The drinks were flowing and the fur was flying at The Dock in Fremont on Friday, December 12. Pet lovers from across the city filed in, some even accompanied by their favorite furry friends, for the annual Snowball fundraiser for Resilient Hearts Animal Sanctuary.
The free tickets to the public event included two drinks per person, though the main draw was the dogs. This year’s fundraiser included not one but two “puppy pits” — gated-off areas where guests could spend five uninterrupted minutes snuggling with some of the sanctuary’s newest adoptable pups. This year’s included the “big dogs,” seven husky-pit bull mixes, all named after the night sky; and the “littles,” a trio of chihuahua mixes named Comet, Cloud, and cheeky little Borealis.
Guests were encouraged to donate to the rescue throughout the evening. Local small businesses, including Old Stove Brewery, Light House Roasters, and Bouldering Project, all donated gift baskets and free passes for a silent auction. The event also included a special raffle, live music, and a video booth.
Unique approach
Resilient Hearts holds a special place in the Seattle community. Founded in 2019, the sanctuary has a genuinely unique approach to animal rescue. Most of the dogs that come through its doors are puppies rescued from a network of shelters across Eastern Washington. Instead of spending their days waiting for their forever homes in damp, crowded shelters, the pups at Resilient Hearts are matched up with a dedicated foster parent who brings the dog home each night.
This approach provides young dogs with the socialization they would otherwise lack in a traditional shelter environment. By bringing each pup into a warm home at night, they learned how to behave in a space similar to the one they would eventually end up in. Shelter dogs under one year of age are the most likely to be returned to the system after an initial adoption, often because they weren’t able to receive proper socialization and early training. Resilient Hearts’ approach to care, as well as its thorough adoption vetting process, means more puppies can find the right home on the first try and live out their happily-ever-after.
While many foster-based rescues aim to help dogs escape stressful shelter environments, what really sets Resilient Hearts apart is its “doggy daycare” space. Wednesday through Sunday, foster parents are encouraged to drop their puppies off at the shelter, where volunteers and community members spend the afternoon playing with them. This allows the dogs to get even more socialization as they interact with people and other puppies of various sizes. The social hours also give potential adopters a chance to come in and see the dogs at play, which helps them get a better idea of their temperaments and personalities than they might if they were viewing the dogs through cages in a traditional shelter.
Community oriented
Resilient Hearts is a Queer organization, through and through. The organization was founded by a dedicated team of LGBTQIA+ pet lovers, including Mike Ezzo. As a Nonbinary person, Ezzo was already used to forging a path outside traditional norms. Along with their partners, Ezzo saw that many people were being shut out of rescue work, especially at organizations with strict foster and adoption regulations that often discriminate against renters and young people.
“We saw there was a gap between how the shelters and rescues interacted with the community and how [it] was kind of being shut out and not [able] to help,” Ezzo told the SGN in an interview in June. “We wanted to set up a system that was a little bit better and more community-oriented before work. So we opened this space, [where] people literally walk in off the sidewalk and come and have an immediate interaction with us. We wanted to do something completely different from the traditional model.”
Community continues to be a staple of Resilient Hearts’ work. From weekend puppy yoga classes to taking over the Seattle Pride Doggy Drag Show in 2025, the organization has quickly become a staple of Seattle pet lovers. Nothing exemplified the reach of Resilient Hearts like the year-end celebration and fundraiser. The Dock was packed full of people, some fosters, and some adopters returning with their furry friends to say “hi.” But most of those who showed up to celebrate were just dog lovers hoping to give back to the space that welcomes them in with open paws and plenty of pups to play with.
The author of this story has previously volunteered with Resilient Hearts and is obsessed with dogs.
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