What Animal Rescue Really Looks Like — And Why Access to Care Matters

Animal Rescue in Madison, Wisconsin: How Underdog Began

I started Underdog in 2012 out of my basement, about five minutes from where our clinic stands today.

At the time, I did not have a five-year plan or a roadmap. My goal was simple. Take animals from high-volume shelters, put them into foster homes, and get them ready for adoption. That was it.

The Financial Reality of Animal Rescue and Veterinary Care

A few months into it, I quickly realized how expensive it was to have veterinarians take care of the animals we were bringing in. I had a constant question in my head:

“Is this urgent enough to be seen by a doctor? Is it worth spending $50 just to walk in the door?”

When trying to stretch every dollar to save as many lives as possible, even that exam fee feels big.

Because of this challenge, I started partnering with veterinarians to get care for the animals we were taking in. And eventually, in 2017, we opened the doors to our own nonprofit vet clinic about ten minutes from that original basement where it all began.

Opening a Nonprofit Veterinary Clinic to Expand Access to Care

I knew that if we were struggling to afford care for rescue animals, families in our community were struggling too. We wanted to help people who had pets they loved but could not afford care at other clinics.

That is how Underdog evolved from a foster-based rescue into something bigger. What started as pulling dogs from high-volume shelters grew into a full-service affordable vet clinic and animal welfare resource focused on providing more access to care.

Today, I can say with much pride and gratitude that Underdog has four veterinarians on staff, a growing team of veterinary professionals including technicians and assistants, and about 200 foster homes. 

But growth didn’t eliminate the crisis. It revealed how complex it truly is.

Expanding Our Animal Rescue Partnerships Beyond Wisconsin

When I was personally in charge of our intakes, I mostly worked with Wisconsin shelters. I loved doing that, but it started to feel like we were competing to save what I used to call the “creme de la creme,” meaning the dogs and cats who would move quickly into homes.

So we tapped into the knowledge and resources of our volunteers who had relationships with shelters in the South. 

We began developing partnerships in places like Tennessee and Alabama, and later Oklahoma, Georgia, and Kentucky. Today, many of the animals in our foster program come directly from the shelters we partner with in these southern states.

Over time, those partnerships became more than emails and transport schedules, and we wanted to better understand what was really happening in the communities we were serving in the South.

This is what led Kyle and me to visit our source shelters in Alabama and Tennessee.

What We Saw in Alabama and Tennessee: Animal Welfare and Economic Hardship

Recently, Kyle and I made the drive south and spent a good chunk of time in Calhoun County, including Aniston and Hobson City. What we found was bigger than just animal welfare.

It felt like a stark divide between the haves and have-nots, with entire communities still carrying the weight of economic collapse after major employers shut down. Decades later, downtowns sit largely abandoned, with vacant storefronts and crumbling buildings that reflect just how deep that hardship runs.

And in the middle of that, there are animals.

We saw animals running wild in packs, groups of twenty dogs roaming together. One of them was pregnant, just lying in the dirt. It felt endless.

Before this trip, I used the same words a lot of people use. “Animals are treated differently down there.” There is some truth to the idea that certain communities hold a different mindset around animal ownership. Some people see dogs and cats more like property or farm animals rather than beloved family members.

But I am careful not to generalize, as I know there are people in the south who love their animals deeply. The people we met in the shelters care in ways that are hard to describe.

What we realized is that this is not a “Southern problem.”

It is an access problem.

It is an infrastructure problem.

There are veterinary deserts, not just in the South but in our own state. There are communities with very few resources. Low literacy rates. Limited transportation. Limited access to care.

Sometimes it felt like we were meeting people exactly where they were, in communities that have been carrying economic hardship for generations.

When you see that up close, rescue looks different.

It is not just about pulling one dog. It is about understanding the system that dog came from.

The People Holding the Line in Animal Rescue

When you start to understand the systems at play, the poverty, the lack of infrastructure, the limited access to care, you also start to see who carries the weight of those gaps.

What struck me the most was the people.

In communities where resources are thin and overpopulation feels endless, there are individuals doing work that is exhausting, emotional, and often invisible.

People coordinating transports across multiple states.

People running shelters nearly single-handedly.

Volunteers who know every dog by name, even when they are caring for more than a hundred at a time.

Kids showing up to help socialize dogs so they feel seen.

These are the people standing between animals and euthanasia every single day.

At Underdog, we get to be on the receiving side. We bring animals into foster homes in Madison, where we have adopters ready and veterinary resources available. But our southern shelter partners are the ones making impossible decisions when space runs out and support simply is not there.

When you see that firsthand, it changes you.

It certainly changed us.

Why We Created My Pet Project

After that trip, Kyle and I kept saying the same thing.

We need to share this.

We need people to see what this actually looks like.

My Pet Project started as a bit of a passion project. We thought it would be impactful to learn how to use a camera, record conversations, and go meet the people doing this work. Not to sensationalize it or shock people, but to build awareness.

To show that animal welfare is deeply connected to economics, infrastructure, education, and access.

To meet organizations where they are.

To highlight the shelters in Alabama and Tennessee, and also the communities in northern Wisconsin and tribal nations right here in our own state.

Ultimately, this is about outreach and sharing.

It is about building a bigger community of people who care and who want to be part of solutions.

Underdog exists because I wanted to give animals in high-volume shelters a chance. My Pet Project exists because we realized the work is bigger than any one rescue.

If you watch a few episodes, you will see the wonderful work people are doing, often with very little recognition and very few resources.

We believe we can do more together than we ever could alone.

If you care about the future of animal welfare, we invite you to watch an episode of My Pet Project and join the conversation. 

We just want to keep building our community.

The work is tireless, but the purpose is everything.