SEQUIM — A group of dog lovers with the sole purpose of rescuing abused, abandoned, lost or surrendered dogs, has launched a fundraiser to purchase developed acreage for a new Sequim-area facility they would call Half Way Home Ranch.

The Sequim-based nonprofit Welfare for Animals Guild — or WAG — that serves Clallam County and the North Olympic Peninsula needs $620,000 by the end of the year to purchase the property.

It’s an effort to expand its growing service in hard economic times.

WAG’s nine-member board and about 30 members are experts in canine foster care and doggie-people matchmaking, they say — experience they have gained over the past 11 years.

“I had someone who flew in from Idaho, and we matched her with a dog, and she just loves it, can’t live without it,” said Judy Stirton, WAG board president, adding the group matches dogs with owners from as far east as Pennsylvania and north to Canada.

WAG recently rescued 10 dogs from a California “kill shelter” and has found them all new homes.

Since Stirton founded it in 2001, WAG has rescued 829 dogs through 2011, with an all-time high last year of finding and relocating 140 dogs to warm new homes.

“If we could own our own facility we could help many more,” said WAG treasurer Mary Ann Langan.

She added that group members believe the new 9.5 acres — all adequately cross-fenced — with a home, caretaker quarters and barn, would allow the group to rescue between 360 and 600 dogs annually.

Such a large property, Stirton said, could allow space for a training center.

Stirton, Langan and secretary Paula Creasey say the new facility would allow them to help the Peninsula’s lost dogs “wag more and bark less.”

“We could do better because the demand is here,” Creasey said.

WAG finds dogs in need, has them spayed or neutered, vaccinated, microchipped and provided with appropriate veterinary care.

The group provides loving foster homes for dogs until they are adopted.

Dogs with behavioral problems stemming from their plights are identified and addressed with a professional trainer who donates her time.

WAG provides a resource for people who can no longer take care of their dogs, such as senior citizens who are ill, and for those seeking homes for dogs after a death in the family.

It also offers shelter to dogs whose owners are in financial straits and can no longer afford to feed them.

WAG’s mission “is to protect animals from neglect, abuse and exploitation; to advocate for their interests and welfare and to inspire awareness and compassion for the animals whose world we share.”

Gabriel, an energetic brown Labrador puppy who was with Stirton, Creasey and Langan on Thursday, was found alongside a West Coast highway on Christmas Day.

Hit by a car, they rescued him as a foster dog with a broken leg and swollen abdomen that required surgery to remove damaged intestine and bowel.

Gabe needs a home.

There are hundreds of sad tales with happy endings like Gabe’s, the WAG leaders said, and they want more such situations to end happily.

WAG’s leaders said a new facility would expand their service to help dog owners who can no longer keep their beloved companion because of a life-changing event, find a loving home environment for their dog until a permanent home can be found.

The dogs will have their own warm beds, plenty of good food, recreation and space to lounge, they said.

“The day we acquire it,” Langan said of the property, “we could start rescuing dogs — that’s how good it is.”

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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.