01 Aug For the Love of Dogs

By: Abby Fountain

A Gal On A Mission

“Having an animal companion is a privilege… all domestic animals have a right to food, shelter, training, exercise, mental stimulation, love, and safety. We all need to work together to find homes for the un-homed and treat these wonderful beings with the respect and love they need just as much as we humans do.” 

Meet Christine Hopwood – an animal welfare advocate, creative entrepreneur, compassionate pet-lover, and inspired artist. She’s an integral piece of the Revel Gear team, and we want you to meet her. Christine leads her life with passion and an open heart for living creatures, large and small. Since childhood, she’s cultivated a life based on her love and curiosity for the animal world.

From leading a reptile breeding facility to running a dog-boarding business, Christine made her way into working with Last Minute Dog Rescue (@lastminutedogrescue) as its social media manager. “I joined an amazing, small team of women desperately trying to save as many lives as possible from the Texas Kill Shelters and bringing them to Ontario into foster and adoptive homes. Niki, Robyn, and Nicola are some of the loveliest and strongest people I’ve ever met.” 

We’ve Failed Our Animal Friends

While Christine leads with optimism and positivity, she’s not afraid to call it as she sees it. After almost a decade of working with rescue horses and dogs, Christine is hyper-aware of how animals get lost in the machine of human life. “We’ve infringed on their territory by building houses and roads, then blame [wild animals] for coming too close and making people feel unsafe. [For domestic animals] not spaying and neutering them is a disservice, in most cases.” 

Her role with Last Minute Dog Rescue expanded to include “foster mom” because Christine has witnessed the impact of opening one’s home to homeless animals.  “There are approximately 670,000 dogs euthanized in shelters yearly in the United States. If you`ve never fostered, I highly recommend it. Even the bittersweet feeling of seeing a foster leave with their new family is life-changing and worth it. So many dogs are saved from people temporarily opening up their homes so that they have a place to stay and learn how to be a dog.”

Tails on the Trails

Christine has committed this portion of her life to helping animals and working with their owners to provide better care. In addition to running LMDR’s social media and fostering dogs, she boards dogs via her business, The Howliday Inn (@howliday.inn). Christine recently started hand-making custom metal pet tags under the name “Tails on the Trails.” From design to creation, she works with pet owners to create charming and informative tags to hang from pet collars. 

Want to support this badass lady? Follow her Instagram (@howliday.inn) and visit her online shop to order a unique, hand-made dog tag for your pets or pet lovers in your life.