About Us

There has never been a time in my life where I have not been around animals.…whether it be the family dog, a petting zoo, and later in life, my own horses and more. The joy that my animals bring to my life is tremendous. I can’t imagine not having them there or being faced with a financial decision about their care that I could not afford.

When I adopted Rufus in 2016, I shortly thereafter  began fostering for the United Yorkie Rescue. My first foster was a failure. And by failure, I mean an absolute win. He was a spunky little 10-year-old dog named Nacho with a lot of health issues. There were several fosters after Nacho passed away that I helped find amazing homes. Then came along Sprocket…a stray who found his way into the rescue and our home. Again, another who would remain with us…sadly only a few short months as he was ill. At that point, I had to take a break from fostering to heal my heart.

Then in June 2024, I got a text from a neighbor about a small black-and-white dog who was wandering around our country roads. I went out to try to find him a couple of times, but never could locate him again. Two months later in August, another neighbor, a couple roads away again commented on seeing this little black-and-white dog. After a week of sightings, a friend who is well-versed in dog rescue helped me two nights in a row until we finally trapped the little guy! I took him home and named him Tucker. He was an absolute mess, full of fleas, dirt and mats. We got him all cleaned up at the vet, checked him out and surprisingly enough he was healthy. After no owner could be located, Tucker was adopted by a wonderful family with a dog sister and his own backyard and walks around the neighborhood.

During this experience with Tucker, I was able to raise money to cover his vet bills so that his new family didn’t have to worry about the cost. It got me thinking that I could do this on a much bigger scale! At that point, The Rufus Relief Fund was born.

My family and I live in Liberty Hill on acreage with our horses, donkey, dogs, cats, pigs and an undisclosed amount of chickens…