Longboaters lend helping paw to dogs in need

George Skestos has owned a dog since he was 3 years old.

Similarly, his wife, Tina Skestos, grew up with no fewer than three dogs running around her house.

So when George Skestos, who recently turned 91, was thinking about the legacy he wanted to leave, it was easy for him to decide on helping dogs.

After three years of planning, the Skestoses opened Gigi’s Shelter for Dogs in October in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio.

A lot of shelters in rural areas of Ohio are overwhelmed with the number of dogs they have and can also lack certain resources. Gigi’s Shelter for Dogs helps provide vaccinations, training and coaching and brings dogs to its facility in Columbus from source shelters to receive medical and behavioral evaluations. The goal is to get the dogs healthy and ready for adoption.

“George discovered all of these pockets of these underfunded shelters that can’t do anything with dogs in need …” Tina Skestos said. “We send our vans down to these shelters in these more underfunded areas, and they bring the dogs back.”

While the name has shelter in it, George Skestos said that isn’t really the purpose.

“We take them from shelters and fix them and make them viable dogs for adoption,” he said. “And they don’t leave until we feel they can be adopted.”

The main facility has two operating rooms that two full-time veterinarians use, and the Skestoses are creating a second facility that will be for behavioral treatment and a third that will be used for treating canine parvovirus, a highly contagious viral illness that affects dogs’ internal systems.

Gigi’s also has a large outdoor area where dogs can play and walk, but they also have a covered arena so dogs can continue playing in inclement weather.

The Skestoses took every little detail into account when creating Gigi’s. From the blue-gray color of the walls that are proven to calm dogs to music that plays throughout the facility that can soothe dogs, the canines’ well-being was top priority.

“When they leave our place, they don’t want to leave because they’re happy,” George Skestos said.

Since its opening in October, more than 400 dogs have been treated by Gigi’s, which is named after their current dog, Gigi, an Akita.

Eventually, the Skestoses said this model could be picked up by others, whether it’s the same format or on a smaller scale.

The feeling they get by helping the dogs is simple — great. George Skestos said all he has to do is walk through the facility and see the tail-wagging dogs.

“Dogs are so full of love,” George Skestos said. “They don’t want anything but to love the people they live with.”

In addition to Gigi’s, George Skestos also supports IHS, a service that helps pastors doing missionary work, Doctors Without Borders and has built homes for veterans as part of his business.

“They fought for our country, so we give them a home that has wide aisles and cabinets, so they can get to them in the wheelchairs and stuff like that,” George Skestos said.

And through all the philanthropic endeavors, Tina Skestos is by his side.

“I’m his right arm,” she said.