"I think I probably like dogs more than I like a lot of people," Dan Bleich said.
Bleich is a true dog lover. He's put in the hard hours of his career, but now he's retired.
"I think it's an honor and an obligation to be able to give back to the community," he said.
When Bleich walked through the doors of the Cape Coral animal shelter about three years ago, he was as excited as a pup on his first walk. Now, he volunteers two days a week, four hours a day, to help give dogs a better life.
"They’re immediately licking your face," he said. "They got a happy smile on them. They want you to go take them for a walk."
He’s not just spending time with dogs while volunteering, but at home, too. He's seen pups from loving homes, but he’s also seen dogs who’ve been through the worst.
"I fostered 31 dogs in the last few years, so I've had some dogs that have come into my home, but you can tell we're not in a very good situation," he said.
Bleich sees dogs like this all too often. He said it’s heartbreaking.
"They won't come to you," he said. "They won't eat, even when we take them outside. It's hard to get them on a leash. They don't want to really walk. Some of them are completely shut down, and a lot of them that have been abused, they try to escape."
In 2025, Lee County Domestic Animal Services investigated 55 cases of animal cruelty and 464 cases of neglect.
"I will never understand the abuse of animals," said Liz McCauley, the Cape Coral Animal Shelter executive director. "It's just like children. They have no voice. They can't take care of themselves. They can't speak up for themselves, so it's up to us to protect them."
Right now, she said the shelter and all others in Lee County have to dig deep and sniff out if someone has a past of abusing animals before they can adopt a dog.
"I think there's only eight counties right now in Florida that have an animal abuse registry," she said.
Senate Bill 494 would make it so every county will have to report animal abuse to the registry.
"We will be able to go online before any adoption and check that out and make sure that we're adopting to someone who may be from another county and has an animal abuse record," McCauley said. "It's simple. It takes two seconds, and it's been great for us. There's 18, 19 people on that list already since they enacted this."
McCauley says there have been some objections to this bill. People believe this violates privacy, but McCauley believes it’s essential for the protection of animals everywhere
"If there's one more tool in our box to prevent it from happening, prevent these animals from ending up with someone who can abuse them, we need to have it," McCauley said.
Bleich hopes this bill will allow him to be a voice for the voiceless. To bark for the pups who can't do it themselves.
"It makes us feel good that we can try to get them out of their shell and try to help them," Bleich said.
This bill was passed unanimously by a Senate committee last week and will likely go to the House next week.