Violence victims can bring dogs to Rockdale shelter

Victims of domestic violence can find help at one of more than 50 shelters across Georgia. Now at a Rockdale County shelter, pets can stay by their owners’ side.

Project ReNeWal will dedicate a dog kennel at 10 a.m. today in memory of Pam Spencer, a 49-year-old woman who died in 2007. She wouldn’t leave an abusive situation before finding a home for her dogs, said Vickie Stevenson, executive director of the shelter in Conyers.

“She gave her life to protect her pets,” Stevenson said. “For a lot of women who don’t have children, but have a pet, that’s their babies.”

Now those women have a place to bring them, Stevenson said.

Although the 20-bed shelter primarily serves Rockdale, Newton and Walton counties, it often takes in people from Gwinnett, Cobb, DeKalb and Fulton counties because those shelters stay full, Stevenson said.

Tom Wargo, who built the kennel and volunteers with the nonprofit group Daisy’s Dog House, said this is the first kennel he’s constructed at a shelter, but won’t be the last.

That’s because Daisy’s Dog House — in partnership with Ahimsa House, a statewide organization that helps people and animals in domestic violence situations — hopes to expand its kennel-building efforts across the state. Recently, a shelter in Brunswick expressed interest.

At Project ReNeWal, the 600-square-foot kennel sits inside a 10-foot-tall fence that surrounds the shelter. The kennel can hold up to 10 dogs, Wargo said.

“It’s set up … so people can take care of their own dogs, like they’re at home.”