Daisy, a mountain cur puppy, was just one of the eight lucky dogs to find a home during the recent soft opening of Fido’s Landing in Homewood, after she was adopted by Briana Johnson.
“She happened to look like another dog I had,” said Johnson, who lives in Homewood. She also has a cat named Gracie, who is already dog-savvy.
The opening generated fond memories for Johnson. Five years earlier, she’d been in the same building at 2207 183rd St. to adopt her now 5-year-old German shepherd, Theotis, when the facility was a satellite shelter operated by the South Suburban Humane Society. That facility had closed several years ago when SSHS moved its main operation from Chicago Heights to new digs in Matteson.
That move gave Fido’s Landing an opportunity to find a new home.
Volunteers and staff with Fido’s Landing said their shelter stands out because most of the dogs live with fosters until adoption and are carefully socialized to be ready for new homes.
“They come to the person fully vetted,” said Laura Hall, donations director, adding they have all their shots and are spayed/neutered before they go to their new homes. “Our biggest thing is when we get them out to people, they’re socialized.”
Hall became involved after attending one of Fido’s Landing’s outreach adoption events and taking a few dogs home.
“We’re always looking for more fosters, volunteers and donations,” she said.
Sarah Montgomery and Maria Garcia founded the shelter in 2022 and it became a non-profit in 2024. Montgomery said she’s always loved dogs and ran Hello Fido, a dog training company in Chicago’s Beverly community before the operation moved to Tinley Park in 2021. She’s also helped her husband with dogs in his work as a canine sergeant with a private security firm and has two dogs at home.
“I’ve always been very passionate about dogs,” Montgomery said, citing “their healing quality.”
Montgomery said while managing the training company, she encountered dog owners who wanted to give up their pets, often for financial reasons. She got in the habit of trying to find ways to help them keep their dogs, including offering free dog food and help with veterinary costs.
“We would always find homes for them anyway, so it made sense to do it in a formal setting,” she said. “Kindness goes an extremely long way.”
She said finding the new site for their shelter was “surreal.” Though it had formerly been used for a similar purpose, there’s still much work to be done on the building.
“It’s going to take a lot,” she said. “We’ll need a lot of donations. We’ll get there.”
The building has 2,000 square feet on record, though Daryl Ward, senior director of operations, said he thinks it may actually be bigger. There are five dog rooms.
“We’ll also have a backyard, which is awesome,” Ward said.
Ward said Fido’s Landing has four staff members, 41 volunteers and 10 people on the board of directors, including him.
“We’re not only here for the public, but we are here for awareness and knowledge,” he said, explaining several volunteers come from the veterinary field.
There’s also enough space that they can shift things around and take in more dogs in the future.
“We can expand to create more room,” said Ward. “That’s why this space meant the world to us.”
Like other employees and volunteers, Ward said he’s passionate about dogs. He also said they’re lucky to have such a strong network of supporters who donate.
“Every dog deserves to be loved,” he said.
Ten puppies had come in recently and were happily playing in one of the rooms during the event. But there were several shy canine youngsters, too, one sitting in a cage outside eyeing onlookers.
“We do a very moderated approach,” said Ward, explaining one staffer would sit near the shy dog as she worked on her laptop to help him get used to people. He said he was sure the pup would come around.
At last count, Fido’s Landing had 37 dogs up for adoption. Information on fostering or adopting is at adopt@fidoslanding.org donations information is at fundraising@fidoslanding.org.
Janice Neumann is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.