Transport #42: Wager and Leo

By now you folks probably know I cannot resist a transport for special needs dogs, especially if those special needs dogs happen to be deaf Australian Shepherds.  And this is especially true if those deaf Aussies happen to be puppies.

So when a transport  came up for 10-week old Leo (the most amazingly adorable ball of white fluff you'll ever meet) and 7-8 month old Wager (an amazingly sweet and affectionate and adorable pup), I couldn't say no.

My Mother decided to join me on this transport, as she did for the one on Buddy.  It gives her something fun to do after my Dad's passing and really, who can resist puppy breath x2?

We took off from her place around 9:30am for Binghamton, NY.  I hadn't driven down to Binghamton from my Mother's house so I looked up the timing on Google maps: 1 1/2 hours.  Since I was supposed to arrive around 11:10am, that seemed perfect.  It would put us there around 11:00, just in time to meet them.  Right?

WRONG.

First of all, we actually arrived around 10:30am (way to go Google Maps for giving the totally wrong timing for the trip!).  And we got a call around 10am telling us the transport was running at least a half hour behind.  Oops.  Since we were already on our way there was not much we could do!  So we got  to our meeting location far too early.  Since our meeting locale was in a parking lot for the Cracker Barrel, we decided to duck in and check out the store.  I walked out with some Sweet potato pancake mix that I'm super excited to try out next weekend.

Anyway...they finally arrived around 11:30.  We spent a little while with the dogs, tried to get Wager to pee and let Leo play in his water bowl (which seems to be a favourite past time with the little guy).  Wager wasn't much interested in bathroom duties and instead wanted everyone to pet him.  He was incredibly affectionate and liked to leap up on you and stretch.  He was just an incredibly nice dog.

We loaded them up fairly quickly and took off.  Here was where the fun started: the two dogs had gotten themselves all tangled up and so my Mom had to lean into the back and unhook their leashes to try to untangle them.  While I was driving.  And trying to get back onto a major highway!  Fun stuff, that was!  She managed to untangle them and then spent about half the trip trying to keep them from jumping up into the front.

Partway through they both finally settled and fell asleep and the trip was peaceful until we arrived in Syracuse (though it was slow-going at times due to construction!).

We arrive a little bit after 1pm, got the dogs out quickly, chatted for a few minutes with the other folks that were there for a different transport (this one for cats), and then sent them on their way.  My mother was very concerned that Wager seemed to be in too small of a crate for him (he was much bigger than we thought!) but he curled up into a little ball and hopefully slept for their section of the trip.

Both arrived safely last night at their rescue destination!  While Leo was cute, Wager was the dog I would have totally adopted in a heartbeat.

I took a handful of photos yesterday but due to the rushed nature of things, they weren't my usual quality unfortunately!

Wager
 




 


Leo 

Transport #41: Buddy

I am embarrassed to say how long it's been since I last did a transport, but I'm sure if you scroll down you can see the amount of time that has passed.  Nearly an entire year!  But this year has been a nightmare of ups and downs with my father going through cancer treatments (and ultimately passing away) and my new agility endeavors (there's the "ups" of the "ups and downs"!).  So when a transport came up on a free weekend for this handsome old guy I just couldn't resist.  His story is a sad one:

This sweet senior yellow lab (8-10 years) was found standing in the middle of a highway the other night, not seeming to know what to do or where to go.  It appears he was hit by a car and suffered a stroke.  At first, they thought he was blind in one eye, but after doing some testing, it appears he can see okay.  

He was found by a good samaritan who got him vetted and kept him until a rescue could be found for him.  One in New Hampshire was happy to take this handsome old guy in and so he was sent on transport from Missouri all the way to New Hampshire.  Quite a ways to travels for an old guy!

I brought my Mom along this time as she loves dogs and is happy to have some time out of the house with someone to keep her mind off of things.  We got over to the meeting place early and we buckled in for a long wait as the transport was running behind.  Lo and behold, the person who was coming from the Rochester area was running a bit ahead.  So she got him out, found him a spot to pee, we got him some water and on our way we went!

The trip out was, thankfully, entirely uneventful.  The roads west of Syracuse were pretty hairy and I think the whole transport was a little on edge because yesterday a transporter in the south and the puppy she was transporting were killed in a horrific accident after getting caught in an unexpected ice storm.  I know I felt really nervous heading out, but it ended up that we had a bit of sun and dry roads all the out and back from the meeting spot.

We arrived some 25 minutes early and got Buddy out for a little walking around and some pictures and, since it was only 15 and very windy on the river, we hopped back into the car to love on Buddy and wait for the next person to show up.  My gosh this dog was a love sponge.  He couldn't have leaned any harder into our petting.  I'm pretty sure he was ready to crawl into our laps and I think my Mom was a little bit in love with him.

Once he was passed off, the car felt kind of empty without him.  He was such a silent, sweet presence.  I hope he quickly finds a home to cherish him for whatever remains of his life.  He deserves it!