Rescue Dog Dispatch Company
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Dogaffirmation will be released first on Kickstarter.
If you’d like to enjoy the English version, please support the project here.
*The cards and the booklet are in English. You can view the content in Japanese on the companion website.
If you would like to receive the set that includes the booklet in Japanese, please register your email address.
We’ll let you know as soon as it’s ready for release.
Each card carries three things
🌿 Affirmation
A phrase drawn from the real story of a rescue dog. Something grounded in actual experience.
🧘♀️ Yoga Pose
A gentle movement that echoes the feeling of the affirmation.
🎨 Hand-drawn Illustration
A real rescue dog illustrated in a yoga pose. Every single one was drawn by me, by hand, with love and care.
The full set also includes
🪵 Upcycled Japanese Wood Stand
Display your favorite card, or use it like a daily calendar by changing the card each day, and let it stay with you through the day.
📖 Companion Booklet
Includes the true story of the rescue dog who inspired each affirmation.
For moments when you want to step away from your screen and connect more deeply with the stories behind the cards.
💻 Member's Page
Explore each dog’s full story, current photos, journaling prompts, and yoga pose guides.
Available in both English and Japanese, with additional languages planned in the future.
👝 Recycled Cotton Pouch
Designed to hold your complete set—including the card box, booklet, and card stand—for easy storage and travel.
📝 Guided Journal (Add-on)
A guided journal featuring prompts inspired by each card, designed to help you reflect and reconnect with yourself.
Draw a card, or choose one that matches how you’re feeling that day, then write down your thoughts, feelings, and discoveries as you spend a quiet moment with yourself.
Please note: This notebook is not included in the standard set and is available as an optional add-on.
How to use it
and who it's for
Companion for life’s little moments: Various ways to use
🛋️ Draw a card. Sit with the words
🧘♀️ Move through the pose
📖 Read that dog's full story in the booklet or companion website
📝 Write with it — use the journaling prompt, let it open something
🧳 Carry the card with you through the day
📅 Display a favorite — or flip a new one each day
For anyone who wants a small moment of warmth in their day
A quiet reminder that you’ll be okay, a gentle moment to soften both your mind and body, and a little warmth passed on from rescue dogs who found happiness and a place to belong.
A thoughtful gift for someone you care about
For a family member beginning a new chapter.
For a friend going through a difficult time.
For someone close to your heart.
When words are not enough, give them something that gently warms their heart and lights up a small smile.
The illustrations
drawn by hand, one by one
Hi, I'm Carna. I'm not an illustrator. I'm a veterinarian and the founder of Buddies — a social business in Japan dedicated to rescue dogs.
Every dog in this deck is one we rescued and rehomed. I know their personalities, their stories, the way they found their footing in a new life.
I wanted to share their journey with you. So I drew them myself, by hand — every single one. No AI.
Because I witnessed each of their stories unfold in front of me, and I wanted to capture something real, something warm.
Every spot on their coat, every uneven patch on their back — all of it is there, exactly as it is.
While I drew, I thought about each of them. The ones who enjoy exploring new life with forever families now. The ones who found their family, and quietly said goodbye surrounded by love, not in the isolated cage.
Carna
with Bee, Kuma, and Toby. Buddies teammates and family.
The sustainable stand
made to last, made with care
The stand that comes with this deck was made by a picture-frame craftsman in Osaka, Japan, using offcuts of katsura wood sourced from Hokkaido that would otherwise have been discarded.
Katsura is native to Japan. Over time, it changes color, deepening and warming as it ages.
Meet the dogs
the real ones behind the cards
Every card in this deck was drawn from a real dog's real life — strays, surrendered dogs, survivors of puppy mills, puppies and adults and seniors whose time was running short. Each one rescued and rehomed by Buddies.
Here are three of them.
Milo — Card 6
My worth is understood in the right places.
Milo grew up in a shelter without the chance to experience enough socialization.
He spent his early life in a small kennel, growing into a large but timid dog.
After coming to Tokyo, Milo waited more than a year before finding a family.
Then one day, he happened to meet a family—and they fell in love with each other at first sight.
Today, Milo spends his days relaxing peacefully in the middle of something he had never known before: a family of his very own.
Kina — Card 18
My past leaves marks, but my light remains.
Kina was rescued from a puppy mill when she was already a senior.
She had never played with toys, never gone for a walk, and had spent almost her entire life without knowing the world outside.
Then a family with young children welcomed her into their home.
She went on adventures, discovered the joy of play, and spent each day surrounded by love, always close to her family.
Sadly, she didn’t have much time left.
But until her very last day, she was wrapped in the love of her family and passed away peacefully in the warmth of the home she had finally found.
Solare — Card 24
It feels lucky just to be here — that's enough for today.
Just before she was scheduled to be euthanized, Sora’s mother gave birth to two puppies.
From the day they were born, the twins were raised by human hands.
One day, both puppies contracted parvovirus, a disease with a high mortality rate.
Solare survived, but lost his only family—his twin brother.
Today, in a beautiful twist of fate, Solare lives with a family that has twin boys.
He goes on adventures, enjoys the simple moments of everyday life, and is growing up alongside his two human brothers.
He may not know the weight of his past.
He simply stays in the middle of his family, and that is more than enough.
These are just a glimpse of their stories. You can discover the full story behind each dog in the companion booklet and on the companion website.
What we’ve shared here are just a few stories about some of the dogs.
You can read the full stories of each rescue dog in the booklet and on the companion website.
The moment they met their cards
In the spring of 2026, we brought the cards to the families who had adopted these dogs.
Why these words
affirmations shaped by real dogs
For each dog, I went back through their story. What they had been through before they were found. What it must have taken to trust again, to soften, to settle into a new life. And somewhere in that — I found something that moved me. A kind of quiet courage. A simplicity that felt true.
That's where the words came from. Not from inspiration. From actually sitting with someone else's life and finding the part that reaches us.
Those affirmations are not asking you to be strong. They're carrying something the dogs already lived through — and offering it to you, gently.
Rescue dogs in Japan
a little background
In Japan, over 80% of dogs are purchased from pet shops or breeders. Rescue dogs remain largely overlooked — especially mixed breeds, and medium to large dogs.
And the realities behind that — shelter conditions, the existence of puppy mills — are rarely talked about.
This deck was made to change the situation, quietly. Not through guilt or pity. But by bringing the beautiful presence of rescue dogs into everyday life — through words, movement, a small moment of warmth.
About Buddies
and the longer vision
Buddies was built on one belief: that rescue dogs and people can enjoy each other, grow together, and make each other genuinely happier.
Not as a one-sided act of charity, but as a real, mutual, and sustainable relationship.
In Japan, where a strong culture of giving is still developing, we chose to build a social business rather than a nonprofit, so that our work could sustain itself and continue to grow.
We began by creating experiences such as Doga, yoga with rescue dogs, and other events that bring people and rescue dogs together.
But experiences have limits. They are bound by place, time, and circumstance.
This deck was created to move beyond those limits, and to bring the gentleness and strength of real rescue dogs into your everyday life, wherever you are and whenever you need it.
Into a morning routine in London.
A quiet evening in New York.
An office desk in Tokyo.
At the heart of everything we do is One Health: the understanding that the wellbeing of animals, people, and the environment cannot be separated.
For any one of them to thrive sustainably, all three must be cared for together.
We believe rescue dogs have the power to inspire a kinder, healthier world.
This deck is the first product we are bringing into that world, and the first step in sharing their stories and their strength beyond the places where we can meet in person.
As we rescue more dogs into Buddies, we will continue sharing their stories, one card at a time.
Our next goal is to build a shelter where dogs do not simply wait passively for a new family, but where dogs and people can heal, enjoy life, and grow together.
This deck is where that journey begins, and we are truly glad to have you as part of it.
