“He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog.
You are his life, his love, his leader.
He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart.
You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.”

-unknown

Welcome to the Canine Comfort, Inc website! Let me introduce who we are! We were three acquaintances who “happened” to be talking about dogs one day a few years ago, and realized that we had all been trying as individuals to assist abandoned or abused dogs in our small village of Aniak, Alaska. Aniak is a village of about 600 people, about 300 air miles west of Anchorage across the Alaska Range on the Kuskokwim River and the only way to get here is to fly. Villages in rural Alaska are pretty much cut off from any of the services found in more urban centers – no veterinarians, animal control, or police force for that matter. When there are no “on-site” veterinary services and when the cost of spaying and neutering is quite high, there is an abundance of unwanted puppies and dogs. When there is no animal control or police, there is no enforcement of animal cruelty laws (such as there are in Aniak or the State of Alaska).

We decided to join forces and incorporate and we are now a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. We have been greatly supported by local good souls, airline companies for animal transport, volunteer legal services, volunteer webmasters, rescue organizations in Anchorage, itinerant veterinary services, and more and more not-so-local supporters. The event that thrust us into the public eye was an article written in the Anchorage Daily News about Kathy and her experience rescuing a momma dog and her near-frozen pups. Soon after, an Anchorage TV news segment spotlighted our efforts and some of the horrors we were trying to deal with. Later, Purina featured us in their ProPlan magazine and support from far and wide in the Lower 48 helped get us on our feet.
Besides rescuing animals in need, we try to educate as much as possible with posters on animal care (developed by a young girl in Fairbanks), in-services to children groups, and individual cases as they arise. We also do a lot of education during our community fairs and bazaars as children ask what the grooming supplies are for, or the treats, or the toys. We always have a dog “talent” show to highlight folks’ pets. Changing perceptions about what a pet is – is ongoing.

During these fairs and bazaars, we sell animal supplies, crafts, and especially good food! Sue is known for her pecan bars! Sue is also the Secretary/Treasurer and tackled the ominous task of getting us incorporated and our non-profit status. It was a daunting task, but she stuck with it. Kathy is our President and does most of the work. She takes in all animals in need at her home, nurses them to health, gives safe sanctuary, immunizes as she is a lay vaccinator, trains for placement, maintains communication with all of our rescue links, transports animals (mostly in kennels on the back of her ATV), screens potential adopters, and is the one people call when an animal is hurt or sick. She is the backbone of our group. Beverly is the cheerleader. She rebuilds doghouses and distributes where an unsheltered dog has been observed, and straws dogs that have none. She travels quite a bit in other rural villages and rescues whenever possible. We are 3 strong individuals that have found we are so much more effective as a group. Please check out our yearly Newsletters in the Archives. We couldn’t have done much of this without each other.

Our goal now is to have a free-standing heated shelter in Aniak. We have been fund-raising, have gotten incredible help from Aniak locals with heavy equipment for ground-levelling and dirt, free shipping from Anchorage for wire kennels, and a special donation from Beverly’s sister, Yvonne, upon her passing. Kathy’s home has become quite the dog house as all animals are currently housed there – (she has 14 of her own dogs)!

We appreciate your interest and support. But, more importantly we hope you do what you can do – wherever you are.