When Joe Kay retired from full-time work in 2007, he gave himself a gift: a skinny chocolate Lab puppy named Daniel, a stray that had been terribly sick with vomiting and diarrhea.
“Daniel was just so calm while he was at the vet, even though he felt horrible,” Kay recalls. “Then we brought him home and found out he wasn’t calm—not at all. But he’s still one of my best gifts ever.”
Rescuing animals has been a lifelong passion for Kay and his wife of 50 years, Sam. For 26 years, the Poquoson, Virginia, couple has helped operate or volunteered at Animal Aid Society, a no-kill dog shelter in Hampton, Virginia. They also have taken in numerous dogs as fosters or permanent pets, many of them older or dealing with significant health issues.
In return, the animals have kept Joe and Sam—both in their early 70s—active and happy. “We do a lot of walking, but they also give us such companionship,” Sam says. “It’s just very comforting.”
Both Joe and Sam had multiple pets as children. Born in New York, Joe grew up on a farm and once nursed an abandoned baby deer to adulthood; his sister raised an orphaned raccoon. Sam, a native of Bedford, England, had cats and dogs, all mutts. The two met when Joe, an Air Force veteran, was serving his first overseas tour.
The Kays settled in Virginia in 1986. Sam, who had volunteered with the SPCA when she lived in Colorado, heard about Animal Aid from a radio advertisement and took Joe to walk a few dogs one Tuesday. By the following weekend, they were regular volunteers.
Since then, Joe and Sam have held numerous board positions and still volunteer for 13 to 14 hours during a typical week. They help with everything from walks and feeding to giving medication and making vet trips. Sam, a secretary during her career, also keeps intake and adoption forms up to date.
Founded 42 years ago on a shoestring budget, Animal Aid has capacity for 41 dogs and includes strays, surrendered pets and dogs plucked from kill shelters. All undergo temperament tests to ensure they’re not aggressive. The shelter takes in all breeds and sizes, although hounds and Lab mixes tend to predominate. Animal Aid finds homes for about 150 dogs a year, carefully screening prospective adopters by requiring all family members to meet an animal and making home visits.
“Some of these dogs come in scared of people, or they won’t walk on a leash at all,” Joe says. “You work with them and then they’re adopted into a better life than they could have ever had without that help. There’s a lot of reward in it.”
The Kays’ current personal pack has four dogs, all 8 or older: Daniel; Tristan, a hound that was recovering from hip surgery; Minnie Pearl, a beagle born with a bad heart; and Sunshine, a beagle dumped at the shelter with such bad legs that she can’t walk, only waddle. Joe and Sam—also parents of two grown human sons with multiple rescue dogs—don’t mind that their house can get pretty loud.
“Rescues are so appreciative, and if they start out shy and mistrustful it’s wonderful to watch them blossom,” Sam says. “When you think about what they may have been through, you also realize how brave they are. They’re an example to us all.”