Old veterinary hospital being turned into a new home for the Detroit Dog Rescue.

(WJBK) - Day one of demo at the future home of Detroit Dog Rescue, dozens of volunteers trading dog duty at the current shelter on the city's east side.

For work detail at the new place on Grand River formerly Westcott Veterinary Hospital, the space was gifted to DDR back in December.

“We are now transitioning that vet hospital into a state of the art dog shelter,” Executive Director of DDR Kristina Rinaldi said.

"I am so excited for this I’ve been waiting for so long, first thing I did, I came in at 8 in the morning grabbed a sledge hammer and knocked down a wall,” programs coordinator Dustin Banooni said.

The excitement is obvious and here's why. The new space is 11-thousand square feet, their current location less than three thousand.

“As everybody knows the need in Detroit is a big need. This will give us triple the space of our current facility and it will allow us to make our current facility a low cost spade and neuter clinic which we’re looking to do in the near future,” Rinaldi said.

And big things are planned for this new shelter, a bigger training area, more kennels, a birthing center for pregnant stray moms and an area to do police holds. 

They're hoping to have it all done by early 2019, they're grateful for all the volunteers and hoping for more donations to make it all happen.

"It's a big building, it's a big project it’s going to take money, that’s the way the world works. The smallest amount even can help us get a new kennel, get a new wall,” Banooni said.

“This is going to be a sanctuary in Detroit, a safe haven for Detroit's dogs and we need everybody to pitch in,” Rinaldi said.

If interested in donating, pitching in, volunteering or adopting, log onto detroitdogrescue.com