Our story

The journey of Horse & Hound Hilltop Haven begins not in our home of PennsyvIvania, but in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. I was driving home from my freshman year of college on a Friday evening, and there was a lot of stop and go traffic along the winding roads. At one of these points, speed picked up and everyone was going - including a semi truck that was in front of me in the left lane. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a small black object dart across the road and go right underneath the semi truck,coming to a rolling stop out the other side into the grassy median. I maneuvered to pull over and began walking back to the little dog who remained unmoving until I got to him. He looked like ground beef he was so chopped up from being rolled underneath that big truck. I knew we had to move quickly and found an old country vet who had a practice at his home and was willing to see us late at night. I was sure he would tell me that this dog needed to be put out of his misery, but to my surprise he told me he just needed some nursing and TLC, and I knew that was something I could do!

What I hadn't considered was what my parents would say about a college freshman bringing home a dog and what that would mean for the rest of my college career. It turns out, Smokey, as I named him, was exactly what I needed He became my very best friend and my North Star. I believe that he guided me home at night to study and walk him on time, he made sure that I slept (instead of partied!) so that I could wake up to feed him breakfast, and we made plans to have a good career together after college.

And when I met my future husband, Chris, of course Smokey was involved in all aspects of our future planning: including the desire to rescue as many dogs as we possibly could together. After thirteen wonderful years together, Smokey went to Heaven to watch over us. With this enormous hole in our hearts, Chris & I knew we had to do something. So, we began fostering. We wanted to foster older dogs because we really understood the needs of aged dogs and hospice dogs after Smokey had spent eight heroic months battling cancer. As we spent more time working with local rescues, we realized the need for a place for dogs with specialized medical needs or hospice care or even a momma with pups. And so, when it was time to build our horse barn, we built a doggie palace kennel room to meet the needs of any dog that comes to us needing a place to stay and rest and recover.

We are so proud that many dogs who come to HHHH receive the medical care and love they need to be rehabilitated, often moving on and being adopted into their perfect forever homes. Certain dogs that need more specialized care stay at HHHH as a sanctuary dog living as part of our loving family forever.