Tim McMahon and Alyssa Hurley have been growing their little family, four legs at a time.

What You Need To Know

  • Tim McMahon and Alyssa Hurley are parents to rescue dogs, Oakley and Midnight
  • When Midnight was found, she was in an abandoned apartment with nothing but another dogs corpse with her
  • Midnight was brought into Lollypop Farm's Champion Program for a staff member to spend extra time with her recovering so when the day comes, she'll be ready to be adopted
  • Lindsay Brewer has cared for more than seven dogs, but Midnight was her hardest goodbye
  • Brewer says, a decade ago, without programs and extra resources like these, animals that arrived in the traumatized conditions like Midnight did, would have been euthanized due to a lack of space at shelters

“Any time someone asks for a picture of her, like I show my favorite one, which is like her looking ridiculous, they’re like, ‘Oh, that’s a dog,’” Hurley laughed.

The couple first adopted Oakley a few years ago as a rescue dog. Shortly after, Hurley found a picture of Midnight and fell in love; two rescue dogs who both had happily-ever-afters. However, for some dogs it can take longer than others — that was the case for Midnight.

“I can’t imagine how she managed to survive on that with having nothing to eat, or nothing to drink, or, you know, no source of food or water or anything like that,” McMahon said. 

Midnight was found abandoned a few years ago in an apartment with nothing but another dog's corpse with her. Oftentimes these traumatic conditions are difficult to recover from. That’s why Lollypop Farm brought her into its Champion Program.

“Dogs like Midnight, she came in through humane law enforcement, and due to her being so scared and upset, she had some behaviors that didn’t make her very adoptable, I’d say. So that’s kind of the point of the Champion Program, to is kind of help them get them there,” said Lindsay Brewer. She works in the communications department at Lollypop Farm, but the program allows staff members to spend time with a designated dog to help them recover from previous living conditions, and prepare for adoption.

Lindsay is onto her seventh Champion pup, but it wasn’t too long ago that she created a bond with Midnight.

“Midnight was, I think, my fourth and she’s my hardest goodbye,” Brewer laughed. 

A decade ago, there were less resources available and shelters were at full capacity, leading to many of these higher maintenance and recovering animals to be put down.

“The number of behavioral euthanasia Lollypop Farm has to perform is significantly decreased because of different programs,” Brewer explained.

“To not even be given a chance back in the day, you know, there’s probably a lot of dogs that could have had a better life that weren’t given the chance,” McMahon says, because if it weren’t for Programs like Champion and workers like Brewer, his little family could have been one member smaller.

“Lindsay specifically was just awesome during the whole thing,” he explained. 

The family of 12 legs really considers themselves a family of five, with 14 legs.

“It takes a special person to kind of add more onto their workday and they’re already doing really important and incredible work and then also, just, you know, a special dog in a special situation that really needs that time and love,” Hurley said.