Harmony Dog Rescue — based in the borough of the same name — is seeking to set its roots in the county with a new rescue kennel in 2025.

“Our mission is to provide safe homes for dogs whose owners are fleeing abuse and violence,” said Timothy Lydon, founder and director of the nonprofit.

Lydon said he identified a “real need” for emergency boarding in the region while assisting clients at Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh last year.

“The problems that were hardest to solve involved temporary emergency boarding requests for their pets,” he said. “These were people who did not want to surrender their pets but instead needed a safe place for them for a few weeks while they were going through a transition.”

With only so many spots at the Pittsburgh-based rescue, Lydon said staff regularly had to help find alternative homes in emergencies.

“I took a call from a woman who said she had been sleeping in her car with her two dogs because it wasn’t safe for them at home,” he said. “We didn’t have space for her dogs, and the shelter she was going to stay at did not have room for them either, so instead of abandoning her dogs she decided to just live in her car with them.”

And the woman’s case was just one of many, according to Lydon, and part of what inspired Harmony Dog Rescue.

“We are partnering with three local domestic violence shelters, and they are guiding us as to how we can best serve their organizations,” he said. “These partnerships are essential because we see ourselves as simply a link in a chain of community services that exist to help individuals and families in crisis.”

The nonprofit is leasing land in Harmony for the site of the kennel, with an anticipated opening by summer of 2025.

And Lydon said the organization is invested in a local “ground campaign” to make that a reality.

“We want local people involved, not just volunteering but also in positions where they can influence our policies and practices,” he said.

To that end, according to Lydon, the rescue has put together a community advisory board made up of local business and civic leaders in southwestern Butler County.

“This is what we mean by our ‘ground campaign’ — investing time, energy and resources in building and sustaining these relationships,” he said. “I am really looking forward to going door-to-door and business-to-business in Cranberry to meet people where they are and brainstorm about collaborative opportunities.”

And while the organization works to build relationships and fundraising for the new kennel, Lydon said it was also focused on developing a foster network in the region.

“By ‘foster network’ we mean a group of people and families in the greater Pittsburgh area who are willing to open their homes to a dog in need,” he said.

Finding foster volunteers is one of the most pressing needs for the organization, according to Lydon.

“But we also need help organizing fundraising events and spreading the word about the work we do,” he said. “Finally, donations are what make our work possible.”

As the organization grows, Lydon said it would look at broadening its services to include medical and housing emergencies.

And with the addition of a physical kennel in the borough, he said it could potentially act as a shelter.

“We could expand our mission so we can accept strays and owner surrenders,” he said. “It depends on the amount of money we raise and the volunteers we recruit.”

Lydon said his own dedication to canine care began during his nearly ten years abroad, teaching English and working as a farmhand around the world.

“In 2015 while traveling in Ireland, I volunteered for a woman who turned her 40-acre equestrian farm into a dog sanctuary,” he said.

Housing approximately 30 dogs, Lydon said the sanctuary operated without a full-time staff.

"Instead, she relied on volunteers from all over the world who lived on her farm and helped with the daily care of the dogs,“ he said.

Twice a week, Lydon said the volunteers would drive a handful of the dogs — dressed in vests that read ‘adopt me’ — into Dublin.

“Each time we went to the city, we would talk to dozens of people, pass out flyers, and often get the dogs adopted,” he said. “The trips to the city were also great camaraderie-building sessions for everyone involved with the rescue.”

Lydon said the sanctuary’s owner was the first person he had really met who dedicated their life to dogs.

“Seeing her example gave me the license and confidence to do the same,” he said. “I realized that if I found land in Pittsburgh, I could do the same thing.”

But with Butler County growing “more than anywhere else in Western Pennsylvania,” according to Lydon, the rescue found its new home in Harmony borough.

“There has been an influx of families and young people and businesses moving into the region — this means more dogs,” he said. “As the region grows, Harmony Dog Rescue will grow with it, and we are thrilled with this opportunity.”

Lydon said the organization was working to create a “sustainable, ethical rescue” in the region that would remain for many years to come.

“Dogs are family members,” he said, “and our ultimate goal is to keep families together.”

Want to help?

---

To get involved, donate or for more information, contact Harmony Dog Rescue at info@harmonydogrescue.org.