5 Inspirational Teenage Animal Advocates

Three teen sisters, Sarah (17), Melissa (15) and Katy Dittrich (13) work closely with Long Island-based rescue group Gimme Shelter, which rescues dogs from high-kill shelters mostly in the south. So far, the girls – and their parents – have fostered nine dogs in one year. The girls do everything from walking and feeding to socializing the animals, who sometimes come to them quite traumatized. Sarah is the one who always gives a bath to a newcomer – often the first bath the dog has ever had. Melissa likes to fundraise; she baked a bunch of goods recently for a fundraiser that brought in $300 for the group. And Katy, being 13, is a natural networker who takes advantage of social media and text messaging to get the word out about available dogs. One friend’s family ended up adopting puppy Brooke, sister to Bear, who ended up being a “foster failure” – i.e. a permanent Dittrich home resident. The girls’ mother, Susan, is a dog lover and the one who makes it possible for the girls to foster. “The thought of dogs being in shelters on death row in gassing facilities was enough to get me on board," she says. "My children and husband all love animals and I knew it would be a life changing experience."

Currently the entire family is working with Tanner, a six-month-old Lab/Shepherd mix that Gimme Shelter rescued from a high-kill shelter in Arkansas. Tanner needs work learning how to trust people, so the girls take him for walks alone so he can build up self-reliance away from the family’s other pets. Katy especially tries to include him in family activities, inviting him up on the couch while the family watches American Idol. The teens haven’t quite yet decided what they’d like to do for professions, but their mom says “they’ll always volunteer and work with dogs in some way.”