iWag: Our History
Kristie and her late husband Joie (pronounced Joey) started a boarding and training facility in 1996. Over the years, they took in and cared for an average of 4-6 homeless dogs at a time and would find them loving homes.
Joie passed away in 2007, just after completing veterinary school and just as we were entering the recession.
Kristie realized that she was spending an average of $600 per month to care for the additional dogs and started asking clients for donations to help support them. Clients willingly donated. In 2009, she and Drew designed and sold t-shirts under the name "Life is labs" also to help support the homeless dogs in their care.
In the spring of 2010, Kristie and Drew took their first trip to a shelter to save a dog, Tonya. They publicized it on their Facebook page and the support for the rescue grew exponentially. Tonya was later placed as a service dog for a recently paralyzed young man and she continues to be his service dog now.
Over the last four years, the rescue program has grown to house an average of 60+ dogs at a time at our full service facility in West Georgia. We rescue primarily labs and lab mixes, but about 25% of our dogs are nothing like a lab at all. We provide daily care, medical needs, exercise, socialization and training at our home-based facility. We have large play yards and a lake. We have a small staff the helps run our facility. While the majority of dogs in our care are healthy puppy to adult dogs, we do have a hospice and palliative care program where we take in homeless dogs that are in their twilight. We provide medical care, daily needs and keep them comfortable until they are ready to pass on.
In addition to our rescue program, we have continued to offer boarding and training to the public. Proceeds from these services also help support our rescue.
In the summer of 2012, we purchased 24 acres in Powder Springs, GA to build a new facility with more space and opportunities to develop a volunteer and community movement since our home is not an ideal space for this. We are currently working with architects on the initial design of the facility. It will offer boarding, training, adoption, rescue, daycare, grooming, retail and other traditional services as well as community event and education space.
On November 7, 2014 we signed a lease on our 2nd home in Decatur, GA at 715 East College Avenue, the former Dearborn Animal Hospital. Both this facility and our Powder Springs facility will serve all breeds and mixes of dogs as iWag.
We have been looking for a place in the city, closer to civilization to give our wonderful dogs and rescue program more exposure to the public. Our current location is perfect for the dogs, but not very accessible for a lot of people.
Our new location will give us the best of both worlds. A more commercial location that's easily accessible paired with our country retreat where dogs can come run, play and relax whether they are boarding, training or new to our rescue.
We tentatively plan to offer the following at our Decatur location:
1) Adoptable dogs
2) Daycare
3) Short-term boarding and/or shuttle to boarding at our country location
4) Training
5) Retail
6) Adoption events for other rescue groups
7) Community events and education
For those of you not familiar with the building, it was built over 60 years ago. And to put it lightly, we have a lot of work to do!
We are currently working on our plan to renovate the building for our needs. There will be a variety of products and services we will need to get it ready for the dogs and open for business.
We have a scheduled occupancy date of February 1st (which will more than likely end up mid to late February). Please stay tuned to see how you can help us reach this goal!
We hope you'll join us in this adventure!