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Penny Miller gives abandoned senior dogs their best life before they cross the rainbow bridge.

Miller and her husband, Peter, established Frankie and Andy’s Place, a holistic senior dog sanctuary on a 12-acre ranch in Winder. There, older abandoned dogs from shelters or rescues live off-leash and cage-free in cabins with luxuries like massage therapy, whirlpool baths, leather couches and homemade food.

Miller, 60, is a British native and an animal behaviorist who has made a career working with last-chance dogs. After moving to metro Atlanta 20 years ago, she took her therapies to animal shelters in metro Atlanta. She noticed that the cute little puppies would get snapped up for adoption, but the older senior dogs would be stuck there and never get a new home.

“It used to kill me,” she said. “And it set me off on a crusade to change that story.”

Penny Miller is the co-founder and programs director of Frankie and Andy's Place, a holistic senior dog sanctuary on a 12-acre ranch in Winder, Georgia. (Courtesy of Penny Miller)

Credit: Penny Miller

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Credit: Penny Miller

Frankie and Andy’s Place operates as a nonprofit with three outreach programs: an advice service for senior dog owners, therapy visits for the sanctuary dogs, and free pet food distribution for those in need. In addition to a small full-time staff, the sanctuary relies heavily on volunteers who stop in regularly to love the dogs and tend to their needs.

“We can’t do what we do without our volunteers,” Miller said. “They give of their time and love on those dogs so much.”

For the 42 regular volunteers, helping at the sanctuary is “a calling.”

“It is a comfort to the dogs to see the same faces, people they know,” Miller said. “They make these senior dogs feel like they matter every day until they draw their last breath.”

After Frankie and Andy’s Place was featured as part of the AJC’s Inspire Atlanta series this year, the nonprofit received a dozen applications for new volunteers and accepted four. Miller said donations also poured in and were enough to pay for food for a couple of months.

The nonprofit distributes about 500 bags of pet food in two Jackson County cities every month. It also gives away flea and tick treatments, probiotics, ear cleaning solutions and other pet supplies, such as blankets, linens and socks.

“The whole premise is: We try to stop people from giving their pets up to overcrowded animal shelters,” Miller said.

People tell them they are grateful and that this has made a difference.

Miller would like to expand pet food distribution into Athens, which would take more volunteers and donations. They operate on donations, grants and sales from books written by Miller. She has written six books that appeal to pet lovers, drawing from her animal behavior and holistic care expertise.

“There are very few things in life you can do that bring this type of joy,” Miller said. “I feel blessed every day.”

HOW TO HELP

To donate or volunteer to Andy and Frankie’s Place, go to frankieandandysplace.org.

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