A Ceresco couple are dedicating their lives to providing love and comfort to elderly dogs in need.
No matter the age or health condition, each dog is guaranteed a forever home with Shawna Clement and her husband, Joshua Bomberger.
It all started five years ago when Clement and Bomberger moved onto a 10-acre property about 20 miles north of Lincoln and founded The Farm: Senior Dog Sanctuary. The couple, who have had dogs for most of their lives, had a soft spot for the older dogs who they say are often overlooked.
“There was an obvious need for it,” Bomberger said. “These dogs, they needed somewhere to go for the last little bits of their life, and we wanted to provide them with something that was quiet and peaceful and very loved on instead of a shelter.”
But as pet owners know, it’s not a cheap endeavor. Last year, The Farm’s total expenses surpassed $30,000, with the majority going toward veterinary care. Over $23,000 came from donations with the rest coming from Clement and Bomberger’s pockets.
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Over the weekend, one of The Farm’s supporters, hosted a fundraiser at Lincoln’s Off Leash Dog Bar to help rally in more donations.
Clement said after vet and food costs, the rest of the money raised will be used for fencing material, beds, flea and tick prevention, toothpaste, toys and treats.
Currently, the youngest dog at The Farm is 8 years old, but the dogs typically range between 12 and 18 years old. When they began, the couple decided they wouldn’t have more than six dogs at a time, but that number has quickly risen to their current 13 calling the acreage their forever home.
As The Farm is licensed under the Department of Agriculture, they don’t necessarily have a numerical limit on how many dogs they can take in as long as the dogs are taken care of. However, Clement said they have their own personal limit based on the level of care they want the dogs to have while still providing a home environment rather than a kennel environment.
“There’s always adult and old and geriatric dogs that are at every shelter that need a home and I’m so glad that we’re able to do this, but there’s no shortage,” Clement said.
Most of the dogs come from the Capitol Humane Society and have been deemed unadoptable or are unlikely to be adopted because of their advanced age or health concerns. They also get dogs who outlive their owners and have nowhere else to go.
“Something I like to tell people is when you get a new dog or something, if something were to happen to you, who’s your ‘dogfather’ so to speak,” Bomberger said.
Instead of these older dogs living their remaining days in a shelter where Clement said it can be loud with bad smells, they aim to provide a less scary alternative.
“For these dogs that have been, in a lot of cases, living with one person their entire life or living with one family and now they’re in this scary place, it’s not a way to have your final days,” Clement said.
They also come with a variety of health issues such as heart failure, liver disease, kidney failure or a combination. Some are completely blind or have poor eyesight while others are deaf. Most of the dogs are also on a prescription diet.
“Old dogs have their own difficulties,” Bomberger said. “We have 13 dogs, and we currently have six different foods.”
Clement, a vet tech, has several Excel sheets to keep track of the different illnesses, vaccine dates and bloodwork. Another sheet contains dog care information including the food and pills for each dog for the rare occasions when they leave their dogs with another caretaker.
No amount of time with the dogs is enough as Bomberger said they typically have a year or two with each.
“The euthanasians never gets easier,” Bomberger said. “You never become inured to it.”
After each euthanasia, Clement said they discuss with one another whether they want to keep adopting elderly dogs. Each time, no matter how hard it is, they both want to continue.
“It is hard, it’s always hard losing them, but it’s absolutely worth it,” Clement said.
In the five years, they’ve had 35 dogs call The Farm home, 22 of which have since passed. They are far from forgotten as each dog gets a photo and sometimes a memento hung on the “Stairway to Heaven” along their staircase.
“I so hope that dog heaven is a real thing,” Clement said. “I want to go there, there’s going to be a horde of dogs waiting.”
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