Our Vision

The vision of Oh, Hey Dog! is to create a community of well-socialized, supported, and educated dogs and humans.

Our Mission

The mission of Oh Hey, Dog! is to provide access to support and education to all dogs and people, through trust, patience, communication, and friendship.

Our Goal

We endeavor to end animal cruelty and neglect, and to erase the stigma that rescue dogs are “broken,” by bridging the gap between humans and canines through education, communication, and shelter outreach programs designed to give rescue dogs and their new families a solid foundation for assimilation.

How do we achieve this?

We saw that there was a disconnect in education, support, and communication between adopting a dog and living with a dog, especially with rescue dogs, who need about 2-3 months to acclimate to their new lives. This gap often leads to dogs with poor social skills, reactivity, aggression, and fear, and thus results in their owners being overwhelmed and out of their depth. Newly adoptive humans often avoid external social interactions with their adoptees and, while that may help initially, continued avoidance will ultimately validate the dog’s idea that other dogs and strangers are threats in some way. Most dog owners are willing to learn but don’t know where to turn for help.

Therefore, the primary purpose of Oh, Hey Dog! is to provide a safe and supervised environment where dogs of all ages and backgrounds, but especially non-puppy rescue dogs, can be socialized and learn to communicate with other dogs and their humans, and vice-versa. By providing this environment, we hope to reduce the number of “re-homings,” thus securing better lives for both humans and canines. Additionally, Oh, Hey Dog! can identify and address particular behavioral issues common to rescue dogs like fear, aggression, timidity, excessive barking and similar behaviors. The growth of our group is exponential, synergistic, and ever-evolving in that its members (human and canine) progress from students to teachers. In that progression, every member learns and then helps teach others trust, patience, communication, and friendship.

Our Values

We believe in leading by example with love and compassion, with the understanding that every dog and every human we work with is unique. We believe that all dogs should be given an opportunity to learn, regardless of their humans’ socioeconomic status.

Oh, Hey Dog! will meet the highest standards in all aspects of our operation, which in turn will hold us accountable to our mission and to the community.

Oh, Hey Dog! has attracted people of extremely diverse backgrounds and experiences, all of whom share the common goal of enriching their lives, and the lives of their canine companions, through education, outreach, and the built-in support from like-minded dog lovers in the Oh, Hey Dog! community.

The initiative, spirit, and endurance of Oh, Hey Dog! comes from within. From the collective of our members. When one fails, we all fail. When one succeeds, we all succeed. We believe in leading by example; by giving back to the greater good, and by creating a place where dogs can dog, and humans can unite.

“To thy own dog be true, and it follows, as night the day, that thou cannot be false to any man.”

National Dog Day 2024

By Oh Hey, Dog!

National Dog Day 2024

Team Members