On a chilly December day in 2001, animal control in Shorewood spotted a small, sick dog running loose. It took them six months to catch him. He was too weak to keep running.
No tags. No collar. No one came looking. The shelter guessed he was around eleven, and with age and a growing list of health problems, he was scheduled to be euthanized.
Then someone made a phone call.
"I have a reputation as 'The Sheltie Lady,'" says Jean Stelten, owner of Top Dog Country Club in New Germany. The kennel holding the dog knew it, and on a Saturday evening in January 2002, they called to ask if she knew a family who might want an aging Sheltie. "Without a thought, I told her I will take him."
They named him Bentley. Jean found broken ribs, a fear of stairs, and eyes going progressively blind from untreated dry eye. None of it mattered to him. "He wagged his tail constantly, and was the most grateful dog I have ever known," Jean says. "Just happy to be alive and happy to be loved."
Bentley lived six and a half more years. And he changed the course of Jean's life.
From Vacations to Second Chances
Jean already knew dogs. She spent ten years developing Top Dog Country Club while working as a Marriott executive, building what she calls the "un-kennel," a place with group play, swim time, and real training instead of a cage. It opened in 2000 and reshaped how the industry thinks about boarding.
But Bentley showed her a gap Top Dog Country Club couldn't fill. In 2004, she founded Top Dog Foundation, a nonprofit built for what she calls "ElderPups," senior dogs written off by shelters, rescues, and sanctuaries for the crime of being old.
"Top Dog Foundation is the second act for senior dogs," Jean says, "that have been orphaned often when an owner passes or is moved to assisted living, or in some unfortunate cases when they are just no longer wanted."
Since then, the foundation has taken in or supported 265 senior dogs with nowhere else to go.
The Calls Nobody Plans For
Ask Jean what people misunderstand about surrendered dogs, and she doesn't hesitate. The common assumption, she says, is that a friend or relative will simply step in. "Only to discover that they can't or won't, due to finances, living situations, family dynamics, work demands," she says. "In these cases, senior dogs often end up in shelters, where they are more likely to be euthanized."
She's watched it happen. When an owner passed away in northern Minnesota, his three dogs went to a local shelter. Two were adopted. The third, an eleven-year-old shepherd mix named Sylvie, had no one. Someone at the shelter knew to call Jean.
Most of the calls Jean gets aren't planned. "These calls are usually an urgent situation instead of a planned transition," she says. It's why she's such a believer in Minnesota's Pet Trust law, which finally makes it possible to legally guarantee a dog's care after an owner is gone. Top Dog Foundation can even be named as the trusted caregiver.
Bentley's Place
Right now, the foundation's dogs live out their days at Top Dog Country Club. Eight-year-old Hattie, whose owner recently moved to assisted living, is one of them, and through the foundation's "Hoover's Taxi Network," volunteers will keep her connected to her person with regular visits.
But Jean's real vision is bigger: Bentley's Place, a 120-dog haven built next door, with private suites, a medical clinic, hydrotherapy, and a training center, all funded in part by opening those same services to the public. “Think Super Hip Senior Living For Dogs,” Jean says.
Construction is set to begin with a goal of opening in 2029. The foundation has already secured $1 million toward it and is raising $4 million more through donors and pre-funded pet trusts.
What She's Thankful For
Asked what she's grateful for, Jean doesn't talk about the building. She talks about the dogs. "I am thankful that I have been blessed by the love of many elder pups," she says, "and for the absolute joy I have experienced in caring for them."
It's a sentiment she found written elsewhere but has made entirely her own: finishing a story you didn't start, and giving it a happy ending, is a particular kind of love.
For a community built around the lake, the woods, and the people who love their dogs like a family member, that's a story worth being thankful for.
Learn more about Top Dog Foundation's capital campaign for Bentley's Place at topdogfoundation.org/support.
Top Dog Foundation is the second act for senior dogs that have been orphaned, often when an owner passes or is moved to assisted living, or in some unfortunate cases, when they are just no longer wanted.