Building Hope: Our New Shelter Facility Plan

For the past three years, Pawsitive Pathways has operated from our home using a safe and carefully managed DIY setup that has allowed us to save many dogs in need. While this foundation has been incredibly meaningful, we have now outgrown the space and are ready for the next step in our mission!

Founder and Director Brandie Jackson and her husband Mark secured a 40-acre property near their home in Kim, Colorado to create a new kind of rescue environment for rural dogs in crisis. Rather than building a traditional shelter filled with rows of kennels, our vision is to develop a purpose-built, low-stress space focused on decompression, rehabilitation, confidence-building, and humane care.

Many of the dogs we rescue come from neglectful, unstable, or overcrowded situations and arrive fearful, shut down, or behaviorally overwhelmed. This new property will allow us to provide the structure, enrichment, and space these dogs need to heal, learn, and successfully transition into permanent homes.

As a major first step toward this vision, we have already secured two custom kennel buildings through private loans totaling approximately $20,000. These buildings are specially designed to provide safe, individual indoor housing with heating and cooling for up to 14 dogs. Each kennel will include attached outdoor run access to allow dogs more freedom, enrichment, and reduced stress while in our care.

To continue developing the facility, our immediate goals include:

• Perimeter fencing (PACFA required): $6,000

• Two 40’ x 50’ enrichment play yards: $3,000 each

• Concrete for kennel areas and fencing footer: $8,000

• Substrate/gravel for play yards and perimeter of buildings: $3,500

• Indoor air conditioning and cooling: $2,500

• Electrical installation: $1,500

• Plumbing and bathing area setup: $1,100

• Paying down loans on the kennel buildings: $20,000

Total Project Cost Goal: $28,600 plus $20,000 in loans for the kennel buildings

This project represents critical community infrastructure for an underserved rural region. The project will provide safe containment, decompression and rehabilitation space, and expanded housing capacity for at-risk dogs while strengthening our ability to support rural shelters throughout Colorado. An investment in this project would not only increase the number of dogs we can safely rehabilitate, reduce euthanasia rates in rural communities, and strengthen the human-animal bond by helping more families access safe, healthy companion animals. In addition to expanding life-saving services for dogs, this project also has the potential to generate local employment opportunities in rural southeastern Colorado as our programs and capacity continue to grow. 

Every contribution, no matter the size, directly supports dogs who might otherwise be overlooked and at risk in rural shelters and supports the rural, hardworking communities that love their pets and benefit from the human-animal bond.

This project represents far more than a facility expansion, it is an investment in a long-term, sustainable model for rural animal welfare in Colorado!