Christopher Walsh enjoys the spring weather with Freeway, center, and Houston, two of the cocker spaniels that he keeps as pets. Mr. Walsh devotes much of his free time toward placing rescued cocker spaniels into loving homes.由OBERT LEVIN PHOTO

Christopher Walsh’s four cocker spaniels are a blur of motion as they strain on their leashes and scamper around his feet. The lively little dogs dig their noses into the warm spring earth and pull at the green grass, their stubby tails wagging constantly.

Mindy is currently up for adoption, although her foster parent says that she grows more attached to her every day.由OBERT LEVIN PHOTO

Mr. Walsh is a rescuer of dogs. Afternoons and weekends, day after day, the Bar Harbor native keeps busy on the phone, on the computer, and driving around the state, raising money and trying to place an unending stream of cocker spaniels that need loving homes.

It is work that allows Mr. Walsh to combine his desire to serve society with a great love of cocker spaniels that he’s had since he was a boy. He is clearly energized by the effort, and excited to spend so much time around the animals he loves.

“This is how I know I can go to sleep at night,” he says. “It doesn’t matter what else I do, because I know I’ve made a difference that day.”

Mr. Walsh’s work with dog rescue began a couple of years ago, when he took the winter off and ended up in Tennessee, kind of by chance. He started volunteering with the Mid-South Cocker Rescue, running a publicity table for the group and helping out however he could.

He already had two cocker spaniels, Dallas and Houston, that he’d been traveling with. But one of the dogs he was working with in Tennessee just caught his attention and wouldn’t let go.

“They had a little dog with a bad eye named Chip. I always felt sorry for him, because nobody would ever pet him,” he says. The next thing he knew, he was welcoming Chip into his little canine family.

But soon after they came back to Maine, Chip was run over by a car. Mr. Walsh’s mom, Gail Damon, couldn’t stand to see her son so sad after the accident, and talked him into adopting another dog. That’s when he came across Life’s Little Paws, the organization that he works with today.

The small group, which is based in New Hampshire, is focused on finding homes for cocker spaniels that have come out of abusive or inhumane situations; some were slated to be euthanized. Many come from puppy mills where they lived in deplorable conditions, kept in cages their whole lives, Mr. Walsh says.

Regardless of their circumstances, the cocker spaniels that Mr. Walsh comes into contact with are given what often amounts to a second lease on life. For some, it might be a matter of living their last few months in a caring situation. For others, it can mean many happy years with a loving owner.

Last year, Life’s Little Paws helped place nearly 100 dogs. Mr. Walsh works the Down East area of Maine for the group. He has five people, in addition to himself, that serve as foster parents, caring for dogs that have been rescued.

“It’s another world that I didn’t ever realize was there,” he says.

Besides his three, he lives with one foster dog that is up for adoption. Four may seem like a lot to some, but he only stops there because he is a renter, and that’s about as many dogs as his landlord will allow.

Would he take in more dogs if he owned a house? “Oh gosh, yes, as many as I could,” he says.

But he has to rely on others to keep those other dogs for him while he’s looking for homes for them. One person who has recently signed on is Trenton resident Alison King.

Ms. King was thinking about buying a dog, when she started talking with Mr. Walsh. He made his pitch, and she decided to try foster-parenting a dog. It’s been a great experience for her, she says, and it’s been inspiring to witness Mr. Walsh’s commitment.

“He’s absolutely unbelievable,” she says. “He’s so dedicated to the welfare of cocker spaniels.”

Mr. Walsh just wishes that there were more he could do. He puts countless hours into Life’s Little Paws, and gladly gives up his free time when he is not working at The Jackson Laboratory. He’s fostered a number of dogs that have moved on to loving homes, and will continue to do so, although it’s always a little difficult, he says, because he gets so attached to every one.

“I weigh 250 pounds and I’m six-foot-four, but once I get in the car after they’re dropped off,” he says, trailing off and shaking his head. “I know they’re going to good homes, but it takes a little piece of your heart, every one.”