Every Wednesday, Tonya Tecca walks through the doors of the East Bay SPCA with a bag of snacks, a phone ready to roll video, and the kind of calm, purposeful energy that anxious shelter dogs respond to immediately. She does a slow walk through the facility first, sizing up who is there and who seems to need her most. Then she gets to work.
Tonya was nine years old when she got her first dog, Punkie. That bond planted something in her that never went away. Decades later, when she found herself looking for a place to channel her love of dogs into something meaningful, the East Bay SPCA was a natural fit.
Like all new volunteers at the SPCA, Tonya started with shelter care: laundry, dishes, cleaning floors and windows, and feeding
the animals. From there she moved into customer care, helping connect animals with potential adopters and processing all the paperwork and fees to finalize adoptions. Now, her primary role is simply to sit with dogs. “Simply” might be an understatement. On any given Wednesday she may be working with one dog or three, offering treats, practicing commands, and playing music to help a nervous animal settle. She also films short videos of the dogs she spends time with and posts them to her Instagram and Facebook accounts. In case they touch someone who might feel the need to come and adopt,” she says. Her Instagram is @tonyateccarealtor for anyone who wants to follow along and maybe meet their next best friend.
Ask Tonya for a standout moment, and she does not hesitate. A dog named Rita had been adopted as a puppy and then returned to the shelter. During an adoption event, Tonya met a woman named Dawn, who had come in with her daughter after recently losing their own dog. They asked Tonya if she had a favorite.
She took them to Rita. “It was a perfect match,” Tonya says. Rita went home with Dawn and her daughter and was renamed Echo. “She is living her best life now. The most spoiled and loved pup. I am just thrilled.” It is exactly the kind of outcome that keeps Tonya coming back every week.
Where Passion Meets Profession
By day, Tonya is a realtor with Compass, and her two worlds have a way of weaving together. “As much as people ask me about
properties, they also ask me about the SPCA and specific dogs I am focused on getting adopted,” she says. Compass has been supportive of her advocacy, even hosting a company volunteer day at the shelter last year.
She also produces a social media series called Tonya’s Tuesday Tips, covering housing, health, and helping animals,
where her SPCA work gets its own regular feature. It is a tidy reflection of who she is: someone who does not keep the things she cares about in separate boxes.
A Legacy of Care
The East Bay SPCA has been operating since 1874, making it one of the oldest shelters in the country. Tonya wants the Blackhawk community to know just how dedicated the people inside those walls are. Nearly every staff member she has worked alongside has been there for years, with one team member logging 18 years of service. “They love the animals and the mission so much,” she says. “The shelter is a safe place, and the people who run it have given their careers to making it that way.”
For anyone interested in getting involved, the SPCA welcomes new volunteers and supporters. And if you want a front-row seat to the dogs Tonya is rooting for this week; you know where to find her: @tonyateccarealtor, every Wednesday, one good dog at a time.
By Megan Scott, Resident Since 2010