Daily Giving: Day 24

Day 24

Day 24 of giving is one of the most rewarding! We started driving at about 9:15 on our way to Stockton to pick up the dogs. We arrived and met David who had already started emptying some of the kennels and getting the dogs their potty breaks. It can be a stressful, scary time for these dogs, so a lot of them have accidents in their kennels along the way. There is a lot of clean-up to do! We pulled out the kennel with the 6 puppies ranging in age from 5 to 8 weeks. They all came running out of their kennels with exuberance and optimism. They haven't been subjected to scary stuff yet, they are still too young. They bounce and run and lick and wiggle. . . they are precious! We eventually round them all back up and get them in their kennel so we can get some of the adult dogs out. These are the dogs that make you wonder what's happened in their lives. How they ended up in the shelter? Some are obviously afraid and unsure. . . new people, new place, nothing familiar around them. You can tell that some have had really hard lives as I reach out to comfort them they flinch. It breaks my heart and I can't help but compare them to my dogs. . . my dogs that have the best food, warm beds, regular vet care. . . my pampered little babies who have no worries. We get all the dogs watered and let them stretch their legs, then we load them back into their kennels and into my Prius for our drive to Weed, CA to meet Guy, the next link in the chain.

As we drive, the smell is the car is pretty awful. These dogs are from a shelter in Southern CA and they are literally being spared being euthanized because of this transport. They are dirty, have fleas, one has mange and some had had accidents in their kennels on their way from Los Angeles. As we travel, we get used to the smell and the dogs settle in nicely. We check on them regularly and we are greeted with warm, gentle, hopeful eyes and wet noses. We switch out the puppies and let them ride shotgun. One of them looks like she's wearing little white gloves and it looks like the tip of her tail has been dipped in white ink. Adorable!!

We run into rain and as we get past Redding and head towards Mt. Shasta we hit snow. I ask Rob to drive and he safely gets us through the ice, snow and wind to our destination. We meet Guy and his family at the Weed Airport Exit Rest stop. It is so windy! The gusts are over 60 miles per hour and the temperature is 34 degrees. . . who knows what the wind chill is! We start to pull kennels out and plan to let the dogs out for a potty break but the winds are too strong and the kennels are at risk of blowing over! We pack the dogs in Guys truck and we each head different directions. We start our journey home and Guy and his family head off to meet Amy who is the next link in the chain.

Amy picked up the dogs and got them to Northwest Washington by 3am. She was up again at 5am with her friend Colleen to get the dogs cleaned, de-fleaed, weighed and microchipped. Colleen has 5 acres and fosters many of the dogs until they are through quarantine.

We traveled for 10 hours, 600 miles roundtrip, battled rain, snow and winds with 7 kennels and 15 dogs with the knowledge that all of these dogs will get forever homes where they will be pampered for the rest of their lives! What an incredible day of giving!

The dogs will be available for viewing on this website within a few weeks!

http://www.friendsforliferescue.org/