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.
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