The only thing that is certain on rescue is that things will change. There’s a tremendous amount of communication that goes into coordinating a rescue and the bigger the rescue, the more work there is up front to put it all together. Invariably, things will change. Breeders will add dogs, a dog may be so sick that we have to seek out emergency veterinary care, weather conditions may slow us down. We are a flexible team whose main goal is to return safely with our precious cargo.
Once we got back and had time crunch the numbers on this mission, we found there were even more miles traveled and two more dogs rescued. Here are the updated statistics: Three vehicles traveled nearly 6,000 miles combined, picking up 107 dogs from 17 different locations across 5 states and returned to our kennel in just under 56 hours.
I’ve been doing this about once a month for over 11 years so for me, it just seems like business as usual. However, people’s reaction to our work reminds me that it’s anything but usual. We travel long distances in short amounts of time, typically don’t eat very well, we are peed on, pooped on, occasionally bitten, we correct each other when necessary and we get very little sleep. But, nowhere on this earth will you find people who are closer and nowhere on this earth will you find people who are more driven to accomplish their mission.
We are dog lovers to the core. The dogs are our driving force, they are what keep us moving down the road. No matter how tired, how hungry or how stinky we may be, we have one goal in mind when we are on rescue and that’s to ensure that every dog on our lists winds up in our trucks. No matter their age, condition, disability, breed, temperament – no one is left behind, ever.
Returning to our kennel is the greatest feeling in the world. Dozens of staff and volunteers are there waiting to offload the dogs into their loving arms and get them tucked in safe and warm in our kennel facility. Dogs once held captive by this shameful industry are now on their journey to a whole new life, the life that was always meant to be for them. Simply stated, there is no greater reward. I often say that right behind the dogs we rescue, I am the most fortunate one of all!
Click HERE to watch the entire video of us offloading the dogs we rescued during this mission.
