Lucky Puppy Rescue: an around the clock mission for dog adoptions

BONIFAY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) - Tucked down a dirt road in Bonifay sits a completely fenced in 30-acre farm that has grown to be a sanctuary for abandoned, orphaned, and neglected dogs.

“It’s not like a normal dog shelter, you would say,” Teri Mattson, the Director of The Lucky Puppy Rescue, said.

The Lucky Puppy Rescue is an oasis. Equipped with indoor kennels with outdoor access, walking trails, and fields of green grass as far as the eye can see.

“We, right now, this minute, are over 250 dogs and puppies, we never would’ve imagined that,” Mattson said.

The rescue specializes in caring for pregnant pups.

“That means we do an intake, we might be taking a mom and 11 or 12 puppies,” Mattson said. “Ours come in large groups.”

Groups of dogs who need homes.

Mattson said down here in the Panhandle plenty of people are bringing them dogs but not adopting. So, they’ve come up with a solution. Traveling 24-hours up the east coast to Argyle, New York where rescues aren’t overflowing, and families are ready to adopt.

“What we do is we bring our dogs from here and take them up there and find homes,” Mattson said. “Then we come back down here. We use a big white bus. We drive another load up there. That has been an outlet for us.”

On top of these trips, daily feedings, laundry, and kennel cleanings back on the farm have a hefty price tag.

“I stretch, I search, I budget, and we are probably at minimum at $60,000 a month,” Mattson said. “That’s just basics.”

Which means they need donations and volunteers.

“Come out and spend half a day, a day, once a week, once a month,” Mattson said. “Dogs need to be walked, handled, and socialized.”

Mattson promises volunteers plenty of puppy kisses and maybe a few shoestring bites. Which is a small part of what keeps her going day in and day out.

“I can’t not do it,” Mattson said. “I don’t know if that’s a curse or a mission I’m not sure which one that is. My life works around the mission now.”

A mission, that for her, is never complete.

“We celebrate yay we got an adoption, we’re bringing in another dog,” Mattson said. “It’s never one and done kind of thing. We’re never done per say.”

With help and love from the community, Mattson said you may just feel like the lucky one, too.

The rescue is always looking for volunteers!

You can contact Terri Mattson at 850-814-6500. You can also message The Lucky Puppy Rescue on Facebook here.

Copyright 2023 WJHG. All rights reserved.