The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Keeping dogs of the addicted safe
Group has foster program to help owners seeking recovery.
LEXINGTON, KY. — When Laura Helvey met Catherine Gabbard in her yard in the summer of 2023, she was sitting on the ground next to her dog, Bossy, crying.
Gabbard was about to disregard her court orders to go to addiction treatment for one simple reason: She couldn’t leave Bossy behind. Gabbard was packed and ready to run into the woods with Bossy, just so she could stay by her dog’s side.
Bossy, a pit bull-hound mix, also was pregnant and had been the only source of constant affection and support Gabbard had for the past couple of years.
“She helps me if I am sad,” Gabbard said. “She feels what I am feeling. When I was getting high, she was feeling the trauma from all of that, too.”
Helvey, a stranger to Bossy and Gabbard, sat and consoled the pair and ended up bonding with the dog. Helvey made the decision to foster Bossy so Gabbard would feel at ease to leave for treatment.
A few days later, she was fostering seven dogs — Bossy and her six newborn puppies. They were nicknamed “the recovery pups” and named after recovery facilities in Kentucky: Hope, Isaiah, Ethan, Spero and Arc. One puppy, Spark, did not survive.
Helvey, who lost her son Daniel to an opioid overdose in 2019, operates SPARK Ministries of Madison County, a centralized community center that runs as a nonprofit to point families and people with substance use disorder toward rehabilitation programs, detox programs, support groups, churches, job opportunities and more.
At its core, Helvey’s office helps remove barriers for people seeking recovery.
It wasn’t until another woman came to the small SPARK office building on Main Street with her dog every day, resisting treatment because her dog had no place to go, that Helvey recognized another barrier.
The group, “Fostering for Recovery,” quickly was created and calls were coming in weekly from people asking for Helvey and Kristall Morris to take in their dogs so they could go to treatment.
“Through all her struggles, that dog was with (Gabbard),” Helvey said. “That dog was with her when she lost her family, when she lost relationships, when she lost her home. The dog was with her. Bossy loved her unconditionally, no matter if they were living in a park or in a tent.”
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Gabbard wasn’t allowed to visit with Bossy for a while, but Helvey sent her pictures that Gabbard printed out and placed in her binder and on the walls in her room. When the two were reunited, Gabbard said, “Bossy knew I was better.”
Gabbard successfully completed her treatment program, and has been reunited with her family and Bossy. She is one of nine people the program has helped get into recovery by fostering their pets.
“When we started advertising it, it really took off,” Helvey said. “We get several calls a week.”
Finding fosters is the hardest thing, Helvey said. There are requirements that Helvey and Morris look for before allowing them to foster.
“We have had to turn people down because we don’t have fosters. That is our biggest need,” Helvey said. “It is really sad.”
When the dogs are taken in, they are taken to the vet for spay or neuter operations to establish responsible pet ownership once the pets are returned after they’ve been fostered. Fosters and clients sign contracts about their participation and expectations for being a part of the program.
Another hard part of working with the dogs and their owners is the heartbreak that comes with how these cases can be resolved and the stress of finding people to care for animals — sometimes permanently — on short notice.
The woman who inspired the program — the one who continually showed up to the office with her dog — eventually got into treatment. The group thought she would be reunited with her dog, Remi, after her three-month inpatient treatment program was completed, where the woman thrived.
But when the woman appeared in court on an old charge, hoping the judge would acknowledge her accomplishments, she unexpectedly was sentenced to eight years in prison on the spot, leaving Remi with nowhere to go.
On a video call that night, Remi’s owner said goodbye, pleading that the dog never forget her or their time together. Remi is now living with Helvey in her home.
With a lack of fosters, Helvey is no stranger to keeping the dogs herself. She currently houses three, in addition to her two personal rottweilers. Helvey has had as many as 10 dogs in her home at once.
“It is a really big need,” she said. “The rescue community is just overwhelmed.”