The Book of Ramblings

By now you folks probably know I cannot resist a transport for special needs dogs, especially if those special needs dogs happen to be deaf Australian Shepherds.  And this is especially true if those deaf Aussies happen to be puppies.

So when a transport  came up for 10-week old Leo (the most amazingly adorable ball of white fluff you'll ever meet) and 7-8 month old Wager (an amazingly sweet and affectionate and adorable pup), I couldn't say no.

My Mother decided to join me on this transport, as she did for the one on Buddy.  It gives her something fun to do after my Dad's passing and really, who can resist puppy breath x2?

We took off from her place around 9:30am for Binghamton, NY.  I hadn't driven down to Binghamton from my Mother's house so I looked up the timing on Google maps: 1 1/2 hours.  Since I was supposed to arrive around 11:10am, that seemed perfect.  It would put us there around 11:00, just in time to meet them.  Right?

WRONG.

First of all, we actually arrived around 10:30am (way to go Google Maps for giving the totally wrong timing for the trip!).  And we got a call around 10am telling us the transport was running at least a half hour behind.  Oops.  Since we were already on our way there was not much we could do!  So we got  to our meeting location far too early.  Since our meeting locale was in a parking lot for the Cracker Barrel, we decided to duck in and check out the store.  I walked out with some Sweet potato pancake mix that I'm super excited to try out next weekend.

Anyway...they finally arrived around 11:30.  We spent a little while with the dogs, tried to get Wager to pee and let Leo play in his water bowl (which seems to be a favourite past time with the little guy).  Wager wasn't much interested in bathroom duties and instead wanted everyone to pet him.  He was incredibly affectionate and liked to leap up on you and stretch.  He was just an incredibly nice dog.

We loaded them up fairly quickly and took off.  Here was where the fun started: the two dogs had gotten themselves all tangled up and so my Mom had to lean into the back and unhook their leashes to try to untangle them.  While I was driving.  And trying to get back onto a major highway!  Fun stuff, that was!  She managed to untangle them and then spent about half the trip trying to keep them from jumping up into the front.

Partway through they both finally settled and fell asleep and the trip was peaceful until we arrived in Syracuse (though it was slow-going at times due to construction!).

We arrive a little bit after 1pm, got the dogs out quickly, chatted for a few minutes with the other folks that were there for a different transport (this one for cats), and then sent them on their way.  My mother was very concerned that Wager seemed to be in too small of a crate for him (he was much bigger than we thought!) but he curled up into a little ball and hopefully slept for their section of the trip.

Both arrived safely last night at their rescue destination!  While Leo was cute, Wager was the dog I would have totally adopted in a heartbeat.

I took a handful of photos yesterday but due to the rushed nature of things, they weren't my usual quality unfortunately!

( Some pictures )

My gosh I haven't done a transport in ages!  This has been a really rough winter here and that combined with the agility classes I've been doing on the weekend, made it difficult to do much transporting.  Sure, they were coming through but people doing them in that weather tend to have all-wheel drive vehicles and all I have is a small car!  So for the winter I gave it up.  I still may not do too much of it with all the dog classes, but I'll do more than I have been.

This transport was originally set up to be for a deaf 5-month old Australian Shepherd puppy and a pregnant adult Aussie.  The puppy got adopted before the transport by someone who worked with deaf people and was looking for a puppy she could teach ASL to.  So the transport ended up just being for Rusty (renamed Cagney by ARPH).  The drive out to the meeting place was uneventful.  It was a lovely day, around 40 degrees outside and bright and sunny.  I threw some great music on and tore on off down the highway singing at the top of my lungs!

I arrived and not more than 5 minutes later the person meeting me with Cagney arrived.  Poor Cagney!  She was glued to the inside of the car as far away from the open door as possible.  This isn't usual dog behavior.  Usually, if the dog has issues with the car, it's that they don't want to get in the car and are desperate to get out.  Not poor Cagney.  She was so shy that she found a safe space in the car and wanted to stick with it.  We managed to get her out with a bit of difficulty, but she finally came out.  Once outside she skittered every which way, body hunched over and her tail (which she did have!) tucked so far under that at first I didn't even think she had a tail.

We walked her around for a bit, hoping she would find a place to do her business, but she was too nervous for that.  So we ultimately ended up sitting in the grass with her.  There she finally seemed to settle a bit and even asked for a bit of attention.  I tried offering her some cheese and she at least licked at it.  When I first offered her cheese (inside the car in the hopes that the smell of something delicious would lure her out) she wasn't interested at all.  A sure sign of a stressed dog, unfortunately.

Cagney is a beautiful dog, but oh so nervous and shy.  She warms up to people, but it'll take some time to get her through her issues I would imagine.  She hopped up into my car quickly enough and took up the same spot huddled in the back of it.  After about 20 minutes of driving, she managed to settle down enough to fall asleep.

The next meeting place was a carbon copy of the first.  I ended up having to lift a very pregnant dog who seemed more dead weight than dog out of my car and this time, since it was obvious she wasn't going to find a place to pee and wasn't going to drink anything, we put her right into the next car.  She settled in there ok, though she hadn't had a chance to warm up to the next people in line like she did with me.  I'm sure she'll be fine for the rest of her trip.

I just hate seeing what people have obviously done to this beautiful dog.  I'm not sure if she's been abused but it's fairly certain she's been neglected by people.  She's not terrified of us and does warm up, but she's shy and nervous upon first meeting people.  I'm sure the trip and the constant changing of cars is hard on a dog like that.  But by tonight she'll be in her foster home and on her way to a new life!


( Some pics )

This weekend I was away from town and heading back home via one of the common transport routes so it seemed ridiculous for me to have an empty car the whole way home.  I volunteered for a transport early last week and took the last three legs of it.  Of course, I should have known it would never be that simple.  Because, of course, the transport went from two dogs to four rather quickly.  Two I can handle.  Three I can handle if they're not huge dogs.  Four?  The only time I've had four in my car is when most of them are small puppies in a crate.  This transport was for one overweight lab (80 pounds), and three medium sized dogs (30-35 pounds each).  That's just too much for my little Saturn Ion.

In the end, it was agreed that I would take the three smaller dogs as they were going the farthest and I could fit them all the in car.  It meant that I would have three dogs in the car for approximately 2 1/2 to 3 hours and I wouldn't make one stop between the pick up and drop off points.

Except, well, I had to make a stop.  I met up with the transport at 9am in the morning and met all of the dogs.  The overweight lab, Lucy, was a huge sweetheart who wanted to play tug with her leash (yikes!) and wanted belly rubs.  She was enthusiastic, but the poor thing was breathing so heavily from just a little bit of exertion that she broke my heart.  I know whomever ends up with her will knock that weight off the poor girl and make her life a little easier.

The other three dogs were Jack (a Boxer/beagle mix who was a huge sweetheart), Geri (supposedly a Lab/basset mix -- I see lab and some sort of hound but I'm not sure it's basset), and Precious (another lab mix).  Precious was super calm and very relaxed.  Jack was sweet and just wanted to give you kisses and curl up.  The problem was Geri.  Originally I decided that it would be easiest to put Jack in the front seat as he seemed to be the dog who required the most attention.  I thought the girls would be ok in the back.  Huge mistake.  Precious immediately settled down but Geri could not.  She paced back and forth, kept trying to get in the front seat (both from the middle area and around the left side of my seat, which would never happen).  She irritated Precious who growled at her a couple times.  I was starting to get worried about the two dogs in the back.  I ended up getting off the highway and stopping at a gas station to switch the dogs around.

And here comes the other scary moment of the trip.  In order to do this I had to get two dogs out of the car: Jack and Geri.  I started with Geri who, thankfully, I had on a slip lead as she pulled so hard on the other lead (I had her double-leashed) that she snapped her collar right off.  Phew!  Then I got out Jack.  I was trying to get them situated and into the car when Geri suddenly leapt up, knocked me off balance, ran into Jack's leash and I discovered a problem with slip leashes: they also slip right out of your grasp!  The leash flew out of my hand and suddenly Jack was free.  He didn't race off, thankfully, but instead sort of ran around near me a bit, sniffing and checking things out.  He saw people at the next car over and ran over to them and when they stopped to pet him I was able to step on his leash and capture him.  That had to be my scariest moment ever.  I thought that I would lose him and what a horrible thing that would be.  I was, honestly, starting to get really angry with Geri, though I kept myself in check.  I got her into the front seat and Jack into the back.  I tied Geri up pretty well so she couldn't get into my lap or move much.

And then we were on our way.

Geri finally settled down and I was able to loosen up her leash from where it was tied enough that she was able to curl up and sleep.  Jack and Precious were sound asleep in the back.  I heard only one more growl from Precious when Jack suddenly got up and, as far as I could tell, stepped on her head.  Otherwise the two of them curled up together and slept.

The remainder of the trip was uneventful.  I arrived at the meeting place in good time.  I got out Jack and Geri and we quickly got them into crates in the next car (which belonged to the woman who runs the rescue these three characters were ending up at).  And then, since I hadn't had much time with Precious, I took her out for a little walk around the area.  I pretty much instantly regretted not having her in the front seat.  She was wonderful.  I was trying to get photos of her and at one point sat down on the ground figuring she would wander around and I might get a few.  Nope.  Instead she saw me sit down and immediately jumped into my lap, gave me kisses and leaned heavily on me, trying to roll over in my lap.  She was just the sweetest dog and reminded me a lot of my own: She's a calm, relaxed dog who really likes her own space!  I got the impression pretty quickly that she'd be a great companion for Dahlia.  But alas, no more dogs for me, as we all know!

I was sad to see Precious go.  Jack was sweet but he wouldn't be the dog for me.  Geri was adorable but I was glad to see her off as she drove me a little bit crazy.  I'm sure they'll all find some good homes quickly!


( Pics! )

The three puppies I transported last weekend?

They already have homes.

I'm so happy for them all, but also SO jealous of the people who got Chloe! I hope they send in some pictures as they grow!

It's been far too long since I've done a transport. I always want to do one, but I find every weekend seems to be tied up in something. I think maybe some of it is just wanting to spend time with Dahlia. I work all week and during the school year also disappear some evenings, so my weekends are my Dahlia time. With session every other week, I find it hard to pull myself away from her and do a transport.

But when one comes up for a black dog of a similar size and mix? I couldn't resist. Betty was billed as a lab mix, possibly a purebred. She's definitely not purebred and from the way she moves and the shape of her body and especially her tail, I would guess she's a border collie/lab mix. Whatever she was, she was incredibly sweet! Which is really amazing as Betty's story is quite a sad one. Her people went on vacation for four days and left her tied up outside with no water, no food, and no shelter. She was found suffering from sun stroke and removed from the house. She was taken to a shelter after that where no one wanted her. Luckily someone from the rescue did and so off she was going to Vermont!

I met up with the transport here in Syracuse around 10:30am. I usually take an earlier leg so that I have the rest of my day free, but the transport had 4 dogs on it and I just cannot handle 4 dogs in my little car! At Syracuse, three of the dogs were heading north to Ottawa and one was heading west. I opted to transport the one heading west. Three is still a lot for my little car. And considering the personality of one of the other dogs boy was I happy I only took the one!

When I arrived, I found his huge van already parked there. I knew who I was meeting thanks to the din coming from his car. One dog was barking. And barking. And barking some more. Thankfully it turned out not to be Betty! It was, instead, Mia the pug. Mia was 12 years old. I tried to walk her around but all she did was frantically run around on the end of her leash and bark. And bark. And...well, you get the point. She was a noisy little bugger!

I also met Jose the Chihuahua. The poor little guy was scared to come out of his crate, but once we got him out, he did just fine. I can honestly say I have never walked a dog that small before! Wow it was like having nothing at the end of my leash! He was cute though and very sweet. When I sat down near him he came over to me and licked my hand with his teeny tiny tongue.

Then I finally got to meet Betty. She hopped out of the van and started slinky around, very nervous at first and seemed rather unsure of herself. She moved like a border collie but very much had a lab head and the lab coat over a much narrower body than you'd see on a lab. Beautiful dog! And so sweet. She immediately warmed up to me and started giving me kisses. I got her into the car and she explored it before quickly settling down in the back to sleep most of the way there.

The trip out to Herkimer was very easy and we arrived in good time. Alas, the person who I was to meet was already there. Most unfortunate! I was hoping to have some time with Betty. Luckily we were ahead of the game so we had a bit of time to get some pictures. Now here's the interesting thing. Betty refused to get out of my car. She just laid there and looked up at us like "uh huh no way I'm staying here thank you very much." I felt bad making her move! She did finally and I walked her around a bit, got a few pictures.

At one point I sat down and she immediately crawled into my lab and leaned against me. Ah Betty! I would have taken her home with me in a heartbeat! Such a pretty and sweet girl. Everyone who met her at the transport spot just loved her and couldn't believe she was homeless. I was very sad to hand her off, but finally I had to part from her and then I was on my way home to my own dog!


( Some pictures )

I signed up for this transport over two weeks ago. Who would resist puppy breath x 2? Which then became puppy breath x3? Not I, of course. I love puppies. Who doesn't? But when it comes to these little special needs guys, I just can't refuse those transports.

You see, all three of these pups were special needs. All were deaf; two were visually impaired as well. Charlie and Charlene, the older pups (8 weeks old) were going to be put down for their visual and hearing impairments. Their idiot BYB was selling his puppies in an open air market and these two were going to be put down. Luckily someone was able to convince him to turn them over to her and so now off to rescue they go. The third puppy, also deaf and visually impaired, was Chai. I don't know her story, but she's a bit younger than the others (6-7 weeks old) and so no doubt came from a pretty awful place. Despite where ever she came from, she was just the sweetest little ball of fluff ever.

I picked them up in Binghamton in the last light of the afternoon. I tried to frantically take pictures in the lousy light in the hopes of getting some good shots in. Lucky for me the flash made some pretty good pictures up in Syracuse. We loaded all three of them in the car pretty quickly and easily. Charlie and Charlene just wanted to play; Chai just wanted to curl up and sleep. They had very different personalities.

The trip up was pretty easy. One of them kept crying and I felt bad, but eventually all three settled down. When we arrived I had the biggest scare of my life. Charlie and Charlene were moving, but Chai was not. She was pressed up against the backseat and not moving at all. Prior to Charlie and Charlene getting up, they had been squished in there with her. I reached out and touched her. And did not get a response. I nearly panicked, afraid they had somehow suffocated the little girl and I didn't know. So I started to really push at Chai. And she woke up. Phew! Wow does that dog sleep hard. She didn't even try to snap at me or anything when I pushed her around and shook her a bit. You can't imagine my relief upon finding her alive and well.

I got all three puppies out of the car then. Getting them to the grass was a bit of a challenge. Charlie wanted to forge ahead, but Charlene was more cautious and Chai just did not want to move. Eventually I picked up Chai and let the other two walk. Charlene was a bit more bold than Chai with her brother at her side.

Once there, the puppies wanted to play and play and play some more. Charlie and Charlene were mostly interested in each other. And Chai was interested in me. She spent a lot of time crawling around my lap, playing tug with my pant leg, and trying to untie my shoes. So cute. I loved that little dog so much. Seriously. If I could have taken her home with me I would have. She was just so really awesome.

The most amusing thing about the whole situation were the Gulliver and the Lilliputian moments. They kept getting their leashes tangled around my ankles and they'd cross and go in the opposite direction around me, therefore coming close to knocking me over. It was amusing. Frustrating, but amusing nonetheless!

The person I was meeting finally showed up. He was a bit late. He had heard that the transport was running behind. That was yesterday's. Oops. It was kind of nice though as I got to play with the puppies.

I cried when I handed over Chai. I really loved that dog and I barely knew her.

( A bunch of pics! )

Last week I got an e-mail from the folks with ARPH looking for transporters for an extra special transport. Lincoln, a tri-colored Aussie needed a ride out of Cleveland, Ohio to Ottawa. The story told about Lincoln was heartbreaking and horrifying.

[Lincoln was] rescued from shelter by someone who was transporting for another rescue. She noticed this dog covered in motor oil that had dried over matted fur. He was placed in the shelter thru a puppy door and warden didn't know how they could have shoved him in there as door pretty small. Vet felt he could be saved. His bandages are changed daily for the next couple weeks. The whites of his eyes are very red and vet says it is stress, as no damage whatsoever to the eyes. Here is his pix. Great with other dogs and appears to be housebroken. Loves loves loves people and very velcro.

The picture that was attached (which you can see at he top left of this post) showed a very happy dog in a cone. Lincoln the conehead. With all he had been through he was still smiling. I think that shows a lot of promise for this wonderful dog.

With tears in my eyes, I immediately signed up for the transport.

The drive out this morning was uneventful, except for the typical NYS construction and a good amount of rain. It was rather unfortunate that we were in the midst of a downpour as it meant little time outside for Lincoln and not as much time for me to get to know him.

The person I was to meet in Rochester was running a little bit behind (caused by a miscommunication as to where they were meeting), so we got Lincoln out of her car, let him do his business and got him into my car rather quickly.

My first impression of him was that he appeared somewhat traumatized. His eyes were wide open. You could see the whites. He looked around himself as if he were in a bit of a daze, not quite sure where he was or where he was going. He didn't seem to be able to focus his eyes on anyone or anything. Once we got him on the ground (due to his condition and his multiple stitches he wasn't allowed to jump on his own), he darted back and forth. He still had the cone on his head, so he would try to sniff and was then thwarted by the giant cone. I'm not really sure if he was traumatized or if the cone was leaving him a bit disoriented. It would leave me that way if I had that thing on my head!

We lifted him up into my car and placed him on the pillows in my back seat. There he seemed to settled a little bit, though he spent much of the trip pacing back and forth and looking out the windows (what the passersby must have thought of Lincoln the Conehead!). At one point, he decided he wanted to be up with me in the front, though that attempt was thwarted by cone once again. He ended up settling for standing with his paws on the divider and trying to stick his face into mine. Also rather difficult with that cone! I'm sure I would have been covered in kisses and had a dog in my lap if it weren't for that darned cone!

I do have to say though that nothing Lincoln did was done frantically. He was completely calm the entire time, though I did get some smiles out of him by talking to him for much of the trip. His eyes were no longer red, though they were wide open. I'm not sure if that were from stress and nerves or if his eyes are always like that. Either way, he was a sweet dog and a really handsome one. He'll find a new home soon I'm sure. I look forward to hearing about his new life!

( Pics )

I can't resist an Aussie. But even more, I can't resist an Aussie puppy. And even more than that I can't resist a deaf Aussie puppy. So when a transport came up for a 4-month old deaf Australian Shepherd, I jumped on it. The folks who work for and transport for ARPH (the Aussie Rescue and Placement Helpline) are also awesome folks so I love working with them. They're really easy-going and just love their breed. I don't blame them. Aussies are awesome dogs!

Tucker, the young man in question, was being transported from New Jersey up to Ontario, where no doubt someone will quickly adopt him. How could they not? He's incredibly sweet.

I met up with the transport in Syracuse, which means driving down from the north side of Oneida Lake as we had spent the night up there. It was a bit more travel than usual, but it was well worth it. I got to the meeting spot a bit ahead of time and the folks meeting me pulled in just a couple minutes later. We were running a good 15-20 minutes ahead. Tucker and one of the transporters raced off to burn a little energy and hopefully pee, while I chatted with the other transporter for a moment. We got all his stuff loaded up (food, but most importantly his paperwork -- without that it would be tough to cross the border into Canada!) and then got Tucker into the car. He jumped right in, no problem.

The first part of the trip was a little worrisome. He was down behind my seat and I could see him, it felt like the leash tying him to my backseat was really taut, and he wasn't moving around...at all. He was a 4 month old puppy so I expected more out of him. Since I had to visit a restroom anyway, I got off at the nearest exit and high-tailed it to a gas station. When I pulled in and stopped, I leaned around the seat to see if he was ok. And there he was, all curled up. He had been sleeping! Phew. I quickly hit the restroom (luckily today's temps are only in the 60s, it's overcast, and really breeze...he was fine in the car for a couple minutes) and then we were on our way. Luckily he got up on the seat where I could see his back end. He promptly fell asleep again and not another peep was heard out of him until we arrived in Watertown.

I was a good 20-25 minutes early and since I knew the person before me was doing a wee bit of shopping, I decided to just get Tucker out and burn off some energy. We raced across a big field of grass (which was unfortunately rather wet!) and I discovered his current favourite game: "attack the leash." He really wanted to play tug of war with it. So we did. A few times he jumped up to get the leash and almost got my hand in the process (and once he did get my coat -- I didn't see any holes in it amazingly). I played a bit of fetch with his Nylabone and eventually we sat down on the pavement (where he proceeded to eat rocks -- I had to rescue a few from his mouth -- luckily no signs of resource guarding there!).

The other transporter finally arrived and it was a quick and easy shot to get him into her car and into a crate (mostly to stop him from eating the food in the back with him as he was quite into trying to get the treats). And then they were off to head into Canada and I was off to head back to Syracuse.

All in al it was an easy transport, but I was sad to see him go. He was a really cute and really nice dog!

All of my pics from the transport can be found here. A few of my favourites are below.

( Tucker )

This began as a very confusing transport. I had no contact from the coordinator at all beyond my volunteering and her putting me down. When Friday evening rolled around and I had heard nothing, I was pretty sure it wasn't going to fly. It was a HUGE transport. 36 dogs in all, with multiple drivers for many of the legs. I wrote on Friday and found out the run had been filled. I didn't get a contact sheet for the run until 11pm Saturday night. Talk about cutting it close! Luckily, the coordinator had also coordinated where each meeting place was so I didn't have to set up the places to meet. Phew!

My leg of the transport was for only one dog. It was the end of the road for this one. I was meeting the rescue to give her to them. It was nice being the "ending point" for once, though she still had a bit of a drive up to Canada. All I knew of Phoebe prior to meeting her was this: Phoebe, female Aussie/Catahoula mix, 25-30 lbs.

What I didn't know was that she was a puppy! Only 6 months old. Everyone say "awwwww."

When I met up with the people who had her before me, the first thing she said to me was, "You don't have a crate?" I thought...uh oh! Chewer? It turns out she has carsickness. The woman told me she threw up in a couple people's crates and pooped in someone else's. My thought? Maybe the crates make her uncomfortable. I put down a blanket just in case and decided to hope for the best!

And then I got to meet little Phoebe, who was just the most striking of dogs. Her colouring is beautiful and she was incredibly sweet and soft. She gave me puppy kisses and then rushed off to explore for a short bit. She easily got into my car. She definitely wasn't a shy dog, but she was a calm and adorable and sweet one.

The drive up to Watertown was easy. Phoebe rested in the back pretty comfortably and would, every once in awhile, stick her head up in between the seats and give me kisses or shove her head under my hand for some petting. She was just so sweet. She had no problems with getting sick.

We spent a little time on the grass outside of Cracker Barrel, just wandering around and playing. She started play bowing for me and running around me. I think she was just happy to be out of the car and to have a chance to run around a bit. I finally called the woman we were to meet, who was inside Cracker Barrel doing a bit of shopping and she came out to get her.

I was incredibly sad to see Phoebe go. She's just an awesome dog. Quiet, calm, sweet, loving, and so soft. She has 7 applications in on her already, so she'll be off to a new home before she knows it. I know whomever ends up with her will just be so thrilled with her.

( And now some pictures )

Boogie. What a name for a dog, right? These two Corgi girls (Pembrokes as I've come to find out) were on their way to a new forever home. They're 8-month old sisters and the family adopted the two of them together. This is probably best for poor Stacy. Boogie, the smaller of the two, was outgoing, happy to give you licks and desperate for belly rubs. Stacy, however? Poor little girl was just as nervous as could be.

I picked the girls up in a windswept truck parking lot. The temperature was frigid and the winds were blowing at a decent clip. I was frozen to the core almost as soon as I got out of the car. Boogie and Stacy, however, were just as happy to roam around outside in the cold. Corgis are hardy little dogs and these two were definitely up to breed standard there!

I was a bit worried about getting their crate into my car. Their foster mother, God bless her, couldn't let them go without having a crate for the two of them. A crate. For two 28 pound dogs. This was simply a HUGE crate..one of those airline jobbers. Luckily, someone had disassembled it somewhat and with the two sections tucked into each other, I was able to slide it into my backseat. It became more of a bed than a crate, but it still worked well. After taking some pictures of the transporters with the dogs, we got Boogie up into the crate, where she settled down nicely. Boogie, however, made a beeline for the floor behind the driver's seat. That was fine. She fit down there nicely and it was a little cozy space to tuck herself into in her nervousness. I let her stay there for the entire trip.

The trip was rather uneventful. Boogie settled down nicely in her bed. Stacy settled down nicely on the floor and I didn't hear much out of either of them. Until I decided that stopping to get a milk shake was a good idea. I was incredibly thirsty and running far ahead of schedule, so it seemed like a good plan. While waiting in line, I gave Boogie some attention, let her lick my hands and patted her head. For the rest of the trip, she was wide awake. Sometimes trying to lean over her crate to give me kisses. Sometimes just shifting around a lot.

And then the barking started. And the howling. She spent the last 20-30 minutes of the trip barking and howling on and off. It was cute for a time, but nothing seemed to settle her down, not even the couple Cheerios I tossed back into the crate with her (besides food and the like, they were sent with a box of Cheerios). We finally arrived at exit 35 and after getting them out to walk around a bit, settled back into the car to wait.

And wait...

And wait some more...

The person who was meeting me finally called me to find out when I would arrive. Confused, I told him I was there and we must not be in the same spot. It turned out we weren't.

I was at the exit 35 Holiday Inn.

He was at the exit 37 Holiday Inn.

We had had some e-mail miscommunication apparently. He said exit 35, but meant exit 37. Oops! He high-tailed it out of exit 37 and met me at exit 35. The girls were quickly transferred into his car and they were on their way.

We got the news last night that they were with their new family, who were just utterly thrilled with them.

As always, a few of the pictures I took are behind the cut.

( Boogie and Stacy )