The Delaware Valley Golden Retriever Rescue (DVGRR) will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Sat., Oct. 19, 2019 at 11:00 a.m. at its Golden Gateway campus at 60 Vera Cruz Road, East Cocalico Township to officially open its new building and expanded kennel facility.
The building expansion will allow DVGRR to accommodate more puppy mill survivors in its nationally recognized Project Home Life (PHL) program to expedite their adoptions.
“Last year, we saw a 48 percent increase in the number of dogs we took in from puppy mills, and that trend continues,” said John Plummer, DVGRR Executive Director. “That’s good news, but in order to accommodate these dogs in our PHL program to help prepare them for adoption, we needed to expand our space.”
The PHL program began in 2009 in order to help rehabilitate retired puppy mill breeder dogs through behavior modification and acclimation to life in a normal home in order to improve adoption success. Many of these dogs have spent their entire lives in hutches or kennels with limited human contact. In 2013, DVGRR acquired the adjacent property and converted a ranch house into the Lynne Glennon Sanctuary for Senior Goldens and Puppy Mill Survivors. The Sanctuary ran at full capacity in 2018, and many dogs that needed the benefit of its group living arrangements waited in the main kennel until space opened up at the Sanctuary, delaying adoption.
Liz Ackerman, Executive Director for the Northern Lancaster County Chamber of Commerce will offer remarks at the ceremony and said, “It’s wonderful to see this organization doing so much and thriving in Lancaster County. We’re lucky to have them in our backyard.”
Plummer continued, “This expansion creates more space that replicates what we offer at the Sanctuary. Our metrics show that PHL works, and far fewer dogs are returned to us for failure to adjust to life in a normal household.”
The ribbon-cutting ceremony will be followed immediately by DVGRR’s Annual Reunion during which “alumni” dogs return for games and activities.