Kat Fisher, Founder of Mr. Jojo’s Rescue, has always wanted to save the world. That might explain her background as a social worker. After many years in the field she moved into Human Resources. She was eventually able to run the HR department for an amazing non-profit organization. But let’s face it…working in human resources field is a lot like dog years. Almost fifteen years in the field can feel like 105! Even though she loved her job, that little voice in the back of her head kept nagging at her. That little voice was telling her to stop her career, and save dogs. She ignored the voice for years, but with the amazing support of her spouse (and without that support Mr. Jojo’s would not be possible), she stopped ignoring and started listening. The original plan was to open a small rescue, saving and adopting dogs out. As part of the preparation, she volunteered at some local shelters. What she saw was that senior dogs were almost always passed over for younger dogs or puppies. She also realized that in overcrowded county shelters, seniors were at the highest risk of being euthanized. Especially those with special needs. Kat always had a major soft spot for senior dogs with special needs, even adopting a few of her own over the years with each one older than the one before. Seeing senior dogs lingering alone in shelters, or being euthanized when space was needed broke her heart. Then one day it hit her….why not start a sanctuary where really old dogs could live out their amazing lives in a comfortable home environment ….and that is exactly what she did.
Mojo Jojo (aka: Mr. Mojo, Mr. Jojo, Mr. Smarty Pants, etc.) was Kat’s first dog as an adult. She always had dogs, cats, guinea pigs, gerbils, and even spiders growing up. She loved them all, but had a special affinity for dogs. It was only natural she would have a dog as an adult. Mojo Jojo was a black schnauzer named after a fictional character from a cartoon. The character was the #1 archenemy of the Powerpuff Girls, and his goal was to take over the world. Kat had no idea how much Mr. Jojo was like the cartoon character when she named him! Everyone’s first dog holds a special place in their heart, and Mr. Jojo was no exception. Kat wanted to honor the little black schnauzer known as Mojo Jojo so she used his favorite nickname for the rescue.
We are a small group (me, myself, and I with an occasional helping hand) doing a lot of work, and loving every minute of it! If we are lucky, our day starts around 5:00 AM unless we hear the dreaded “I’m going to throw up on your bed” sound or one of our babies with dementia starts barking at 3:00 AM. We get everyone up and out, followed by medication, breakfast, clean-up, playtime, walks, pick up poop, clean any messes from overnight, pick up more poop, and somewhere in there we desperately try to gulp down a cup of coffee or two. Then we clean, and afterwards we clean some more, maybe give a bath or two depending who is the dirtiest. We start doing the laundry- lots of laundry, I think we do laundry all day. Seriously, where do all these dirty towels and blankets come from?? Mom, if you are reading this I want to apologize for using a new towel every time I showered as a kid. I am sorry! Obviously the amount of cleaning I do every day is my karma for being such a messy kid. Once again mom, I am sorry! At least I didn’t pee on your floors. Well, I don’t think I did. Back to our workday... Several days a week we are on the road taking the babies for medical care or the groomers. We also make sure everyone gets their individual car time each week so we can hit the local Starbucks for a pupachino.
Everyone settles down for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Finally!! Some quiet time to sit down and rest. Well, if you consider catching up on social media, emails, letter writing, bookkeeping, paying bills, and folding the never-ending pile of laundry rest, then yes, it is time to rest.
Around 5:00 PM the internal “doggie dinner alarm”magically wakes everyone up and we start the evening ritual, which looks a lot like the morning. There is another hour to get some paperwork done before we take everyone out back one more time in an attempt to avoid walking through pee or poop at 5:00 AM when we get up and do it all over again! We really do love what we do. OK, maybe not everything we do, but we wouldn’t want to do anything else! Ok, maybe we would want to take a nap every once in a while.