Tom was rescued from the Oxford Animal Resource Center<\/strong> as one of the last puppies left in his litter. He went on to complete a four-week board and train program with Mangum K9<\/strong>, and he is now training with his owner, Ole Miss<\/strong> counseling graduate student Liv Ford<\/strong>, to become a certified therapy dog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tom earned his title through the Pack Leader contest, where finalists were chosen through blind judging “Tom’s story is exactly why this campaign exists,” said Kimmi Rasky<\/strong> of Rescue Revival. “He went from one of The 2026 Rebels For Rescue campaign is raising $100,000 to fund a dedicated transport vehicle available to The need is urgent: Best Friends Animal Society<\/strong> data shows Mississippi shelters euthanizing 9,186 Rebels For Rescue is the Ole Miss side of a friendly fundraising rivalry with Mississippi State’s Hail Paws<\/strong> The October 15 celebration at The Velvet Ditch will feature campaign merch, adoptable dogs, drink specials, Community celebration set for October 15 at The Velvet Ditch, followed by “A Round for Rescues” across Oxford<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":238,"featured_media":166379,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[19,35027],"tags":[35841,7067,4,18513,35842,655],"class_list":["post-166374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-upcoming-events","tag-animal-rescue","tag-ole-miss","tag-oxford","tag-oxford-animal-resource-center","tag-rescue-revival","tag-university-of-mississippi"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Rebels-For-Rescue_Tom.png?fit=1080%2C1350&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166374"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":166396,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166374\/revisions\/166396"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
(judges read owner-submitted stories without ever seeing photos) and the public voted by liking each finalist’s
post on @rescuerevivalusa with voting closing on September 28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2-scaled.png?ssl=1\")
<\/a>
the last pups left in his litter to training as a therapy dog, and now he’s leading the pack for rescue dogs across
Mississippi. Every dollar we raise goes toward a transport vehicle that gives more dogs the same second
chance Tom got.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mississippi rescues, moving animals to life-saving veterinary care, foster homes, rescue partners, and forever
families. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
dogs and cats in a single year, with only 22 percent of the state’s shelters reaching no-kill status. The Animal Legal Defense Fund<\/strong> ranks Mississippi 46th in the nation for animal protection laws in its 2025 report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
campaign, which has already named its Pack Leader, Bully. The campaign is powered by fundraising teams, sponsorships, and Legacy Levels sponsorships ranging from $200 to $1,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and an appearance by Tom himself. The festivities continue Friday, October 16 with “A Round for Rescues”<\/strong>:
Supporters who purchase a campaign t-shirt can wear it into participating Oxford establishments to unlock
drink and food specials all day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"