The Rescue Railroad

While one of my roles in my rescue work is fostering the sweet dogs I write about in my blog, another thing that I do is help get dogs urgently needing rescue from CA to their foster homes in WA and OR.  While there are certainly dogs in shelters here, their chances of making it out and into a good family are much higher here in Western Washington.  The population of the Central Valley of California has a much higher poverty rate and with that comes lots of unaltered dogs.  The result is way more dogs than can ever get adopted and shelter's with euthanization rates in the 50-75% range. These shelters aren't just loaded with large dogs.  There are hundreds and hundreds of small breed dogs that never make it out.

Quita and Moche, NW New Rattitude's newest foster dogs

 

There are several people and groups that bring van loads full of dogs up for Washington and Oregon Rescues each week. It's a long trip - about 17 hours of driving I believe, plus the time for stops - and a lot of work since bathroom breaks and crate cleaning needs to happen along the way.

 

For the NW New Rattitude foster homes, my co state rescue coordinator and I choose which dogs we will be rescuing for any open foster spots we have and then our volunteer in the Fresno area, Lynn Bonham, pulls the dogs for us, temps them until it's time for the transport, gets them vetted and ready for the trip and then does a late night meet up with the transport to get them on board.

 

The next evening when I get word that the transport is getting close I drive out to a no-kill rescue shelter about 30 minutes from home and meet the transport there. There I get my foster pups and their paperwork, pay for the trip (New Rattitude's NW team fundraises to pay for these transports and I am reimbursed) and head back home.  There the dogs get food, water, another potty break and then we all crash for the night.

Last night's arrivals are sisters Quita (tan and white) and Moche (tri-color).  They snuggled right in for the night and are very sweet little gals.  Quita is pretty scared by this adventure but I can tell that Moche is pretty spunky and she barely seems phased. 

 

Then the morning after the trip I load the dogs up and stop just off I-5 to hand the dogs off to my co state rescue coordinator who drives them north to a meet up point with the other foster parents.

 

These two girls will be staying in temp foster homes for the weekend while their foster mom is at a flyball tournament but will be in their foster home Sunday evening.

 

It's a lot of coordinating but very fulfilling to go from choosing a photo from a list of dogs that are down to their last couple weeks alive to seeing that dog get unloaded off that van and getting on the road to their new life as a cherished member of someone's family.

 

A big thanks to all of the people who play a part in this rescue railroad from the shelter workers who notify us when there are Rat Terriers needing our help, to the drivers, temp foster homes, foster homes, and all the other people that make these rescues possible.  That means there's also a great big huge thanks to those of you who choose to adopt rather than buy your dog.  By doing that you save 2 lives - the dog you take home and the one that is able to move into the foster spot they left open.