Tails of Courage

Tails of Courage began simply as an animal rescue organization. A single dog in a single foster home. Over the years we have expanded our organization to a national level, and hopefully someday international! Tails of Courage is a national non-profit organization committed to helping our communities. We are entirely funded by donations and depend on volunteers. Founded in 2009, the mission of the organization is to help as much as possible with various programs within the communities we serve. At present, Tails of Courage has Chapters in Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia with California and Massachusetts coming soon! We are to our knowledge the only animal rescue in the State of Connecticut allowing and even encouraging children under the age of 18 to volunteer with the animals. All children, regardless of age, may volunteer with Tails of Courage. Children under 13 must have an adult accompany them. We have partnered with local schools for children to obtain their community service, and most importantly to learn about the care of animals. Families volunteer together. We have various programs Tails of Courage animal rescue, Heroic Paws, Traveling Tails of Courage, Tails for Tots, and Run Your Race. On July 15, 2013 we signed a lease agreement with Wilcroft Kennels located at 1 Pembroke Road, Danbury, CT 06811, to rent the buildings and property with the intent to purchase. Wilcroft Kennels was the oldest operating kennel in the State of Connecticut. It is now home to Tails of Courage Headquarters, with an operating no-kill shelter and spaces to host all of our extended community outreach programs. We offer low cost grooming to the public, and are in the process of building a low cost spay/neuter/vaccine clinic.

Through our animal rescue we have developed the Heroic Paws program. All dogs upon coming into Tails of Courage are tested and if they meet certain criteria, are transferred to the Heroic Paws program for training as a therapy or service animal. These animals are then matched with a service member or veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces in need. At no cost to the service member, they are provided a service dog. To meet the criteria of qualifying for a service animal the Veterans Association Hospital must document the needs of the individual and that a service or therapy animal would be beneficial to their recovery. The average cost to purchase a service animal is over $10,000.00 and we provide the animals at no cost to those in need. There is an immense waiting list for dogs at this time. The dogs in our program are rescued from kill shelters and given a new chance at life.

If the animal does not pass all the necessary testing but are still adoptable, they are then moved to the other half of our Heroic Paws program where the animal is adoptable at no cost to the service member.

Our Traveling Tails of Courage program has volunteers who visit the residents of local nursing homes weekly. They will sit with the residents and read to them. We are also expanding to provide volunteers to visit with sick family and friends.

The Run Your Race program promotes family friendly outdoor activities. It also sponsors marathoners and triathletes, as well as awareness walks and hiking groups. These programs promote health not only physically but emotionally and mentally by encouraging family friendly activities at affordable prices.

Tails for Tots is our newest program, which is geared toward promoting affordable activities for families with young children. We are pairing with local businesses to create activities on specified days where parents may bring their little ones. Supplies, toys, diapers, etc. are also being collected for low income families in need. We will be partnering more closely with the Department of Children and Families in the future for this portion of the program.

Each program within Tails of Courage requires a budget. Our next outreach program for the community is to fix up the property which we hope to purchase in the next year. The goal is to begin a low cost vaccine/spay/neuter clinic in our Headquarters building and to renovate several of the rooms to better operate our community programs.