KISS Front man Gene Simmons’ surprise visit to a dog shelter to advocate dog rescue

August 25, 2019

KISS Front man Gene Simmons and his wife Shannon Lee Tweed Simmons made a surprise visit to local Los Angeles dog rescue Wags & Walks on Tuesday June 19th 2018 to help raise awareness about dog rescue and deliver hundreds of toys and treats to loving dogs in need of homes. The toys and treats were provided by iHeartDogs.com.

The couple brought George, one of their 4 rescue dogs with them. Shannon Simmons said “I think adopting dogs is good for people’s health. It’s good for the dogs and good for people and not just adopting 1 but adopt at least 2 because then they have a herd so they can be together. So you don’t feel guilty when you go to work. My daughter and I rescued 10 dogs, and we now have 4 with us and my daughter has 2. We have to put 2 down last year because they were too old. One was 19 and another one was 20 and we adopted them since they were 2 years old so it was really hard to let them go. They got cancer and went blind and many other problems.”

Gene Simmons added “They are less like pets and more like members of the family. It’s difficult to let your dog go. You cry for days. It’s just heartbreaking. We go on 4-5 mile hike and Shanon, just by looking at George (their dog), she knows if he’s thinking about pooping, and she can tell if he needs to sit down in the shade and not wants to walk anymore.”

Marshall Morris of iheartdogs.com said “We are supper excited to partner with Gene to deliver to the shelter much-needed toys and treats and things that the dogs need to find their happy homes.” iHeartDogs.com is the leading “profit for purpose” pet goods manufacturer and e-commerce retailer, supporting animal shelters and rescue organizations around the nation. Veteran-owned and operated, iHeartDogs was founded in 2014 as a Facebook page inspired by a rescued Siberian Husky named Splash, and has grown to over 20 million online followers and 1 million loyal customers. Through each customer purchase, iHeartDogs is able to fund millions of meals for shelter animals, provide hundreds of thousands of safe toys to shelters and helps fund service and companion animals for veterans. Named one of the nation’s fastest-growing companies by Inc. 500, iHeartDogs runs on the simple belief that every dog matters.

Kathryn Hurley a volunteer and event lead at Wags and Walks said: “We rely on private donations to continue our works so to be able to have treats and toys for the dogs is very important.” She added “We usually average 20 to 25 adoptions per week so we have already rescued over 520 dogs in 2018. Our adoption center was created around the idea that we wanted to it to be very welcoming for families so we have the center in a very bright color and different room areas to allow people to have a very positive experience and really get to know the dogs in a common space.”

Every day, a number of sweet and healthy dogs are being euthanized due to overcrowded shelters. In Los Angeles, Wags & Walks aims to break the stigma that rescue dogs are damaged goods by rescuing dogs at high kill shelters and caring for them at their adoption center, placing them with loving fosters, and helping them find their forever homes. Founded by Lesley Brog, Wags and Walks is a nonprofit organization whose primary mission is to match people with dogs that need a home and to save dogs’ lives on death row. Wags and Walks is a nonprofit 501c3, tax-deductible organization run completely off of charitable contributions and volunteer support. For more information about Wags and Walks, visit www.wagsandwalks.org.