Dog Transport #2 for 2009

This past Saturday I drove for Rhonda's transport. We moved the following dogs/puppies from South Carolina to New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island and New Hampshire starting Saturday morning and ending on Sunday.

1. Four houndettes ~ hound-mix pups, 7 weeks old
2. Four Sharpies ~ shar-pei mix pups, 9 weeks old
3. Jenga ~ shepard-mix, 1 year, spayed female
4. Sheamus ~ dauschund-mix, 3 months, neutered male
5. Iris ~ keeshond-mix, 9 months, spayed female
6. Bluey ~ cattle dog-mix, 1 yr, neutered male
7. Belle ~ dauschund, female, 9 years
8. Eden ~ dauschund, spayed female
9. Rain ~ plotthound-mix, 8 months, female
10. Lily~ American bulldog, 2 yrs, spayed female
11. Autumn ~ retriever-mix, 1.5 yrs, spayed female
12. Benny ~ lab-mix, 2 yrs, neutered male
13. Princess ~ pitbull, 1 yr, spayed female

I couldn't take everyone's pictures since there were two drivers, and we had to unload and load the furries from our vehicles to the next leg. But I was able to take pictures on the ones I transported in Alexandria. For some reason, I beat the second driver to the meeting spot by 10 minutes. I wonder how that happened?

Below is Autumn. She was super-skittish and very shy. She would keep hopping to the opposite side of the vehicle whenever someone opened a door. Which made getting her out of the 4Runner a fun task. There was a tragic end to my GPS when I finally did get her out.

Here are the four hound-mix puppies. All black and shiny with perky inquisitive faces. Another rescue told me it's very hard taking pictures of all black dogs, but apparently the secret is using a flash at night.

Here are the four shar-pei mix puppies. Sorry about the wiring for the crates in the pictures. I didn't want to risk opening the doors and having the puppies sneak out. There is nothing worse than losing a dog during a transport. It's happened a few times at hand offs I've been to (and once to myself), and every time I practically have a heart attack. A lot of these dogs have been abused or living on the street and aren't used to people. So having a dog slip out of her collar, and then trying to coax her to get near enough to grab her without spooking her is a very difficult. All the while, I'm thinking to myself, "If she dashes, there is no way we can just call her to come back. And she's not from this area and doesn't know any familiar places or people ..." Scary. Oh yeah, the four shar-pei puppies:

This is Iris the keeshond. She was adorable although she did not get along with Lily, the American bulldog. Fortunately, there were two vehicles per leg, so we kept them in separate cars. Iris was a pistol and so full of life. You can see it in her face when I took her picture.

I think this is Rain. I didn't drive her on this leg, and I was able to snap a quick shot when the other vehicle showed up and we started to figure out who goes where.

So that was my second transport of the year. I've always wanted to foster dogs, but since I'm already over my limit of pets in the condo I'm renting, and one of my dogs is dog-aggressive, I tried to figure out another way to help. After driving for dog rescues for over a year, and meeting so many beautiful dogs and puppies just waiting for a fur-ever home, I can't justify ever buying a dog or puppy. It's disheartening to realize that for all dogs we've been able to help, thousands are still put to sleep for no other reason than no one wants to adopt them.

Okay. I'm done with my soapbox now.

News from the Weekend

Let's see, some friends from work took me out to lunch to Paradiso Restaurante in Springfield, VA which was yummy. Thanks friends!

On Saturday I did a dog run from Fredericksburg, VA to Laurel, MD with 5 adorable chow puppies, 4 black lab-mix puppies, 4 medium size puppies, and 1 smaller female dog names Meris. I didn't get a chance to take pictures of the puppies, but I did get some photos with the camera phone of Meris and Jack (a tri chi/jack russell terrier/feist male) who sat on the seat next to me. Actually, one of the bigger brindle puppies sat on my lap. He kept sneaking out from the back of the 4Runner.

Meris is looking into the camera.


Meris is looking into the camera again.

Jack sleeping peacefully.

Jack (right) and Meris (left) while I'm driving to Laurel, MD.

Ending the dog run in Laurel worked out well since I met up with my friend Stephen to see The Spirit. Now, the movie was released on Christmas, and within 2 weeks, the movie was relegated to late night showings at most of the theaters in my area. Not a good sign. A woman at work said that visually The Spirit was good, but the dialog and plot were stupid. With some trepidation, I plunked money down and saw it in the theater.

The best way to enjoy The Spirit is to watch it as a campy, not serious movie. Which I enjoyed immensely. I do have a few beefs. Gabriel Macht apparantly learned from the Christian Bale School of Superhero Dialog and graveled his way through the movie. I also never saw Gabriel Macht without his mask, and after seeing him play Johnny in Because I Said So (Gabriel Macht's character was the only good thing in the movie), I think we should have seen him more with out the mask. Sure, it would have detracted from the movie, but that's just a small wish on my part.

Sunday I had a phone conference for 3 hours, met up with some folks interested in getting a Young People's bid for something started (they decided in NECYPAA) and talked with the sponsor for a few hours.

All in all, a busy weekend, and now I'm back at work. Yuck.