From shelters to service: The Canine Impact Foundation’s mission to rescue and empower

We’ve heard the saying, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and at The Canine Impact Foundation, they are all about making treasures.

Kennedy Rinderer has always had a special love for dogs and nine years ago she took her passion to another level.

“We get dogs out of shelters. So, we have a lot of dogs out of the Oklahoma City animal shelter, there’s a huge animal overpopulation crisis,” said Kennedy Rinderer, founder of The Canine Impact Foundation.

The shelter overpopulation is forcing shelters to have to do the unthinkable, if not for Rinderer.

“We got Jax, which he was a German shepherd that was within two hours of being euthanized,” said Rinderer.

Through her Canine Impact Foundation, Rinderer adopts them and trains them to be service dogs and therapy dogs.

“Our service dogs usually go to individuals. So, individuals that are suffering with the aftereffects of abuse, PTSD, panic disorders,” said Rinderer.

 Something she relates to firsthand

“I was an abuse survivor as well,” said Rinderer 

The therapy dogs are trained to work in environments interacting with many different people.

“One of our favorite stories is Nelson, he is one of the therapy dogs at the Care Center,” said Rinderer.

“He is providing comfort and emotional support for kiddos and families before and after their forensic interviews,” said Whitney Nelson with The Care Center.

“He has a lot of love to give, and he wants to give it to you in any way that he can,” said Nelson.

Just as important, is making the dogs affordable to people that really need them.

“The average cost of a service dog is anywhere from ten to twenty thousand dollars, so it’s people that would have never had access to this as well,” said Rinderer. 

Giving purpose to the dogs as well as the new owners.

“You know even when you don’t feel like getting out of bed that day, you have to because you have to get your dog out,” said Rinderer.

Because the cost is affordable the foundation relies heavily on donations, to support their efforts visit www.canineimpactfoundation.org