Michele Alexander, owner of Camp Bow Wow.

Camp Bow Wow® is a great place to park your pooch for the day or even for an extended camping visit while you vacation, but what you may not know is that they also have a foundation called Bow Wow Buddies that does a lot of great charitable work.

Their most recent initiative involves fundraising to send Specially Trained Therapy dogs to Newtown, Connecticut, the site of the devastating school shooting on December 14th that took the lives of 20 elementary school children and several adults. They are calling the fundraiser “Scout’s Angels” and are planning for the animals to actually live in the Newtown community for many years. The hope is that the dogs will provide help to trained therapists in the schools, with first responders and at events with the families who lost loved ones in the tragedy. They will be accompanied by therapists from the world-renowned Institute for Human-Animal Connection at the University of Denver.

Other programs have involved raising money for Operation Freedom Tail which provides training therapy or assistance dogs for veterans who return home from service with disabilities. Camp Bow Wow also is involved in remodeling pet shelters, canine cancer research and many other efforts on a national basis. In Carmel, Camp Bow Wow helps with providing shelter and finding homes for homeless dogs through its foster pet program. Owners Michele Alexander and her sister, Lisa Beals, and daughter Lauren Alexander, assist in transporting dogs that are marked for euthanasia to new homes across the country. Michele says they enjoy their involvement with rescue animals. “One thing that we’ve noticed is that some of our clients will come in with dogs that they have rescued. It’s always a big concern because they feel like they’re a rescue dog and they’ve been through a lot. And sometimes they get concerned about bringing them in for play, but it’s really actually very therapeutic and good for them because they get to learn that they can trust people again and they also get the socialization”. Michele emphasizes that Camp Bow Wow is all about the dogs whether it be a Camper who has the freedom to play all day or a dog that needs a home. You can contribute to the Bow Wow Buddies Foundation at their website www.bowwowbuddies.com.