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| Gino - such a great little passenger. |
Saturday was another transport day for me. I have a special place in my heart for the
dogs classified as “bully breeds”, so I was very happy to be able to
participate in Gino’s transport. He was
pulled from a shelter in the lower part of South Carolina, where his prospects
were very dismal, by a rescue group and is now in a foster home in Wisconsin.
A lot of people worked extremely hard to make Gino’s
transport come together successfully.
There was a lot of networking going on to get all of the legs filled,
and someone kind enough to let him stay at their house overnight. This was one of those transports that really
restored my faith in humanity; dozens of people, most of whom will never meet,
working together to save a dog who’d been dealt a very bad hand. It was
a great feeling to be a very small part of that, even if only for an hour “leg”.
Gino was an excellent passenger and one of the most loving
dogs I’ve driven. He isn’t in the best
shape physically, but he has a wonderful personality, and seems to crave human
affection. He just wanted to constantly
be petted and touched, and by all reports was always happy to meet his next
chauffer.
This was also the first time my mom has ever come with me on
a transport. She came along for the
transport, and then we had an afternoon together at the local tearoom and did
some shopping. It was nice for us to
have a mother and daughter afternoon, and I think it was a good experience for
my mom to see how the volunteer transports work. I think now she understands why it’s
something that is so important to me.
That is very sweet of you to do these transports. Neat too that you could spend the time with your mom in doing this one. I have to admit that breeds like Gino's do scare me, maybe because you only hear the bad about them in the news (like the two cases here locally where a baby was killed by the family's pit bull and the elderly neighbor killed by another family's pit bull). But I do admire those who want to take them into their home and make them part of their family.
ReplyDeletebetty
I absolutely love doing the transports. It was a good day with my mom, and I think it was good for her to see exactly what it is I do on the transport days.
DeleteUnfortunately people tend to focus exclusively on the "bad" things that any of the "bully breeds" do. People don't want to talk about how or why the dog got to that point, or take responsibilty for their part in the problem. It makes me so sad and angry to see entire breeds punished because of a few irresponsible people. I will say that the only time I've ever been bitten on a transport was by a six pound Chihuahua (not a bad bite at all). Now, I'm not saying all Chihuahuas are mean; I just think it's funny that some of my friends/family worry about me transporting some of the larger, so-called aggeressive dogs, and I've only ever been licked half to death by them, but got bitten by the little tiny dog.
I am with you in admiring the people who are able to take foster animals into their homes. I wish I was more like that, but right now just helping drive them there is what I can do.
doing a great deed and tea with mom--sounds perfect!
ReplyDeleteIt was just a really good day all around.
DeleteI'm so glad there are people like you in this world. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat an incredibly nice thing to say. Thank you.
DeleteWhat a terrific post! You are doing great things!
ReplyDeleteHave a happy week!
Catherine
Thanks! It's something that I feel strongly about, and I really, really enjoy it.
DeleteWhat a nice thing to do! Tea with mom sounds like fun, too.
ReplyDeleteThanks! It was just a fun day.
DeleteI didn't know there were foster homes for dogs. I love that your mom came along with you for this transport. Do you think it might become a semi-regular thing?
ReplyDeleteA lot of people foster dogs for anywhere from 24 hours to an indefinite time until they're adopted. It's a really good thing. :-)
DeleteI'm not sure how often my mom will come along. She lives an hour and a half away from me, so she definitely won't be meeting me for any of the ones that come through my area early in the morning. I think she'll definitely come again sometimes, especially if the timing works out for us to go the tearoom afterward.