Transport #44: Sprite

Another deaf Aussie.  Watch me not able to resist again!   I had nothing to do this weekend and it was an absolutely gorgeous weekend, perfect for a drive down to Binghamton and back.

I was hanging out this morning and got an e-mail message stating the transport was running an hour early. This is unusual.  Apparently the first person had to take off early and so it set the thing off much earlier than anticipated. It really says something about the type of people involved in these transports. Every single on of us was able to do it an hour earlier than planned. So instead of taking off around 11:15am, I left at 10:15am. I stopped for a quick lunch and arrived just a few minutes before the person I was meeting. Perfect timing!

Poor Sprite.  He's a 5 month old Aussie, all white deaf. Adorable as can be. But obviously he's been through a lot. He's super friendly but a bit skittish. He did not want to get out of the crate in the SUV.  We ended up pushing the crate back as far as we could and coaxing him out.  The person I met lifted him out and then he was ok.  He shook it off and wandered around for awhile.

Getting him into my car was difficult as well. The other person tried to lift him but had trouble with it. Finally she just swooped in to grab him and he sort of freaked out, snapped at her (but didn't make contact). I suspect the issue was that he couldn't hear her and she just grabbed him suddenly.  She went to her car to find some treats and I decided to tempt him in with my fuzzy squeaky ball.  I got him interested in it, tossed it a few times and then tossed it into the car.  He wasn't quite willing to jump up, but put his front feet up.  So I rubbed his belly and petted him and then got my arm beneath his rump and helped him up.  No problems.

We spent the first little while before we took off playing with the ball and having a ton of fun together. He was such fun puppy. We played tug with the ball, he chased it in the little space he had. He kept standing on the console between the seats and bopping me in the face with his nose.  Once he tried to grab my hair (no go there puppy!). He definitely needs to learn a bit of bite inhibition (he tried to grab the ball at the same time I did and got me instead...ouch!). No breaking of the skin but it definitely hurt!  So he's got some manners to learn but oh did I enjoy him!

He played for awhile as we set off, occasionally came to visit me, and about 30 minutes into the trip up north he fell soundly asleep. When we arrived in town and I had to drive through town, stopping at lights, he woke up briefly and then fell asleep again, this time with his nose on the "snout rest" (read: console), the same place Dahlia loves to lay on car trips.

The hand off happened easily enough. Getting him out of the car was difficult but I managed to coax him out. And he was easy to pick up for me to put into the next vehicle. I was sad to see him go!


 

 

   

Transport #43: Aiden

As always, I cannot resist a transport for a deaf Australian Shepherd.  When this transport lost a driver, I volunteered to take one of the legs.  After a bit if finagling to figure out which one of the legs that came through my area, we finally settled on my driving down to Binghamton this morning.

The drive down wasn't too bad.  The worst of it was getting out of my neighborhood.  We got some snow last night (I have no idea how much; maybe 3-5 inches) and they hadn't plowed the neighborhood, as they so often don't. especially on the weekends.  But once I got out to the main roads, the going was easy.  The further south I got the better it was.  The roads about a half hour south of here were dry and there wasn't much snow on the ground (oh lake effect!).

I arrived shortly before the person I was meeting and the handoff happened quickly.  Aiden, as it turned out, was a feisty little buggar.  He wanted to play and play and explore and bite my hands and my coat.  Almost immediately he latched onto the papers I had stuck behind the seat and I had to pull over and remove them all.  With little in the back seat outside of his toys and bone, I set out again.

He spent the rest of the trip playing with stuff and finally, nearly an hour into the drive, he fell hard asleep.  He didn't even wake up when I pulled into the parking lot for the meeting place.

I arrived at nearly the same time as the person we were meeting, so we got Aiden out, gave him some water, and into their crate he went.  It was a soft-sided one.  I hope that he didn't eat it!

I adored Aiden.  He's an incredibly sweet an smart puppy.  But oh does he remind me why I want adult dogs!







 

   

   

  

  

 

Transport #40: Cagney (aka Rusty)

My gosh I haven't done a transport in ages!  This has been a really rough winter here and that combined with the agility classes I've been doing on the weekend, made it difficult to do much transporting.  Sure, they were coming through but people doing them in that weather tend to have all-wheel drive vehicles and all I have is a small car!  So for the winter I gave it up.  I still may not do too much of it with all the dog classes, but I'll do more than I have been.

This transport was originally set up to be for a deaf 5-month old Australian Shepherd puppy and a pregnant adult Aussie.  The puppy got adopted before the transport by someone who worked with deaf people and was looking for a puppy she could teach ASL to.  So the transport ended up just being for Rusty (renamed Cagney by ARPH).  The drive out to the meeting place was uneventful.  It was a lovely day, around 40 degrees outside and bright and sunny.  I threw some great music on and tore on off down the highway singing at the top of my lungs!

I arrived and not more than 5 minutes later the person meeting me with Cagney arrived.  Poor Cagney!  She was glued to the inside of the car as far away from the open door as possible.  This isn't usual dog behavior.  Usually, if the dog has issues with the car, it's that they don't want to get in the car and are desperate to get out.  Not poor Cagney.  She was so shy that she found a safe space in the car and wanted to stick with it.  We managed to get her out with a bit of difficulty, but she finally came out.  Once outside she skittered every which way, body hunched over and her tail (which she did have!) tucked so far under that at first I didn't even think she had a tail.

We walked her around for a bit, hoping she would find a place to do her business, but she was too nervous for that.  So we ultimately ended up sitting in the grass with her.  There she finally seemed to settle a bit and even asked for a bit of attention.  I tried offering her some cheese and she at least licked at it.  When I first offered her cheese (inside the car in the hopes that the smell of something delicious would lure her out) she wasn't interested at all.  A sure sign of a stressed dog, unfortunately.

Cagney is a beautiful dog, but oh so nervous and shy.  She warms up to people, but it'll take some time to get her through her issues I would imagine.  She hopped up into my car quickly enough and took up the same spot huddled in the back of it.  After about 20 minutes of driving, she managed to settle down enough to fall asleep.

The next meeting place was a carbon copy of the first.  I ended up having to lift a very pregnant dog who seemed more dead weight than dog out of my car and this time, since it was obvious she wasn't going to find a place to pee and wasn't going to drink anything, we put her right into the next car.  She settled in there ok, though she hadn't had a chance to warm up to the next people in line like she did with me.  I'm sure she'll be fine for the rest of her trip.

I just hate seeing what people have obviously done to this beautiful dog.  I'm not sure if she's been abused but it's fairly certain she's been neglected by people.  She's not terrified of us and does warm up, but she's shy and nervous upon first meeting people.  I'm sure the trip and the constant changing of cars is hard on a dog like that.  But by tonight she'll be in her foster home and on her way to a new life!

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.

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!

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