Reprise: When Your Life Goes to the Dogs

— by Lin McNulty —

(Orcas Issues has had several comments in recent weeks asking about Thayne and Chris Hamilton and their cause, first posted on Dec. 1, 2013. In response to the comments, we’re re-publishing this article, and directing potential contributors to: www.gofundme.com/thaynehamilton )

Thayne Hamilton, with a few of his rescued friends.

Most of us might think that if our life went to the dogs that would be a bad thing. This idiom is normally used when life is becoming less successful than it was in the past. Orcas Island’s Thayne Hamilton, however, sees it much differently. In the past 10 years, he and his late wife have taken in 20 rescue dogs. The operation is named Grey Muzzle, perhaps as much for Thayne’s grey beard as for the animals.

His wife, Christine Hamilton, received a terminal diagnosis earlier this year. With no insurance, Christine made a conscious decision that their house not be sold to pay any medical bills. She chose to let nature take its course, that it was more important to save the house and the home for the dogs than to pay for her treatments. Her enduring legacy is the continuation of Grey Muzzle in the care of Thayne.

Thayne networks worldwide with other dog rescuers, mostly through Facebook. As a result he has received rescued dogs from as far away as Texas, Arizona, or Nebraska. He currently cares for eight dogs, and is expecting three more by Christmas. His specialty, he says, is Great Pyrenees, but no breed is turned away. Neither are any of his dogs adopted out. Once they arrive on his five acres near Maple Rock Farm, they are there for life—free to run, play, and receive copious amount of love. “They will never see a leash again!” says Thayne.

He writes stories about his dogs, like the one who had been chained for 14 years, and must be transported around in a wheelbarrow because she cannot walk. One of his dogs was found frozen in a pond and thought dead. When she was revived, and came to live with the Hamiltons, they named her Betty White.

Thayne’s vision and passion goes beyond just caring for his adopted dogs. “Do you realize,” he emphasized, “that 98 percent of dogs for sale in pet stores are from puppy mills? If puppy mills are to make money, they must get two litters from each female per year. A dog will go into heat while still nursing.”

Thayne wants to turn kill shelters into the new pet stores. Half of puppy mill dogs end up in a shelter, anyway, with heart, kidney, eye and other problems. He is currently in negotiation with CBS for a story on the Dog Channel on this topic.

“If we could boycott puppy mills for six months, stop buying from them,” he states, “we could put puppy mills out of business within a year.”

This past summer, fellow dog rescuers encouraged Thayne to enter a Life Improvement Project contest on Seattle-based Talk It Up TV (TIUTV). The winner of the $1,000 prize would be chosen by votes. The original intention of the Project was to find a dog available for adoption for someone needy. When they read Thayne’s story, when votes began to be tallied from dog rescuers and friends from, literally, around the world, the focus changed. TIUTV normally devotes 3-4 minutes to their feel-good, pay-it-forward stories. View the 12-minute video below to see the prize being awarded to Thayne.