By Gabbie Burton
Contributing Writer 

 When you meet Max, a rescue dog and recent arrival at Greenmore Farm Animal Rescue in West Grove, it is hard to imagine the painful past that brought the gentle dog there.  

Max was found wandering in West Virginia with a rubber band around his tail. The injury became an infected wound that prompted a West Virginia shelter to contact Greenmore and transfer him to the rescue center to receive better medical care. Unfortunately, his care recently required the removal of his tail. 

Now, with his stitches still in, Max wagged his nub of a tail to a recent visit by a reporter and he also accepts endless pets and attention from the caregiving team at Greenmore. Despite the suffering he has endured, Max still keeps his sweet demeanor, and he isn’t the only animal who does the same. Each rescue dog has a unique story that led them to Greenmore and one day, hopefully soon, a positive story that will find them a forever home. While the Greenmore team saves animals, their mission extends beyond just the animals to helping people, too. 

“When you adopt a dog, you open up a whole new window to yourself,” said Founder and Executive Director Julia Altman. “A lot of these dogs have helped people as much as we’ve helped them.” 

Altman opened Greenmore in 2010 after acquiring the West Grove farmland, with a goal of maximizing the property to its best use. After growing up on a farm in Virginia and always loving animals - especially dogs -- she was inspired to start what is now Greenmore while at the same time balancing it with her nursing career. 

“It wasn’t fun,” said Altman, who left her nursing job five years ago. “I just want to rescue now.” 

Over the last 15 years, Greenmore has not only been able to save countless dogs but many other animals, which currently include a peacock, emu, goat, lamb, horse and pigs. Altman’s medical background has also proven to be a driving factor in rescues, as the Greenmore team performs a majority of their own vet services onsite, with the exception of surgeries and scans. 

“We do a good bit more than a lot of rescues,” Altman said. “We try to do as much ourselves, so we don’t have to pay for it, because it’s really expensive.” 

In addition to medical cases, Altman focuses on rescuing dogs from “high kill areas” where shelters euthanize dogs to make space for more. Altman has partnerships with people in those areas, many of which are down south, in order to pull dogs from those shelters before they are euthanized and give them a second chance at finding a home through Greenmore. 

To facilitate their journey to a forever home, adoptable pets are posted on Petfinder and brought to local events, including Third Thursdays in Kennett Square, which will see their mobile van parked in the heart of Kennett Square Borough on July 17.  

Public events have positive impact on rescue dogs 

Greenmore Events Coordinator Summer Stinson said that attending public events like Third Thursdays have been an effective marketing vehicle for the farm, providing not just public outreach in the community but volunteers, donations and adoption applications. However, the events also have a remarkable positive impact on the behavior of the dogs as well, according to Stinson. 

“When we see the dogs outside of the rescue, it’s an entirely different experience for them,” she said. “It boosts their confidence, and they get to experience being around people and things other than the shelter.” 

Stinson told the story of one dog, Cher, who recently went to an event where she was scared and timid to begin the day but eventually showed an evolution in her confidence. 

“There were kids there who were playing with her,” she said. “You could see how it just made her realize, ‘Oh, wait a minute, I can trust again.’ She completely changed just in the couple of hours that we were there.” 

Stinson, Altman and other volunteers will be bringing adoptable pups like Cher and Max to Kennett’s upcoming Third Thursday, as well as to Braeloch Brewing on Sept. 18 for a fundraising event. 

Events like these not only sustain Greenmore’s rescues and promote adoptions that benefit not only the dogs, but their human companions. The Greenmore motto of, “Saving people, one dog at a time,” rings true for just about any pet owner. 

“We feel like we’re enriching people’s families,” Altman said. “We’re generating happiness.” 

Greenmore Farm Animal Rescue is located at 246 Clonmell Upland Road, West Grove, Pa. 19390. To learn more, visit www.greenmorerescue.org. 

To contact Contributing Writer Gabbie Burton, email [email protected].