Hand in Paw: A Documentary
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Hagar Before:
Hagar after health care:
Hagar months later, chronic problems winning:
Say hello to Hagar. He was an Old Dog Haven final refuge foster dog. Our second one. This last photo was taken a few days before the end of his life. My wife is soaking his paw in an effort to control one of his multitude of infections.
The pictures above tell a simple story. To look at Hagar before we got him, it's a pretty safe bet that no one would adopt him. Odds are he would not have lasted long at all, and sadly, that he would have spent his final days alone and confused. Enter Old Dog Haven. They seek out dogs like Hagar, the poor old dogs that find their way into bad situations that usually involve as much human tragedy as for the dogs themselves. Owners get old, become forgetful, lose their jobs, get carted off to a care facility, or pass away.
ODH saves these dogs from that lonely fate. That's not to say that the dogs are miraculously healed. That takes a lot of work and a lot of money. Some dogs last for days, some last for years. Hagar lasted abut 6 months. You can see in the second picture how dramatic the results can be. A couple of months of love and care and Hagar was back in the good life. Besides us, he had a good vet, and the backing of ODH. Although the health victories are very gratifying, the real win is in the fact that he learned to see us as his people, and our home as Home.
Eventually, Hagar's chronic health problems caught up with him, and we couldn't stay ahead of them. It's a sad struggle for us, but it's still a victory for him. I was there when he was put to sleep, when the pain went away. He was surrounded by people who knew him and loved him, and ultimately, I believe that matters.
Old Dog Haven is an organization in Western Washington that takes on a hard mission. They rescue old, unadoptable dogs from shelters and from individuals who can no longer care for them and place them in foster homes, known as final refuge fosters. ODH pays all the medical bills for these dogs, and the fosters provide love, food, support, and transportation. The goal is to give these dogs a second chance at life, and if all else fails, to have them pass on with people who love them. It's far better than having them euthanized in a shelter, in fear, surrounded by strangers.
Here's a blog post on the rest of our pack.
More on our pack.
ODH has done a great job building their mission, and they do it with remarkably low overhead. Currently they have 320+ dogs in their system and they spend roughly $90,000 per month in dog medical bills. The reason these dogs are unadoptable is that most people cannot afford the medical expenses.
My goal is to produce a documentary to support the ODH mission. It has three layers: The first layer is the documentary itself, which is really about our relationship with dogs and our responsibility to those dogs. The focus is on Old Dog Haven because they tackle the toughest extreme of that responsibility, and they do it so well.
The second layer is to use the footage acquired in the course of the documentary in a very direct way, to edit specific event and fundraising promotional videos.
The third layer is to make all the project assets available to Old Dog Haven, so that they can use the footage in any way they see fit in the future. They have other volunteers who are very active in making videos to help bring attention to the problems that ODH solves. I want to create a library to help anyone in ODH make great videos to support the cause. And finally, I want to do the whole thing without taking a single dollar from ODH. They run incredibly lean and they do great work.
To accomplish my goals, I need a set of tools that allow me to produce video to modern cinematic standards. I once owned a commercial video production company, and I know how to produce a good film, but the video world has changed several times over since then. I examined multiple options to get this done, and by far the cheapest option was to gear up and produce it from start to finish. Add in the fact that it's a very personal story for me, and I'll be the first to admit that I wouldn't trust anyone else to do it well.
And finally, one of the best pieces of advice my dad ever gave was that every little bit helps. I put up goals, since that seems to be the way of crowdfunding, but honestly, this a very heartfelt subject for me and anything you can do to help is greatly appreciated.
Hagar after health care:
Hagar months later, chronic problems winning:
Say hello to Hagar. He was an Old Dog Haven final refuge foster dog. Our second one. This last photo was taken a few days before the end of his life. My wife is soaking his paw in an effort to control one of his multitude of infections.
The pictures above tell a simple story. To look at Hagar before we got him, it's a pretty safe bet that no one would adopt him. Odds are he would not have lasted long at all, and sadly, that he would have spent his final days alone and confused. Enter Old Dog Haven. They seek out dogs like Hagar, the poor old dogs that find their way into bad situations that usually involve as much human tragedy as for the dogs themselves. Owners get old, become forgetful, lose their jobs, get carted off to a care facility, or pass away.
ODH saves these dogs from that lonely fate. That's not to say that the dogs are miraculously healed. That takes a lot of work and a lot of money. Some dogs last for days, some last for years. Hagar lasted abut 6 months. You can see in the second picture how dramatic the results can be. A couple of months of love and care and Hagar was back in the good life. Besides us, he had a good vet, and the backing of ODH. Although the health victories are very gratifying, the real win is in the fact that he learned to see us as his people, and our home as Home.
Eventually, Hagar's chronic health problems caught up with him, and we couldn't stay ahead of them. It's a sad struggle for us, but it's still a victory for him. I was there when he was put to sleep, when the pain went away. He was surrounded by people who knew him and loved him, and ultimately, I believe that matters.
Old Dog Haven is an organization in Western Washington that takes on a hard mission. They rescue old, unadoptable dogs from shelters and from individuals who can no longer care for them and place them in foster homes, known as final refuge fosters. ODH pays all the medical bills for these dogs, and the fosters provide love, food, support, and transportation. The goal is to give these dogs a second chance at life, and if all else fails, to have them pass on with people who love them. It's far better than having them euthanized in a shelter, in fear, surrounded by strangers.
Here's a blog post on the rest of our pack.
More on our pack.
ODH has done a great job building their mission, and they do it with remarkably low overhead. Currently they have 320+ dogs in their system and they spend roughly $90,000 per month in dog medical bills. The reason these dogs are unadoptable is that most people cannot afford the medical expenses.
My goal is to produce a documentary to support the ODH mission. It has three layers: The first layer is the documentary itself, which is really about our relationship with dogs and our responsibility to those dogs. The focus is on Old Dog Haven because they tackle the toughest extreme of that responsibility, and they do it so well.
The second layer is to use the footage acquired in the course of the documentary in a very direct way, to edit specific event and fundraising promotional videos.
The third layer is to make all the project assets available to Old Dog Haven, so that they can use the footage in any way they see fit in the future. They have other volunteers who are very active in making videos to help bring attention to the problems that ODH solves. I want to create a library to help anyone in ODH make great videos to support the cause. And finally, I want to do the whole thing without taking a single dollar from ODH. They run incredibly lean and they do great work.
To accomplish my goals, I need a set of tools that allow me to produce video to modern cinematic standards. I once owned a commercial video production company, and I know how to produce a good film, but the video world has changed several times over since then. I examined multiple options to get this done, and by far the cheapest option was to gear up and produce it from start to finish. Add in the fact that it's a very personal story for me, and I'll be the first to admit that I wouldn't trust anyone else to do it well.
And finally, one of the best pieces of advice my dad ever gave was that every little bit helps. I put up goals, since that seems to be the way of crowdfunding, but honestly, this a very heartfelt subject for me and anything you can do to help is greatly appreciated.
Organizer
Jim Perkins
Organizer
Olympia, WA
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