Each year, 3.3 million dogs enter shelters, and 20% are euthanized. On remote reservations, there simply aren’t enough shelters to help underserved Tribal communities. One solution offered by Partnership With Native Americans® (PWNA) is awarding grants for community investment projects through our Reservation Animal Rescue® (RAR) program.

Our Program Partner, Nola B., runs the 12 Hills Dog Rescue on the Omaha Reservation in Nebraska. She shared, “Our mission is to rescue dogs that are abandoned, neglected, abused, and surrendered in our area. Each rescue has a different need and personality, but they will always find love and care here as we see to their health and emotional needs.”

12 Hills is currently at capacity, and unfortunately, they’re the only local no-kill shelter. Nola explained, “The dogs are here for life, usually. But if they’re adopted, we will have room to take more community dogs that have been abandoned or surrendered. This will cut down on dogs being euthanized.”

To get more dogs adopted, Nola was awarded a RAR grant to hire a behavioral trainer. She noted, “Some of these dogs have never had any human contact close up, and others have been abused by humans, making them fearful and reactive. These dogs are not finding homes through adoption because of their special needs. If we ever want them to find loving homes, we need to assist each dog to become all they were meant to be. We truly believe that each dog has someone waiting for them and that they just need help in overcoming their fear/trust/socialization issues to become adoptable.”

Thanks to RAR, 12 Hills hired trainer Lacey M. to help their furry friends. Nola told us that receiving the grant was a big relief. “It lifted us up. Lacey is doing wonders,” she shared.

One candidate for the training program was a puppy named Hope. At four months old, Hope was found on the side of the road in terrible condition and brought to the shelter by a teenager who happened along. Hope was covered with tick bites, worms, and animal bites. “She was scared to death of people and biting,” Nola shared. After giving Hope antibiotics, Nola called Lacey for help, who brought her home.

Lacey lives on a farm with horses, hogs, dogs, and cats just outside the Omaha Reservation. She explained, “I’ve been rescuing feral and neglected puppies for years. It’s just been in the last couple of years that I have become affiliated with 12 Hills, and this year, I started volunteering.”

Lacey described Hope’s condition when they first met, saying, “Hope was very skinny and obviously had been neglected when I took her home. 12 Hills had been treating her wounds, so they were starting to heal. Mentally, she was extremely traumatized; any sort of human interaction caused her to lash out in fear.”

Little by little, Lacey built Hope’s trust and exposed her to the other animals. “I worked very slowly,” she explained. “I would sit next to her crate and just talk to her without making eye contact and put little pieces of treats in the crate. After a few days of that, I would start taking her out of the crate and just carry her in a towel so she could see the other dogs and get used to being out. She is still shy but getting more confident every day. It really has been so fun to watch her come out of her shell. She still has a way to go, but we are hoping she can meet approved adopters soon.”

Lacey wants donors to know, “12 Hills really is such a great place, and they are truly doing a necessary service as one of the only dog rescues in that area. They take in so many feral dogs and ones that need extra work that most shelters would not have time or resources to take on.”

Donating to RAR today can help Partners like Nola in their lifesaving mission to place reservation dogs with their forever families.