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We have a Petco Love Story Winner!

BIG NEWS! Our rescue was selected as a winner through @PetcoLove Stories, and we just received a $25k grant!!! There were over 20k story submissions and we’re honored that one of ours won!

A huge thank you to Laura Tuccillo and her KK9R Alumnus, Boggy! Their story touched everyone’s hearts and it was a beautiful tribute to Laura’s father, Joe Tuccillo. Laura’s story will be live on Petco Love’s website soon, but this video has an overview of it in the meantime.

Also, thank you to all the KK9R alumni who submitted their stories and always support us. We have an amazing community!

Petco Love is dedicated to saving the lives of animals and they provide live-saving grants to rescues across the country. Thank you to the Petco Love employees and supporters that make this possible!

If you are not part of our alumni network, then it is not too late! Our adoption radius currently includes select areas within New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., Maryland, and Massachusetts. For full details on our adoption radius and procedures, please check our Adopt page. We’re looking forward to having you adopt from us!

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Rescue Mission in Gwangju

We start the Lunar New Year with a very emotional rescue for our team @koreank9rescue.kr in Gwangju, Korea.

Reports to our partners @youumbba that a senior woman and her paralyzed husband kept 53 dogs inside her tiny home living in squalor and trash. Her intentions started well initially, but it turned for the worse when the locals began to abandon their dogs to her. Dogs abused by drunk men, dogs who were someone’s previous pet but no longer wanted, her collection grew out of control, and she barely earned enough money cooking and cleaning to feed them. However, she fought and struggled to keep them alive. As the numbers increased, so did the fight for survival among the dogs. Dogs began killing each other, and our team saw 20 dead dogs scattered throughout her property. We were speechless.

Through tears and delicate negotiations, she agreed to let us take all 53 of her dogs. We have split the dogs up between KK9R and Youumbba, and their body condition needs a lot of help and rehabilitation. But most are friendly.

As for the senior citizen woman and her husband, social services have stepped in, and we are following up to ensure the woman gets the help she needs to recover the best she can. It’s a very tragic and emotionally taxing situation, but it’s over now. With no government help in Korea to solve hoarding situations like this, our groups must step in and help innocent animals and humans with dignity and respect.

Please support these dogs by donating to our fundraiser. There are a lot of vetting costs and treatments, and all of these dogs are adult poodle mixes. It will cost thousands of dollars to heal them. Thank you for your gifts and generosity.

We hope this rescue mission inspires to join the dog rescue movement! ⁠Our adoption radius currently includes select areas within New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., Maryland, and Massachusetts. For full details on our adoption radius and procedures, please check our Adopt page. We’re looking forward to having you join our alumni, foster, or volunteer community!

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Millie's Adopted!

Do you remember Millie (@millie_thebkgirl)? Last year, our partner, @youumbba, rescued Millie in Nonsan and medically treated her. She was an abused stray who suffered severe burns on her body caused by someone pouring boiling water on her. We took Millie into our care afterward and rehabilitated her until she was ready for adoption. She was recently adopted by her dream forever home, and we’re so happy for her! Here’s what Millie’s amazing adopter has to say about it:

“I first saw a post about Millie in September and made the decision to foster for KK9R. It was not long after the loss of my previous pup (Mickey) of 17 years. I wasn’t sure if I could open my heart to another dog, but fostering healed my heart. In December, I found out Millie made it to NYC, and I just knew that Millie is the “one.” Thanks to Vicky and Millie’s foster @yaztea, we made the adoption official.

We’ve had so much fun so far. She’s learning how to play – first fetch in the backyard and even practicing catch. She also loves going on long walks. She’s very smart, always sits patiently for her food, gives paws, and is keen to relax in her “place” with her toys. Soft toys are her favorite, and she carries them everywhere.

Most importantly, Millie’s ability to love people is special and inspiring — I know she has touched so many people in such a short time. For some, her history would cause fear. For Millie, her history ignited bravery. I’ve never met another soul that loves as deeply as her. I know, over the years, Millie will teach me how to love deeper by passing that love to me. I am so blessed to have Millie in my life, and I look forward to the life we will share together.”

After reading about Millie’s rescue story, we hope it has inspired you to join the rescue movement! ⁠Our adoption radius currently includes select areas within New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., Maryland, and Massachusetts. For full details on our adoption radius and procedures, please check our Adoption Procedures. We’re looking forward to having you join our alumni, foster, or volunteer community!

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Aerinwon (Boeun) Shelter Care

K9R recently received a generous grant of $10,000 from an anonymous donor. We donated this to @beaglerescuenetwork (BRN) in Korea. This will enable them to install the severely needed electrical grid at Aerinwon quickly, now known as the Boeun Shelter, to provide heat for the 500 dogs suffering in the brutal cold. The shelter is now located in the Chungcheongnam-do province of Korea, where snow has been falling daily, and the temperatures have dropped to 12 degrees F with freezing winds. No living being should suffer in these conditions.

We’re grateful to the volunteers who bravely break the ice in the water bowls daily. They try desperately to keep up with the dog’s blankets that freeze within minutes and jackets daily. But they know it’s not enough. This lifesaving grant from KK9R will enable BRN to install the electrical system this Wednesday. They will then be able to set up heat lamps and hot plates so the dogs can survive the winter.

If you tuned in last Wednesday to our “Christmas in Bundang” Livestream, you met Leah from BRN; she explained the freezing conditions at Boeun. KK9R felt we had to do something about it immediately, and we are so thankful to generous donors who believe in our mission. Together with @kk9r.kr_hy and @koreank9rescue.kr we will continue to support the dogs at Boeun shelter to ensure the electricity and heat are always running. We will also keep pulling as many dogs as possible for rescue, rehabilitation, and adoption. We have helped over 300 Aerinwon dogs find homes in the NYC tri-state area, and we won’t stop.

Thank you to all our supporters who have enabled us to do this lifesaving work. We hope you will continue to support our efforts to help the most vulnerable dogs in need this holiday season. Please consider donating to our mission so we can continue to assist more dogs in need of help.

We hope this rescue mission inspires to join the dog rescue movement! ⁠Our adoption radius currently includes select areas within New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., Maryland, and Massachusetts. For full details on our adoption radius and procedures, please check our Adopt page. We’re looking forward to having you join our alumni, foster, or volunteer community!

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"Christmas in Bundang" was a success again!


Thank you to all of our amazing supporters that tuned into our “Christmas in Bundang” livestream yesterday evening! We’re grateful that so many people took the time to show their appreciation for our hardworking team and partners in Korea. We hope that everyone learned how much thought, effort, and love goes into rescuing and rehabilitating each dog. Together, we are making a real difference for thousands of dogs!

You can continue to support our team and partners in Korea by following them here: @koreank9rescue.kr, @animal_kara, @beaglerescuenetwork, @youumbba, @oukjae96 and @yuhengsa_official .

We hope that “Christmas in Bundang” inspires to join the dog rescue movement! ⁠Our adoption radius currently includes select areas within New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., Maryland, and Massachusetts. For full details on our adoption radius and procedures, please check our Adopt page. We’re looking forward to having you join our alumni, foster, or volunteer community! Thank you to our supporters and friends who attended our third annual Livestream, “Christmas In Bundang.” Despite some technical difficulties initially, you rode it out until we were back online with clear sound! We can’t thank you enough for recognizing our team’s hard work in South Korea. Our manager @kk9r.kr_hy spent the month of December preparing for the biggest event of the year for KK9R, and the meticulous detail of her hard work is sincerely appreciated. Each dog we featured had a compelling story, and our dogs and rescue partners shined so bright last night. We also highlighted our wonderful adopters in NY whose dogs are living their best lives and interviewed rescuers about their experience saving them. Our staff and pups got in the holiday spirit with fun Christmas outfits, and we had a live cooking demonstration sponsored by @justfoodfordogs that our dogs got to taste for the first time, and they cleaned their bowls quickly!

The feeling of camaraderie in the rescue community can be rare sometimes. But our dream to unite all the groups as one in Korea has served the dogs extraordinarily and keeps growing! We had six beautiful groups who attended our party, and we hope their spirits were lifted and filled with a renewed sense of hope.

Thank you to @youumbba @animal_kara @beaglerescuenetwork @yuhengsa_official @oukjae96love @NGO_Dasom and the many other partners we work with!

Thank you, staff and volunteers, in Korea, for caring for each dog at our center. When our dogs arrive in NYC, we see the happiness and light in their eyes right away, which helps them on their journey to find a loving, forever home. That is the greatest gift to us all. ????

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Our Director was on the Stop Yulin Podcast!

Our Director, Gina Boehler, was featured on the Stop Yulin podcast! The episode starts with background information about Gina and how she created Korean K9 Rescue. From there, we discuss our rescue’s NYC and Korea operations. This includes rescue missions, rehabilitation, transportation, and adoptions. Then we talk about the dog meat trade in Korea and CDC bans in the US/Canada for international dog transports. We end with details about our “Unchain Me, Korea” campaign.

You can listen to the podcast here!

We hope this podcast inspires to join the dog rescue movement! ⁠Our adoption radius currently includes select areas within New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., Maryland, and Massachusetts. For full details on our adoption radius and procedures, please check our Adopt page. We’re looking forward to having you join our alumni, foster, or volunteer community!

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Our Howl-o-Ween Party was a Treat!


We had a fantastic turnout for our 6th annual How-O-Ween Party! First, we participated in Strut Your Mutt @bestfriendsanimalsociety parade around McCarren Park and raised over $11K for a good cause, our “Unchain Me, Korea campaign. All the pups looked amazing in their wonderful costumes and we partied after the Strut! Big thanks to everyone who came out! We had so much fun, and we hope you did too. Thank you to our sponsors and @nycpet for sponsoring our costume contest, where we registered 104 contestants and had 23 winners! Here is the breakdown of our winners. Congratulations to all!

1st Place @indypagemon
2nd Place @morningthepup
3rd Place @biggiethebigpuppa & @siopaonayan paonayan

Honorable mentions: 
@queenelsagrace @mister.the.maltipoo @marshall.the.marshmallow.dog @gamja_pup @berni_sandwich @iloveluchi Miso, Tei, @whatlaikalikes @marty_and_meow @hannahthekk9pup, Fina – the peacock, Buddy – UPS man, Bertie – Ghost Rider, Volvo Everything bagel, @nori.in.nyc – Avocado, @gucci_the_pomskyr.


Interested in adopting from our rescue? ⁠Our adoption radius currently includes select areas within New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., Maryland, and Massachusetts. For full details on our adoption radius and procedures, please check our Adopt page. We’re looking forward to having you join our alumni, foster, or volunteer community!

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New KK9R Van!


Started from the bottom, now we’re here! For many years we had been driving our trusty, but rusty graffiti inspired minivan and it served us well. But our rescue definitely needed an upgrade. We are so thankful and grateful to the generous Taco and Barney Foundation for granting us a new van! It’s going to serve our rescue dogs well for many years to come and we are blessed to have the amazing support of our KK9R community! Cheers to our new van!

We’d love to have you join the rescue movement! ⁠Our adoption radius currently includes select areas within New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., Maryland, and Massachusetts. For full details on our adoption radius and procedures, please check our Adoption Procedures. We’re looking forward to having you join our alumni, foster, or volunteer community!

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Fritos's Adopted!

BIG NEWS: Fritos has been officially adopted through our Foster-to-Adopt VIP Program!

Fritos was a neglected Shiba Inu found on the streets of Brooklyn, taken in by @nycacc, and then pulled by us shortly afterwards. He was malnourished and suffering from a severe skin infection which required extensive medication and treatment.

Now look at Fritos – he’s living his best life! His amazing fosters (now adopters) fell in love with him and knew they wanted to adopt him! They’ve been helping him through his recovery and giving him so much love. In the process, he’s opened up a lot and we’re very proud of him! He enjoys eating @justfoodfordogs Joint & Skin Support (veterinary diet), napping in his crate, and spending time with his humans. He recently learned how to sit and he’s started to gets the zoomies too!

We are thrilled for Fritos, and we know he is too! A special thank you to @justfoodfordogs as well for sponsoring Fritos’s nutritious diet as part of our Foster-to-Adopt VIP program (link in bio for info about our program). And lastly, thank you to our generous supporters that donated to Fritos’s medical fundraiser!

After reading about Fritos’s rescue story, we hope it has inspired you to join the rescue movement! ⁠Our adoption radius currently includes select areas within New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., Maryland, and Massachusetts. For full details on our adoption radius and procedures, please check our Adoption Procedures. We’re looking forward to having you join our alumni, foster, or volunteer community!

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Our Summer Party was a Blast!


You guys blew us away! Over 250 people and 75 dogs attended our Summer Party @fiveboroughsbrewing to show their support and love. Everyone had a blast and we partied non-stop until the late afternoon. Ten dogs were adopted, seven sponsor companies showed up to give out free goodies and @spicymoonnyc catered the most amazing food and @thewaysofthedog never stopped shooting pics! Because of your generous support, we raised over 50k towards our mission “Unchain Me, Korea! We are blessed to have such a wonderful community. Thank you all for making a difference! We can’t wait to do it again next year.

Interested in adopting from our rescue? ⁠Our adoption radius currently includes select areas within New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., Maryland, and Massachusetts. For full details on our adoption radius and procedures, please check our Adopt page. We’re looking forward to having you join our alumni, foster, or volunteer community!