Putnam: Meet the Lansing woman who has taken more than 200 rescued dogs into her home

LANSING -- Buddy, Charlie, Lucy, Simon, Suzie Princess, Garbo, Jinx, Theo, Rocky Raccoon, Archie, Buckshot, Duke, Darcy, Felix, Loki, Etta James, Billie Holiday, Max, Cindy Lou Who, Roxy, Precious, Maddie, Esther, Chelsea and Wembley.

Lisa Wallace has taken all of those dogs into her home and hundreds more over the past 19 years.

Wallace is president of the Animal Placement Bureau, a Lansing nonprofit dog rescue that’s celebrating its 40th year with a Sept. 30 fundraiser. 

What is the Animal Placement Bureau? 

It’s an all-volunteer network that rescues up to 200 dogs a year by placing them into foster homes until they can be adopted. Many have medical needs that are handled during foster care. The group runs twice-monthly adoption clinics at Petco at the Frandor Shopping Center. 

To say she's a dog person is putting it mildly. Wallace stopped counting her foster dogs at 200 a few years back.

She’s taken in sick dogs. Old dogs. Blind dogs. (They're no problem, Wallace said, just don't move the furniture.) Dogs near death. Abandoned dogs. Abused dogs. Lost dogs.

And then there was Simon.

Meet Simon, the 'eight-pound dog with an 800-pound personality'

Simon is a lively black toy poodle who scampers around Wallace’s fenced backyard. Though he lived with Wallace for more than a year, he’s now just visiting. His permanent home is a family with two girls who adore him.

“He’s an eight-pound dog with an 800-pound personality,” Wallace said and laughs.

When Wallace got Simon in August 2016, his back legs were paralyzed. It was unclear if he would recover.

Before she picked him up at the Ingham County Animal Shelter, she pictured an old, failing dog she might have to protect from the other dogs, she said.

Instead, Simon would use his front legs to run around the yard, keeping up with pets with four working legs.

No one knows what happened to Simon to injure him. Scans showed no breaks in his spine. A vet treated him for inflammation. Soon he was wagging his tail, an achievement met with whoops and cheers from Wallace and the staff at the clinic.

“He just got better and better and better,” Wallace said. “It took him about a year to get full function back.”

He was adopted earlier this year.

Funding medical costs for hundreds of dogs 

The Animal Placement Bureau pays for veterinary care. Medical costs for foster dogs usually run $400 to $800, though Simon’s was more in the $1,000 range. The adoption fee is $250. “We’re constantly fundraising” to fill the gap, Wallace said.

Her dedication impresses even her fellow dog lovers.

"Lisa has fostered and placed more dogs than I can count. She’s truly dedicated herself to the Animal Placement Bureau family and the animals we all love and care for," said Lorna Elliott Egan, a longtime volunteer and former board member.

There are roughly 70 foster homes connected to the program.

The day I visited Wallace's home, she also had two foster dogs in addition to her four permanent dogs.

One of the foster dogs, Clara, arrived Sept. 9. The 5-pound pup, perhaps a Maltese mix, was picked up as a stray, with matted fur and skin infections. It will take some time for her to heal. Wallace estimates her age at 8 to 10 years.

Her other foster dog is Bodhi, a 6-year-old Shih Tzu who seems far smaller than 19 pounds until you pick him up. He’s a chunk.

Bodhi and another dog, Anya, came from the home of an elderly man in Ohio who couldn’t care for them after the death of his wife. Both dogs had health issues. Bodhi’s have been resolved, but Anya had kidney failure and had to be put to sleep.

“He’s not the smartest dog I’ve ever fostered,” Wallace admits.

He’s cute and friendly, though, and “will go in a heartbeat” as soon as he’s offered for adoption Wallace said.

Why she does it 

Wallace said she is able to size up dogs, help them with problems and find the right home. 

A native of Illinois, Wallace, 50, moved to Lansing in 1987 with her now ex-husband. They have two children, now grown.

As her children hit their teens, she had more time on her hands and looked for something to do. She starting taking in dogs. She always loved dogs, especially Schnauzers, her favorite breed.

She fostered while building a career in technology. She now works from home as technical director of an IT security firm out of Columbus, Ohio.

That job allows her to work while watching out for her dogs.

She loves it.

“There’s an awful lot of ugly stuff in this world, but we work with some great people and we make a difference,” Wallace said. “We’re making a difference for the family (who adopts), and we’re making a difference for the dog.”

The Animal Placement Bureau will have a 40th birthday party and silent auction from 2 to 6 p.m. Sept. 30 at the Lansing Brewing Co. Tickets are $15. 

For more info: www.apbdogs.org. 

Judy Putnam is a columnist with the Lansing State Journal. Contact her at (517) 267-1304 or at jputnam@lsj.com. Follow her on twitter @judyputnam.