Meet Asher House, Salem’s unique local animal sanctuary

Animals waiting to be adopted from the Asher house. Graphic by Basil Allen.

Willamette University students share their city of residence with a variety of folks, including over 100 rescued dogs that have found a home at the Asher House, a 240-acre sanctuary that houses a variety of animals and boasts a multi-million social media following. According to its website, the Asher House “currently has over 140 animals, including dogs, cats, birds, donkeys, llamas, alpacas, cows, horses, pigs, goats, sheep and even a ram.” The unique aspect of Asher House is that its animals live in a home environment instead of in cages like they would at many other shelters. 

As Asher House owner Lee Asher described, “There is nothing like it in the entire world to have 160 dogs all live together in a house. We wanted them to feel that family environment, so if and when they go up for adoption they can know this environment well.” Some animals, such as horses and llamas, live on farmland and in stalls, while domestic animals such as dogs and cats live in a huge house filled with beds and structures. Fields stretch out throughout the hills of the sanctuary where the dogs can run and the farm animals can graze freely. 

Asher has always been working to help animals find homes. Before COVID-19, he would visit various animal shelters and do whatever he could to promote the animals on social media to get them adopted. He focused especially on the animals that had been in shelters for a long time. Once the pandemic hit, Asher realized that he could no longer visit these shelters as frequently as he wanted, but he still “wanted to make a difference and save animals.” This desire led him to create his own sanctuary in Estacada, Oregon, before moving operations to Salem in 2022.

Asher emphasized that the current sanctuary would not be possible without his team of workers. “I’m very lucky to have a team of people who understand that some of my ideas can be outrageous. They are able to take my dreams and make it into reality.” 

As for why Salem was chosen to be the place to build the sanctuary, Asher explained, “One of the beautiful things about Salem that’s uncommon for a city is [that it has] such beautiful land to be able to use, while also being close to grocery stores and veterinarians.” He feels that the community has been very welcoming, with “neighbors coming up with new ideas and helping [them] improve [Asher House] every day.” 

One of the biggest challenges for Asher when creating the Salem sanctuary was bringing his vision to reality. He was told by many that “it was … significantly easier to build what I wanted on flat land.” The rolling hills and the weather did make building much more difficult, and Asher realized that they needed to get the fencing down first because they “had a lot of dogs and not a lot of fencing.” 

Social media has been a big part of Asher House’s success. Asher reflected on how “[they] were able to build a really beautiful community which is very unique, special and supportive.” Because the online community “is so supportive and believes in the Asher House’s mission,” Asher feels “a responsibility to show up for them by filming and posting every day.” He uploads stories on Instagram for his 2 million followers and does livestreams of him walking with dogs and answering viewers’ questions because he wants others to be able to watch the progress of the sanctuary. The Asher House also has a TikTok with 2 million followers, as well as a YouTube channel where videos about daily life in Asher House or the animals’ stories are posted frequently. 

The best part about working at an animal sanctuary for Asher is getting to see these animals “get a second chance” and undergo a transformation where they “learn to trust and love again.” He added, “It's really beautiful to see the animals succeed and see them go from a shelter environment to a sanctuary like this. A dog wouldn’t be able to imagine it.” 

Asher offers encouragement for Willamette students who may be looking towards a future of doing work similar to his own. He encourages starting with volunteering at a local animal shelter, such as Marion County Animal Services or Oregon Humane. “There’s a lot of foster programs, so many different things people can do in terms of giving back and spending their time wisely.” He said that the most important thing students can do to pursue working in animal rescue and care is to “learn as much as you can,” from volunteering to going on to getting a job at a shelter or sanctuary. Asher said that whether it be animal sanctuary work or any other job, “once you feel a confidence to go in your own direction, that’s exactly what you should do.” 

Asher said that the biggest way students can support Asher House is by “sharing our mission and to treat each other and animals with kindness.” Visit asherhouse.com to learn more about Asher House.