Moving Mayhem: The chaos that is rescue transport

Do you have a rescue dog that came "from out of town"? Or maybe you've visited your local shelter and seen signs noting dogs that came from Georgia, Tennesse, Texas or Puerto Rico. Have you ever wondered how these dogs got to your local shelter?

Mostly they got there through the efforts of volunteers all across the country who offer to move dogs out of danger zones to receiving no-kill shelters and rescue organizations in an 'underground railroad' type of operation. Volunteers who, on their own dime, in their spare time, sign up with rescue groups, monitor email lists, Facebook and Twitter feeds looking for opportunities to help save dogs and puppies from almost certain death.

Last night I was lucky enough to take part in a tremendous effort moving dogs from Marion County Animal Shelter in Mullens, South Carolina, to various rescues up and down the eastern seaboard, some dogs travelling as far north as Augusta, Maine.

As usually happens, everything went wrong: legs ran up to two hours late, puppies got sick, pick-up locations were mixed up... I ended up with 5 dogs in my car, two of which didn't get along. But consider this: this rescue took place over two days through 10 states, involved 32 drivers, 21 dogs and 10 shelters/rescue groups. Suddenly it's hard to imagine how it happened at all. And it happens every week.

Yesterday's Dogs

My five dogs were all beautiful, sweet and gentle young souls who were so grateful for any kindness extended. All but one of them came from Marion County Shelter and all but one of them were little more than a rack of bones. Here, let me introduce you. (You can click on the pics for a better view.)

Jewel, a hound mix, was described on her transfer form as weighing 40 lbs. Maybe once upon a time but she barely weighed twenty when I picked her up last night. You could see every rib and her hip bones stuck out like little mountains on her back. She greeted me with a kiss and slept with her head on my lap the entire ride. (She also raided every treat bag I had in the car, took out my GPS and stepped on the horn while we were loading up the other dogs. She's going to be a fun little companion for someone with a good sense of humor.) She was heading to a rescue group in Augusta ME.

Jewel

Monica and Magnolia were two little Jack Russell Terrier puppy mixes from the same litter and they were just babies. Their records said they weighed 10 pounds. Maybe together! I'd say they were closer to 4 or 5 pounds each. Magnolia had a slight cough and an upset tummy but they cuddled up together in the blanket and slept most of the way to the next drop-off.

We try not to handle puppies too much (for their health and ours) so I didn't get to interact with them except to move them between cars. Doing so required wrapping them in a towel and they both just snuggled so deeply into the warmth of the towel and human contact, it was hard to let them go. They were headed to Augusta with Jewel.

Magnolia

Monica

Jasmine came to me with an injured back leg. I don't know if this happened during transport or before. I suspect before. She was very thin but not as appallingly so as Jewel or the puppies. She was a gentle, timid and lovely young Coonhound/Foxhound (mix?) who fell asleep as soon as the car started moving. When I picked her up to get her in and out of the cars, she was compliant and uncomplaining. She was going to her forever home somewhere near Portsmouth NH. Her new family will be very lucky to have her. She was just lovely.

Jasmine

Wesley, my hitch-hiker, was a beautiful St. Bernard mix who was going in to Big Fluffy Dog Rescue's care. The original instructions had Wesley leaving the railroad in Worcester, MA but there was a bit of a mix-up and his new 'picker-upper' was meeting us in Lowell. He and Jewel didn't get along very well so it made for some interesting accommodations but everybody settled down once we got moving. Wesley was very goofy and playful, a real sweetheart of a dog. He's going to make someone a very fine, very big, fluffy dog.

Wesley

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Over the past few years that I've been involved with rescue, I've had the pleasure of transporting a few dogs. It seldom goes exactly right and you have to have a bit of a "roll with it" personality or you'll be driven nuts by the constantly shifting schedules. On the bright side, there's usually a great story waiting to be told afterwards. A few of the highlights:

• The good: Lucy, the gorgeous black Lab/hound mix who simply needed a lift from one foster family to another. One driver, beautiful dog, picture perfect transport.
• The bad: My very first transport was picking up "Mister", the elder Lab, from his family who loved him dearly but were losing their home. They were doing the best they could by him sending him to a rescue group with foster homes rather than a shelter. It was unbelievably tragic and I cried the whole way to the next drop-off point. In fact, I'm pretty sure I cried for the next 3 days.
• The ugly: Benny, the Basenji, was a little darling who bit me when I didn't recognize his stress and mishandled him. He had traveled up from Pennsylvania in the middle of a heat wave and now I was bleeding profusely as I tried to keep us both cool and calm and on-time for our next hand-off. I still got kisses - maybe he regretted biting me.

I remember every dog I have moved. And I have fallen in with every one of them.

So why do we do it?

Not everyone feels called to forfeit their Saturdays and Sundays to go move dogs around the country. I'm really glad there are folks who do though.

My husband, of course, thinks I am insane. While he very graciously helped me figure out how to turn a Subaru Forrester into a mobile kennel with one crate and some panels from our portable puppy pens, he was still nervous when I left wondering how I could possibly manage 4 dogs in one car. (I didn't tell him about Wesley until after it was over. To be fair, I didn't know about Wesley until it was too late either...)

And while he doesn't share my compunction for rescuing dogs, I think I was finally able to put why I do this in terms Jan understood: Someone, probably many someones, had done this for Bella.

Where they came from

Yesterday's ride was initiated by the rescue group Paws to the Rescue. Paws contracted with Marion County to run the local animal shelter in 2008. They have made significant improvements to the living conditions of the animals in their care including adding heat to the dog and cat runs, providing basic medical care and letting the dogs run in an outdoor area at times throughout the day.

The shelter, however, remains desperately under-funded, tragically over-filled and entirely too high-kill. With limited space and even more limited resources, the animals that come into the shelter have little time to find willing adopters and rescue groups before facing euthanasia to make room for the dogs and cats that continue to pour in. In 2009, 2,700 animals were admitted to the shelter. Only 750 of them made it out alive.

It's hard not to be moved looking into their faces knowing you helped 21 make it out this weekend.