Board Members
Lynn Davis
President
After leaving the Military, Lynn started her own business cleaning and maintaining peoples’ homes and vacation rentals. With extra time on her hands, she started volunteering with various animal rescue groups and for the past 10 years has devoted herself to helping dachshunds with the Atlantic Canadian Dachshund Rescue. She is a Therapy Dog Evaluator and a Service Dog Validator. She has also been a volunteer Therapy Dog Handler, Volunteer Firefighter & Medical First Responder, and First Aid Instructor. In recognition of these volunteer efforts, Lynn has received many certificates including a Priory Award at the investiture and presentation of awards for the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (Order of St. John / St. John Ambulance) at a ceremony at Government House. As her husband adds, she is also a loving wife, mother, grandmother and fantastic dog mom.
Stacey Sanford
Acting President / VP / Foster & Surrender Coordinator
Before joining our rescue, Stacey was VP for Hants County SPCA, as well as Animal Cruelty Agent for the provincial SPCA – serving Hants County. Her love of dachshunds began with a cruelty case she investigated. She has also worked as an animal health tech for Metro SPCA, as well as being involved with fund raising activities.
Over the years she has looked after palliative care animals. She has owned (or been owned) by doxies since 2006 including dogs with medical issues such as diabetes, Cushings Disease, cancer, and a cart dog. She is currently the owner of 3 dachshunds…Xander, Martin and Arabella.
Ruth Austin
Treasurer
Ruth’s attachment to dachshunds began in 1982 in Papua New Guinea with the rescue of a standard dachshund. Over the years she has had many other dachshunds and adored them all. Currently retired to Margaree Valley in Cape Breton after a long career in Vermont in finances and taxation, Ruth is the happy owner of a foster fail sharpei shepherd mix who is wonderful company on walks.
She is also host to a revolving group of rescue fosters while she waits to fail on a dachshund foster or two. When not cuddling dogs Ruth is an avid quilter, rug hooker and lover of Celtic music.
Laura Gabriel
Secretary / Communications Coordinator
Laura’s love affair with this breed began over 20 yrs ago when Kirby her very 1st dachshund came charging (literally) through her front door….and into her heart. After working for 31 yrs in the Workers’ Compensation system in Ontario, she retired in 2019. Laura & her husband Mark now live just outside of Annapolis Royal, NS where they are owned by 2 dogs: Sir Cormac McWeenie, a red standard, and Rhys, a silver dapple chiweenie (both were rescues from Canadian Dachshund Rescue Ontario). In her spare time Laura enjoys avoiding work on the extensive gardens scattered throughout her rural property. She & her husband are enamoured with living so close to the ocean and along with their pack, love to jump in the car & head out exploring the glorious coasts of NS. Laura started as a foster with ACDR before recently becoming the Communications & IT Coordinator.
Marianne Lohnes
Volunteer Coordinator
Marianne is a Graphic Artist by trade and worked in that field for over 22 years until, at age 43, she became a career firefighter with the City of Halifax. She retired in June 2018, after 13 ½ years of firefighting. She continues to volunteer as a firefighter with her local fire department. Marianne currently resides in her childhood home in Halfway Brook, NS with her husband, Kevin and their 4 miniature dachshunds (one of whom is paralyzed and a permanent ACDR foster) and 1 cat. Marianne began volunteering with ACDR in 2012 as a foster volunteer until 2019 when she became Volunteer Coordinator. She loves anything miniature and incorporates it into her craftwork – designing and sewing dolls and their clothing, building dollhouses. So it’s no wonder she loves dachshunds! She has been in love with the breed since she met her very first ‘wiener dog’ when she was a young child.
Junessa Gray
Adoption Coordinator
Junessa is currently studying for her Masters in Clinical Social Work at Dalhousie University and works with chronically unhoused individuals across the Halifax community. Junessa has always grown up and been surrounded by dogs but fell in love with dachshunds after being a medical foster for a bonded pair in New Jersey! Junessa & her partner Aidan now live in Halifax and keep their home available for dogs with behavioral issues and other special needs. In her spare time Junessa can be found curled up in front of the fire with a good book (& a dachshund in her lap) or hiking around the province with a dachshund in tow!
Sammy Voogt
Fundraising & Events Coordinator
Sammy works in construction as a project and safety coordinator and love all animals , especially dogs. She has had them her whole life in various size and breeds, but her heart fell for a dachshund in 2004 with her first silver dapple, Charlie. She lost him in 2015 due to many health issues related to dapples. Then in 2009, she rescued Oscar at 1 years old and he is still her right hand man at 13.5 (but has the heart of a 5 year old). She also lives with a pug mix named Archie. Sammy has volunteered for many rescues in multiple forms, but this is her first time on a Board and she is over the moon excited working with ACDR.
Paula Romanow
Member at Large
Paula’s dachshund addiction started at the age of three, when her family adopted their dachsie, Rani. The first thing she did upon buying her first house in 1984 was to get a dachsie of her own, Maxe. When Maxe was nine, Paula decided to get a puppy to keep her company; this didn’t turn out exactly as planned. Alex was the kind of the dog most people would have surrendered because of many chronic health and temperament issues. But it’s often the problem children we love best, and so life with Alex made her wonder if there were other “problem children” out there that she could help. Looking around for a rescue she could volunteer with, she discovered Canadian Dachshund Rescue in Ontario. Thinking she could just send a cheque since there wasn’t a group in Atlantic Canada, somewhat by accident, she met up with two other local dachsie lovers, and the three of them decided to start a chapter of CDR in Atlantic Canada. In time, Paula passed the torch for what became ACDR to others, who have kept it burning brighter and brighter. She is honoured to have been asked to step back onto the Board (temporarily) while it undergoes some transitioning. Over the last 20 years, Paula has remained involved in rescue doing a variety of things. She tried fostering, but discovered an inability to let them move on which led to entirely too many dogs living with her, so instead now only adopts the old and the sick, and when necessary, does palliative fostering. Her dogs have given her a very expensive veterinary education! The only one of her pack remaining is Buster, who she adopted in 2015 and who is almost 17. Paula lives in Antigonish, where she supports her vet bills by working as the Manager of Research and Evaluation in the Coady Institute’s Centre for Employment Innovation at StFX.