Transport #24: Whitney

Ah, my last transport of the year! Whitney was dog #44 for the year and she was a gorgeous little pup. She was a 2-year-old Brittany on her way from a foster home to her forever home. The original transport had been set up for last weekend, but with the horrible weather that cropped up, it got postponed. I hopped on board for one last drive of doggy love for 2008.

I met up with Whitney out in Rochester. She was taller than most Brittanies I had met and her face seemed somewhat longer. I'm pretty sure she was purebred, but she seemed to look just a tad bit different from many of the others I had transported. If left to my own devices, I might have thought she was a mix of Brittany and perhaps Border collie. But either way, the first thing one would really note about Whitney was how skinny she was. I'm not sure how long she was in foster care for. I'm guessing not long before the adoption went through, as this poor girl clearly needed to gaine some serious weight. Her ribs were prominent and you could clearly see her backbone. She made Nonami, of the last transport, look like the picture of perfect doggy health.

Despite her clear need of some good food, Whitney was a love. She was also strong. So incredibly strong that she would pull on the leash, causing her front legs to go up into the air and she would then keep walking on her hind legs. It was pretty amazing to watch, but she was clearly going to be a handful to control. I hope her adopting family has some good strong folks in it!

I got her into the car easily enough. I've never seen a dog quite so eager to just hop on in and explore. She sniffed around a bit, checked everything out, though unlike Morey (of an earlier transport), she didn't try to eat anything. We finally got on the road and she settled down for a bit.

The scariest moment came when, driving 70mph on the Thruway, she decided she wanted to look out the window. My window. And did so by standing on my legs. This is all well and good as I was able to see out the window, but then she decided to see if she could crawl further into my lap and see out the opposite window. Oh no no no, I don't think so, kiddo! I did what I've done many times before with dogs who are a bit over exuberant about getting into my lap. I tried to shove her off and back onto the other seat. I must have hit a tender spot (perhaps even a rib) because she actually snapped at me. As soon as she did that, however, she immediately retreated to the passenger seat and leaned over to smother my face in kisses. I got the sense that she knew she had done something bad and wanted to make it up to me in the only way she knew how. She clearly didn't hurt me, didn't even touch me with her mouth, so I wasn't terribly worried. I'm sure being as thin as she was made things like pushing against those bones a bit painful. Poor kid.

The rest of the trip was incredibly uneventful. We hit a good stride and booked it back to Syracuse rather quickly. Whitney settled down on the front seat and slept for much of the trip, only occasionally popping her head up to nose my hand for a pat. She was a sweet girl despite our one incident of freaking out.

The handoff went quickly and for once, I was done with a transport a good 20 minutes earlier than scheduled!

A few pics:

Transport #22: Abby, Speckle, and Nesbit

I agreed to help out the Brittany folks yet again. They seem to be the ones most interested in my services and the ones who keep the number of dogs on a transport to a reasonable level. Several of those who have come through my area recently have had 4, 5, or even more dogs. Far too many for my little vehicle. It would be nice to have a large vehicle for transporting, but that won't ever happen. So I limit myself to no more than 3 medium sized dogs, 2 large dogs, one giant dog, or a handful of puppies/little dogs.

So this time it was for three Brittanies. Nesbit was 6 years old, an orange and white boy who was heading. Abby and Speckle were two 10 year old Brittanies (one liver and white, the other black and white) who were going to a forever home in Vermont. It always warms my heart to see these older dogs getting a home.

I arrived in Rochester a little bit after the folks I was going to meet. I misjudged the time a bit this time. I thought I needed to arrive by 2:20pm and it was really 2:10pm and the other folks were moving pretty quickly. I got there about 2:05pm, but they still beat me by about 10-15 minutes. They had already walked the dogs and were waiting in their car for my arrival. I met Nesbit first and I was amazed at his size! He was incredibly tall and much bigger and stronger than most Brittanies. We all looked at him and thought he was the size of a Springer Spaniel, but clearly looked like a Brittany. He was a bit more exuberant than I expected a dog of his age to be. The other Brittanies I've met who were over 3 were much calmer than he was. I got him into the car and wasn't surprised to see him immediately hop up into the front of the car.

Then I met Abby and Speckle. Amusingly, we all had them reversed as to their names. I was sure that Speckles was the little liver and white one was she was quite speckled. But her name tag said Abby on it, so I guess they were reversed. Much like Nesbit, I was amazed at how active they were. Wendy and Pepper, who I had transported before, were much calmer than these two. I got them into the car, got all the paperwork, and then returned to the car to find Abby on the floor of the driver's side seat with her head stuck under the seat. I guess I missed a couple french fries when cleaning and she managed to find them. Amusing. In order to get her into the back seat, I had to drag her out of the car and get her to go to the back seat. Nesbit, who was now on the front driver side had to be physically forced backward onto the passenger seat.

I got in. Shut the door. And though "how on earth am I going to keep them all under control?"

I started up the car and started driving, and as if by magic, they all suddenly settled down, curled up, and slept! I looked in the rearview mirror a few times and saw that Abby and Speckle (who have been together since they were pups, I believe), were curled up together. Everyone say "awww!"

The ride was uneventful from there on out, except for the lake effect snow and wind.

Oh and the next driver calling to tell me he'd be late because he locked his keys in the car. Well, that was unexpected! It turned out that the battery in his car had died. When they jumped it, all the doors immediately locked (I hate those automatically locking doors!) and his keys were in the car at the time. Just great. I didn't have any major plans, but I wanted to get home to my dog!

I arrived at Syracuse and the folks who were there for Nesbit arrived shortly thereafter. It was easy to get him out and on his way.

I decided that, since I had to hang around a bit, I might as well sit in the back seat with Abby and Speckle. I could give them some attention and take some pictures. Well, I found out one thing. Those poor girls were starving for attention. They were all over me as soon as I got in the back with them. I don't know where they came from originally (they were owner turn-ins), but it seems that their emotional needs were a bit neglected. Speckle was also ITCHY. Seriously itchy. She kept itching her ear for a few minutes at a time (when I checked on it, it was clear that she had a hot spot behind it from all the scratching) and then she would roll around on the back seat trying to get some relief. I'm not sure what was causing it. I didn't see any fleas, so maybe it's the food she's eating or some sort of allergies. Either way, I felt bad for the poor girl. Both she and Speckle seemed to have some issues. Their ears were turned funny (matts or just bad breeding, I'm not sure) and both were really tiny for Brittanies. They were nice dogs, but they need some help to get healthier and happier.

The next driver called me and was on his way only about 10 minutes late. We did a quick transfer of the dogs and then he was off.

A few pictures:

Nesbit
(click for a larger image -- whole image did not fit here)




Abby






Speckle








More can be found here.

Transport #21: Abby

My 21st transport of the year was an absolute breeze. It went by a little too fast, in my opinion. Abby was a 10-year-old overweight Brittany who was on her way to her forever home in Maine. I'm all too happy to help out the Brittany folks. They're good people and the dogs are just lovely. I haven't met a Brittany I haven't adored and Abby was no different.

I drove out to Victor this time and met up with the people before me. They arrived about 15 minutes after I did and the transfer was done quickly and easily. Abby was sweet, profuse with kisses, and easy to settle down in the back. She spent about half the trip laying down asleep and the other half with her nose stuck to the crack in the window, taking in all the smells. She was cute to watch.

I arrived in Syracuse in good time and found the next folks already there. I had no time to really get pictures or anything. Abby was loaded into the next car and on her way before we could blink. She's now in her forever home in Maine and going to spend the remainder of her years with some lovely people. I'm sorry I didn't get to know her better, but I'm glad to have been able to help!

A couple of the decent pictures I did get are below.

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 #16: Seymour, Ruby, and Jerry

On Sunday I opted to help out with the Brittany transports again. I haven't gotten to meet any new Brittanies since the crazy Bindi transport back in April. This transport started off with one dog planned (Seymour) and a possibility of two others joining in. When I found out all three were coming along, I was a little worried about fitting them all in.

I met up with the transport at a Chili's in Victor, NY. The woman who was meeting there is well-known as a bit of a lead foot, so it was no surprise that, even though I was 10 minutes early, she was already there waiting for me. To her credit, she didn't try to call me and see where I was.

We first got little Seymour out of the car (at 35lbs fully grown, he's small for a Brittany). He was a terribly nervous dog and kept skirting behind Kathy a bit when I bent down to approach. They believe the poor guy had been abused or mistreated in some way, maybe treated harshly. We managed to get him into my car easily enough, though he was still a bit skittish.

I got out Ruby, the old gal. She's somewhere around 8 or 9 years old and incredibly sweet. She's a special needs gal -- on some sort of medication for a heart murmur that occasionally causes her to pass out. I saw none of that on the transport, but it's still a concern for a future adopter. For an old gal who was a bit on the thin side, she did really well climbing in and out of cars.

Jerry was the third one out and he was the bigger boy. Boy was he friendly! We're pretty sure that Jerry was indeed NOT all Brittany. I'm not sure what else might have been in there (perhaps English springer), but Brittany was not the first word that came to mind. He was bigger and his ears were set differently. At any rate, he was a sweetheart and so incredibly soft!

We got all three dogs into the car and the amusing thing was they ALL wanted to be in the back. So all three of them curled up together and were absolutely calm during the drive. I loved transporting them! Compared to poor Bindi, who kept trying to get into my lap the entire trip, they were an absolute dream. I would occasionally stick my hand in the back to see if I could get poor little scared Seymour to sniff my hand and each time I did, Ruby put her head underneath my hand. So instead I started to reach back to scratch her head a bit. She's a bit of an attention hog, that one!

When I arrived in Syracuse, I took each dog out one at a time. I spent the most time with Seymour and he very quickly warmed up to me. The next thing I knew, he was licking my hand and leaning up against me as a petted him. Winning him over wasn't tough at all! I just needed a little quiet time with him.

The next driver showed up and we got Jerry and Ruby into his car easily enough. Now poor Seymour? He was scared to DEATH. We're all pretty sure that he was abused by a man at this point. He first kept hiding behind my legs and then made a beeline for my car. Every time I tried to reach in to get him, he would run to the other side of the car. Eventually I managed to catch him on one side, picked him up, and carried him to the next driver's car. Once inside the car he was settled pretty well, so hopefully he warmed up to the poor guy who was driving him.

I took a handful of pictures but unfortunately didn't have my good camera on me and the camera I borrowed from a friend had batteries that were on their way out.

These first two of Seymour are from the overnight stay (taken by someone else):






Jerry

(Yes, he's peeing -- it was the only moment I could catch a picture of him and I didn't realize what he was doing when I held up the camera!)


Ruby

Transport #12: Bindi and Eli

To date, this was probably one of the most fun, but most challenging transports I have done. I'm finding that each transport is a sort of "live and learn" experience and this time I definitely learned some things NOT to do. The drive out to Rochester was easy. I stopped to grab lunch at Tim Horton's along the way and had a lovely conversation with the janitor at the rest stop. It started when I got napkins to clean off my table and he said "Looking for a job?" It turned out that he had a rescued cockapoo and his sister had a rescued lab that had some one on of the transports like I do. Neat guy and it was nice to chat for a few minutes. I arrived at the site right at 12:45pm and the other people were already there with the dogs. Getting them into my car was a bit of a pain and took a lot longer than it should have. She was insistent on tying them to the so-called "oh shit" handles. She said it worked well for her, but I had some issues with it. My first issue was she wanted to tie them on such a short lead that they couldn't even lay down. No no...that wouldn't work. I got her to tie them at a longer distance to allow them some freedom.

We finally took off, pretty much on time. But immediately there were problems. Eli, who had been tied into the front seat crawled into the back. And then Bindi, who had been tied in the back, wanted to be up front. She ended up getting herself into such a position where she was almost hanging herself. I tried to undo her from the lead, but couldn't with one hand, so I ended up pulling over on the side of the thruway in order to do it. I got her loose, Eli settled down in the back, and Bindi curled up on the front seat, free to move about the car as she pleased.

We started off again. This was when I discovered that the one place Bindi really wanted to be was in my lap. She would crawl into my lap and roll over, legs splayed, in order to get a belly rub. All well and good in normal circumstances, but I was driving. She was leaning into the steering will sometimes, and then at other times she's stretch her legs out and they'd come to rest on the steering will (or even hanging over part of it). Eek. I started to get a little worried that she might move suddenly and jerk the wheel! A couple times I was able to get the strength to pull her away from me and push her back onto her seat, but she always came back. She was what people describe as a "velcro dog" -- she really just wanted a belly rub and to lick your face (a lot!). It finally got to a point at which I was very nervous about continuing to drive with a 40 lb dog crawling around my lap. So, once again we stopped, this time at a rest area. I got Bindi fixed up in the car so she could get only over to my lap but not lay across it. It left us in a much better position than we were in before.

We started off yet again. The trip seemed to be going ok at this point, until Eli decided he wanted to get up front. First he tried to go underneath Bindi and she growled at him -- she definitely did NOT like having him underneath her. I got him into the back and he ended up getting into a strange position he couldn't get out of, again nearly hanging himself in the process. Like before, I couldn't undo his the lead from his collar with one hand, so for a third time, I stopped. Like the first time, I stopped on the side of the thruway. I managed to unhitch him, remove the lead from the "oh shit" handle and tie him around the back of my seat, which gave him a bit more room to move (it also, unfortunately, gave him the room to get to the plastic bag I had sitting down there -- which I managed to remove from him, leaving my purse to the effects of his teeth...alas, now my purse has a strap that is chewed in half *smacks forehead*).

Yet again, we started off. The remainder of the trip wasn't too difficult. Despite three stops on the way through, we made it to our meet up spot just 2 minutes after we were supposed to be there! I handed off the dogs to the next woman (who had a crate large enough to put Bindi in, which I'm sure was a great help!) and who agreed that tying them to the handles is definitely not a good idea (like I said, "live and learn"). And then they were off on the next leg of the trip.

Now, I know this all probably sounds like they drove me nuts. But really, I adored both of these dogs, and especially Bindi who clung to me the whole time. They were incredibly sweet and silly and their new families will be very lucky!

Here are a few of my favourite pictures. The rest can be found here. I didn't get nearly as many pictures as other trips since I had Bindi in my lap most of the time and needed one hand on the wheel and one hand to keep her away from the wheeel!

Bindi








Eli

Transport #11: Indie and Sweeney

I had been looking for a transport that would get David and I out in the general vicinity of Rome so we could bring my parent's dog, Teri home with us. It seemed like a logical idea since we had to go that way anyway. It turned out there was a transport for two lovely 2-3 year old Brittany spaniels heading out that afternoon.

We arrived at 2:45pm to discover the driver before us had arrived about 10 minutes early. That gave us a chance to meet the dogs a bit. David took Sweeney out for a little bit of a run, since he seemed to have a little excess energy to burn of. I held onto Indie, who just seemed to want to hang out near you. After the previous driver took off, we first got Sweeney into the car. Immediately, he went for my Erik doll. Poor Erik! He's now been mauled by two transport dogs. I was able to get him away from Sweeney easy enough, no fight, no attempts at playing tug of war with him (god forbid!). Erik, who has guarded my car for over 8 years, was relegated to a place in the glove compartment...poor guy!

I hopped in the back with Sweeney (who then proceeded to sit across my lap) and David got in the front with Indie and we were off.

The trip out to Herkimer was one of the easiest trips I've ever had with these dogs. Sweeney immediately curled up with his head almost in my lap and rolled sightly over so I could give him a belly rub. He fell asleep fairly quickly and spent nearly the entire trip like that. Indie curled up on the front passenger seat and with David petting her, curled into a tight little ball and also fell asleep. There wasn't a peep out of either of them and they didn't really wake up until we got off at the Herkimer exit.

It always amazes me that dogs that are so active when you first meet them, raring to go for a run, climbing all over you, eating your stuffed toys, can so quickly settled down and fall asleep. It must be something about the rocking of the car.

We arrived at the Herkimer exit about 10-15 minutes before the next driver did, which gave us anothe chance to get the dogs out for a little walk. Sweeney found some sort of trail he had sniffed out and was following it, nose to the ground. David just let him run. I spent my time with Indie, who just wanted to wander around aimlessly a bit and really just wanted someone to pet her and sit with her. She was an incredibly quiet, calm dog who clearly just loves people.

The next driver finally arrived (to much sadness on our parts!) and after letting them get acquainted, we loaded them up in his car. Sweeney jumped up easily enough and set off to exploring. Indie (who had recently had her spay stitches removed) had to be helped into the car. I had to laugh at Indie though. She turned around and sat with her legs hanging over the edge of his vehicle and refused to budge. We had to sort of force the poor girl back into the vehicle (by having me go around to the other side and get her attention) in order to shut the door so he could be on his way.

David and I agreed that either one of the dogs would have been wonderful companions for us. Brittanies are such gentle, sweet, energetic dogs. Because there were two of us on this trip, I got a TON of photos. A few of my favourites are below. The rest can be found here.

Sweeney


(Sweeney with my poor Erik doll!)






Indie








Both dogs

Transport #8: Wendy, Pepper, and Roxie

I was set up to do a transport for the Brittany rescue last week, but due to weather in Ohio it fell through. Then they added another two dogs to the group. I contacted the person in charge of it and said I didn't have the room. Rather than find an extra driver, she pulled me off it, found someone with a larger vehicle, and suggested I contact another coordinator who had two senior dogs and a puppy who needed to go. I was all to happy to!

From what I understand, Wendy was a poor dog found as stray and brought into a kill shelter. Some good samaritan, who was there to adopt a younger dog, saw her and since they were going to almost immediately euthanize her, brought her to the Brittany rescue. Pepper was an old guy whose owner was going in for major surgery and then going into a nursing home. So off they went to a new home. Roxie was a sweet mix-breed puppy (Brittany and something else -- we think she looked a bit like a Weimaraner), whose origins I don't really know.

I headed off this morning to pick up Wendy, Pepper, and Roxie in Victor. The drive out was basically uneventful I hit a little bit of snow in Rochester, but nothing that was really worrying. I met up with Roger, who had the trio in his SUV. We got them out, walked them, let them do their duty and all. We chatted for a bit, as I was running ahead and he was quite the talkative type! Really good guy. He had this way of doing the dogs up in his truck that was brilliant and he offered to make me some of those tethers. He also offered me his crate for Roxie (the 4-month old puppy), but I declined as I was worried about room in my vehicle.

We got Roxie into the car first and he managed to tether her up really well. There was no way she was gettng into my lap, which was perfect. Then we got Wendy and Pepper in. I was told we had to help them in and out of the vehicle and that held true for Wendy, with her strange dislocated leg (likely a bad break that healed poorly), but Pepper was able to get in and out with no problem. Luckily, my car is pretty low to the ground.

The drive was entirely quiet, especially compared to yesterday's insanity! The two old dogs immediately curled up and slept. Roxie settled down nicely within the first few minutes and also slept for most of the trip. I couldn't believe how well behaved they all were!

When we arrived, the people picking up Roxie were right behind us. We got her out of the car, walked her and the other two, and then I finally convinced him that it was ok to leave me alone with the old kids. They took off and I crawled into the back seat with Wendy and Pepper and the three of us spent some time snuggling up. The guy who was picking up the seniors finally showed up and after chatting for a bit, we got them into the car and off on their way. They were already curled up before he even took off.

I took a lot of photos and managed to get good shots of all three. Here are some of my favourites:

Roxie





Pepper





Wendy





The rest can be found here.