Transport #19: Sebastian, Willie, and Jett

This transport turned out to be the one that was perhaps the MOST fun I've ever had on a transport. I ended up laughing and giggling and talking to the dogs the entire trip. It started out with an easy drive out to Victor to meet up with the person driving before me. The only problem? We agreed to meet at Chili's and she drove to TJIFriday's because that was where she met someone last. Oops! After a bit of a miscommunication, she pulled into Chili's and we did the handoff. The dogs this time were Willie, a 6 month old Brittany pup, Jett, an 8-month old something (all black, funny ears, no clue what his mix really was), and Sebastian, a 4-year-old Border collie/Brittany mix. We got Willie and Jett out first and the two hadn't had a chance to meet yet. They were hilarious together, bounding over each other and wanting to play. I decided to put the two of them in the back seat together and see how they did. As soon as we got them in, they started to play, jumping on each other in the car. They amused me terribly! Then we got out Sebastian, who was 30 lbs of underweight border collie. I'm almost positive that dog doesn't have a bit of Brittany in him. He looks 100% pure border collie and as a huge border collie lover, I was thrilled. He was just as sweet as could be. I got him up into the front seat without any problem.

Much of the trip was spent laughing at Willie and Jett in the back and petting Sebastian, who decided that my lap was where his head belonged. He didn't try to crawl all the way onto my lap (which he could have). Instead, he put his head, and sometimes his paws, on my thigh and looked up at me with very happy brown eyes. I was in love! Totally. I wanted to bring that dog home with me. He was just so wonderful.

Partway through the trip, I stopped paying attention to Willie and Jett and suddenly found myself with TWO dogs on the front passenger seat. Willie had jumped up there, pushing Sebastian off my lap and against the door. Sebastian looked none too happy but took it ok. Willie crawled around and finally Sebastian had had enough. He crawled OVER Willie and put his head back in my lap! He successfully managed to trap the guy on the seat. He couldn't get back to Jett (who seemed somewhat lonely in the back by this time!). Eventually, after crawling around and Sebastian keeping himself tight to my lap, Willie settled down and fell asleep laying on Sebastian. So. darned. cute.

Jett laid down and relaxed in the back and the last 10 minutes of the trip were quiet in the car.

I really adored those three dogs and especially Sebastian. I really would have taken him home with me if I could have more than one dog. I was none too happy to pass them off, especially since the people after me didn't seem to care about my wanting to say goodbye to the dogs. Ah well. They're off to their foster homes now and I hope they all find wonderful homes!

As always, some pictures! The rest can be found here.

Sebastian





Willie





Jett





More than one dog

Transport #15: Blesk and Butterscotch

It's been a long time since I've done any transporting. Between the move and spending time with Dahlia, I just haven't had much of a spare moment on the weekends. I had some time this weekend and a transport was set up to head out to Trish (where we got Dahlia from), so I jumped back on the bandwagon.

The transport was for a collie mix puppy now named Blesk (which means "lightning"), about 6 months old, supposedly 45 lbs (though probably half that in reality), from the same rural pound that Dahlia came from, and a lab/hound mix named Butterscotch. Butterscotch was one of the cell dogs. If you haven't heard about this program, it's a pretty neat one. Inmates are carefully selected (good behaviour, non-violent crimes, etc.) to work with dogs who need training. The dog lives with them in their cell and the provide all the care for it: walking, food, water, etc. A trainer comes in and teaches the inmates how to train the dogs. Once the dog graduates, it moves on to become someone's pet. It's a great program for both the dogs AND the inmates.

I met the transport in Rochester. I had been warned that Butterscotch was not an easy dog to get into the car and boy where they right! We got the collie in quickly and easily. But Butterscotch? Nope. No go. As soon as you tried to get her near the car, she backed up, legs stiff, and wouldn't budge. In the end, the other woman hefted all 55 lbs of her up and shoved her in the car. Once there, she was fine.

The collie pup, who we had put in the front seat, quickly crawled in the back to be with Butterscotch. The pup seemed to really like the older dog. Butterscotch attempted to get into the front a couple times but was easily put off by my arm blocking the way (and gave me kisses on the side of the face -- so sweet!). I've dealt with dogs who would barrel through my arm without batting an eyelash so it was nice to have one who didn't!

The ride itself was pretty uneventful. Butterscotch eventually settled down and slept. The collie pup seemed to be asleep before I even left the parking lot. We arrived in good time to the meeting place in Syracuse, and after some cojoling and shoving, got Butterscotch into the next person's car.

It was really nice to be back "in the saddle" as it were and help out a couple of great dogs. Blesk went to her new forever home the day after the transport and Butterscotch will be going home soon!

A few pictures, some from another of the transporters.


Blesk:





Butterscotch:





Both:


A few more can be found here.

Transport #13: Dahlia

Lucky #13! And boy was I lucky. My weekend was supposed to consist of two transports. The first one was for a random couple dogs (which kept changing, finally ending with an Airedale mix named Kelly). That one was set up for Sunday morning. Well, Friday rolled around and suddenly it got switched to Saturday and I could no longer do it. They found someone else and the transport went on without me. The second transport was for three Brittanies. A woman had written to find out if I could help out. I volunteered for a leg and never heard back from her. On Friday I finally got in touch with her and she said she didn't need me. So, since those two got canceled, I contacted the people who needed help with Dahlia, a BBD (big black dog). For those who don't know this, BBDs often have a harder time getting adopted than dogs (and even cats) of lighter colours. Some of it is attributed to not photographing well in the confines of a shelter, some is attributed to people not being able to read their expressions as easily, and some is attributed to people finding BBDs more frightening. Whatever it is that causes it, BBDs are euthanized more often than other dogs. Dahlia was scheduled to be euthanized last Tuesday and a rescue pulled her for transport this weekend. I stepped in at the last minute to relieve a driver from having to drive 164 miles each way to help this beautiful dog. And wow am I happy I did!

Today was a beautiful day. Mid-70s, sunny. I drove all the way out to Rochester with my windows down partway (of course, some of this is attributed to my air conditioning being broken!). I arrived about 15 minutes early, relaxed, and then met up with the other people and Dahlia. My first impression of Dahlia was that she was a wonderful dog, and seemed much smaller than the 50 lbs they said she was (I would guess more like 40-45). She was utterly sweet and wanted to do nothing more than snuggle up to you. She immediately came over to me and gave me kisses. She walked over to the other women that had brought her on the previous leg, sat down, and put her leg up on her. She was just utterly sweet. We got her into the car easily enough and then it was on our way!

Unlike last week's crazy transport, this one was incredibly easy! Dahlia curled up in the back seat, not even tethered, and slept the whole way. She popped her head up a couple times and I reached back to pet her a bit (and was rewarded with some kisses), and then she'd just curl back up and sleep again. She was quiet and mellow.

We arrived a bit early, which was just fine with me! I got her out of the car and we wandered around a bit. She only pulled a bit on her leash and frequently ran back to me and looked up to me. She seemed like she'd be an easy dog to train. She already knew sit and shake, that much I discovered! We spent a bit of time out on the lawn. I sat down and let her explore around me and she would return to me and press her face up against mine. She was SO sweet. I would have adopted her in a heartbeat if I could...in fact, I may get in touch with the rescue she's going to about possibly adopting her. I just totally fell in love with her!

The other woman showed up way too early and I think she could tell I didn't want to let her go. Oops! They finally took off and now Dahlia is on her way to Vermont. *sniffles*

Here are a few pictures. The rest can be found here.