JANUARY 28 • 2021 | 21

A

s no-kill animal shelter Detroit
Dog Rescue nears its 10th anniver-
sary on Feb. 1, it has big plans for
its future.
The goal is to move into a new
11,000-square-foot facility on the West Side
of Detroit in the Old Redford neighbor-
hood that is nearly five times the size of its
current East Side location.
Detroit Dog Rescue executive director
Kristina Millman-Rinaldi says that one day,
she received a call from a veterinarian hos-
pital with 10 practices that planned to close
down a location. Instead of shuttering it, the
hospital offered it to the no-kill shelter.
“I was shocked and so grateful,
” Millman-
Rinaldi recalls. “We had gotten to the
point at our first location where we had
issues with our laundry room not being big
enough. We didn’t have a training room.
There were so many things missing.
”
The new headquarters, which Detroit
Dog Rescue is currently raising funding for,
will fill those voids. The shelter plans to add
a brand-new kitchen area, training facility,
a puppy preschool for socializing young
dogs and a maternity (spelled “mutternity”)
room for pregnant mothers. But it’s not an
easy process.

The building’s interior hasn’t been
revamped since 1962, requiring a major
overhaul. Millman-Rinaldi estimates the
completed project to run about $1 million,
with the shelter about halfway to its fund-
raising goal. Her hope, she says, is to move
in by October.
“We have started the process of demoing

the inside,
” Millman-Rinaldi explains.
Once finished, Detroit Dog Rescue’s new
headquarters will be able to house 68 dogs
in its facility, which is 40 more than its cur-
rent location. But the old center won’t shut
down, Millman-Rinaldi says.
Instead, it will be turned into a low-cost
spay, neuter and vaccination clinic.

‘PET PANTRY’
“We’re also going to have certain days where
people can come and get resources,
” she
describes, “kind of like a pet pantry.
” This

will help people in the community support
their dogs so they don’t have to turn to sur-
rendering them, she continues.
“If all you need is some vaccinations for
your pet, a dog license and six months’
worth of food, if it gets you through and
you love your dog, we’re going to help you
with that,
” Millman-Rinaldi says. “We want
you to keep your pet.
”
Detroit Dog Rescue, which partners with
numerous Jewish organizations in the area
such as BBYO and AZA community ser-
vice projects, says the past decade has seen
immense growth for its program. Now, the
new headquarters brings it one step closer
to its mission of helping keep Detroit’s dogs
safe and off of the streets.
“Here we are 10 years later, sustaining
and learning,
” Millman-Rinaldi says. “
And
that feels really good. We started as a ren-
egade rescue, and we grew Detroit Dog
Rescue as a group of people who wanted
change.
”

Detroit Dog Rescue celebrates 10 years
with a new 11,000-square-foot headquarters.
New Digs for Dogs

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Kristina Millman-

Rinaldi gives a tour to

Tyler Bertuzzi of the

Detroit Red Wings.

A rendering of the new

Detroit Dog Rescue

in Detroit’s Old Redford.

DDR

“I WAS SHOCKED
AND SO GRATEFUL.”

— KRISTINA MILLMAN-RINALDI