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!


 


 




 

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 #39: Truman (aka Dakota)

I cannot resist puppy breath. It's just impossible. And it's even more impossible when that puppy is only about 8 weeks old, fat, and fluffy. Truman is, they believe, a Golden retriever/Chow mix and he certainly seems to have the physical characteristics of both breeds. He does have the spotted tongue, though that's meaningless as a marker for being a Chow mix, but he has plenty of other physical characteristics of the Chow breed.

I headed out to pick up little Truman at 11:30am. It was an absolutely gorgeous day: mid-50s and sunny, just a great day for a drive! The transport was running ahead and so by the time I got there (also 20 minutes ahead), Truman had been walked and done all his business. I got some kisses, a few little puppy bites, and then he was in my car and we were off (after a few pictures). He settled down really well in the car, which I find is typical of puppies. He was almost instantly asleep with his head on the arm rest (so cute!). I had to make one stop on the way through to run into the bathroom. It was a cool day and so he was fine in the car with the windows down a little. When I got back to the car, he had managed to get down off the seat and was stuck behind the passenger's seat, the poor guy. He was just too short to get back up. So I helped him back up and we were on our way.

The rest of the trip was entirely uneventful. We arrived in Liverpool about 25 minutes ahead of time and I knew that the person meeting me was on another transport which was going to make him a little late. So that meant I got to walk Truman around and play with him for a bit.

"Play with him" actually meant having various pieces of clothing and body parts substitute as a tug toy. At varying times he latched onto my pant leg, sneaker, fleece jacket, elbow and fingers. All with puppy teeth. He also pounced on a woman's toes who came up to meet him. Whoops! Crazy little puppy but SO CUTE.

The next transporter showed up just about the time he was supposed to leave and since Truman had been walked, gone to the bathroom, and had some water, he was all set. We got him into his car and off he went, just about 5 minutes late.

Truman is one of the truly lucky ones. He's meeting up with his adoptive family tonight. So he's already going to a great home. Go Truman!

Edited to add: We have heard from his new family and he is settling in nicely. They've decided to name him Dakota.

Transport #38: Geri, Jack, and Precious

This weekend I was away from town and heading back home via one of the common transport routes so it seemed ridiculous for me to have an empty car the whole way home.  I volunteered for a transport early last week and took the last three legs of it.  Of course, I should have known it would never be that simple.  Because, of course, the transport went from two dogs to four rather quickly.  Two I can handle.  Three I can handle if they're not huge dogs.  Four?  The only time I've had four in my car is when most of them are small puppies in a crate.  This transport was for one overweight lab (80 pounds), and three medium sized dogs (30-35 pounds each).  That's just too much for my little Saturn Ion.

In the end, it was agreed that I would take the three smaller dogs as they were going the farthest and I could fit them all the in car.  It meant that I would have three dogs in the car for approximately 2 1/2 to 3 hours and I wouldn't make one stop between the pick up and drop off points.

Except, well, I had to make a stop.  I met up with the transport at 9am in the morning and met all of the dogs.  The overweight lab, Lucy, was a huge sweetheart who wanted to play tug with her leash (yikes!) and wanted belly rubs.  She was enthusiastic, but the poor thing was breathing so heavily from just a little bit of exertion that she broke my heart.  I know whomever ends up with her will knock that weight off the poor girl and make her life a little easier.

The other three dogs were Jack (a Boxer/beagle mix who was a huge sweetheart), Geri (supposedly a Lab/basset mix -- I see lab and some sort of hound but I'm not sure it's basset), and Precious (another lab mix).  Precious was super calm and very relaxed.  Jack was sweet and just wanted to give you kisses and curl up.  The problem was Geri.  Originally I decided that it would be easiest to put Jack in the front seat as he seemed to be the dog who required the most attention.  I thought the girls would be ok in the back.  Huge mistake.  Precious immediately settled down but Geri could not.  She paced back and forth, kept trying to get in the front seat (both from the middle area and around the left side of my seat, which would never happen).  She irritated Precious who growled at her a couple times.  I was starting to get worried about the two dogs in the back.  I ended up getting off the highway and stopping at a gas station to switch the dogs around.

And here comes the other scary moment of the trip.  In order to do this I had to get two dogs out of the car: Jack and Geri.  I started with Geri who, thankfully, I had on a slip lead as she pulled so hard on the other lead (I had her double-leashed) that she snapped her collar right off.  Phew!  Then I got out Jack.  I was trying to get them situated and into the car when Geri suddenly leapt up, knocked me off balance, ran into Jack's leash and I discovered a problem with slip leashes: they also slip right out of your grasp!  The leash flew out of my hand and suddenly Jack was free.  He didn't race off, thankfully, but instead sort of ran around near me a bit, sniffing and checking things out.  He saw people at the next car over and ran over to them and when they stopped to pet him I was able to step on his leash and capture him.  That had to be my scariest moment ever.  I thought that I would lose him and what a horrible thing that would be.  I was, honestly, starting to get really angry with Geri, though I kept myself in check.  I got her into the front seat and Jack into the back.  I tied Geri up pretty well so she couldn't get into my lap or move much.

And then we were on our way.

Geri finally settled down and I was able to loosen up her leash from where it was tied enough that she was able to curl up and sleep.  Jack and Precious were sound asleep in the back.  I heard only one more growl from Precious when Jack suddenly got up and, as far as I could tell, stepped on her head.  Otherwise the two of them curled up together and slept.

The remainder of the trip was uneventful.  I arrived at the meeting place in good time.  I got out Jack and Geri and we quickly got them into crates in the next car (which belonged to the woman who runs the rescue these three characters were ending up at).  And then, since I hadn't had much time with Precious, I took her out for a little walk around the area.  I pretty much instantly regretted not having her in the front seat.  She was wonderful.  I was trying to get photos of her and at one point sat down on the ground figuring she would wander around and I might get a few.  Nope.  Instead she saw me sit down and immediately jumped into my lap, gave me kisses and leaned heavily on me, trying to roll over in my lap.  She was just the sweetest dog and reminded me a lot of my own: She's a calm, relaxed dog who really likes her own space!  I got the impression pretty quickly that she'd be a great companion for Dahlia.  But alas, no more dogs for me, as we all know!

I was sad to see Precious go.  Jack was sweet but he wouldn't be the dog for me.  Geri was adorable but I was glad to see her off as she drove me a little bit crazy.  I'm sure they'll all find some good homes quickly!


Lucy





Jack





Geri





Precious

Transport #36: Chloe, Max, and Eddie

Being the owner of a formerly unwanted black dog myself, I couldn't possibly resist doing a transport for 3 lab mix puppies. Like my girl, they were headed from a high kill shelter to a rescue in Vermont for a chance at a new life. This transport was slightly different than the other ones I've done to date. The puppies only had their first shots and so we weren't supposed to allow them on the ground. Parvo, you see. It's a deadly disease and a horrible puppy killer, especially shelter puppies. It's possible they could contract it in the shelter, but if they come out of there parvo-free, we want to make sure they're not going to get it on the transport. It's not 100%, but with parvo "better safe than sorry" is a good rule of thumb.

So the trio of puppies, who came with no names but were given various names during the transport, were crated and allowed out only onto towels, tarps, and blankets that were clean and parvo-free.

I met up with the transport here in Syracuse and got my first glimpse of the puppies when the person I was meeting opened up the back of her SUV. The two fluffier puppies reminded me a lot of my dog, except for having darker eyes and radically different ears. Looking at the pictures later I realized exactly how much my girl's eyes stand out. It's not that often you see a black dog with such intense amber eyes!

Ok enough about my dog. Back to PUPPY BREATH! And not just puppy breath, but puppy breath times three.

We first got Max out. Nicknamed Max for "Maximum," he was the least shy and likely to be the most troublesome of the trio. We had been told they were shy and nervous, but little Max was none of the above. He immediately crawled to the edge of the SUV and we brought him down onto the towel. He wanted to run off to explore, but obviously couldn't, so instead, tried to crawl into our laps and eventually ended up on his back getting a big belly rub. Max was one happy puppy.

The second one we got out of the car was the only girl, Chloe. She was a bit shyer than her brother, but very sweet. She gave me kisses immediately upon meeting me and when let down onto the towel, opted to crawl back into the crate sitting next to it. She sat near the front of it and grinned at us, was happy to receive petting, but she definitely seemed to view the crate as a safe space.

The third one, who was alternately called Special or Eddie (of the two, I prefer the name Eddie, though I wouldn't name a dog either!), was the shyest of the bunch. Little Eddie (the only smooth-coated puppy of the three), immediately crawled to furthest side of the SUV he would and didn't want to come out. We opted to not stress him out too much (he was showing a lot of whale-eyed looks, tail tucked between his legs), so we put the crate in my car, put the other two pups in, and decided to just bring Eddie right from one vehicle to the other. I lifted the little guy in my arms and he immediately snuggled into me, putting his little head on my shoulder. It was incredibly sweet, but I'm sure he was quite happy to be put back into the crate with his siblings.

For the trip, I left the crate door open to allow them to wander out of it and onto the pillow next to it if they wanted to. No one did until the very end. Every time I glanced back to check on them, they were all laying squished together sound asleep. Puppies are just so cute and these little guys are making me change my mind about getting a puppy someday. Uh oh!

I arrived at the Herkimer exit in good time and decided that this time I was going to get little Eddie, the most scared one out first. I thought he needed a little TLC and a little one on one time. So I got him out of the crate (poor guy was pretty nervous) and picked him up and again he clung to me. I set him down on the tarp and after a moment of looking a bit disoriented, he looked up at me, wagged his little tail and crawled into my lap to give me kisses. Yay! Eventually he ended up upside down for a big ol' belly rub.

There really is nothing more disheartening than seeing a puppy closed down and afraid. He's only about 12 weeks old. What sort of life did he have that made him so scared? On the good side, I think he'll recover quickly and easily if our time together was any indication.

After getting Eddie out for a bit, I put him back in with his siblings and brought out the lovely Miss Chloe. I thought she needed a bit more one on one time than Max, who had plenty at the last stop and seemed to be pretty well adjusted. She snuggled into me and rolled over too. Lots of belly rubs were given that day (I gave belly rubs to three puppies, Dahlia, and the dog down the road, Maggie -- 5 dogs in one day!). In the middle of that, the person meeting me showed up and we made a quick transfer of the crate and puppies into her car (what a challenge that was!). And then she was off.

I really wanted to bring Chloe home with me. She was so sweet and reminded me so much of Miss Dahlia. I'm sure they'll all get amazing homes, but (as often happens) I wish I could have been one of those homes!

Some pictures of the trio follow.

Chloe






Max






Eddie (aka Special)







The group

Transport #35: Betty

It's been far too long since I've done a transport. I always want to do one, but I find every weekend seems to be tied up in something. I think maybe some of it is just wanting to spend time with Dahlia. I work all week and during the school year also disappear some evenings, so my weekends are my Dahlia time. With session every other week, I find it hard to pull myself away from her and do a transport.

But when one comes up for a black dog of a similar size and mix? I couldn't resist. Betty was billed as a lab mix, possibly a purebred. She's definitely not purebred and from the way she moves and the shape of her body and especially her tail, I would guess she's a border collie/lab mix. Whatever she was, she was incredibly sweet! Which is really amazing as Betty's story is quite a sad one. Her people went on vacation for four days and left her tied up outside with no water, no food, and no shelter. She was found suffering from sun stroke and removed from the house. She was taken to a shelter after that where no one wanted her. Luckily someone from the rescue did and so off she was going to Vermont!

I met up with the transport here in Syracuse around 10:30am. I usually take an earlier leg so that I have the rest of my day free, but the transport had 4 dogs on it and I just cannot handle 4 dogs in my little car! At Syracuse, three of the dogs were heading north to Ottawa and one was heading west. I opted to transport the one heading west. Three is still a lot for my little car. And considering the personality of one of the other dogs boy was I happy I only took the one!

When I arrived, I found his huge van already parked there. I knew who I was meeting thanks to the din coming from his car. One dog was barking. And barking. And barking some more. Thankfully it turned out not to be Betty! It was, instead, Mia the pug. Mia was 12 years old. I tried to walk her around but all she did was frantically run around on the end of her leash and bark. And bark. And...well, you get the point. She was a noisy little bugger!

I also met Jose the Chihuahua. The poor little guy was scared to come out of his crate, but once we got him out, he did just fine. I can honestly say I have never walked a dog that small before! Wow it was like having nothing at the end of my leash! He was cute though and very sweet. When I sat down near him he came over to me and licked my hand with his teeny tiny tongue.

Then I finally got to meet Betty. She hopped out of the van and started slinky around, very nervous at first and seemed rather unsure of herself. She moved like a border collie but very much had a lab head and the lab coat over a much narrower body than you'd see on a lab. Beautiful dog! And so sweet. She immediately warmed up to me and started giving me kisses. I got her into the car and she explored it before quickly settling down in the back to sleep most of the way there.

The trip out to Herkimer was very easy and we arrived in good time. Alas, the person who I was to meet was already there. Most unfortunate! I was hoping to have some time with Betty. Luckily we were ahead of the game so we had a bit of time to get some pictures. Now here's the interesting thing. Betty refused to get out of my car. She just laid there and looked up at us like "uh huh no way I'm staying here thank you very much." I felt bad making her move! She did finally and I walked her around a bit, got a few pictures.

At one point I sat down and she immediately crawled into my lab and leaned against me. Ah Betty! I would have taken her home with me in a heartbeat! Such a pretty and sweet girl. Everyone who met her at the transport spot just loved her and couldn't believe she was homeless. I was very sad to hand her off, but finally I had to part from her and then I was on my way home to my own dog!

Some pictures, of course.

Betty










Jose

Transport #34: Singin' Simon

I think this is the first time in a very long time that I opted to do a transport for a dog that was not an Australian shepherd. I haven't worked for Kim in ages and so when a transport came up for a dog named Simon I decided to jump on board. Judging by his picture, he's a Beagle/Australian Cattle Dog mix. It certainly seems the most likely explanation for his interesting colouring. Gorgeous dog.

While waiting for the transport to begin for me, I got several updates about Simon and the other dogs on transport. This is one of the things I like best about Kim's transports: She really keeps everyone up to date with the progress of the transport and how the dogs were doing. I had several messages about Simon's antics on transport.

he's been barking the entire way since he left. he also tried to chew through his leash while tethered in linda's car.

he also chewed thru two leashes so keep two on him and watch him he's quick!!!!!

And he IS REALLY QUICK chewing the leashes – did his double leash in about 2 seconds while waiting to load.

Noticing a pattern? Simon is a chewer. Big time chewer. I wonder how many leashes he did actually eat through.

At any rate, I was almost to the service area with Tim Horton's where I was going to get a soda, when I got a call from the folks I was meeting, They were running far ahead of the game and were almost to the meeting spot. I wasn't too far from it and so opted to not stop for a snack and headed right to the hotel off exit 46 where we were meeting.

By the time I got there, they had already had Simon out and walked and were ready for him to head out with me. Luckily, someone along the line had thought of getting a chain leash (not a choke chain -- he had a regular collar -- but rather a leash made out of chain!). Smart move! I easily hooked him up in the car and learned quickly that he still had enough room to get in the front of the car.

He spent the first part of the trip jumping from the front to the back, sniffing everything, trying to find any little crumb that might be in the car, and licking my face. He finally settled down in the back with his rawhide chew and alternately chewed and howled. I attempted to sing to him, as they said he liked to be sung to. And it did quiet him down, but when I hit the high notes he cocked his head to the side and howled. I'm not sure if that meant he wanted to participate or he didn't enjoy my singing! ;-)

He did finally settled down and was so sound asleep that I had to wake him up when I stopped.

Now, at this point, we were running nearly an hour ahead. The problem, of course, was that the people meeting me could not get there that early as they were coming from quite a distance away. So I had an hour to kill with Simon. I ended up taking him down to the Onondaga Lake Park and let him walk off some energy and let the hound in him sniff anything and everything his heart desired. He seemed to enjoy that.

I finally met up with the next folks at 1:20pm and he was off to the next meeting spot. Simon was a really nice dog and very handsome. I have no doubt he'll find a home quickly!

(Excuse the blurry spots on some of the photos -- Simon decided that licking my camera was a good idea and I had nothing to clean the lens off with...oops!)