Bertram – Most days, things are pretty quiet around the Living Grace Canine Ranch in Bertram. The gentle breeze through the central Texas hills and cascading fountain in the front yard make for senior dogs to catch up on some sleep.
“This is their home,” said Rhonda Minardi. “We just happen to be in it.”
Rhonda is the person behind the pampering of these pooches. “We’re in the house with the dogs,” said Rhonda. “As you can hear, they’re resting. This is their nap time. We run a very tight schedule here. They’re fed at the same time every day. They go out at the same time every day. They have music at the same time every day. They go to bed at the same time every day. We have our schedules. Right before they go to bed at night, they get their little graham cracker, the lights are dimmed, the music comes on, and you could bring a newborn here. It’s quiet just like this.”
This sanctuary for dogs living out their days was an idea that Rhonda had after her mother was given a grim diagnosis. “Back in 2015, my mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and my mom just stared, and she looked at me and she said, ‘Who’s going to take care of Lucy?’” said Rhonda. “That was her dog. That has been in the back of my mind. Where do they go?”
Dogs left behind by their owners, dogs nobody wants, and dogs that have been through a traumatic event in their life all call this place home. “Some of these dogs have had horrible lives, but now all they know is love,” said Rhonda. “It’s a beautiful thing that we can give them that.”
Rhonda showed off one pooch that’s older than any of the others on the ranch. “That’s Jellybean,” she said. “He’ll be 23 this year. He’s a little yorkie. He’s sleeping.”
Taking care of these 128 dogs is not something Rhonda imagined she’d be doing after a career in rehab therapy but for some reason, she felt a calling to do just this. “It was never a dream of mine to open a sanctuary,” said Rhonda. “It was the work that I’d seen that needed to be done, and I believe that the Lord entrusted me with this because he knows I’m not going to screw it up. I’m not going to shortchange the work that we’re doing here.”
Not all the rescues made by the ranch are planned, but each and every dog at Living Grace is treated with love and care all the same. “This is Texas and Bandit,” Rhonda said of two beautiful large white dogs. “They were at a kill shelter here in southern Texas. I went to pick (Texas) up. He was going to be euthanized at noon, and I got there to the shelter, and it was animal control. They said, ‘Well, do you want his brother?’ I’m like, ‘I didn’t know he had a brother.’ Four pens down was Bandit, and when they saw each other, because they were kept separate this whole time, they just were kissing and loving on each other, and I said, ‘Well, you’ll never be separated again. I can promise you that.’”
Rhonda worked with humans for a long, long time, and when asked if she misses it? “Nope,” Rhonda said. “Nope, 34 years working with people, and taking care of them and doing the various things I do today, but I’m doing it with dogs.”
The beauty of the Living Grace Dog Ranch is that it pays total respect to a phase of life that is often held in a negative light. “It’s just the circle of love,” said Rhonda. “Love in life. That’s what we do here. We complete the circle, taking care of them to the very end.”
The very end is the toughest part about this place. Eventually, father time catches up with these furry friends. That’s when Rhonda and her team must decide what’s best, and that’s never an easy decision. “No matter how hard it is, that’s our job, to take care of them to the end,” said Rhonda. “Death is a part of life. Knowing that we gave them love, respect, and treated them as if they were ours all the way to the end, there’s nothing more beautiful than letting them pass in your arms. It’s our arms to Jesus. It’s just a direct, and there’s nothing closer to the Lord’s work than that.”
American writer Agnes Sligh Turnbull wrote “Dogs’ lives are too short. Their only fault, really.”
At the Living Grance Canine Ranch you understand that saying every day, but to see these loving pets enjoying every second of their remaining time on earth is a heartwarming moment that only a dog could provide. “This job was honestly asked of me to do,” said Rhonda. “Even though it made no sense, and I’m questioning it the whole time, because I have no idea what I was doing, but in my mind, and in my heart, my feet kept walking forward like ‘this is impossible.’ And as I’m saying that, my feet are still marching forward doing what I’m being asked to do. Here I am, doing it.”