Our Story
Halfway to Home was started in 2001 by Suzanne Poth, a retired social worker for Los Angeles County Department of Children's Services Emergency Response Unit. A long-time advocate for dogs, she hoped to address the extreme quantity of homeless and displaced dogs in the Antelope Valley. And plus, she was pretty good at rescuing the helpless.
Suzanne started the rescue in her home, picking up stray dogs, getting them spayed or neutered and then placing them in homes via ads she ran in the Penny Saver. She continued to do this successfully, eventually forming a 501c3 non profit and in 2003 Halfway To Home was officially born.
For several years Suzanne would load up her station wagon and drive a bunch of happy dogs near and far to participate in various adoptions. She landed at Petco for a few years before finding a spot at the West Palmdale Petsmart, which she maintained with much success from 2007 to 2018, adopting out 5,927 dogs in those 11 years.
Suzanne found a large amount of property to house the increasing number of dogs she and her volunteers were rescuing. Over the years the five acre property has been developed to accommodate 75 dogs. Through donations and fund raising she has been able to create climate controlled environments where up to 50 dogs can find shelter from the heat and cold characteristic of the Antelope Valley. The remaining outdoor kennels are outfitted with permanent shade covers, sand, concrete, a mist system, doggy doors, doggy pools and Igloo dog houses.
In the summer of 2018 Halfway to Home transitioned from Petsmart to a new NEW adoption location.
You can find us on Saturday in Palmdale at Petco on 10th St. West from 11-3pm. On Sunday we are in Santa Clarita at Petco on Bouquet Canyon from 11-3pm.
On December 23rd 2018 Halfway to Home celebrated the adoption of the
7,000th dog from the rescue!
Stay tuned to our Facebook page as we post the most current information there as well as photos and videos of our dogs looking for FOREVER homes.
** Click here to see us on SCVTV in May 2023. **
