The Saga of Pierre Continues!

EverythingDogBlog #181: Day Two of Five Blogs about Rescuing Dogs

Pierre Before

Rescue Arrangements (and second thoughts)

Details, details, details - and more details!

Emails and phone calls flew fast and furiously for the next two weeks between the Poodle Rescue of Vermont, pilot Mark from Pilots ‘n Paws, the schoolteacher traveling with the little dog, and Yours Truly. Not that it takes two weeks to arrange all the arrangements in a regular CUR run (Canine Underground Railroad) but this little dog turned out to be a four-pound three-legged dog from Korea! (See his "Before" and "After" photos.)

And After!

Why my second thoughts?

1. We don’t use air-conditioning at home so I looked for a friend with a screened-in back porch that the dog and I could sleep in (to avoid mosquitos). No luck.

2. I also looked for someone to drive me to the airport to pick up the dog during rush hour (so I could handle the dog during the ride). No luck, though I did find a couple of folks who could take me to the airport a few hours later.

3. I inquired if the Pilots ‘n Paws pilot could fly into the Laurel airport or the one at College Park. No luck. The pilot does not fly into the Washington, DC, area often enough to go through all the hoops and paperwork necessary for air space clearance over the capital region. The closest general aviation airport (other than the large BWI airport) was just over the Bay Bridge on Kent Island. Over the SCARY bridge, the bridge deemed to be the one bridge in the country that more people try to avoid. Oi ve!

4. Then I thought all would not be lost if I could fly with the dog and return, thus finally flying with Pilots ‘n Paws, something I had always meant to do – at least for the last couple of years so I could write about it. No luck. The pilot was flying down from New England just for the little poodle.

5. And finally, I tried to find someone to accompany me to the Eastern Shore to arrive at 7 am which meant fighting first week of summer vacation and all the people trying to get to Ocean City vacations! No luck. We might have to be on the road by 4 am. . . .

So, of course, I agreed to help out with the transport!

Why me?

I had registered with Pilots ‘n Paws as a volunteer a couple of years ago but had not been contacted until now – that is how the poodle–people found me living near BWI. (The one thing I did do for PnP was to review a book about their ‘work,’ Dog is My Co-Pilot.)

So, Why not?

(Tomorrow: More about Poodle Rescue of Vermont)

(Photos courtesy Poodle Rescue of Vermont) (This article first appeared in the Maryland Patch online newspapers on 8 July 2014.)