Canine Railroad

I did a dog transport yesterday, my first in a few months.  I've had to turn down a few recently, since they fell on My Saturday At Work.  Red was a cool Brittany, and he really was red.  Most of his white fur had a reddish undercoat.  (Dare I call him "Pink?")  Britts have too much energy for me to keep one, but I can say without reservation that the softest thing on earth is the chest fur on a Brittany.

(not Red, but adorable anyway, eh?)

A friend once told me she thinks these transport networks are inefficient.  Horsefeathers.  Moving unwanted pets from "kill shelters" to foster and permanent homes is a huge undertaking.  Just ask Coffeepot.  For an individual to do it alone requires lots of resources that most of us don't have - a van, cages, leashes, water (and sometimes food) dishes, gas and lodging money, and time, to name a few.  Joining a cross-country network, however, is something almost anyone can do.  Some networks are oriented, but not restricted, to specific breeds.  Some of them are OTR truckers, and some of them are private pilots.  Some transports include one or two dogs, some include half a dozen or more (Kudos to Jude and Rich!)  Each leg of a transport is usually limited to a couple of hours or less.  If you include travel time to and from home, it's as little as a half day's work, plus a half a tank of gas.  It's only the route coordinators who put in huge amounts of time and effort.

This is something I can do, fairly easily, on a regular basis.  


Every single weekend, dozens of ordinary, busy people like me are saving the lives of a few hundred dogs and cats.  What could be more efficient and humane?  This is the heart and soul of grass-roots activism.  Count me in.