The impact of dogs like Mac on the children being assisted has been researched and measured with biofeedback. Results show just having him sitting or lying next to the children lowers their blood pressure, slows their heart rates and respiration, reduces anxiety and helps them remain regulated during their interviews or conversations with the professionals in court or at Juliette’s House.
In the spring of 2018, Hazel’s House partnered with the Newberg Animal Shelter and began to learn everything about running a shelter and foster program. They learned about shelter and rescue medicine, which helped them during the rescue process.
One upside to all of the madness that resulted from a worldwide pandemic and the ensuing chaos is this: many of us rescued, adopted, or purchased four-legged furry companions to help us through those long and lonely housebound days. Recent estimates have suggested that as many as 11.38 million households in the United States have acquired pets since last spring!
About four years ago, a family asked Brittney Hazel and her wife Kendall if they could help find a home for a stray litter of kittens that had been found in a barn. That was the beginning of Hazel’s House, a cat-and-kitten rescue operation that continues to this day. It is a mission that has put hundreds of stray and abandoned cats in homes where they’re safe, healthy and loved.