Tammy Merrill

SOUTH PORTLAND — South Portland-based Island Dog Brewing and Ampion Renewable Energy, a solar company, recently partnered to raise money for Old Dogs New Digs. 

Old Dogs New Digs is a nonprofit organization that is made up of volunteers who are dedicated to helping senior dogs that have become homeless and displaced. 

“We advocate for all the senior dogs and cats now that are up for adoption in the state of Maine and Colorado,” said  Tammy Merrill, event fundraiser and coordinator. “Our founder Mandy moved out to Colorado about four years ago and she was able to open up there. Basically, local shelters and rescuers reach out to us to help them adopt senior dogs and cats. They are the most difficult to place, most people want a puppy or a younger dog for various reasons, so the seniors are tough.

“We have 10,000 followers on Facebook and those people are looking to adopt senior dogs and to also help them. We take in hospice dogs as well. We post the dogs on social media, and we are able to find them a home quite quickly.”

Old Dogs New Digs partners with shelters all over including Maine, Colorado, New Mexico and Costa Rica. The organization rescues senior and special needs dogs where they help get them into a loving foster family or their forever home. The organization is not a shelter; they keep dogs out of a shelter environment. It can be an incredibly stressful environment for a senior dog to be in a shelter, said Merrill.

Foster families assess the dog, get to know their personalities, and get them medical help if needed. This helps the organization to find a good match for the dog and find them a home that suits what they need. 

All proceeds raised support the health of the dogs with medical expenses or vet care. The organization also helps assist people who have fallen into challenging times that cannot afford proper food for their aging dog or vet care. This way their dog does not have to leave their home.  

Most senior dog rescues are dogs that have been abandoned due to owner passing or an older resident who has moved into a care facility, but other times it is because owners cannot afford a dog who needs a little extra help or medical care. Those looking to foster or provide hospice to a senior dog would need to complete a foster survey that can be found at https://www.olddogsnewdigs.com/.

Once approved, participants can choose the dog they would like to foster and connected to a shelter or rescue. Old Dogs New Digs continue to offer support and assistance while the dog is in the home.  

“Most dogs come to us with medical issues, that is what I constantly work on raising funds to pay for the medical issues that they come with,” said Merrill. 

Merrill reached out to numerous local breweries to do fundraisers like a Yappy Hour or Ales for Old Tails to help raise money. Island Dog Brewing owner Jim and Jody Denz, reached out to Merrill and hosted a Yappy Hour as well as other events over the years. Island Dog was founded by Jim and his with Jody Denz in 2017 and is located in South Portland, near the Maine Mall.  

“When we came up with our name, Island Dog Brewing, my wife grew up living on Mt. Dessert Island … and we have two rescue dogs, one from Costa Rica and one from Puerto Rico that is how we developed our name,”  said Jim Denz, founder and owner. “We knew early on we wanted to work with dog rescue organizations.

“My wife and I really liked their model of taking in dogs that are a little bit older that people who gave up and couldn’t find a home and that they fostered all the dogs. They aren’t all in a big kennel, they are all somewhere until they get adopted.”

The brewery and Old Dogs New Digs have worked together several times since then. The brewery created a beer called Silver Hound Pale Ale sold in four packs. In one weekend, Island Dog raised over $6,000 for Old Dogs New Digs. 

“We started doing small fundraisers with them and then during COVID we couldn’t do anything so last spring we wanted to do something a little bit bigger we wounded up doing one where we brewed cans of beer specifically for them with images of dogs, they have up for adoption or ones that had been adopted recently, “said Denz. 

Ampion, a community solar company, reached out to Island Dog to partner up and raise money for Old Dogs New Digs. The partnership allowed consumers to subscribe to a local Community Solar farm which will help save 15 percent on electric bills. 

“Ampion is a national organization,” said Katie Rooney, community partnerships executive. ” We are doing a lot of work in Maine right now because there is so much opportunity and a lot of community solar farms being built across the state. I joined a team to help build community partnerships with small business nonprofits in order to really just get the word out to folks in Maine about the opportunities available to them.

“I reached out to Island Dog because they had signed up to subscribe their buildings to Community Solar. I asked them if they would like to run this referral campaign and get the word to your customers. I think Jim saw this opportunity to help bring more people into his business and I know he had already been working with Old Dogs New Digs, he was really excited about the opportunity to raise some money for them.”  

Once a participant signs up, Ampion will make a $100 donation to Old Dogs New Digs on the subscriber’s behalf. New subscribers would also receive a $100 gift card to Island Dog Brewing. The campaign has raised $1,100 and is hoping to reach a goal of $2,500 in the coming weeks. New customers wanting to sign up and help the cause can enroll at https://ampion.net/islanddog?utm_source=pr&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=islanddog.

Those looking to help or volunteer, should visit the Old Dogs New Digs website or Facebook page or subscribe to Community Solar. Island Dog will host an Old Dogs New Digs event on April 30 through May. 1. Silver Hound Pale Ale will be available in six-packs. Cans will be available at Island Dog Brewing, located on John Roberts Road in South Portland.