When Lenore Imhof first met her dog Jake at the Lincoln County Animal Shelter in Edgecomb, the young golden retriever/Irish setter mix was missing a lot of pounds and much of his hair. He wasn’t healthy enough for surgery to get neutered.

Imhof, a Wall Point, Boothbay Harbor, summer resident, took Jake in as a foster dog last August. Since then, the pounds have come on, he has grown a shiny red coat, and Imhof has permanently adopted him. When they’re not in Boothbay Harbor, they live in Bloomfield, N.J., where Imhof is both an attorney and a schoolteacher.

She is grateful to Jake for being wonderful company, and to her mother Angela Imhof for helping with his care. She is also full of thanks for the shelter, which was very supportive in every stage of Jake’s recovery.

“To see him doing this well, it’s just awesome,” shelter office manager Samantha Hicks said.

On July 8, 45-year-old Imhof will show her support for animal organizations like the Edgecomb shelter. As a member of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ Team ASPCA, she’ll be raising money and awareness in the New York City Triathlon.

Imhof has been a lifelong athlete, starting with competitive swimming at the age of 4. She cycles with the U.S. Cycling Federation and won a Vermont triathlon. The invitation to join Team ASPCA came after she met the team’s members at the New York City Half-Marathon, and shared Jake’s story with them.

Imhof hopes her efforts will help all the other Jakes out there – dogs, cats and other pets who owe their lives to shelters that take them in, give them care and find them homes.

When Jake and a dog friend of his were visiting the Lincoln County Animal Shelter recently, they were mesmerized by a couple of guinea pigs playing and drinking water in a large cage. The two were turned in by a woman who could no longer afford them.

That happens a lot these days, with the economy still struggling. As of June 30, nearly all 31 of the dogs at the shelter wound up there for financial reasons, Shelter Manager Betsy Pratt said.

So Pratt and Hicks appreciate the lengths to which Imhof is going to help animals in need. “I think this is amazing,” Pratt said.

Imhof’s friend Arthur Gannett of Newcastle knows firsthand the kind of caring person she is, regarding people and animals. She talked him into going to the shelter last October, to see the yellow lab he ended up adopting and naming Bert.

“It’s a fantastic feat that Lenore’s doing,” Gannett said, as Bert and Jake played at the end of their leashes. “For what she is doing for animals, I would say she is a champion.”

Although Imhof has kept up with her usual, extensive training to prepare for her first time in this particular triathlon, she will enter it with an unexpected challenge. While travelling recently, she tore some of the cartilage in her left wrist. Fortunately, she’s right-handed. However, she has to brake and change gears with her left hand when she’s cycling.

She’s been wearing a wrist support and making appointments for massage therapy and other treatment, and does not expect to have a problem in the race. She beat a bigger physical problem a couple of years ago, when herniated discs left her barely able to swim. Good care during treatment was important to her recovery, just as it was for Jake in his.

When Imhof is swimming the Hudson River, cycling the West Side High-way and running through Central Park in Jake’s honor, she will also be honoring the memories of her late father and her previous dog Sprocket. Rescued by Imhof from a Brooklyn shelter in 1996, Sprocket was a comfort to Imhof’s father, who had Parkinson’s disease. Sprocket passed away before Imhof got Jake.

Imhof has already surpassed the $2,750 each Team ASPCA member is asked to raise in donations. At last check, she had raised about $3,300.

Anyone interested in donating may go to www.teamaspca.org/participant/lenore. Although the triathlon is this week, Imhof can still accept donations through October.

More information about the Lincoln County Animal Shelter is available on Facebook.