Our Story
This is my Chester. My first special need senior rescue. He was a pit-bull with cancer and terrible arthritis. The people at the shelter guessed he was between 10-12 years old. He spent over 8 years in that shelter. Almost all of his life.
I won’t lie, he was a lot of work to take care of with all of his special needs, but I wouldn’t change any minute of it. Towards the end of his days, I would have to carry him outside to go to the bathroom, and up and down the stairs. With all of his medical conditions, he was only expected to live a few months. Chester lived for two more years in our home as part of our family. That’s how strong the power of love is. It is in Chester’s memory that we started this sanctuary, so that we can love as many special needs seniors back to love.
Our Family
Hi! My name is Todd Giorgi, and I love dogs, and I love to love dogs. I especially love the ones that others do not want. I have a soft spot for the underdogs. The sick ones, the old ones, the hopeless ones. I too have felt lost and hopeless in my life when I was battling addiction. By the grace of God I found my way back to myself and back to love, and that is what I want as many forgotten, sick, and unwanted dogs to feel before they pass. I want them to feel that they are love and are loved. As one of my friends often reminds me, “It’s no coincidence that DOG is GOD spelled backwards.”
Alongside my wife Anna, we founded the Special Needs Senior Dog Sanctuary out of our home in Stamford, CT where we live with our 7 year old daughter Jagger, 5 year old son Lennon, and our special needs senior dogs. Separate from the sanctuary, I own & run the NY STRONG gym in Mamaroneck, NY which like many gyms, has had it’s most challenging year yet. (Read more here.) The sanctuary is funded by both our incomes and donations which we welcome and are incredibly grateful for.
Our Dream
With both our furry and human family growing quickly, we are looking for ways to expand the sanctuary to be able to rescue more special needs seniors and to love them back to health or until they cross the rainbow bridge.
Our vision for the sanctuary is to find a larger home with a bigger space and more land to be able to adopt many more dogs comfortably. Ideally, we’d have a few people helping out with feedings, and caring for the dogs. We would eventually love to branch out and help rehabilitate dogs and foster them until we can find them their forever home. By doing this, we could continually help on a much larger scale.
We would love your help to make our big dream of creating our holistic doggie hospice heaven on earth, a reality!