Swamp Haven

Swamp Haven Rescue is an advocate for underprivileged dogs that are in search of their forever homes. We teach them how to walk politely on a leash.

Our mission is to save innocent, death row dogs, plain and simple. You know the ones: the sad, hopeless, "throw away" dogs who are overlooked by society...Like the black pit bull abandoned on the side of the highway with her puppies, or the bloated coonhound suffering from late stage heartworm disease, or the terrified senior who lived his whole life at the end of a chain before he was saved. Not

only do we take these dogs in and pay for all their vetting (vaccinations, spay/neuter, microchip, heartworm/flea prevention) to get their health back in balance: We meet with our dog trainer for basic training. We take them to doggy daycare so they learn how to play in a pack. We work on crate and potty training. We teach them how to live in a home. Most importantly, we teach them how to love and how to receive the love they deserve! We are a 501c3 non profit and we survive entirely on donations. When you support Swamp Haven you're contributing to another life being saved from euthanasia, another injury treated, another warm bed for the neglected, another training session for the frightened, another dose of life-saving preventative medication, and most of all, you're sharing YOUR love even if you're not able to take a pet into your own home. We cannot continue to save these dogs without the support of people like you: People who are willing to fight for all of the forgotten souls patiently sitting in cages waiting for someone to notice them...waiting for someone to recognize they're worth saving.

06/12/2026

Wait‼️ A yard sale but every single thing for sale is dog related you say?! A literal dream.

Adoptions may be a little slow right now, but our vet bills sure aren’t. Especially with Meryl going to a specialist and needing chemo, we came up with a different idea to try to raise funds and we hope you guys will come out and enjoy.

Come out to this Sunday 9am to 1pm for some coffee and spoil your dog without hurting your wallet. We will have all kinds of gently used goods for sale and also adoptable dogs roaming around looking for pets as well! Meryl Streep herself will be there and one of her bucket list items is to go to as many Swamp events as she can and soak up all the love she can. Make sure you say hi. 🥰

We will be taking cards, but suggest bringing cash or change as we will have some bins at a dollar or less.

See you there! 🛍️

06/09/2026

Edith has come so far since we picked her up in February. She was emaciated, heartworm positive, anemic from fleas and ticks, and just a general hot mess. Today, almost four months later she is none of those things anymore. 👏🏼 🤩

Edith just got the clear from her long awaited spay and hernia repair and she is fully ready to find her forever people. Edith is dog, cat, and kid friendly. Her favorite thing is to mosey about using her hound nose to snoofle all that can be snoofled. Edith is hard of hearing, but that just means her naps are top notch, - which is her second favorite pastime. 😴 She is otherwise a healthy and happy senior gal. Edith will flirt with other dogs, but is generally just neutral in all settings, other than the occasionally prancing zoom which makes her even cuter if you can imagine it.

Edith had a day out and about where she grabbed a toy and a bone to toss about - literally the first time we’ve seen her do that ever - she explored the back yard, and then she napped on rugs, moving from one to the other like Goldilocks herself, looking for the one that was just right. 🤣

Edith is easy going. She just needs a soft place to land. She has somehow yet to find a foster home even after numerous pleas. We do not know if this girl has spent much time, if any, in a home, and so she may need some help with potty training and the very typical street hound counter surfing, but that is typical with the average foster, and no reason to say no to helping save a life.

Shoutout to for making us emotional with her flower portraits. 🌸

Adopt or foster a senior dog. Help Edith. 💖

06/04/2026

And just like that, Meryl is off to her fospice home 🥹

Truthfully, it’s been a difficult few weeks. As if this life altering news and trying to find placement for a “dying dog” isn’t hard enough, we had to step back and really wrap our heads around what finding Meryl a place to go truly mean - that we might never get the chance to see her again. To sit with the feeling that we won’t be able to love on this precious, perfect girl during her last weeks is one we wouldn’t wish on anyone. The absolute dread that whoever steps up to foster isn’t great with updates or sending pictures, that we can’t physically see the toll the cancer will take to know when Meryl has had enough before she’s in a world of pain, that we might not be there to say goodbye. It’s a lot to process and whew, we’re not even halfway there. 💔

But lucky for us, Meryl’s post made its way to the angel that is now her fospice mom. Rescue is truly a small world and when we got an email from someone that’s been fostering for Clay County Animal Services (where Meryl’s from) for over 10 years through a fellow rescue goddess that Tori and I both follow, and who’s passion is end of life care, we knew she’d hit the jackpot. ❤️‍🩹 Every single fear and worry is gone, the knowledge and experience are there, and the updates have already begun. Meryl has a bucket list that she will be working to complete every single day until she can’t anymore, and will even be attending any Swamp gatherings that she can while she is feeling good and able!🤞🏻✨

We spent the afternoon treating our favorite lady to lunch at and picking up some Togo snacks from , where she was told just how beautiful her “permanent eye makeup” is. 😂 We helped load her up, told her just how much we loved her, and that we would see her again soon. Because we actually will 😭 This whole thing has been utterly horrible but knowing this wasn’t goodbye, just a “see you later”, is a gift and we aren’t going to waste it. ❤️

05/29/2026

I have been typing and deleting the start of this post over and over. How do I tell you all that Meryl Streep has cancer? In fact, she has two different kinds of cancer. How do I say that Meryl is no longer looking for someone to adopt her and live happily ever after with, but that she is now looking for a hospice home?

You all know - we have happily taken on our fair share of medical cases, but this one is just different. We had a healthy goofy dog we have been actively trying to get adopted since February, and now we are coming to terms with the reality that Meryl isn’t going to get her chance at a forever in the way we wanted for her.

The light in all of this is that Meryl is completely unphased. Like 100% her blissfully happy, playful self, and we plan to do anything we can to help Meryl continue to have as many happy carefree days as she possibly can. We spent today at the specialist running tests and working up the best game plan for her. We are starting an oral chemo to try to slow down or “press pause” on the mass growth. Unfortunately we know that we will not beat her cancer, and truthfully we were promised only months left with Meryl.

We are looking for a fospice home for Meryl. Someone to simply love and spoil her rotten while we continue to pay all her expenses. We know this is not an easy ask. But please reach out if you think you may that home. We are also asking for monetary donations, as you can imagine her medical bills recently and upcoming chemo expenses will be daunting.

We wanted Meryl to find her people. But maybe we are those people. The whole Swampie family is her people. And it’s time to rally for Meryl Streep.

Swampie magic forever. ♥️

05/22/2026

So excited for the opportunity for two of our girls looking for foster or adopters!

05/18/2026

Many of you may remember Bindi Bee. She was honestly a tough adoption for us, needing to be an only dog with some anxiety and she took a second to trust you. But we advocated for her and didn’t give up. She bounced around from training, to temp foster after temp foster, to boarding for a year before her people finally found her. A family who was dedicated to Bindi from the second they saw a picture of her taken from .

Bindi has been happily adopted for a couple years now and loves her family and kids fiercely, and her family has proven over and over how fiercely they love her right back.

Bindi recently had a medical scare that had her in multiple ER’s for days. Her family was told the prognosis was not good. Her family was told they should consider letting her go. But for Bindi’s family it was not an option. They made multiple trips to the ER for days just to feed and support Bindi, because she was shut down and without them. The medical bills piled up as Bindi fought and defied the odds as only a badass pup like her would and now Bindi has made a full recovery and is back to being silly with her kids. 😭

In an effort to spread some Swampie magic and to support a family who embodies everything we stand for, we are reintroducing our Bindi tank top designed by the lovely . Each tank is $25 - half of the proceeds will go to future Swampies and the other half will go straight to Bindi’s enormous medical bills.

Shop online through our website or message us for in town pick up. Help us help our Swampies and rep some cutie merch simultaneously. 👏🏼

Let’s spread some Swampie Magic. ✨

05/10/2026

Just a few pictures from our day yesterday! Our Swampies got to check out the beach, some of them for the very first time! We met mermaids, pirates, and helped collect trash. What a day. ✌🏼♻️🌊

05/06/2026

Let’s talk about Golda ⭐️

Golda was found as a stray in July of 2025. She sat in the shelter for about a month where she was deemed unadoptable because they believed she was in heart failure. Surprising no one, she quickly made her way onto the euthanasia list. We took one look at her sparkly Disney eyes and happy disposition despite being forgotten about and given up on, and knew she was going to live the Swampie good life for however much time she had left. ❤️‍🩹

Surprising everyone, as is the Swampie way, she wasn’t actually in heart failure but simply needed medication to help manage her early stage heart disease. All it takes is a few daily pills to have her feeling right as rain? Golda says easy peasy! Fast forward many, MANY months later and our favorite golden girl is still looking for her forever home. She has not had one single inquiry 💔😞

Golda has been in boarding, two temporary foster homes, one longterm foster home, numerous events, and everyone has the same thing to say - she’s perfect ✨ She is anything with paws friendly, little and big human friendly, crate trained, house trained, and can be left out unattended without worry. She is quite literally an angel. She has spurts of energy when she tries to keep up with her puppy pals, but more than likely you’ll find her doing her best potato impression on the nearest soft surface. 🥔

This senior gal will easily blend in with any household, we promise. She looks good anywhere and everywhere, and in anything (all her festive looks included to prove it 😉). Think Golda would look good on your couch, or in your next family Christmas card? Please reach out. Let’s get this girl adopted before her year-aversary 🤞🏻

Address

Saint Augustine, FL

Website

http://www.swamphaven.org/

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