“We take care of your best friend while you take care of yourself!”
Camille Cox had lost everything, but she wasn’t willing to lose her dogs so she could go into rehab. This is a very common reason someone may choose to not get treatment, but Stephen Knight, the founder of Dogs Matter, has found a way to help. This program allows their owners to have peace of mind so they can recover without worrying about their dogs during treatment.
Founded in 2014 out of Dallas, TX, Dogs Matter provides temporary foster care placement and supportive services specifically for drug addicts and alcoholics seeking treatment and transitioning into recovery. They pledge to “provide and promote a safe and healthy environment for dogs of recovering addicts and alcoholics.”
They offer Fostering while in Recovery, a 12-Month Aftercare Program, and an Outreach Program, all to help you navigate and ensure your dog is safe and will be taken care of after you come home and begin your new sobriety journey.
- Fill out a temporary surrender application
- Upload at least three photos of your dog
- Your foster coordinator will reach out to you directly
- Dogs Matter gets busy finding a temporary foster home
- You can now focus on your treatment and recovery!
Stephen’s goal is to work with drug and alcohol recovery centers all over the country to make it part of the recovery center’s admissions protocol to ask about their dogs needing a safe space so they can enter a treatment facility. With this in mind, they plan to expand their reach outside of Texas. By including this step in the admissions process he knows it will ultimately help more people make the decision to get help.
They are the only non-profit organization of its kind in the United States and they are on a mission to change that. Recently, Dogs Matter, along with former Casa Capri Alumni Camille Cox, helped facilitate a foster for a client in Southern California. We at Casa Capri Recovery want to help them succeed by sharing their story and the story of one of our own clients, Camille, who came to us only after knowing her beloved dogs were going to be taken care of back home.
Stay tuned for more on Camille’s story and a surprise appearance on Friday, October 1st, that we cannot wait to share with you! UPDATE! The big reveal is Camille and Stephen were guests on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” October 1, 2021—read all about it HERE!
How You Can Get Involved:
- Talk to your local rescue groups, see if they would be willing to be a part of this amazing cause
- Find businesses that would sponsor events
- Reach out to Dogs Matter, and see how you can help by donating or become a foster
- Share this story far and wide so we can get the word out that you don’t have to surrender your dogs in order to get help.
- We invite anyone in the recovery community to Contact Dogs Matter for more information on how we can all work together to save more lives.
Read Dogs Matter Rescue Stories HERE
Sign up for their Newsletter HERE
Follow them on Instagram: @dogsmatter
