Jill Rappaport became an animal advocate after her 11-year-old German Shepherd Jack was diagnosed with bone cancer and had to have his front leg amputated. At the time, Rappaport had been working for “The Today Show” on NBC as an entertainment reporter for 16 years.
The experience changed her life. She asked her boss if she could chronicle Jack’s story. “I wanted to tell the world what an amazing trooper this dog was,” she said.
“He never let the loss of a limb stand in the way of living the best life,” Rappaport continued. “I thought, ‘Isn’t it amazing what we can learn from our animals?’ They don’t care about how they look and who doesn’t like them. They just want to be loved by the people that they love, and they want to be out of pain.”
She brought an NBC camera crew in for Jack’s last chemo treatment. “It was so important to tell the world what dogs can teach us and how they survive things,” she said.
After the segment, people reached out from across the world with emails and letters. After the unbelievable response she went back to her boss and said, “Stars don’t need my help, animals do!” and became an animal advocate for the show.
Jack’s message lives on today all over the world. Rappaport wrote the book “Jack & Jill: The Miracle Dog with a Happy Tail to Tell” that is in schools across the country.
Rappaport started the “Bow to Wow” segment on “The Today Show.” For eight years the segment featured an animal up for adoption at Animal Care in New York City. The show had a 100 percent adoption rate. “They were gone the minute I put them on the air,” she said.
She also hosted the show “Best in Shelter with Jill Rappaport,” an NBC special all about helping the underdogs.
Her love of animals started as a young child — rescuing animals in need starting at the young age of three. Today, her work with animal advocacy is massive and she focuses on the animals that are in the direst need of help. She’s won eight Genesis Awards, awarded by the Humane Society of the United States to individuals in the major news and entertainment media for producing outstanding works, which raise public awareness of animal issues.
Her goal is always “to speak out on behalf of the underdogs of the shelter world. I’ve always been about the seniors, the pits, and the special needs,” she said.
When we met in November at her stunning (featured-on-the-cover-of-Arch-Digest stunning) home in Water Mill, she explained that this was her first time fostering rescue animals. The two apricot standard poodle puppy siblings (with possibly some goldendoodle mix) came from NYC Second Chance Rescue, and she named them Pumpkin and Spice.
They were so afraid when she took them home, but just two months later they were thriving healthy young pups. “NYC Second Chance Rescue is an amazing organization. I see the time and diligence and attention to detail that they take,” she said. The organization rescues dogs and cats just one step away from being euthanized. Since its inception, NYC Second Chance Rescue has saved 13,000 lives.
“This has been the most magical experience for me in all my years of adopting and rescuing, because I am a first-time foster; to see the transition, to see the 180-degree change that they made. Literally, from where we got them to where they are now. It has been remarkable.”
She urges others to have the same experience and to help an animal in need.
“Be a foster. You are the bridge between hell and heaven. They come out of something that is so, in many cases, horrific, and you’re the person who prepares them for their next future wonderful life.”
Having fostered for the first time she realized, “My role changed their lives, even in the two months I’ve had them, I watched them go from terrified to tails wagging. Is there anything better than that?”
Pumpkin and Spice have since been adopted and Rappaport says she will continue to foster after this experience.
“First and foremost, opt to adopt,” she said. She’s always adopted rescues and has focused on senior pets, explaining that quite often they go on to live longer lives than expected.
One of the dogs she rescued had been returned to Southampton Animal Shelter three times by the time it was eight years old. That dog is now 14 and living a healthy life at Rappaport’s home. She also brought home an American bulldog, rescued as a fighting dog. She explained that the breed’s life expectancy is 12, but they didn’t lose him until 16.
“These rescues, not only do they know they’ve been saved, most in the nick of time, in the twilight of their lives when they know something is up. They thank you and give back in a way that you just can’t put into words. And I think, so often, seniors thrive and shock people with how long they live.”
Older dogs are the best, she says, and may be overlooked at the shelter by those looking to adopt. “They’d rather sleep on the couch than eat the couch,” she said. “They know you’ve given them a second chance for a new life.”
There are so many ways for people to make a difference, she says, and she urges those interested to learn about what’s happening in the shelters. She also speaks about Covid returns — animals that were returned to shelters when people returned to work. “For all of the animal lovers on the East End, take the time to understand what’s going on… Look at what’s going on in our local shelters,” she said.
Helping, if you are able to, may be rewarding to both you and the animal.
Rappaport rescued another dog, Ruby, from a California kill shelter. “The worst shelter I’d ever been in,” she said. “Ruby was there, clawing at me. She was on day 29. They only give them 30 days.”
Ruby went on to sell Rappaport’s products on QVC. “She became such a life force for me,” she said. “I would take them all if I could.”
And she continues to advocate for the most in need at the shelters, including pit bulls.
“I have a problem with pit bull prejudice,” she said, explaining that pit bulls have been unfairly labeled as dangerous. “That’s why they are languishing in shelters across the country, because everyone is afraid of them… It’s the hands they end up in. If you show a kind loving hand, they’re wonderful.”
Her goal is to one day open an animal hospital, where no pet can be turned away because an owner can’t afford the medical care for pets.
Rappaport has also launched Jill Rappaport’s Pet Products With A Purpose, a line of pet items that include light-up leashes and collars, all made in the United States. The line gives back to animal advocacy and every one of the dogs that model the products are up for adoption.
They have sayings like, “I’m a heart-melter from a shelter,” and her favorite, “Be bold, go old.”
