A new Easter celebration

[jean]

Hi all,

If you've never done this I highly reccomend that you try it sometime, the feeling you get is awesome.

Late Thursday evening I got an email, forwarded to me from a fellow rescuer of Dobies, "begging for one more driver" to complete a 6-leg transport from Kentucky/Indiana to Wisconsin scheduled for Saturday. All that was needed was the last final leg to pull this off. Several 4-legged lives were at stake here.

I could feel the anguish behind the words so I hit reply and asked which Saturday since my 22nd and 29th are booked solid. The answer immediately came back, Saturday April 15. and another question: what did I drive. Answer: A full -sized Ford van with 3 permanent crates and room for more.

I responded, "sure I can do it." Where do I meet the transporter? Hinsdale - good. As long as it's not Chicago proper anywhere I'm fine with it. Another question: Are YOU sure you can handle the entire load in one vehicle? I would pick up two adult female labs, 2 6-month old mixes, 4 small lab puppies and 3 kitty cats. Yeah, I can handle that and they can each have their own crate except for the puppies, I'll keep them together so they feel secure.

Is local water coming with the dogs or should I bring some bottled water? Answer: Ummm, no one's ever asked this before. I guess bring bottled, I don't know if water is being sent or not.

Well I arrived early at Wild Oats Market (I misjudged my time) so I put the sun guard in the front window, called the driver who would meet me to tell her where I parked and grabbed a book.

About 15 minutes later a white Explorer pulls in beside me, packed to the gills with plastic crates. I quickly opened my doors and the crates so I can pour water in the buckets. First a young yellow lab (had had puppies at some point), a black adult lab (another puppy machine), then two - NO - I see three 6-month old mixes (someone can't count - Good thing my crates are big enough to accomodate two med. sized dogs. ) and lastly 4 adorable black lab puppies about 12 or 13 weeks old. Awwwe, they were soooo cute with their beady lil black eyes and they were sooooo scared. Lastly, we grab the 3 kitty carriers and park them on top of the middle crate and bungeee them down. WATER, oh wow were they parched. When labs drink fast, the water shoots out of the corners of their mouths so I have to wonder how much do they actually swallow. (Thank goodness for our dainty Samoyeds)

Loaded, ready to roll. Wait, I promised the transport coordinator pictures. Got a couple shots of Tammy sitting in the rear of my van but the only the yellow lab can be seen. Black dogs simple disappear in shadows. Time to hit the road. Called the next driver who is coming from WI to let her know I was headed her way.

Sailing up 294, the two 6-month olds that we bunked together in one large crate are wrestling and humping up a storm. Having a good time and totally oblivious to what tomorrow could have been for them. WHOA!!!! Humping!?!?! Oh my I sure do hope that, awe geeeesh, that's not a female in heat!! Nope, back to wrestling and one is chewing a bone.

Got to the right McD's faster than I thought so ordered up a burger at the drive thro and pulled around back over by some trees and a fair amount of grass. Called the driver that's meeting me and said don't rush I'm going eat while I wait.

Would like to potty the critters but I know I can't lift the yellow or black females back up into the van. Ummm, better wait on the 6-month olds too. With two in one crate and only two hands so I would need a third hand to put on a slip lead. I'll wait.

Talk about a tranquil half hour of sheer joy. Music, a burger, sharing fries with the stow-a-way extra dog and just thinking about things in general. The van doors are all open with nice breeze is blowing in, the dogs are sniffing up a storm, and sometimes a woof would erupt from the adult black lab as she saw the ducks or geese down by the water behind us. Hmm, hunting lab? How in the world did she end up at, oh never mind we all know the answer to that question.

Julie arrived and quickly poottied everyone. Then once again we tranfered precious cargo to her van. As we did so Julie kept saying, "wow these are such really nice dogs and we don't have much at our shelter. They'll find homes fast." Another picture of Julie beside her van and we each head our separate ways.

I gave the transport coordinator another quick call to let her know the Kidz were headed home. Melanie says, "I have to laugh at all my concern about the size of your van. Tammy said the dogs were taveling in "a cadillac of vans for all the space and comfort they had." She even said you provided crate pads and water buckets, talk about limo style service. Most of all Thank you, the whole transport was on the verge of collapse when I got your email in the wee hours Friday am. You know of course what would have happened to all the dogs had that been the case."

Twelve precious souls received a stay of execution and a second chance to find new loving families the day before Easter. It sure gave Easter a new meaning for me. I'm 61 and this was by far the best Easter I've ever celebrated!!!

All I can say it try it sometime. The feeling is truly awesome!!

Hope the E.B. was good to all of you too,
jean in Chicago

[krazydog]

Jean, that's a great story. Would you mind if our group used your story in our next newsletter? I might need to edit it down a little, but I'd send a copy for your approval before publishing. Would that be ok?

[jean]

that's a great story. Would you mind if our group used your story in our next newsletter? I might need to edit it down a little, but I'd send a copy for your approval before publishing. Would that be ok?

OMG Bev, that's quite a compliment coming from someone that writes as beautiful as you do. Thank you and of course, you may use it and edit as needed.

I wrote it to share my wonderful experience and to also encourage others to hop on the band wagon, so-to-speak, and do some transport in their locale. Several other NISA volunteers have helped out but this was my first time. Transports run in every direction constantly and by networking, or partnering as I call it, with other rescue or transport groups NISA can reach greater distances for home visits or if a Sammie needs help.

Samoyed rescue alone is spread too far apart to be 100% effective. Too many states are still completely void of Samoyed rescue which litterally dictates the need for other rescue allies. Plus I'm learning a great deal from working with other breed groups too, and who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks....grin.

I'm most impressed with the local Akita rescue group. It appears they've partnered with iamra (Malamute) and MSIR (Shiba Inu). Lots of cross-over efforts in nearly every aspect you can think of where rescue work is concerned. In one of their newsletter it said iamra fosters for the Akita group in emergency situations so they've obviously established a great working relationship. I'm very enthused about NSR now that the nuts and bolts are finally in place and if we put forth the effort to work with other breed rescues the sky is the limit for what we'll be able to accomplish for "our" breed.

Can you tell I'm enthused? Babble, babble and more babble, "For petes sake who put the quarter in Jean at 3 am!?!?"

On that note....I'll sign off.
Thanks again for the kind words,
jean in Chicago

[krazydog]

I love it!!! Your excitement and enthusiasm comes through loud and clear and is rather infectious!

What you wrote comes straight from the heart, and it's written with a certain immediacy that makes the reader feel like she's going through it with you. I think it's good to have people share their experiences with other people to encourage them to volunteer.

The other side to the transport issue is being willing to ask people to help. We had a dog in a shelter about 3 hours from me. Obviously would have been at least a 6-7 hour round trip for me (with stops and all). I remembered we had a couple of recent applicants in a town about 45 minutes from the shelter. So I called one of them and they were happy to pick up the dog and transport her to Davis, about an hour closer to me. (They hadn't even adopted their dog from us.) Then I recalled we had a recent adopter in the Davis area, so I called them and they were happy to bring the dog yet another hour closer to me. However, in the end they offered to foster her! And this was all organized less than 2 days before the transport happened. It saved me a whole day of driving and it was so easy! Plus, it gave two families an opportunity to do something they can feel good about and made me feel good that they were so open to helping. It was terrific!

That's cool about the Akita and other groups. We work with other Northern breed groups out this way, doing shelter evals, pulls and transports, fostering, etc. We'll even post notices about other groups' Sammies and forward on applicants if we feel they might be a good match for one of their dogs. I love working as a team like that. Very energizing.

Beverley

[jean]

"Then I recalled we had a recent adopter in the Davis area, so I called them and they were happy to bring the dog yet another hour closer to me. However, in the end they offered to foster her! And this was all organized less than 2 days before the transport happened. It saved me a whole day of driving and it was so easy! Plus, it gave two families an opportunity to do something they can feel good about and made me feel good that they were so open to helping. It was terrific!"


Wow Bev, that really worked out well all the way 'round when things were said and done. It's having puzzle pieces like these fall into place that kinda says a higher power is giving a helping hand when we need it. Gives me goose bumps and another burst of energy whenever I think about it.

Hey, how is little Blue doing these days? I was amazed at how fast all of that came about and how quickly he was headed your way. Maybe the family would send some updates that you could post. I love to see the changes that come about in appearance, the confidence and some of the personalities are just simply priceless after about a year in their permanent homes.

Time to call it a day here. Oh, meant to ask if SFSR would like to do a newsletter exchange? I love to read the stories and see what everyone else is doing. To save postage we could do an electronic mailing, if your members approve, of course.

Stay well and keep up the good work,
jean in Chicago

[krazydog]

I do want to do a follow-up with Blue. He lives only about 40 minutes from me, and the adoptive family and I keep talking about running our dogs together at the park (it's all enclosed). :run:

Now that we're getting to the end of the Norcal rainy season, and my schedule should be easing up, it'll be easier to set up a meeting. Then I could take some pictures and maybe even some video. :bone:

I'm curious to see how he's looking too, with his coat grown out. I hear he's quite the happy and energetic little guy! I'd love to get some video of him so the folks who originally picked him up can see how far he's come.

Beverley