Rescue Transport

Did you ever wonder what was involved in transporting rescue dogs?  No?  Not many people do.  Most people think the dogs in shelters and rescues are local dogs.  Well…this is not always the case.  Especially in breed specific rescues like us.  Often times a rescue may not be able to take in another dog in their area and will contact other groups to see if anyone can help rescue a dog.

 

We were contacted by someone in Tennessee recently about a dog in Illinois that needed to get into rescue.  The dog was in a shelter, a high kill shelter.  We started communicating with rescues closer to the dog to see if any of them could help.  The St. Louis Chapter of Heart Bandits, was able to help the dog, but they could not keep him in their rescue as they were inundated.  They pulled him from the shelter in IL and had him vetted and neutered. 

 

George & Perry Transport from SD

So, how do we get the dog to us here in Iowa? 

 

Usually we set up what is called an Eskie Railroad.  The Eskie Railroad is a network of people around North America who have volunteered to transport Eskies relay fashion. Each volunteer transports an Eskie from 50 miles to 200 miles to the next volunteer who does the same. The Eskie Railroad provides a safe, low cost means of transporting an Eskie in need of a home to a home in need of an Eskie. It was started by HeartBandits American Eskimo Dog Rescue. This was the first national rescue for American Eskimo dogs. We are affiliated with them, but are our own separate 501c3 non-profit organization.

 

This will be a fairly short transport from St. Louis to us here in Iowa.  One volunteer will drive the dog to Columbia, MO where another volunteer will meet them and drive the dog to KC, MO, where another volunteer will meet them and drive the dog to meet me.  Depending on availability, the dog may have to overnight in KC.

 

Once the dog has been evaluated and is healed from being neutered, he may or may not be placed up for adoption.  If he is not, he will live out his life in our sanctuary.  From what we have heard about him, I’m sure he will be made available for adoption though.  His name is Elke.  He is a 3 yr. old Eskie mix.  He’s about the average size of a standard Eskie.  Stay tuned to find out how the transport goes and Elke’s arrival at what our volunteers fondly call the Iowa Eskie Spa and Resort.

 

Elke

We’ve worked on much more complicated transports.  Multiple state, multiple days, with a couple overnights involved.  These long transports are extremely difficult to arrange and we need to have back-up volunteers available in case someone is unable to assist as planned.  In one case, when we were transporting a dog to Alabama one of our volunteers had car trouble and wound up being 7 hours late.  This was a very frantic time when we were trying to figure out where the dog was and what happened.  We don’t like doing long transports and will often fly a dog in these cases.

 

But that is a tail for another blog.  I promised you one on how The Duke came to join us and those two topics fit perfectly together.

 

Stay tuned for updates on Elke.

 

Be Well & Be Happy,

Pet~Pourri