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!)

The transport that wasn't

I hesitated to post this as I don't mean to say anything bad about people who obviously get involved in transporting because they love dogs. But if this is going to give a complete picture of my transporting endeavors, it needs to include both the good and the bad.

At any rate, I had set up a transport for today. It was one for two 1-year-old Aussies, one male, one female, both from a hoarding situation. It was one I couldn't resist.

So, all was well. I took off at 11:45am this morning to head out to Rochester to the arranged meeting point.

At around 12:10pm I received a phone call. The folks I was meeting were running 20 minutes behind. No biggie. That meant I had time to stop and grab something to eat.

"Oh and do you have a crate?"

No. I have no room in my car for an Aussie-sized crate, much less two Aussie-sized crates.

"Are you traveling with someone?"

I rarely do. David has come on exactly three transports with me and one of those was the time we got Dahlia. So 30 transports I've done all on my own. As anyone who has read my adventures in transporting knows, I've handled them all fine. Some dogs I was happy to let go, but for the most part all went well. No trouble on my watch. I've kept them all calm, even the dogs people thought were a bit out of control.

Well, these folks warned me of DIRE THINGS. The female is crazy out of control and eating their car. The male constantly humps the female. They don't know if I can handle it on my own. I assure them that I'll be just fine. We hang up, business as usual.

A half hour later, they call again. They have decided I cannot handle it and have pulled me off the transport. *blinks* What? They are going to go all the way to Syracuse. Mind you, I'm almost to Rochester at this point. I assure them, again, that I'm experienced with this sort of thing and I can handle it. Nope. No go. They've already arranged it with the next person down the line. There's just "no way" I could do it...blah blah blah. There's no budging them. They thank me for my attempt, as if this is my first time doing this, and hang up. Lovely. I wasted two hours of my life for nothing because of those folks.

Now mind you, there had been no updates about the dogs being out of control. There usually is if there's a problem. The transport coordinators are very good about this.

So I head back.

Meanwhile, the rest of the story comes out.

The person I was to meet in Syracuse e-mails me. She says these folks were extremely rude to her, demanding they meet somewhere else than where we had set up the meeting point. And they were freaking out. The woman was shouting into the phone, spazzing out over the male dog humping. The man is screaming in the background about the dog eating their seatbelt and her leash and OMG WHAT ARE THEY GONNA DO.

And so why are the dogs out of control again? Hmmm...

The person I was to meet is a bit taken aback (especially as she and I have met on transport several times!) but goes to meet them anyway.

She e-mailed me later that day with some extra information, including the fact that the folks were 20 minutes early for the meeting spot and did not even get the dogs out of the car. Some people really should not be transporting if this is how they react to normal dog behavior. I'm really peeved off that I got pulled off the transport by these people. It's not like they discussed it with the coordinator (who, by the way, I have done several transports for). They just simply made a decision and refused to meet me. I don't know if they were new to transporting or thought I was, but either way it was a waste of time and money and just completely aggravating.

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.

How could they...

This coming weekend I'm going to be doing a transport for three Aussie puppies. Two are only 8 weeks old, the 3rd is all of 7 weeks old. Three tiny little puppies.

1. Puppy one cannot hear.
2. Puppy two cannot hear and is visually impaired.
3. Puppy three cannot hear and is visually impaired.

They all deserve a chance at life. In fact, the first two were going to be taken to the vets to be killed by their breeder because they were, essentially, defective. Why were they defective? Why did one litter have two dogs with hearing and vision problems?

Because of the breeder. The merle coloring, that lovely flecked coat so many people admire in Aussies (and Border collies and some other breeds of dog) comes with a gene for deafness and blindness. When two merle dogs are bred together, some 25% of the puppies are born with these defects. It comes with a variety of names, from Double Merle to Lethal White (many of these dogs are put down before they ever have a chance to live) to much more technical terms.

Any way you look at it, it's caused by bad breeding. No good breeder would breed two merles together. But people looking to make a quick buck will do so and not feel any sadness over culling the innocent deaf and/or blind pups they brought into the world.

Two of the puppies on the transport were part of a litter that was being taken to an open air market to sell to whomever wandered by (good breeder? I don't think so). The deaf and blind ones were going to be taken to the vet to be put down. Luckily someone else got to them first and they're going to be coming to rescue. The pups were only 5 weeks old when this stellar example of dog breeding was going to sell them.

It's just so disheartening to think people continue to breed in such a way. To date, I've transported five deaf dogs. These will be numbers 6, 7, and 8.

Some resources, for anyone who finds themselves with a dog they didn't know was deaf or is considering adopting a deaf dog.

http://www.deafdogs.com

http://www.lethalwhites.com

This is pup #3 for the transport this coming weekend. Cute, isn't she?

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

Transport #29: Tucker

I can't resist an Aussie. But even more, I can't resist an Aussie puppy. And even more than that I can't resist a deaf Aussie puppy. So when a transport came up for a 4-month old deaf Australian Shepherd, I jumped on it. The folks who work for and transport for ARPH (the Aussie Rescue and Placement Helpline) are also awesome folks so I love working with them. They're really easy-going and just love their breed. I don't blame them. Aussies are awesome dogs!

Tucker, the young man in question, was being transported from New Jersey up to Ontario, where no doubt someone will quickly adopt him. How could they not? He's incredibly sweet.

I met up with the transport in Syracuse, which means driving down from the north side of Oneida Lake as we had spent the night up there. It was a bit more travel than usual, but it was well worth it. I got to the meeting spot a bit ahead of time and the folks meeting me pulled in just a couple minutes later. We were running a good 15-20 minutes ahead. Tucker and one of the transporters raced off to burn a little energy and hopefully pee, while I chatted with the other transporter for a moment. We got all his stuff loaded up (food, but most importantly his paperwork -- without that it would be tough to cross the border into Canada!) and then got Tucker into the car. He jumped right in, no problem.

The first part of the trip was a little worrisome. He was down behind my seat and I could see him, it felt like the leash tying him to my backseat was really taut, and he wasn't moving around...at all. He was a 4 month old puppy so I expected more out of him. Since I had to visit a restroom anyway, I got off at the nearest exit and high-tailed it to a gas station. When I pulled in and stopped, I leaned around the seat to see if he was ok. And there he was, all curled up. He had been sleeping! Phew. I quickly hit the restroom (luckily today's temps are only in the 60s, it's overcast, and really breeze...he was fine in the car for a couple minutes) and then we were on our way. Luckily he got up on the seat where I could see his back end. He promptly fell asleep again and not another peep was heard out of him until we arrived in Watertown.

I was a good 20-25 minutes early and since I knew the person before me was doing a wee bit of shopping, I decided to just get Tucker out and burn off some energy. We raced across a big field of grass (which was unfortunately rather wet!) and I discovered his current favourite game: "attack the leash." He really wanted to play tug of war with it. So we did. A few times he jumped up to get the leash and almost got my hand in the process (and once he did get my coat -- I didn't see any holes in it amazingly). I played a bit of fetch with his Nylabone and eventually we sat down on the pavement (where he proceeded to eat rocks -- I had to rescue a few from his mouth -- luckily no signs of resource guarding there!).

The other transporter finally arrived and it was a quick and easy shot to get him into her car and into a crate (mostly to stop him from eating the food in the back with him as he was quite into trying to get the treats). And then they were off to head into Canada and I was off to head back to Syracuse.

All in al it was an easy transport, but I was sad to see him go. He was a really cute and really nice dog!

All of my pics from the transport can be found here. A few of my favourites are below.