Six months ago, Chaidez, 27, and 6-year-old Duck were living out of her car around the Front Range. Chaidez dropped Duck off at doggy daycare to get him out of the summer heat while she delivered orders for Instacart, narrowly earning the money to board her beloved dog.
Chaidez barely broke even financially, was off her mental health medication and needed help, she said. But the thought of giving up Duck — her best friend and reason for getting up in the morning — while she sought inpatient psychiatric care was a blow that felt insurmountable.
After reaching out to animal shelters, Chaidez learned about a program through the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals that finds foster caregivers for people’s pets while they recover from addiction, abuse or mental health problems.
Through that program, Duck lived with a foster family while Chaidez got back on her feet.
“One of the main things preventing me from getting help was that I didn’t want to give him up because he’s my family,” Chaidez said. “This gave me the peace of mind to get the help I needed, and I don’t think I would be where I am now without this program.”
The program, Pawsitive Recovery, launched in Denver in 2021 and is so popular that the organization is looking to expand it across the country.
“This program gave me a lot of hope when I didn’t really see any,” Chaidez said.
Serena Saunders got sober from alcohol about five years ago through an inpatient program. The former veterinary technician told her therapist at the time that she wished she could work with dogs while going through recovery. That was the impetus for Pawsitive Recovery, a nonprofit Saunders started out of her Denver home, where she cared for the cats and dogs of people in recovery.
Two years ago, Saunders met an employee with SPCA International who became interested in her work. The longstanding animal advocacy organization hired Saunders and folded her nonprofit into their mission.
“It was probably the best decision of my life,” Saunders said.
Pawsitive Recovery partners with mental health treatment and sober living facilities across Colorado. People who need inpatient care but have pets they don’t want to leave behind get referred to the SPCA and connected with a foster caregiver.
The organization and its host of volunteers care for around 30 to 40 animals at a time — mostly cats and dogs, although Saunders has looked after 10 tarantulas in her office and found temporary homes for guinea pigs, too.
The fosters are typically volunteers from the recovery space — therapists, people in long-term recovery, parents of family members impacted by addiction, Saunders said. (Anyone interested in volunteering or getting connected with the program can find information at spcai.org/our-work/pawsitive-recovery.)
Sometimes, due to challenges like homelessness, the pets have trauma that can lead to behavioral issues, Saunders said. The program partners with a training facility in Brighton that takes on behaviorally challenged animals, she said.
They also have a standing arrangement with local boarding facility Hounds Town, which can take in pets quickly, Saunders said. A fast placement can be critical if a client is escaping a domestic violence situation and needs to leave right away, she said.
“We are not limited to dogs that are in perfect shape,” Saunders said. “We can take broken ones, too, which is amazing because the dog and the person get to heal simultaneously.”
Pawsitive Recovery commits to fostering pets for six months, giving the person in recovery time to figure out their next move, Saunders said. The SPCA charges $100 per month for a boarding fee, which Saunders described as an accountability tool for the person in recovery.
“It’s part of their responsibility, having a little skin in the game when it comes to the care of their animal,” Saunders said. “If they’re in treatment, a lot of these people are not working, so what we do is set up a fundraiser for them, and as they start rebuilding their life, they can go in and make payments. It’s all situational.”
For Chaidez, the program was life-changing.
She got the medical care she needed, secured a job at a Starbucks in Vail and got her own apartment.
When times in recovery got hard, the thought of reuniting with her furry friend kept her motivated, she said.
“I didn’t really notice how much he helped me out until I didn’t have him anymore,” Chaidez said. “He’s my best friend. He’s the whole point.”
On the day of reunification — a Saturday in mid-December — Chaidez grew nervous that Duck might not remember her or might be angry with her for leaving him.
But Duck was elated to see his favorite human again.
“I took a big sigh of relief because I made it,” Chaidez said.
That night, when Chaidez crawled into bed with Duck sleeping at her feet, she realized what a big milestone she had achieved.
“I did it,” Chaidez said. “I was in my own place, I have my own bed, my dog is back, and it really clicked. Even though it was so hard to give him up, I made the right decision.”
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Elizabeth Hernandez
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