Hi everyone! It’s Carly, the author of these blog posts, and the founder of “The Bridge Between Animal Rescue”. I started a blog back in January of 2020, right before the pandemic began, and it was called “The Happy Dog is Good”. I will be posting some of my old writings on this page, but hope to get back into writing new pieces as well.
I have always enjoyed writing, even from a young age. It’s much easier for me to get emotions, opinions, information, or anything like that out into the world through written words rather than spoken. When I started my blog, my goal was to help educate and inform dog owners on how to keep their dogs happy and healthy. The reason that I made that my goal, was because once I started working in animal rescue, I witnessed how many dogs were surrendered or abandoned for reasons that all led back to the fault of their owners. Some of these reasons included picking out a dog that didn’t match their lifestyle, ignoring signs/symptoms of illnesses, neglecting to give their dog proper training/structure, not allowing their dogs to get enough exercise, and so on. I have witnessed so many dogs who were deemed hopeless become wonderful dogs when those needs are addressed. It continues to inspire me to not only write, but it inspired me to start my own nonprofit animal rescue.
Here in my blog posts, I will continue to talk about how to keep dogs happy and healthy in hopes of avoiding issues that may cause people to surrender or abandon their pets. I also hope to write more about animal rescue in general, and bring awareness to the welfare of animals across the south. I hope that this blog can inspire even one person when it comes to keeping our pets happy and healthy and doing right by them, and maybe even inspire some to go volunteer at local shelters, open their home to a foster, or even adopt.
Pictured above is younger me with two of my childhood dogs: Sydney and Charlie!
Now for a little bit of information about me and how I ended up here… I was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, but my family moved just across the border to a little town called Fort Mill in South Carolina. We had a couple of acres, and a house full of pets. My parents, like me, are avid animal lovers. They both had pets before meeting each other, and some of those pets even lived to meet their kids - AKA my older brother and I.
In my childhood home, we spent a lot of time with our pets. We played in the yard, went for walks, and snuggled up on the couch for movie nights. We also spent a lot of time going to our local humane society to love on the cats and dogs in the shetler. In addition to all of that, we also had many instances where animals needed our help and we stepped up. Whether it was finding orphaned baby opossums and getting them to a wildlife rehabilitation, helping birds/squirrels/bunnies back to their nest, reuniting strays with their owners, or taking in strays who needed a home, we never ignored an animal in need. I was raised to believe that helping animals when needed wasn’t an option, but a duty, and a privilege.
My first ever foster dog, Georgie!I started fostering my sophomore year of college, and fostered off and on for years to come. I initially spent a lot of my time fostering for a catahoula rescue, where different catahoulas would come to me from all over the southeast. I started an instagram page called “Carly’s Critters” to help showcase my fosters and share pictures and posts of my own pets.
In the summer of 2021, the shelters in my local community were all code red. As the pandemic was coming to an end, people were going back to their pre-pandemic lives and dumping their new pets left and right. The shelters who were sitting empty in the beginning of the pandemic, had suddenly become overflowing with unwanted pets, and officially declared themselves as “code red”. This is when I knew that I needed to help local shelters.
Pictured above is "Mylah", one of the dogs I fostered during the summer/fall 2021.
With the help of social media and the rescue community in the Charlotte, NC area, I was able to team up with a couple of local rescues. I dove back into fostering in full swing. During this time, there were a handful of animals I was able to help save, but there were also a handful I couldn’t. I hate feeling helpless more than anything, so, when I found myself in situations where I was helpless, I finally made the decision that I was going to pursue my dream of starting an animal rescue. This meant that I would no longer have to turn away from animals in need that I was capable of helping.
I never thought that I would be starting an animal rescue at just 24 years old. I always knew in the back of my mind that it would be something I’d most likely pursue when I was older and settled down. However, when life shows you what your purpose is in this world, you don’t ignore it.
In addition to starting my own nonprofit animal rescue, I also plan on moving in the new year to my favorite city - Charleston, South Carolina. The Bridge Between Animal Rescue will run out of the Charleston area. I have made incredible connections in the Charlotte area, and even farther out of the carolinas with other rescues, and I can’t wait to continue networking with those connections to save as many animals as possible, all while doing so in the place where I feel like I’m meant to be. I have a feeling that this is the beginning of something incredible. Stay tuned!
