I also don’t want to pretend a disabled senior dogs level of care is easy, because it isn’t. That doesn’t mean it isn’t absolutely worth it.

I think it’s important to be transparent about what her quality of care actually looks like, especially for those following her journey or considering opening their hearts to a dog with similar needs one day.

The happy moments are real, and the hard work behind them is real too. The transparency and the hard parts are just as important as the happy parts. For Ginger, both are simply part of life, and she’s worth every bit of it.

05/31/2026

Today was a big success for Champion and his foster brother, Henry.

One thing I talk about often is that successful dog relationships are built long before dogs are ever racing around a yard together. The goal is teaching them how to coexist, relax, and feel comfortable sharing space without pressure.

Today, Champion and Henry headed out for a quiet walk down a peaceful country road where they had the chance to acclimate to one another in a calm, neutral environment. They spent time walking, exploring, relaxing, and even enjoying a little play together along the way.

We still have a bit of boundary work to do, which is completely normal when dogs are getting to know each other, but I was very happy with what I saw today. Both boys were able to decompress, take in the environment, and practice existing together without the chaos and excitement that can sometimes come from rushing introductions.

Those quiet moments matter so much. Walking side by side, sniffing the same trails, and sharing positive experiences often tell us far more about a future relationship than a quick greeting ever could.

For now, we’re celebrating a really good day, two good boys, and another step forward for Champion. 😌

05/31/2026

Good morning, grab your coffee!
Today is a big day for our well known local boy, Champion.

One thing I’ve been intentionally careful about during his foster placement is introducing him to the resident dog. A lot of people assume that because two dogs seem friendly, introductions should happen right away, but as a behaviorist, I look at the whole picture. Champion recently finished his treatment for Lyme disease (yay!) but before he was treated, he was showing signs of discomfort and pain during his veterinary exams. Pain changes a dogs behavior. Even wonderful dogs can have shorter fuses when they don’t feel good, and that’s especially important to consider when introducing two extremely strong, athletic dogs. Especially when one is already established in the home.

Because of that, I’ve chosen to take things slow and set everyone up for success. Rather than rushing the process, I wanted to wait until his doxycycline treatment was complete and he was feeling more like himself before beginning any real integration work.

Today we’ll be heading over to his foster home to work through some training together, take a structured walk with both dogs, and start helping them become comfortable around each other in a calm, controlled way. We’ll also be working on some leash manners because Champion is still very enthusiastic about life and occasionally forgets that dragging your human down the sidewalk isn’t actually a sport.

Aside from waiting on his neuter appointment, he’s doing incredibly well. His foster family has been absolutely amazing with him, and I couldn’t be more grateful for the love, patience, and consistency they’ve given him. He is not an easy dog because of his lack of training and structure, and they have been so good to him throughout this process, even taking him to meet up with the people who always had his back. Champions journey is an emotional one that came with a lot of weight, and they have been incredible all the way through.

Happy Sunday from our rescue!

Thank you to champions foster dad for this precious photo he took this morning. 📸

The animals are all fed, the garden is growing, the coffee is hot, and we’re looking forward to another good day. ☕️🪄

05/30/2026

The coffee is on, the chickens are busy scratching through the soil, and look at little Shirley is spending the day out with the rest of the flock, getting acclimated and enjoying some sunshine while she roosts on a little branch for comfort.

It’s one of those beautiful spring Saturdays that makes you want to stay outside all day. We’re refilling pools, gathering fresh eggs, setting out flowers, and checking on the garden this morning while remaining grateful about little Ginger Snaps diagnosis yesterday full of good news for her. Taking a step back today to be able to breathe and take it all in is the reason I intentionally slowed our rescue down. I just feel thankful for Atlas’ big changes, Gingys positive vet appointment and Shirley’s little growth, today.

The dogs are stretched out in the sunshine, the ducks are making a mess of freshly cleaned water, and if all goes according to plan, it might even turn into a lake day or a hike later. Days like this are my favorite.

Happy Saturday, friends! 🐓 🦆 🐕 🪴 ☕️

05/29/2026

🩺 Today was Ginger Snap’s big appointment, and I have some really encouraging news to share!

Going into today, I had a lot of questions about her mobility, her old injury, and what her future might look like. We left feeling incredibly relieved!

The biggest takeaway is that Ginger Snap is actually in surprisingly good shape. She has a little bit of arthritis, but nothing severe, and the specialists feel that most of what we’re seeing is neurological damage. Because this injury happened so long ago, her body has already healed as much as it realistically could, and now our focus is on helping her stay comfortable, strong, and happy.

While her little legs still cross over when she walks and she has some mobility challenges, the recommendation is to keep her moving and using those legs as much as possible. At this time, she is not considered a candidate for a wheelchair because we want to maintain her strength and avoid muscle loss. The goal is to preserve the mobility she has and support her quality of life. The good news is that when the time eventually comes to consider additional mobility support, there is a specialist relatively close to us who can properly evaluate her, help determine when she is ready, and make sure she is fitted correctly for a wheelchair if she ever needs one! So we’re all set if that time comes.

She has started an anti inflammatory and pain medication for her back, and we’ll be monitoring closely to see how she responds. If the medication helps improve her comfort, mobility, or even some of her urinary issues, it may become part of her long term care plan. 🥲

We also received more good news. Despite older veterinary records mentioning a heart murmur, neither of the veterinarians who have examined Ginger Snap recently have been able to hear one at all! That was a huge relief.

The next step is waiting for her senior blood work results. If everything looks good, we’ll start discussing her spay procedure and vaccines. For now, though, we’re celebrating a really positive day and feeling grateful for the answers we received. Today gave us a plan, reassurance, and a whole lot of hope.

Thank you to everyone who has donated, shared her story, sent supplies, and followed along on her journey. Every person who roots for us has helped this little dog get to where she is today.

For now, Ginger Snap’s job is simple: take her medications, keep those little legs moving, enjoy her walks, soak up all the love she can get, and continue being the sassy little dog we’ve all fallen in love with here.

Tonight we headed home with one tired little dog, some new medication, and the wonderful news that she’s doing far better than I ever hoped.

05/29/2026

Today is Ginger Snaps big appointment day in the city!

For those of you who are new here because we’ve welcomed a lot of new followers lately, Ginger Snap came into my care after suffering a serious injury in 2023. According to the information I received from the vet, she experienced a fall and may have been crushed beneath a recliner. Since then, she never had advanced imaging done to fully evaluate what happened to her spine or leg.

She goose walks at times, favors one rear leg, often holds it up, and struggles with incontinence. While her recent UTI has cleared significantly with immediate treatment, our veterinarian also mentioned the possibility of underlying kidney issues, so we’ll be discussing that today as well. Her eye irritation is also gone with treatment and dry eye drops, and I’ve been treating her ears for infection as well along with weekly oatmeal baths for her skin. Little Gingersnap was VERY uncomfortable in her little body.

This appointment is an important step because it gives us the opportunity to finally gather information. I’ll be asking lots of questions, reviewing her spine, mobility, and overall health, and hopefully getting a clearer picture of what her future care should look like. It will also help determine whether it’s safe for her to move forward with things like spay surgery and her little vaccinations.

What makes today especially meaningful is that it only happened because of all of you.

Ginger Snap has been supported by an incredible community, local businesses, another local shelter, and people from all over who chose to send a blanket, a diaper, a bag of food, a few dollars, or simply share her story. Every single act of kindness helped get us here.

When Ginger Snap first arrived, I’ll be honest, I worried about her quality of life. She was uncomfortable, smelled strongly of urine, was matted, battling a UTI, and seemed unsure of everything around her. As someone who spends a lot of time rehabilitating dogs, those first few days can tell you a lot, but they don’t always tell you everything. I had to ask myself “am I doing the right thing?” because she was so uncomfortable in her body that it was concerning.

What I’ve learned over the last few weeks is that this isn’t simply a question of quality of life. Ginger Snap wants to live, and she is so worth all of this. My job is to make sure she can do that comfortably, safely, and with as little pain as possible.

I’m incredibly thankful that she’ll be in the hands of the team at Riversbend today. I trust them completely, and I know she’ll receive excellent care.

We’ll keep everyone updated as we learn more today!
Keep our little grandma in your thoughts.

05/27/2026

Little update! 🫚

Because of all of you, we have raised enough for Ginger Snap’s appointment this Friday, and a Costco dog food trip because we were running very low, and I can’t put into words how comforting that feels. Going into a vet visit without that pit in your stomach wondering “what if they want to run more tests?” is such a gift. For Gingers comfort, I want to walk out knowing that we have all the diagnostics she will need to keep moving forward comfortably.

Gingersnap has gotten so much support from all of you, other rescues, and even other local shelters have reached out offering little comfort items for her, which has been unbelievably kind.

I have some exciting things coming up over the next week too, so keep an eye out because there are some really great updates on the horizon! Let’s make it through this vet appointment Friday, and keep our sweetest little Grandma Ginger Snap in your thoughts.

Thank you for loving these dogs alongside me. 🤎🫚

05/26/2026

Update - GOAL MET! 🎉
We still have not reached Gingersnap’s goal for her upcoming appointment at Riverbend Animal Hospital, and this is a very important week for her care. Gingersnap has a big orthopedic visit coming up, and I am determined to make sure she gets exactly what she needs medically as we continue figuring out the best path forward for her little body.

At the same time, our food pantry is officially running very low, and we are down to just TWO bags of dog food left.

The encouraging part in all of this is that the last round of donations lasted nearly TWO MONTHS, which honestly says everything about this community. Every single bag donated helped keep bowls full, routines stable, and dogs cared for day after day here at the sanctuary, not to mention community members get food when they need it! That kind of support creates real impact, and I never overlook it.

This week is one of those “boots on the ground, let’s get moving” weeks around here for us. If you’ve been waiting for a time to jump in and help support the dogs, this is it. Every donation, share, and kind word helps carry this rescue forward and keeps me able to say yes to dogs like Gingersnap when they need a safe place to land.

This little rescue continues to move because people choose to care, and that will never stop meaning something to me. 🤎

Let’s rally hard for the dogs this week and make some good things happen together.

Venmo: https://venmo.com/u/reposrescues
PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/reposrescues

05/23/2026

Grandma Gingersnap had her little “spaw” day today and the girls over at The Groomery took such sweet care of her.

Her report card said she was a little scared of the blow dryer, which l feels very on brand for our fiesty old lady, but otherwise she did wonderful. They cleaned up her face so it’s easier for me to keep up with her current eye and ear medications, and trimmed down all of her potty areas to help keep her comfortable, clean, and easier to manage with her diapers while we work through her medical issues.

She came home looking SO cozy and feeling much better. She also got a little facial scrub done!

We are still actively fundraising for Gingersnap’s upcoming orthopedic appointment and imaging, so if anyone would like to help support her care, donations are deeply appreciated. Thank you guys so much for loving this little grandma with me. It’s been a busy day for us, enjoy the sunshine!

Venmo: https://venmo.com/u/reposrescues

PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/reposrescues

05/22/2026

This is a crucial week for us, so I’m doing $5 Friday! 🩺
I have to hit the ground running this week because Ginger Snap’s orthopedic appointment at Riversbend Veterinary Clinic is coming up in 7 days, and I want to make sure I’m fully prepared for whatever she may need once we get there.

Originally, we were quoted around $300 to $400 at Riversbend before Ginger Snap officially came into my care, and now that she’s settled in and we’ve had time to really assess her, there are a few more concerns on the table than we originally expected. Along with her orthopedic issues and mobility concerns, we’re also treating her eye and a pretty significant UTI. Thankfully, her medications have already helped her tremendously, which has been such a relief to see, but our local veterinarian did mention concerns about potential kidney involvement, which can be frightening because she’s old.

Because of that, I want to make sure I have enough set aside in case Riversbend recommends additional diagnostics or testing once they examine her. With seniors, and especially seniors this fragile, I’d rather be overprepared than caught scrambling.

The appointment itself is also nearly two hours away, which means packing up our 3 kids, arranging the day, taking PTO from work, gas, travel, and making sure Ginger Snap is comfortable through all of it.

Rescue work is never just the appointment itself, it’s the entire ripple effect around it too. We could really use help!

She’s worth every bit of effort, though. This little six pound grandma has already wormed her way into everybody’s heart around here. We got this, Gingy.

Here’s how to donate if you’d like to help Ginger Snap get through this next step safely:

Venmo: https://venmo.com/u/reposrescues

PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/reposrescues

Repo’s Rescues l Homestead & Sanctuary

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