Transport #33: Charlie, Charlene, and Chai

I signed up for this transport over two weeks ago. Who would resist puppy breath x 2? Which then became puppy breath x3? Not I, of course. I love puppies. Who doesn't? But when it comes to these little special needs guys, I just can't refuse those transports.

You see, all three of these pups were special needs. All were deaf; two were visually impaired as well. Charlie and Charlene, the older pups (8 weeks old) were going to be put down for their visual and hearing impairments. Their idiot BYB was selling his puppies in an open air market and these two were going to be put down. Luckily someone was able to convince him to turn them over to her and so now off to rescue they go. The third puppy, also deaf and visually impaired, was Chai. I don't know her story, but she's a bit younger than the others (6-7 weeks old) and so no doubt came from a pretty awful place. Despite where ever she came from, she was just the sweetest little ball of fluff ever.

I picked them up in Binghamton in the last light of the afternoon. I tried to frantically take pictures in the lousy light in the hopes of getting some good shots in. Lucky for me the flash made some pretty good pictures up in Syracuse. We loaded all three of them in the car pretty quickly and easily. Charlie and Charlene just wanted to play; Chai just wanted to curl up and sleep. They had very different personalities.

The trip up was pretty easy. One of them kept crying and I felt bad, but eventually all three settled down. When we arrived I had the biggest scare of my life. Charlie and Charlene were moving, but Chai was not. She was pressed up against the backseat and not moving at all. Prior to Charlie and Charlene getting up, they had been squished in there with her. I reached out and touched her. And did not get a response. I nearly panicked, afraid they had somehow suffocated the little girl and I didn't know. So I started to really push at Chai. And she woke up. Phew! Wow does that dog sleep hard. She didn't even try to snap at me or anything when I pushed her around and shook her a bit. You can't imagine my relief upon finding her alive and well.

I got all three puppies out of the car then. Getting them to the grass was a bit of a challenge. Charlie wanted to forge ahead, but Charlene was more cautious and Chai just did not want to move. Eventually I picked up Chai and let the other two walk. Charlene was a bit more bold than Chai with her brother at her side.

Once there, the puppies wanted to play and play and play some more. Charlie and Charlene were mostly interested in each other. And Chai was interested in me. She spent a lot of time crawling around my lap, playing tug with my pant leg, and trying to untie my shoes. So cute. I loved that little dog so much. Seriously. If I could have taken her home with me I would have. She was just so really awesome.

The most amusing thing about the whole situation were the Gulliver and the Lilliputian moments. They kept getting their leashes tangled around my ankles and they'd cross and go in the opposite direction around me, therefore coming close to knocking me over. It was amusing. Frustrating, but amusing nonetheless!

The person I was meeting finally showed up. He was a bit late. He had heard that the transport was running behind. That was yesterday's. Oops. It was kind of nice though as I got to play with the puppies.

I cried when I handed over Chai. I really loved that dog and I barely knew her.

Some pics.


Meet Charlie.



And his sister, Charlene.




And Chai.

How could they...

This coming weekend I'm going to be doing a transport for three Aussie puppies. Two are only 8 weeks old, the 3rd is all of 7 weeks old. Three tiny little puppies.

1. Puppy one cannot hear.
2. Puppy two cannot hear and is visually impaired.
3. Puppy three cannot hear and is visually impaired.

They all deserve a chance at life. In fact, the first two were going to be taken to the vets to be killed by their breeder because they were, essentially, defective. Why were they defective? Why did one litter have two dogs with hearing and vision problems?

Because of the breeder. The merle coloring, that lovely flecked coat so many people admire in Aussies (and Border collies and some other breeds of dog) comes with a gene for deafness and blindness. When two merle dogs are bred together, some 25% of the puppies are born with these defects. It comes with a variety of names, from Double Merle to Lethal White (many of these dogs are put down before they ever have a chance to live) to much more technical terms.

Any way you look at it, it's caused by bad breeding. No good breeder would breed two merles together. But people looking to make a quick buck will do so and not feel any sadness over culling the innocent deaf and/or blind pups they brought into the world.

Two of the puppies on the transport were part of a litter that was being taken to an open air market to sell to whomever wandered by (good breeder? I don't think so). The deaf and blind ones were going to be taken to the vet to be put down. Luckily someone else got to them first and they're going to be coming to rescue. The pups were only 5 weeks old when this stellar example of dog breeding was going to sell them.

It's just so disheartening to think people continue to breed in such a way. To date, I've transported five deaf dogs. These will be numbers 6, 7, and 8.

Some resources, for anyone who finds themselves with a dog they didn't know was deaf or is considering adopting a deaf dog.

http://www.deafdogs.com

http://www.lethalwhites.com

This is pup #3 for the transport this coming weekend. Cute, isn't she?

Wordless Wednesday

Transport #32: Two Aussie pups

I don't know the back story on this one. Usually I do, but earlier this week I was simply contacted and asked to help out with a transport of two three-month old Aussie pups, litter mates. I'm not sure how purebred puppies from the same litter end up dumped at a shelter. Or abandoned. Or however they were found and then put on a transport to Ontario. But there they were. Two completely adorable Aussie pups. How can you not fall in love with those faces?

I met up with the previous person at the Super 8 motel in Henrietta, a common meeting spot for our Aussie transports (in fact, the person I met in Henrietta and the person I met in Syracuse I've done transports with in the past). There I was introduced to the dynamic duo, who the shelter was calling, apparently, Canoe and Kayak (I have to admit that I'm not fond of the names!). The boys looked virtually identical until I spent a little time studying them. one had more white on his face and once he was out of the crate and on the ground, I could see that he had much more white overall.

The shelter had sent the pair with slip leads, one of which was a silly looking Christmasy one made out of cloth. I hate slip leads. I really need to pick up a few cheap regular leashes and toss them in my car for future transports.

The boys were incredibly affectionate and just wanted to be in your lap giving you kisses, kisses, and more kisses. The larger of the two really loved being petted in the same way Dahlia does. He'd throw his head up with this total look of ecstasy on his face. Yep, he'll be eating up the belly rubs someday soon.

I secured them in my car, not an easy task with two wriggling Aussie boys both wanting to kiss you. While hooking up one of them I ended up with quite the tongue bath! Silly dogs.

They settled right down for the trip and slept most of the way out to Syracuse. I realized on the way out that the easiest transports are puppies and older dogs. It's the teenagers, the 1-2 year old dogs, who are the most difficult to deal with! They're fully grown puppies who often want to chew everything or crawl into your lap. The Aussie pups were content to curl up together in the back seat and sleep.

When we got out of the car in Syracuse, there was a woman there with a friend and her pit bull. Who was wearing a pink coat to keep her warm. The dog was incredibly sweet and good-natured. She would jump up on her owner when she asked her to and give her a hug. I got a kiss from her and she just adored the Aussie pups. She was a rescue too. Apparently dumped when pregnant, had her pups, had recently weaned them, and was then adopted by this woman. She still looks very much like the mama dog. Just a sweetheart. It was fun seeing the Aussie pups play with her.

Then the Aussie pups hit he grass to do their business and get down to some serious puppy play. They had a blast rolling around in the grass together. Sadly, the next person showed up and after a quick exchange, off they went to rescue.

I know these little pups will quickly find a home!

Aussie pup #1






Aussie pup #2






The two together














The pit bull we met

Transport #31: Lincoln

Last week I got an e-mail from the folks with ARPH looking for transporters for an extra special transport. Lincoln, a tri-colored Aussie needed a ride out of Cleveland, Ohio to Ottawa. The story told about Lincoln was heartbreaking and horrifying.

[Lincoln was] rescued from shelter by someone who was transporting for another rescue. She noticed this dog covered in motor oil that had dried over matted fur. He was placed in the shelter thru a puppy door and warden didn't know how they could have shoved him in there as door pretty small.

This poor guy had a high temp, very sick and wounds smelled horrific. She took him to the emergency vet to look at him and she thought he would probably be euthanized. He had been sitting in a cage like that almost a week, with puncture wounds to front elbows, back feet and his scrotum. She could see the bones of his front legs. Vet couldn't be sure but felt the dog was dragged or tortured in another way.

Vet felt he could be saved. His bandages are changed daily for the next couple weeks. The whites of his eyes are very red and vet says it is stress, as no damage whatsoever to the eyes. Here is his pix. Great with other dogs and appears to be housebroken. Loves loves loves people and very velcro.

The picture that was attached (which you can see at he top left of this post) showed a very happy dog in a cone. Lincoln the conehead. With all he had been through he was still smiling. I think that shows a lot of promise for this wonderful dog.

With tears in my eyes, I immediately signed up for the transport.

The drive out this morning was uneventful, except for the typical NYS construction and a good amount of rain. It was rather unfortunate that we were in the midst of a downpour as it meant little time outside for Lincoln and not as much time for me to get to know him.

The person I was to meet in Rochester was running a little bit behind (caused by a miscommunication as to where they were meeting), so we got Lincoln out of her car, let him do his business and got him into my car rather quickly.

My first impression of him was that he appeared somewhat traumatized. His eyes were wide open. You could see the whites. He looked around himself as if he were in a bit of a daze, not quite sure where he was or where he was going. He didn't seem to be able to focus his eyes on anyone or anything. Once we got him on the ground (due to his condition and his multiple stitches he wasn't allowed to jump on his own), he darted back and forth. He still had the cone on his head, so he would try to sniff and was then thwarted by the giant cone. I'm not really sure if he was traumatized or if the cone was leaving him a bit disoriented. It would leave me that way if I had that thing on my head!

We lifted him up into my car and placed him on the pillows in my back seat. There he seemed to settled a little bit, though he spent much of the trip pacing back and forth and looking out the windows (what the passersby must have thought of Lincoln the Conehead!). At one point, he decided he wanted to be up with me in the front, though that attempt was thwarted by cone once again. He ended up settling for standing with his paws on the divider and trying to stick his face into mine. Also rather difficult with that cone! I'm sure I would have been covered in kisses and had a dog in my lap if it weren't for that darned cone!

I do have to say though that nothing Lincoln did was done frantically. He was completely calm the entire time, though I did get some smiles out of him by talking to him for much of the trip. His eyes were no longer red, though they were wide open. I'm not sure if that were from stress and nerves or if his eyes are always like that. Either way, he was a sweet dog and a really handsome one. He'll find a new home soon I'm sure. I look forward to hearing about his new life!

Be careful of who you go to training for

Many people nowadays are out there looking for a trainer to help them with their dog. Either they have a "problem dog" (resourcing guarding, varying degrees of aggression, or something more mild like house training issues or jumping up on company and generally being unruly) or they adopted or bought a dog they want to learn how to train.

There are many trainers out there and sometimes the search can be quite daunting. Who do you trust? Who is going to give you a way to work with your dog that gels with what you want? And even more importantly, who is going to give you methods that work and that are humane and that help to build a bond with your dog?

Because this can be so overwhelming, many folks find someone who has advertised in their area and because their website "looks good" they jump at the opportunity to work with that person. But people must look closer. People must question these trainers before they even meet with them. Do not ever simply attend training with the first person you find online. Do some research, check out many people and training facilities, and find the one that is the most successful and most positive-based you can find.

Things to beware of:

1. Websites that do not give any real information on how they train dogs. Many of these sites show a "before" and "after" video and claim that the proof is in the video, but they do not show how they got from point A to point B (and if, indeed, they were the ones who even got the dog from one point to the next). I find, if you delve further into things by writing to the person, you find their methods are often aversive. Take Fred Hassan and his "Sit Means Sit" site. He promotes and almost solely uses shock collars in training dogs. There are no alternatives for Fred. You slap a shock collar on the dog and turn it on until they offer up the behavior you're waiting to see. A trainer that promotes shock collars without even considering other, more humane methods, shows a complete lack of understanding of psychology, canine behavior, and (in my personal opinion) a lack of humane treatment of animals. Is this really the kind of place you want to take your dog?

2. Any site that says they always use a certain training collar. This includes choke chains, prong collars, and shock collars. All are aversive techniques that cause pain. Studies have recently shown that using aggressive training techniques results in more aggression. You cannot treat aggression with aggression and end up with a solid, balanced, happy dog. And for dogs who have more milder problems, who you're trying to teach sit, stay, and come, these collars can create more problems, especially if you have a soft dog who shuts down at the first sign of pain.

Always do your research. I cannot emphasize this enough. You find a website. All looks good. But then you spend a little time finding reviews from people who have experienced that person's training or seen that person's demo and you find out that all is not as it seems.

Take our friend Fred from Sit Means Sit again. A little searching on some dog forums might find you this lengthy description from a dog trainer who attended one of his demos.

Sit Means Sit Seminar/Demo: Review

Dogs who urinate and defecate out of fright? Dragging a dog back and forth across a table, shocking it continuously as it shakes in fear? Doesn't look so good now, does he? This is an example of the horrors a shock collar trainer with an attitude can inflict on a dog.


Let's examine another so-called trainer, Kevin Salem (sometimes written as Salim) of "Real Life Dog Training." His website (www.dogsecrets.com) disparages anyone who uses positive training methods such as clicker training or rewarding with treats (which he calls cookies all through the site) and touts himself as the "Dog Prodigy" (one step up from Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan, apparently). He says he uses something called "Diverse training." It sounds good, doesn't it? Diversity, after all, is a good thing. Like Fred's Sit Means Sit site, he claims that the proof is in his videos and like Fred's, his videos don't show much. They show a man, apparently Kevin, dragging around an untrained dog (often rather roughly) and then they show the so-called "after" with Kevin walking with a closed-down and fearful dog at his side (unfortunately, to the laymen, these dogs look calm and well-behaved but a close look at their body language shows otherwise). There is no sign of his training there. Like Fred, he also touts quick results for owners who have little time to train their dog (here's a hint: doing anything correctly takes time...you cannot teach your child to read in an hour and neither can you train your dog in such a short period of time).

Delve even further and you will have evidence of a seriously unbalanced man who rails against "cookie trainers" in long, drawn-out paragraphs of utter vitriol. Is this the man you want training your dog? Probably not, but for even further proof, let's do a little google search for reviews of his dog training. I came up with the following information.

Review #1 of "Real Life Dog Training": This person brought her dog who had aggression issues to Kevin's "boot camp." She left the dog there with him. The dog that was returned to her was filthy and still aggressive. In fact, when he wanted to get the dog to walk, who naturally would not walk with him, he slapped a prong collar on the dog and dragged it down the road. They complained and Kevin got "nasty" with them, ultimately threatening them with a lawsuit for slander. An edit to the review mentions another review on YELP that got removed for that same reason. I have to wonder what that one said.

Review #2 of "Real Life Dog Training": Another dog sent off to Kevin's "boot camp," this time to get the dog to stop chasing their cats. In this case, the dog is returned to them and cannot swallow kibble anymore. The vet determines that this was due to muscle and nerve damage to his neck, right where a collar would be placed. The dog can now only eat soft foods because it has trouble swallowing and the people spent $2500 to find this out. The dog also still chases cats, and now growls at people and jumps on them. Kevin, who attempted to deny that he put a choke collar on the dog, does admit to kicking the dog (because it growled at him) and putting a shock collar on it to stop it from barking. When he finds this review, he threatens the person with a lawsuit for "slender." The person also mentions Kevin's changing the spelling of his last name. What is he hiding?

Apparently he's hiding that he is running an illegal dog training facility. And he keeps changing the spelling of his name, the name of the business, and moving around to avoid people finding out that the dog training facility he is running is illegal.

He also lost a dog, and was not even aware of it because he called the folks to see when they wanted their one dog back, when they had dropped off two. This is the man who claims he's been told (by who? by someone, you know, that amazing person who tells people stuff but never gives their name) that he offers "the best dog training course in the world." Yes. The world. The whole freaking world. Pretty brilliant guy, eh? Too bad he's a scam artist of the worst sort.

These are only two people out there offering their "services" (such as they are). There are many more. Some are fantastic, positive trainers, with years of study and dog training to their name. Others are mediocre at best. They may not do your dog harm, but they may ultimately waste your money. And others are scam artists, making arrogant claims about their abilities, disparaging anyone who trains dogs in a positive way, and charging exorbitant rates in order to dominate, injure, and terrorize your dog.

Again, I reiterate. When looking for a dog trainer, do your research.

1. Look for reviews of that particular trainer or training facility.

2. Talk to the trainers and find out their philosophy about dog training and how they go about training. Also find out about their experiences with dogs similar to yours. Many trainers deal with basic obedience issues (sit, stay, come), unruly behavior (jumping on guests, puppy mouthing, house training issues), and some mild aggression (resource guarding), but those who have dealt with true aggression are few and far between. If your dog is truly aggressive (human, child, or dog aggressive), you will want to first see a vet to rule out medical issues and then, if there are no medical problems, find a good behaviorist who knows what to do to rehabilitate an aggressive dog.

3. Talk to people who have gone to this person for training. A good trainer will often find ways to connect you with people who are willing to tell you about their experiences. You can also often find people on your local Craigslist or other sites devoted to dogs and dog training who will share an honest opinion of the trainer.

4. And mostly, trust your gut. If something feels off, it probably is. If you feel uncomfortable, then they are not the right trainer or training facility for you.

Good luck in your search for a good solid dog trainer. There are some fantastic ones out there.

A good place to start might be the International Positive Dog Training Association, which provides lists of positive dog trainers in many areas.

Book Review: The Pit Bull Placebo by Karen Delise

Title: The Pit Bull Placebo: The Media, Myths, and Politics of Canine Aggression
Author: Karen Delise
Year published: 2007

Like the pharmacologically inactive sugar pill dispensed to placate a patient who supposes it to be medicine, eradication of the Pit Bull is heralded as the cure for severe dog attacks. However, a placebo is administered to appease a person's mental duress. In the present day climate of fear and misinformation about Pit Bulls and dog attacks, eradication of the Pit Bull is the placebo administered solely to appease the public's mental anxiety.

And so it goes. The Pit Bull: locking jaws, biting and holding while grinding, the dog that attacks like a shark. These are all media myths designed to demonize one particular dog breed.

The Pit Bull Placebo traces the media's coverage and the reality of dog bite attacks from the end of the 19th century through to today. Drawing on real cases and quoting from the newspapers' accounts of these cases, Karen Delise makes an incredibly simple case: There have always been dog attacks, some severe, some fatal. But it is the media's focus that has twisted the public's perception of the Pit Bull.

The Bloodhound was the original bad guy. Hyped up through plays based on Uncle Tom's Cabom in which the dogs chase down an escaped slave and her newborn child, these dogs were vilified and people were supposed to be frightened of them. But media reports, which did feature the dog's breed, generally focused more on the cause and effect aspect of the dog attack. They gave their readers a true picture of what caused the attack. It did not begin and end with the words "Vicious Bloodhound."

Then it was the German Shepherd Dog, which had two major saving graces: police work and Rin Tin Tin. While many substandard owners obtained German Shepherd Dogs for guard work and left them chained outside with little human interaction, many people recognized them as great, noble creatures.

The Doberman, which is still sometimes viewed in a negative light, followed on the heels of the German Shepherd Dog. The Doberman acquired its super-predator status through both reality and myth. The image of the Doberman used by Nazis was strong within people's minds. It was hard for them to see the dog as a gentle creature, a canine like any other, and so borne out of the harsh reality of life as a Nazi dog was the myth that Dobermans' heads were too small and their brains would outgrow it, thus leading to headaches that would cause them to snap. The Doberman had no saving grace like the German Shepherd Dog and only fell from this super-predator label when the Pit Bull emerged to take its place.

Through each of these decades, when the Bloodhound, the German Shepherd Dog, and the Doberman, were at the height of their turns as the supposed aggressive dogs, the newspapers continued to report dog bite attacks in a fairly realistic light.

It wasn't until the latter part of the 20th century when the media would begin to twist things to suit their need to always shock their audience. A good example of the media's twisting of the facts lies in their describing a dog that attacked as the "family dog." To most people, this description brings to mind Rover resting at the feet of his master while his master reads by the fireplace or Rover fetching the newspaper on Sunday morning. It brings to mind a well-socialized, friendly, family pet. What it does not bring to mind is a dog chained out back with a heavy logging chain, ignored for the most part, fed occasionally, often starved, beaten, or neglected. The latter cannot, in good conscience, be described as a "family dog." Delise, instead, describes it as a "resident dog." This is a more accurate term. But the media's use of "family dog" aids in leading people to the conclusion that these dogs will eventually turn on their owners.

There is just no basis for this claim. In fact, few, if any Pit Bull has turned on its owner without some sort of provocation.

Perhaps the best demonstration of the media's twisting of events can be seen in one particular case Delise outlines.

The media report can be summed up as: A 6-year-old girl was mauled to death by the family's pit bulls. The dogs were friendly, had been raised with the girl since they were puppies. In essence, they "turned on her."

The reality of the situation? The dogs (one male, one female), which belonged to the woman's recently-deceased boyfriend were intact and young. They had been confined to a basement of a vacant house while the mother and her daughter moved. They were underweight, starving (no food was found in their stomachs), and had ingested rat poison, nails, and rubber bands in an effort to feed themselves.

It sounds a bit different when they're described as they really were. Unsocialized, starving, and sick animals vs. family pet.

Delise makes the case that in order to truly understand dog attacks, one has to look at the people involved and the situation itself. Divvying up attacks by breed tells us nothing. Dogs that attack have often been chained out and neglected, are starving, have been abused, and are often intact.

Instead of looking at the real situation, the media has maligned an entire breed for sensationalism. And this has led to politicians taking up the cause and enacting breed bans.

Denver is often sited when discussions of Breed-Specific Legislation is brought up. They first enacted a ban on pit bull "type" dogs in 1989 and recently reinstated it. Their seven points in regard to why pit bulls needed to be banned were based on media sensationalism, twisted facts, contradictions, and "scientific" articles in such esteemed journals as Sports Illustrated. They brought in pseudoscience and anecdotes and called them facts. Even worse, this ban was enacted due to two incidents that happened three years apart: one fatal, one not.

What has happened to the Pit Bull has been a horrifying witch hunt that, just like the witch hunts of Salem, has no basic in reality. The Pit Bull is and can be a wonderful, real family pet if raised the proper way...just like any other breed of dog. To think that in less than 100 years human beings could create a monster of dog with anatomy unlike any other canine, is not only the height of arrogance, but is also ridiculous.

Unfortunately, this vilification is not likely to change until people start to think with a little bit more logic and the media starts to disseminate facts instead of twisted facts and sensationalized accounts that don't resemble reality.

The Pit Bull Placebo is now available online for free. Please download it and pass the link alone. This is an important book and Pit Bull owners everywhere would like you to see it.

Book Review: Bringing Light To Shadow by Pamela S. Dennison

Title: Bringing Light to Shadow: A Dog Trainer's Diary
Author: Pamela S. Dennison
Year published: 2004

You can't rehabilitate an aggressive dog using positive training. You must show the dog who is the alpha in order to gain respect. And besides, positive-based trainers won't even take on aggressive dogs.

I cannot count the number of times I have heard a combination of these statements. Add to them the usual glorification of Cesar Millan, and you have the complete picture. According to these folks, he rehabilitates "red zone" dogs, the dogs others have given up on, the ones the positive trainers won't work with because they don't have the guts/know-how/calm assertive energy to rehabilitate them. These positive, rewards-based trainers are handy for training tricks, but that's it.

Except...that's not quite true. Bringing Light to Shadow proves those statements wrong. Pamela Dennison, who already had a houseful of dogs (a border collie mix, a border collie, and a sheltie), decided in a moment of craziness to add a 4th dog to the mix: a rescued border collie named Shadow. She did not know, at the time she brought him home, that Shadow was human-aggressive. As with many aggressive dogs, most of his issues were based in fear. He was a dog who, under different circumstances would have been put down. He was a dog who, under the "rehabilitation" of Cesar Millan, would have lashed out or shut down, leaving him living in a sort of hell.

Instead, Shadow ended up in the hands of positive trainer Pamela Dennison. At the time she had little experience working with aggressive dogs. She had been training dogs for agility, obedience, and herding work. But Shadow became a project of love and she stuck by him through thick and thin.

The book is written in journal format and are the actual entries Dennison made in her journal about Shadow's progression (and sometimes regression) toward becoming a "normal" dog. Included within the pages not only are her moments of looking back and pointing out what she did right and what Shadow did right, but also those moments where she made a wrong move and caused Shadow to regress a bit.

This book is truly insightful and should be on every dog trainer's bookshelf. If you have a dog with aggression issues, this book can make you feel hope. And mostly, it can make anyone realize that positive training can WORK with an aggressive dog. In 18 months she turns Shadow from a human-aggressive dog to one who passes his Canine Good Citizen test. 18 months may seem like a long time, but at the end of the book he was only 2 1/2, so there are many more years to come.

I really enjoyed this book and it's one I'll keep on my shelf and keep referring back to over and over again.

Buy Bringing Light to Shadow by Pamela S. Dennison

Transport #30: Gypsy and Carly

Like the last couple transports, when one came up for a couple Australian shepherds I just couldn't resist. No bones about it, Aussies are one of my favourite breeds! This particular transport was for Gypsy, a 2-3 year old blue merle and Carly, a 14 week old red and white. Carly also happened to be blind, though after spending a little time with her, we figured she wasn't 100% blind. It seemed like she could at least see shapes, though it was obvious she could see little else.

The ride out to Rochester was harrowing for a number of reasons. There was a lot of construction. And by "a lot" I mean miles upon miles of narrowed roads blocked on both sides with large concrete slabs. People, of course, insisted on driving fast through it regardless of the construction. And then I got an extremely aggressive (and here you must pardon my French) "Masshole" behind me. He was one of those sorts that really just wanted to intimidate you. He'd get right up and tailgate and then when you got over to let him pass, he'd just hang in your blind spot and never pass. This happened 3-4 times as I would then get behind someone going slower, so I'd speed up, get back in front of him, and the whole process would repeat. Finally we got to a 3-lane section of the road, I slowed WAY down and he was forced to get over and around me. Phew!

Then to top it off, I got to Rochester and it was starting to rain and it looked like a storm was headed our way. Luckily, the dogs had already been walked and given water and so we simply tossed them in my car and I was on my way.

The two dogs were incredibly sweet. They both wanted to give me all sorts of kisses and I got quite the face washing before I took off.

The drive back to Syracuse was easy. Both dogs settled right down and slept. Carly curled up facing the back seat with her little rabbit and Gypsy settled down next to her. Carly cries if Gypsy is away from her. I think she'll have to go to a home where there are other dogs. She gets very lonely when she's all alone, poor girl.

We made good time back to Syracuse and managed to outrun the storm. I was a bit early and the people meeting me ended up being a bit late (they had to meet someone ahead in Syracuse and ended up getting turned around trying to get to the proper exit). So I had some time to spend with the dogs. I first got Gypsy out of the car and let her explore a bit, but poor Carly was crying, so I went back for her and held onto them both for a time. Carly was hilarious. She really wanted to play tug of war with a leash, but she kept choosing to tug on Gypsy's, this pulling Gypsy with her where ever she wanted to go. Gypsy was calm and just let her do it, not a warning growl or anything. Which I found amazing as they put a choke collar on Gypsy. I hate those things. Really hate them. This is the second dog I've had to deal with being hooked up to one of those devices and I'm considering bringing along some collars in various sizes so next time I can hook the dog up to a proper collar. I do not like hearing a dog gag as she tries to tug you along places. I get it. She pulls. They were worried about her pulling out of a collar, but they had said she was coming with a Martingale, not a choke. And on top of that she was FUZZY to the extreme. From what I understand metal chokes can pull on the fur of long-haired dogs, making it even more painful. I kept reaching over and loosening the collar and trying to keep her from pulling it tight.

At any rate, the dogs had a fun time out on the lawn and then they were off with the next folks. I grabbed Carly's rabbit and handed it to her, saying "Now don't forget this -- carry it to the car." And she did. Adorable. She really loves that stuffed rabbit!

These dogs were really fantastic. Gypsy reminded me a lot, personality-wise, of Dahlia. She was calm and cool and really mellow. She had an adorable natural bob-tail and just a sweet, quiet personality. I think Dahlia would have liked her!

And, of course, I bring you pictures.

Gypsy







Carly







Both of them together

Transport #29: Tucker

I can't resist an Aussie. But even more, I can't resist an Aussie puppy. And even more than that I can't resist a deaf Aussie puppy. So when a transport came up for a 4-month old deaf Australian Shepherd, I jumped on it. The folks who work for and transport for ARPH (the Aussie Rescue and Placement Helpline) are also awesome folks so I love working with them. They're really easy-going and just love their breed. I don't blame them. Aussies are awesome dogs!

Tucker, the young man in question, was being transported from New Jersey up to Ontario, where no doubt someone will quickly adopt him. How could they not? He's incredibly sweet.

I met up with the transport in Syracuse, which means driving down from the north side of Oneida Lake as we had spent the night up there. It was a bit more travel than usual, but it was well worth it. I got to the meeting spot a bit ahead of time and the folks meeting me pulled in just a couple minutes later. We were running a good 15-20 minutes ahead. Tucker and one of the transporters raced off to burn a little energy and hopefully pee, while I chatted with the other transporter for a moment. We got all his stuff loaded up (food, but most importantly his paperwork -- without that it would be tough to cross the border into Canada!) and then got Tucker into the car. He jumped right in, no problem.

The first part of the trip was a little worrisome. He was down behind my seat and I could see him, it felt like the leash tying him to my backseat was really taut, and he wasn't moving around...at all. He was a 4 month old puppy so I expected more out of him. Since I had to visit a restroom anyway, I got off at the nearest exit and high-tailed it to a gas station. When I pulled in and stopped, I leaned around the seat to see if he was ok. And there he was, all curled up. He had been sleeping! Phew. I quickly hit the restroom (luckily today's temps are only in the 60s, it's overcast, and really breeze...he was fine in the car for a couple minutes) and then we were on our way. Luckily he got up on the seat where I could see his back end. He promptly fell asleep again and not another peep was heard out of him until we arrived in Watertown.

I was a good 20-25 minutes early and since I knew the person before me was doing a wee bit of shopping, I decided to just get Tucker out and burn off some energy. We raced across a big field of grass (which was unfortunately rather wet!) and I discovered his current favourite game: "attack the leash." He really wanted to play tug of war with it. So we did. A few times he jumped up to get the leash and almost got my hand in the process (and once he did get my coat -- I didn't see any holes in it amazingly). I played a bit of fetch with his Nylabone and eventually we sat down on the pavement (where he proceeded to eat rocks -- I had to rescue a few from his mouth -- luckily no signs of resource guarding there!).

The other transporter finally arrived and it was a quick and easy shot to get him into her car and into a crate (mostly to stop him from eating the food in the back with him as he was quite into trying to get the treats). And then they were off to head into Canada and I was off to head back to Syracuse.

All in al it was an easy transport, but I was sad to see him go. He was a really cute and really nice dog!

All of my pics from the transport can be found here. A few of my favourites are below.