Theresa Strader walked into Mo’s House on a recent Tuesday afternoon and headed for the kennel where Bella and Izzy the schnauzers awaited her.

“Hi girls. You’re such good little girls,” she cooed at them, opening the kennel door and taking a seat on the ground, getting to the dogs’ eye-level.

Bella let out a soft but excited bark, followed by another and another. She greeted Strader, almost demanded to be pet.

“She is the sweetest dog. She constantly talks to me. I am so in love with that dog,” Strader said, alternating between petting Bella and Izzy, who were excited for the company in their temporary shelter.

The kennel ring where the dogs are currently housed, along with several others in Strader’s care at her nonprofit National Mill Dog Rescue in Peyton, is called “Mo’s House.” The wing is named in honor of the pit bull a friend of Strader’s once had.

All the dogs are special at the National Mill Dog Rescue, but Bella the schnauzer became a spokesdog for the rescue by being the 20,000 dog that has been saved. Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023.  (Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette)

Unlike most dogs Strader rescues from puppy mills, or high-volume commercial dog breeding facilities, Bella and Izzy aren’t shy around humans. Instead of shrinking away from human attention, these schnauzers welcome it.

If you asked Strader or any of her 45 employees and the approximately 400 volunteers who work at the rescue organization, they’d tell you all dogs are special.

But Bella has an extra something. She’s the 20,000th dog the National Mill Dog Rescue has saved from commercial breeding facilities in the nearly 17 years it’s been operating.

Izzy was the 19,999th.

Before Bella is sent to her new permanent home with a friend of Strader’s in Arizona, she will go through intake at Strader’s facility, a process that includes high-end medical care provided by five veterinarians on staff.

After the same process, the other 47 adult dogs and 17 puppies the National Mill Dog Rescue team recently saved and brought back to the facility on Dec. 15 — Strader’s 60th birthday — will be slated for adoption. As will all the dogs at the rescue.

“In a million years, I could never have imagined (this milestone),” Strader said.

For almost 17 years she and her local team, as well as partners all over the country, have been saving tens of thousands of dogs and counting from commercial breeding facilities where the level of care for the dogs runs the gamut.

From dark and cramped living spaces with little food or medical care to commercial breeding centers with wide open play spaces, spacious kennels and great medical care, and every level in between, Strader, her employees and volunteers have seen it all.

The moment she and her team save a dog is a high she’ll continue chasing.

All the dogs are special at the National Mill Dog Rescue, but Bella the schnauzer became a spokesdog for the rescue by being the 20,000 dog that has been saved. Tommie Evans, Donor Development for the rescue, holds the celebrity on Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023. (Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette)

“It can be just truly exhilarating to do this work. It feels so good to get these dogs out of that environment. Whether good, bad or indifferent, none of them have what they truly need. Even in the best situation, they still are not in a home. It’s a pretty awesome feeling to be able to do that for them,” she said.

Before they’re adopted to forever homes, Strader, her employees and volunteers help the dogs rehabilitate and recover from the emotional and physical effects being raised in a high-volume breeding facility can have, such as malnourishment, a variety of medical needs, and fear and distrust of humans.

In 2023, the National Mill Dog Rescue saved more than 2,000 dogs of all breeds. It’s another milestone, 700 more dogs rescued in 2023 than in any other year since Strader founded and began operating the nonprofit out of her Black Forest home in February 2007, she said.

In one of the organization’s most recent rescue runs, the team saved more than 200 dogs. Most of them went to the rescue’s new holding and transfer facility in Humansville, Mo., just under an hour’s drive northwest of Springfield.  Several rescue partners met them there to transport some of the dogs back to their shelters for adoption.

In a charming nod to the Missouri town, the National Mill Dog Rescue has taken to calling its facility there “Dogsville.”

Caretaking and rescuing animals have always been in her blood, Strader said. She worked for more than 30 years as a pediatric oncology nurse, a job she adored but had to give up to work full time at the rescue, another job she loves.

She grew up in the eastern U.S. volunteering in animal shelters and fostering animals, but opening the National Mill Dog Rescue wasn’t something she planned.

That was, until she learned of a dog auction in Missouri and saw firsthand the poor condition more than 560 of those animals were in.

All the dogs are special at the National Mill Dog Rescue, but Bella the schnauzer became a spkoesdog for the rescue by being the 20,000 dog that has been saved. Tommie Evans, Bella plays with one of the dog that arrived with the same group at the rescue. Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023. (Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette)

“I’m looking at these dogs and it took my breath away. The stench, the darkness, the number of animals crammed into these cages. … It was so overwhelming. I went out the back of that building … to the backside of this barn and I just sunk to the ground in tears with my daughter. I called my husband and said, ‘Oh my God. Rich, we’re going to have to do something. This is bad.’ And he’s like, ‘OK.’

“That was the call that changed everything,” she said.

Strader’s family was getting ready to move to New England, but when she brought back 13 dogs with her from that auction to Black Forest, plans changed.

“As soon as I brought those dogs back and this mission started to brew, it was like, alright. We’re not going anywhere. At least not right now,” she said.

Strader first operated National Mill Dog Rescue out of her home and four chicken coops. About a year and a half after founding the nonprofit, they moved into their current facility and have been expanding ever since. They’ve added the Timothy Center, which is the veterinarian wing, and Missy’s Place, the rehabilitation area.

In the coming years, she plans to add another area for the bigger dogs temporarily sheltered at the rescue, a Big Dog Village, and an adoptions building.

Strader said she is grateful for the work her employees, volunteers, rescue partners and supporters do to make her dream of saving dogs a reality.

“What’s your dream at one time, now you have to kind of help others see it and then look what we’ve built. … This is not luck. This is the result of passion and work and generosity. Twenty thousand dogs have benefitted from that. For me, it doesn’t get a whole lot better than that.”

All the dogs are special at the National Mill Dog Rescue, but Bella the schnauzer became a spokesdog for the rescue by being the 20,000 dog that has been saved. Tommie Evans, Donor Development for the rescue, holds the celebrity on Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023. (Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette)