‘I would go wherever to get them’: Michigan man gives senior shelter dogs a loving home to spend their final years

OTTAWA LAKE, Mich. —

At Dirty Paws Agape Haven in southeast Michigan, Tom Pappas is living out his dream.

On 19 acres of land in Ottawa Lake, his family’s home is also home to more than 20 senior dogs living out their glory days.

Pappas networks with dog shelters across the Midwest to adopt their oldest residents and give them a place to spend their final years. He only takes them in if he has enough room at the time.

“Every time they have a senior dog not getting adopted, they say, ‘Do you have room?'” Pappas said.  “The worst thing, besides the deaths, which are terrible, is turning dogs away, dogs we know would probably do well here, but we can’t just have dogs on top of dogs. It’s not fair to them.”

The idea first came to him in 2017 after adopting senior chihuahua Walter, who is now 14 and still lives with the Pappas family. In 2020, Dirty Paws officially launched.

“You have the idea, I’m going to save old dogs so they don’t get euthanized and they’re not abused,” Pappas said. “I can do better than that. You get them and it’s like, how can I make up for 12 years of them being abused?”

Across his property, there are different lots for different dogs. There are grassy fields for bigger seniors to run around.

“Everyone can’t be out in the same area at the same time, so we built this pretty recently,” Pappas said.

There are even fully-finished indoor spaces for them to relax. Then, there’s “the cabin” for his smaller oldies.

In the back of his property, there’s a memory garden for the ones he’s lost along the way.

“It’s like a love and a loss, but it’s a victory because if they weren’t here, they’d be dead on the street, euthanized, or in some home being abused,” Pappas said. “It’s easy to take the loss when it’s such a victory for them.”

To Pappas, this isn’t work and it’s certainly not his career. He is a cardiologist.

“Every dog, I want to see every day, look them in the eye, ‘You’re loved, you’re here,'” he said. “It’s the same thing you’d want for your 90-year-old grandfather: dignity, love, passing on with their friends.”

While Pappas is making their lives more comfortable, his dogs are giving him a new perspective on his.

“Whatever time it is, it’s a good time because that’s what we’re going to take, each day a gift. Each day you wake up and think, ‘OK, I’m here,'” Pappas said.

Dirty Paws Agape Haven is not a shelter where people can come to rescue dogs. The dogs belong to the Pappas family and live on private property. To learn more, click here.