Toni Appling’s first rescue dog, a black Labrador named Duke, was a large, friendly companion with amber-colored eyes. The almost 90-pound dog loved lounging near a bay window watching the world go by or resting by Toni’s side on the couch to watch TV.
He was an exceptional pup who put Toni on a decadeslong path of saving dogs — more than 1,500.
It was because of Duke, adopted in 2002, Toni decided to volunteer at shelters and with rescue groups to help other abandoned dogs.
The Johns Creek woman quickly realized Labs, oft-big dogs, and one of the most plentiful breeds at shelters, often get passed over for smaller dogs. It pained her to see these Labs in cages. She knew they needed special help. And without it, they were at risk of being euthanized.
In 2005, Toni, with help from two school teachers, Kristin Shildneck and Karen Stippich, created the Atlanta Dog Squad, a volunteer-run, nonprofit organization dedicated to rescuing, fostering and ultimately finding homes for abandoned, neglected and sometimes abused Labrador retrievers and Lab mixes in Georgia.
But now Toni the rescuer needs to be rescued.
The 64-year-old single woman’s kidneys are failing. She was born with an inherited kidney disorder, and her kidney function has recently fallen to 10%. Dialysis, a short-term remedy, appears imminent.
Toni’s health woes have forced the Atlanta Dog Squad to recently stop rescuing new dogs, though the group of volunteers remain committed to assisting any dog they’ve rescued in the past.
People in the dog rescue community and beyond, including LSU sorority sisters and childhood friends, are now rallying around Toni to help her get a lifesaving kidney. They are sharing Facebook posts asking for help. They are sending out mass emails. And some are getting tested to see if they are a potential match. Toni has no immediate family members who could potentially donate a kidney. Her parents were both only children. And Toni’s only sibling, Rob, a younger brother, also has polycystic kidney disease, and received a kidney transplant about four years ago.
A dog’s best friend
Inside Toni’s cozy, cabinlike home in Johns Creek, several filing cabinets inside a garage are filled with adoption files for dogs rescued. Each one is inside a yellow manila envelope, neatly organized by date. There’s Beckett, a gorgeous black Lab who had a broken leg and ended up at a shelter; Zeebo, an 80-pound Lab who was found squeezed into a small, plastic dog igloo, seeking shade from the heat at a rural shelter in east Georgia; and Buddy Elf, a skittish Lab, who, while in foster care, went missing on Christmas Day, sparking an immediate search in the Dunwoody area.
Over the years, Toni and her co-founders of the Atlanta Dog Squad visited shelters in search of dogs who may need some extra help to find a permanent home. Sometimes, animal control reached out to them about an abandoned dog — found everywhere from busy highways to rural roads to overcrowded shelters. Other times, people in the community contacted them directly about a dog needing a new home — owners moving out of the country or moving into a nursing home or who, for whatever reason, couldn’t keep their dog.
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Toni always gravitated toward older dogs — those who were 8 or 10 years old, the kind of dogs who might languish in a shelter. And Toni built a large network of volunteer families who were willing, even eager, to open their homes to older dogs. At any given time, the Atlanta Dog Squad had 25 to 50 dogs in foster care.
Cindy Ganues, an animal care specialist with Cobb County Animal Services, said the Atlanta Dog Squad found homes for over 200 dogs from the Cobb shelter, including older dogs and heartworm-positive pups.
By day, Toni worked in marketing communications at UPS. At night, she worked countless hours on the phone and computer, keeping detailed information about the dogs they help. She did home visits to screen prospective adoptive families. She and other volunteers with the Atlanta Dog Squad held adoption events at a Petco in Alpharetta every other Saturday. She also worked on detailed bios on dogs, which included personality traits, to help create a connection and help the dogs get adopted.
“Toni is one of the hardest-working people I have ever met,” said Shildneck, co-founder of the Atlanta Dog Squad.
Quest for a new kidney
Toni didn’t realize she had an inherited kidney disease until she was 29 years old, when she went to a doctor complaining of back pain. The doctor ordered an ultrasound, and while her back seemed fine, the exam revealed signs of polycystic kidney disease — clusters of fluid-filled sacs, called cysts, which can develop in the kidneys and interfere with their ability to filter waste products from the blood. The growth of cysts causes the kidneys to become enlarged and can lead to kidney failure. For years, even decades afterward, Toni managed the disease with medication and a low-sodium diet.
But in more recent years, her kidney function started to decline steadily, with blood tests — now done every month — showing a downward slide. By 2016, her kidney function had fallen to 20%, and she was added to the waiting list. Meanwhile, Toni’s kidney function has fallen to 10%.
Toni retired early from UPS in 2013, and then started her own marketing and communications company. She works from home.
The average wait for a kidney transplant in Georgia is six years, but older people, and those with O blood types, often wait longer.
Toni has blood type O, which has the longest wait because blood type O donors can donate to other blood groups, but a patient with blood type O can receive an organ only from a donor with blood type O.
According to the National Kidney Foundation, 4,408 people were on the waiting list for a kidney transplant for Georgia in 2019. The number has been steady in recent years.
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The average survival on dialysis is about seven years. However, there are huge variations based on the age and the nature of the disease and compliance with treatment: It can go from a few months in older and sicker patients to several decades in younger and healthier patients.
Dr. Frederic Rahbari Oskoui, a nephrologist at Emory University Hospital, said Toni is doing “remarkably well,” especially considering her low kidney function, and has been able to stave off dialysis. But he said at some point over the coming months, she will likely get sicker and weaker and have no choice but to start. Toni will likely opt for a home dialysis procedure at night, while she sleeps.
Rahbari Oskoui praised Toni’s outlook, and drive.
“My goal is to get at least one laugh out of my patients; she is one of my patients with the loudest laughs. She makes me laugh,” said Rahbari Oskoui.
Rahbari Oskoui said he has enjoyed getting to know Toni and her family.
“While some patients may cry and get overwhelmed,” he said, “Toni is a happy person. And she has a purpose-driven life.”
And it was a purpose on full display on a cool Christmas morning six years ago.
Buddy Elf
It was Christmas morning 2014, and Toni was sipping coffee at her brother’s house in Johns Creek. She, her brother Rob, and other family members had just opened presents when she got the call: Buddy, a black Lab in foster care in Dunwoody, was missing. Toni put down her cup of coffee, still warm, jumped in her car and headed over to Dunwoody to search for Buddy, who would then be known as “Buddy Elf.”
The first few hours in a dog search is critical. And a shy, nervous dog like Buddy Elf was the most difficult type of dog to capture. He was the type of dog who might run away from people trying to help him. Toni launched the search on foot solo. After three hours of searching and no Buddy Elf sightings, Toni headed home to work on posters — and a plan to mobilize a search for the following day.
“She took ownership of every dog in the system,” said Rob Appling. “And at times, that meant many, many hours on nights and weekends.”
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Toni eventually returned to her brother’s home on Christmas for a late dinner. After a few weeks, many signs and online neighborhood posts, there were a few sporadic sightings of Buddy Elf, but then the search went cold.
And then, on a late winter evening in late February, a photo appeared on a Brookhaven Facebook page. It was Buddy Elf, 8 miles away, in a wooded area behind a house. It was a fortuitous spot for Buddy Elf. The family noted Buddy Elf was taking naps, and they made him a ground beef treat. Little by little, he moved closer to the family, and by May, he went inside their home and became part of the family.
‘Such a big heart’
Toni’s support system goes beyond her family.
Mary Schrepfer, a friend, is going through the testing process. And while she and Toni don’t have compatible blood types, Schrepfer is offering to be part of a paired kidney exchange — that’s when recipients who have donors that are not compatible can enter programs where they are able to swap donors.
“She has such a big heart,” said Schrepfer. “She works long, long hours for absolutely nothing at all.”
Schrepfer has adopted multiple Labs from the Atlanta Dog Squad — Jake, Sadie, Harley.
“Boy, I haven’t regretted it,” said Schrepfer. “They have provided me such joy.”
“Toni has brought me so much happiness. If I can give her something that makes her live a little longer, I am more than happy to do it.”
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Toni, who normally has two dogs at a time, only has Miss Maeve, an older, sweet and easygoing black Lab. She has decided to hold off on adopting another dog while her health is in peril.
On a recent morning, Toni and Miss Maeve walk through a hallway. A framed piece of art titled “Dog Lessons” hangs on the wall:
Life is short, pet often,
wag more, bark less,
be loyal and faithful
Love unconditionally
KIDNEY PROGRAM
To learn more about Emory University's kidney donation program, go to emoryhealthcare.org/centers-programs/kidney-transplant-program.
STORIES OF DOGS RESCUED
Beckett, a beautiful black Lab between 1 and 2 years old, was found abandoned with a broken leg in 2007. He was taken to Gwinnett County's shelter, and the Atlanta Dog Squad brought him into their care, immediately transporting him to a veterinarian to have surgery and save the leg. He was adopted in November 2007 by a family in Avondale Estates. His forever mom described Beckett as "100 percent love."
Frank, an 18-month-old Lab mix, was injured by someone who had poured a caustic, bleachlike substance on his head, and he ended up in a shelter in February 2008. He was missing his hair on top of his head, and his skin was badly hurt. The Atlanta Dog Squad helped Frank, a dog with a sweet disposition despite what he had experienced, make a full recovery. In April 2008, he found his forever home with a single woman in Johns Creek.
Blanche, a shy 7-year-old chocolate Lab, was saved from the Athens-Clarke County shelter in November 2014. Blanche escaped from her foster mom and went missing in Atlanta for 16 days. The Atlanta Dog Squad mobilized a massive search, but in the end, Blanche was saved by the fire department and ended up in the Fulton County shelter. It was no surprise that the foster coordinator who had spent so much time and energy searching for Blanche ended up adopting her in January 2015. She renamed her Lucky.
