Meet the New Jersey woman giving senior dogs a forever home at Marty's Place

    ALLENTOWN, New Jersey (KYW) -- A New Jersey woman's selfless act of kindness led her to open a senior dog sanctuary.

In 2015, Doreen Jakubcak retired from one career to begin another. She founded Marty's Place Dog Sanctuary in honor of her senior dog, Marty, who she only knew for a short time.

The only requirement at Marty's Place, which sits on 80 acres and can house up to 40 dogs at a time, is that all residents must be 7 years old or older.

"There's nothing like a senior dog in terms of the gratitude they have," Jakubcak said. "They know what you did for them and how you saved them, and in so many ways, they pay it back to you."

From their daily medication to swimming and even a workout on the treadmill, 8-year-old pooch Coco is thriving after moving into her new home, or as Jakubcak would call it, her luxury suite, just over a year ago.

As of now, Jakubcak and her dedicated volunteers work around the clock to provide 24/7 care for 20 senior dogs.

"We operate in the low 20s and that's because our population is skewing older," Jakubcak said. "The average age of our population is more like 12 or 13. They either come in with chronic health issues or are shortly diagnosed after their arrival. So we want to make sure we can adequately care for them because some of them do have intense needs."

"For instance, diabetics are on specific food at a specific time," Jakubcak added. "Their insulin injections are timed accordingly. We don't want to extend ourselves in terms of numbers because we want to make sure the quality of care that we are giving is maintained at a certain level."

Jakubcak hopes this will be many of the seniors' forever home, but in an effort to help more dogs, she's also started a foster program. Unfortunately, many families prefer smaller dogs.

Jakubcak says it never gets easy watching families surrender their pets.

"Some of the dogs are coming from the most positive environment," Jakubcak said, "and if it wasn't for the circumstance that the owner was dealing with — they might be foreclosed on their house, they had no place to live, they were living out of their car or if an owner passed away — they experience some trauma."

Once they are settled into their new home, Jakubcak says it's the beginning of what is called their golden years.

"We want them to know they will always be loved here," Jakubcak said. "And they will always have a home with us."

Marty's Place relies heavily on donations to operate. To really get the full picture, people are encouraged to visit — they just ask that you call to make an appointment.