Today we’d like to introduce you to Susan LeTourneur.
Hi Susan, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
I have always loved animals. My mom tells me my first word was “cat.” We had cats growing up, but we could never have a dog. Unlike most young girls, I loved cats and dogs, but not horses. I was forced into riding at the age of 12. I took one lesson, and I was hooked. Now, I was a young girl who loved all animals. I chose the discipline of eventing, which combines the beauty of dressage with the skill of stadium jumping and the thrill and adrenaline of cross-country jumping. 25 years ago, I had the opportunity to pursue my dream and purchase a horse farm of my own. When I closed escrow on my horse farm, the first thing I did was go to the West Valley shelter; I needed a dog to complete my animal family. I adopted the dog that had been in the shelter the longest. I named her Cody, and when she got out of the car at my farm, she ran around and around until she was pooped! She was happy, and so was I. While pursuing my passion of the equestrian sport of eventing, I still wanted to help animals. I feel it is a responsibility, not an option, to contribute something significant in this life to make the world a better place. Before turning 50, I decided it was time to create a legacy and make a significant contribution to animals. While elephants and wolves are my favorite wild animals, I could not keep either at the farm. I could help shelter dogs and cats. I started volunteering at the Castaic Animal Shelter and was interested in fostering senior dogs. They did not have a program for that, so I took the steps to create Golden Years Dog Sanctuary. Since 2017, I have rescued over 300 kittens and cats, mostly through my volunteering at the shelter, and our rescue has saved over 250 dogs from the Greater Los Angeles area shelters. We are only allowed 18 dogs at the sanctuary. So, to save more dogs our rescue started a foster program in 2020, just before covid. We currently have over 30 dogs in foster.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Everyone who rides dreams of owning their own horse property and everyone who loves dogs wants a ranch with lots of dogs running free. It is a nice dream… no one tells you about the nightmare! It is a lot of work! My husband and I do nearly all the maintenance and repairs on our 11-acre farm. Just when we think we can relax and have a day off, something breaks, or a dog or horse gets sick. You have to love the lifestyle to have a horse farm and a senior dog and cat rescue in your home. Running a horse farm and dog rescue is not a 9-5 weekends off kind of job. My husband jokes that he married a farm, and it came with a wife. While we have help with the cleaning and feeding for the horses, we do almost all the work for the dogs and cats. I work long hours, and there is no real “day off.” Free time is more time to hang out with the dogs, clean up, organize, fix things, etc. I am not complaining as I choose to have all these animals in my life. I do love my lifestyle. But it would be nice, maybe once in a while, to be able to sleep in and not have to get up to do 20 things before lunch. Maybe in my next life!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next, you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Golden Years Dog Sanctuary was created in 2017 and incorporated as a 501c3 nonprofit organization in July of 2018. We are dedicated to saving senior and at-risk dogs from shelters. We seek out the old, sad, sick, never-going-to-get-adopted dogs and give them the best of the rest of their lives; in some cases, they only have a couple of months remaining. More often though many of these old dogs that we thought were sick or on their last legs thrive at our sanctuary and live not only months, but years! We have saved many hospice dogs that only had days or weeks left. These dogs were dumped when they needed love and compassion from their owners the most. We are heartbroken every time we say goodbye to one of our dogs, but we are also glad we saved them. They did not die in a cold concrete shelter without love and compassion. They pass while we hold their paw, whisper in their ear, and give them dignity and love to their last breath.
The current situation in the shelters is terrible. Too many people are choosing to give up their senior pets instead of either giving them the medical care they need or the humane euthanasia they deserve. We can’t keep up with the intake, but we do our best. Often, when the dog is on its last plea and has a day set to be killed, someone will step up and foster it. We can only take a dog at our rescue when we have space made by a dog being adopted or a dog passing away. That doesn’t happen often enough.
We also foster and save at-risk cats and kittens from the local shelters. I volunteer at a shelter where I foster kittens and the unsocial cats. We do take in hospice cats and unweaned kittens under the rescue as well.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
If you have a dream or a passion, pursue it!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.goldenyearsdogsanctuary.com and goldspiritfarm.com
- Instagram: goldenyearsdogsanctuary
- Facebook: goldenyearsdogsanctuary
- Youtube: goldspiritfarm
Image Credit:
Amy Berisha Aesthetics
