my first rescue transport experiences

Long ago I became interested in dog rescue. I just worked on a
list of resources for rescuers then but last week I finally
became more intimately involved.

Months ago I volunteered to transport dogs for Northern Lights
Sled Dog Rescue. I miss our Husky mix and I thought this would
be a good way to honor his memory and spend some time with
wonderful animals. Last week I got the call to help.

It all started with a request to help with moving a small Husky
girl, Lexi, from our local shelter up to Hammond, IN. My wife
and I recently completed our volunteer training at the shelter
so I'd been monitoring the dogs coming up for adoption. This
was a beautiful Husky and I thought it would be fun to spend
some time with her. I volunteered to handle the leg but then
decided that it would be about as easy for me to fly her
straight to her destination in Wisconsin. So that was the
plan - pull Lexi on Sunday, fly her to Wisconsin.

Then I got another request to pull a Dalmatian, Carmen, from
the shelter. The rescue group would arrange the entire
transport but they needed her out soon. I recalled seeing her
at the shelter and she was not thriving. I pulled her and she
stayed with us for a couple days. She was a sweetie.
http://lairds.org/Kyler/photos/disk0...g/image_viewer

Next I got a request to fill a leg from Lafayette, IN to
Demotte, IN, for the transport of a Doberman and Collie pup
on Saturday afternoon. Carmen would be taken Saturday morning
so I thought that would be easy enough. By the time I replied
the leg had already been filled.

Then I realized where that last transport was headed...the
endpoint was also in Wisconsin, not far from where I was
planning to take Lexi the next day! About then I received a
call about two Husky boys in Huntington, IN. So I started
working with the people running the transports to rearrange
things so everyone would be handled.

I was thrilled with how receptive everyone was to the idea of
adding Lexi to the transport heading to Wisconsin. It turned
out that the stop before the last, in Gurnee, IL, was close
to her foster home so it was even more efficient than what
had been planned.

So, on Saturday Carmen was picked up from our house in the
morning. In the afternoon we went to the shelter and took
Lexi to her transport stop.
http://lairds.org/Kyler/photos/disk0...g/image_viewer
In the evening I flew to Warsaw and brought back the Husky
boys.
http://lairds.org/Kyler/photos/disk0...g/image_viewer

I'd agreed to only keep one of the Huskies, Bowie, for a
couple weeks. The other, Colton, was headed to Indianapolis.
His foster family wasn't around until Monday so they both got
to stay with us for a couple nights.
http://lairds.org/Kyler/photos/disk0...g/image_viewer
We drove Colton to Indy last night, ran some errands, and
handed him off to his new foster family. Now we have "just"
Bowie (and our family).
http://lairds.org/Kyler/photos/disk0...g/image_viewer

I have multiple reasons for publicly reflecting on these days
of moving dogs. Mostly I want others to realize how much just
a little effort can help these groups move dogs to better
situations. Please consider volunteering in this way. *You*
can do something - drive, foster, or even coordinate trips.
It can be a lot of fun and it doesn't require a long-term
commitment.

I've also been thinking about the efficiency of moving dogs
like this. I'm coming to terms with the practice of expending
lots of resources to move individual dogs while others are being
killed due to a lack of resources. I understand that dogs are
not a commodity; the different breeds, especially, are valued by
people areas who are willing to protect them in different places.
It's still on my mind though.

The other efficiency that's interesting to me is the transport
itself. I was about to fly a dog along a route that was almost
exactly covered by another transport. That's hundreds of dollars
of fuel and effort I was able to use on other dogs who were not
in such a convenient situation. With this happening on my *first*
experience, I suspect that it happens frequently. I think better
communication could dramatically increase the efficiency of rescue
transports. Any increase in efficiency should result in being
able to better serve more dogs.

The people coordinating the transports are amazing. They already
have quite a system and it saves a lot of dogs. I'm going to be
watching it and thinking how it *might* be improved. I welcome
ideas.

Finally, Carmen and Lexi already have good homes but these guys
are still looking.
http://www.petfinder.com/pet.cgi?action=2&pet=4283275
http://www.petfinder.com/pet.cgi?action=2&pet=4283281
If you can foster or adopt them, please get in touch with NLSDR.

Thank you.

--kyler