Although she had nothing to do with my Scooby trip, I wanted to post that my 13 year old retired racing greyhound passed away last Wednesday.
She has been with me since she was 2 years old & came off a track in Colorado. Her name is Paola's Cowgirl or Cow Cow.
She was a very nice & quiet girl. She never wanted much more than a really soft pillow or two. She was the queen of the house even though Scout has been known to challenge her from time to time.
I will miss her very much.
I wanted to thank Dr. Kim Gruber from South Bend Animal Clinic for coming to the house on Wednesday night in our time of need. You are a wonderful friend & a true professional. I appreciate your patience & compassion.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
The Puppies Get Fixed!
Good news for the pups! They are officially fixed & chipped! :) They can now be scanned in Europe & the United States!
Charlie is still doing great at Ann's house! He does lots of cute things & she loves him dearly!
The little girl is still at my house & doing well. Her operation has not seemed to slow her down at all so we are really struggling to keep her confined & rested! She & Toro just love eachother & want to play constantly!
Charlie is still doing great at Ann's house! He does lots of cute things & she loves him dearly!
The little girl is still at my house & doing well. Her operation has not seemed to slow her down at all so we are really struggling to keep her confined & rested! She & Toro just love eachother & want to play constantly!
Sunday, March 2, 2008
The Little Boy Goes to His Forever Home!
It is official! The little boy from Spain is in his forever home with my friend Ann! He really lucked out!
Ann has a 14 year old schnauzer mix who is not very happy about the new arrival this week, but we are confident that she will come around! He is also living with 3 large birds including a Macaw named Miami!
Ann reports that he is doing great ... I report that she is spoiling him rotten! :) He has new toys, new clothes & goes everywhere with her! It was love at first sight!!!
We are all going to Family Pet this week again for our second visit & to set up our spay & neuter!
Ann has a 14 year old schnauzer mix who is not very happy about the new arrival this week, but we are confident that she will come around! He is also living with 3 large birds including a Macaw named Miami!
Ann reports that he is doing great ... I report that she is spoiling him rotten! :) He has new toys, new clothes & goes everywhere with her! It was love at first sight!!!
We are all going to Family Pet this week again for our second visit & to set up our spay & neuter!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
A Few Things That I Did Not Want To Forget
There are just a few things that I did not want to forget about ...
Cobi's Neopolitan Mastiff, Klause ... This is a huge dog & every time I came around him with another staff member, they asked Cobi to put him on a chain so I would not be afraid. Little did they know that I had played with Klause almost every day because he was always near the puppy enclosure! I learned very quickly not to get him too excited though because I still have huge bruises on my legs where he scratched me! He did not mean it badly at all .. he is just so big!
Fermin's dogs ... Fermin has several dogs that are his & will stay at the shelter for all their lives. They live in the entry way & they get to see everything that happens coming & going. One of the dogs is a gypsy dog named Laura & she adores Fermin & seconly Ahmed ... she is partial to men! She actually hates Maria Jose & will bite her ... Maria Jose said she tried to catch her for a year! Anyway, the little galga actually let me pet her a few times & once at length ... Maria Jose said "What is this???" and Fermin said that he would have to talk with Laura about letting me pet her ... We decided that I am so tall that maybe she thought I was a man! :) Not very flattering for me, but it amused them all & I think that they need a good laugh or two every day! :)
Ahmed asking about the term "to hell" ... this was rather funny because Ahmed saw a movie that used the term & he was confused about how to use it in a sentence. Claire & I finally got the gist of what he was wanting to know and instructed him ... so he said "To hell with Maria Jose!" and smiled ... I told him that I was going to tattle on him to his boss & his eyes got pretty big! I let him off the hook ... :)
The wire haired fox terrier! She came in the day before I left & was probably about a year old. She really liked me & had the typical terrier "don't take no for an answer" attitude. She broke out of her enclosure twice & followed me all over ... the surgery room, down the hall, the kitchen .... anyway, they agreed to just let her roam the courtyard with Fermin's dogs for awhile & whenever I would sit down she would jump up on my lap! Too funny! I could also call her over & she would jump up & I would catch her in mid-air .. then she was content for me to carry her on my hip all over the courtyard. She was a lovely girl!
I will post more as I remember it! :)
The Puppies Visit Family Pet
Steph Rensberger was kind enough to squeeze us in at Family Pet on Tuesday morning and the puppies are in great shape!! No worse for wear! The little boy has a bacterial rash thing going on & got antibiotics & a special shampoo for a once a week bath .. but that is it!
They continue to be healthy & happy puppies! They are very good & do not have many accidents ... they have very good manners! :)
If i can get this figured out, I will be putting up their photos today for you to see! They are enjoying playing in the snow today!
They continue to be healthy & happy puppies! They are very good & do not have many accidents ... they have very good manners! :)
If i can get this figured out, I will be putting up their photos today for you to see! They are enjoying playing in the snow today!
A Very Long Day of Travel
Here I am again! Sorry for the delay ...
On Sunday morning, we all got up at 5:30am & got ready to leave. Crystal informed me one more time that she & Laura would not be assisting me in any way after arriving at the airport. Got it!
We left the hotel & Laura drove us out to Scooby one last time. The staff had left the 2 puppies & the galga that GRIN was adopting out (Adventura) in a pen together for the evening & they were slow to get up to greet us! :)
Everyone got walked & I grabbed a few more towels for the puppies from the towel room. It turned out that I could use one of the GRIN crates as a crate was being sent to the airport with Elena from a different rescue. I got to leave the Scooby crate at the rescue for future use.
We all got in the mini van & left for the Madrid airport. Crystal had decided to feed the dogs a little something before we left & I got puked on 4 times on the ride there ... oh well ... a small price to pay to get them out & on the plane. :)
When we arrived at the airport, the 3 of us put together the crates outside the airport & put them up on the carts to be rolled around. I got the puppies ready to go in their crate & stacked my luggage on top. Elena arrived with the 3 other dogs & all were secured & rolled into the airport & the Delta counter.
GRIN has secured some fantastic ladies at the airport who help with the process. They are very organized & know their jobs. We were checked in very effeciently & there was no problem. I made sure to tell them that I was seperate from the GRIN dogs & paid for the puppies crate to ship (about $100). The first part was done & I could not have been more relieved.
I walked to the gate & was once again fortunate enough to get into business/first class. Again, thank you to my buddy pass supplier. Wow! One of the flight attendants came to ask me about the puppies. She was a Scooby/GRIN supporter.
I tried to get as much sleep as possible on the flight as I knew it was going to be a very long & trying day ... there is a six hour difference in our times ... so when my flight left Madrid at 11am ... that was 5am our time here in Indiana.
We arrived in Atlanta an hour early at 2:30pm ... it had been an 8.5 hour flight. I headed straight for immigration & passed through quickly ... had to get down to the baggage claim to collect everything including the puppies to pass through customs.
I got my luggage & headed over to where the dogs would be delivered ... a woman from the airport was there with some large carts & she agreed to give me 2 of those & I had snatched a smaller one for the puppies. Soon enough, they all arrived & I lined them all up. Between the woman & myself, we got all the galgos loaded on carts still in their crates & I had made the same arrangement with my puppies & luggage as I had in Madrid. Still no sign of Crystal & I was beginning to get worried. I ran over to the carousel & got her luggage for her ... so there we were all ready to roll through customs. Evidently, Crystal has a hard time of it getting through immigration because she is Canadian. At any rate, if it weren't for the dogs being there I would have gone on by myself, but I would never put an animal's welfare over my own so I waited it out.
Eventually, Crytal joined us & we made our way through customs which included a stop at the Agriculture counter. After this, we all went into a large room to check the luggage on ... either up to the ground level to leave or onto the next flight. Crystal was on to Knoxville & the 4 dogs for GRIN were staying here in Atlanta to be picked up by the Plaskett's. This is the same couple who dropped Toro off to me last year & they are GRIN board members.
So, the 4 dogs were sent up to ground level to leave the airport & I stayed there to be with the puppies before my next flight which was not until 9:10pm. I actually was not sure that we would get on this time ... it was going to be close & I looked into renting a car. After a lot of research that Doug helped me with ... I decided to roll the dice on getting the flight.
I had 6 hours to kill before the flight & could not stand the idea of checking the puppies in to sit in a warehouse type of area for all that time. Even though I was not allowed to remove them from the crate, I stayed with them & my luggage in the check in area until 7:30pm ... during our wait the airport had nearly shut down due to bad weather & tornados. Needless to say, upon reopening, it was turning into a mad house & I was getting very tired & cranky.
I passed through security & made it to my gate to find out that the flight was now pushed back to 9:40pm ... ok .. no worries ... still no seat for me, but a chance ...
I decided to get something to eat ... came back & talked with Doug again ... at 9pm they finally gave me a seat! yeah! We were going to get on! This was very exciting, but we were not out of the woods yet because the flight kept getting pushed back & we finally were boarding at 11pm!
When I got down the ramp, I refused to enter the plane until I knew the puppies were loaded ... they said "What puppies?" .. I nearly lost it! A few minutes later they arrived with my precious cargo & they were loaded ... 2 more hours till we were home! I called Doug to tell him to be at the South Bend airport around 12:30am.
I slept on the flight because I was exhausted & when we finally got on the ground, I was ready to lose it. It had been a very emotionally draining day & I really needed the satisfaction of retrieving those puppies!
Doug & I got my luggage & waited for them at the Delta counter. The woman there knew me & got the puppies for me as soon as she could.
They were fine!!!! Not even an accident .. such good puppies!
They rode home on my lap & we all got to bed as soon as we could!!! Everything turned out fine & I could not be happier for them! They are going to find wonderful families & live a fantastic life!
On Sunday morning, we all got up at 5:30am & got ready to leave. Crystal informed me one more time that she & Laura would not be assisting me in any way after arriving at the airport. Got it!
We left the hotel & Laura drove us out to Scooby one last time. The staff had left the 2 puppies & the galga that GRIN was adopting out (Adventura) in a pen together for the evening & they were slow to get up to greet us! :)
Everyone got walked & I grabbed a few more towels for the puppies from the towel room. It turned out that I could use one of the GRIN crates as a crate was being sent to the airport with Elena from a different rescue. I got to leave the Scooby crate at the rescue for future use.
We all got in the mini van & left for the Madrid airport. Crystal had decided to feed the dogs a little something before we left & I got puked on 4 times on the ride there ... oh well ... a small price to pay to get them out & on the plane. :)
When we arrived at the airport, the 3 of us put together the crates outside the airport & put them up on the carts to be rolled around. I got the puppies ready to go in their crate & stacked my luggage on top. Elena arrived with the 3 other dogs & all were secured & rolled into the airport & the Delta counter.
GRIN has secured some fantastic ladies at the airport who help with the process. They are very organized & know their jobs. We were checked in very effeciently & there was no problem. I made sure to tell them that I was seperate from the GRIN dogs & paid for the puppies crate to ship (about $100). The first part was done & I could not have been more relieved.
I walked to the gate & was once again fortunate enough to get into business/first class. Again, thank you to my buddy pass supplier. Wow! One of the flight attendants came to ask me about the puppies. She was a Scooby/GRIN supporter.
I tried to get as much sleep as possible on the flight as I knew it was going to be a very long & trying day ... there is a six hour difference in our times ... so when my flight left Madrid at 11am ... that was 5am our time here in Indiana.
We arrived in Atlanta an hour early at 2:30pm ... it had been an 8.5 hour flight. I headed straight for immigration & passed through quickly ... had to get down to the baggage claim to collect everything including the puppies to pass through customs.
I got my luggage & headed over to where the dogs would be delivered ... a woman from the airport was there with some large carts & she agreed to give me 2 of those & I had snatched a smaller one for the puppies. Soon enough, they all arrived & I lined them all up. Between the woman & myself, we got all the galgos loaded on carts still in their crates & I had made the same arrangement with my puppies & luggage as I had in Madrid. Still no sign of Crystal & I was beginning to get worried. I ran over to the carousel & got her luggage for her ... so there we were all ready to roll through customs. Evidently, Crystal has a hard time of it getting through immigration because she is Canadian. At any rate, if it weren't for the dogs being there I would have gone on by myself, but I would never put an animal's welfare over my own so I waited it out.
Eventually, Crytal joined us & we made our way through customs which included a stop at the Agriculture counter. After this, we all went into a large room to check the luggage on ... either up to the ground level to leave or onto the next flight. Crystal was on to Knoxville & the 4 dogs for GRIN were staying here in Atlanta to be picked up by the Plaskett's. This is the same couple who dropped Toro off to me last year & they are GRIN board members.
So, the 4 dogs were sent up to ground level to leave the airport & I stayed there to be with the puppies before my next flight which was not until 9:10pm. I actually was not sure that we would get on this time ... it was going to be close & I looked into renting a car. After a lot of research that Doug helped me with ... I decided to roll the dice on getting the flight.
I had 6 hours to kill before the flight & could not stand the idea of checking the puppies in to sit in a warehouse type of area for all that time. Even though I was not allowed to remove them from the crate, I stayed with them & my luggage in the check in area until 7:30pm ... during our wait the airport had nearly shut down due to bad weather & tornados. Needless to say, upon reopening, it was turning into a mad house & I was getting very tired & cranky.
I passed through security & made it to my gate to find out that the flight was now pushed back to 9:40pm ... ok .. no worries ... still no seat for me, but a chance ...
I decided to get something to eat ... came back & talked with Doug again ... at 9pm they finally gave me a seat! yeah! We were going to get on! This was very exciting, but we were not out of the woods yet because the flight kept getting pushed back & we finally were boarding at 11pm!
When I got down the ramp, I refused to enter the plane until I knew the puppies were loaded ... they said "What puppies?" .. I nearly lost it! A few minutes later they arrived with my precious cargo & they were loaded ... 2 more hours till we were home! I called Doug to tell him to be at the South Bend airport around 12:30am.
I slept on the flight because I was exhausted & when we finally got on the ground, I was ready to lose it. It had been a very emotionally draining day & I really needed the satisfaction of retrieving those puppies!
Doug & I got my luggage & waited for them at the Delta counter. The woman there knew me & got the puppies for me as soon as she could.
They were fine!!!! Not even an accident .. such good puppies!
They rode home on my lap & we all got to bed as soon as we could!!! Everything turned out fine & I could not be happier for them! They are going to find wonderful families & live a fantastic life!
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Day 5 - this is to be my last day here for a good reason!
Well, today is the last day for me and the 2 American vets. ... Crystal flies out tomorrow & she is taking one dog from Scooby & 3 more are meeting her at the Madrid airport from some other rescues in Spain. Laura rented the mini van & will be driving us all as she would like to do a little sight-seeing in Madrid. And I would not have a ride back if I did not go with ... so I was to go do one day of sight-seeing in Madrid as well ...
Natasha is staying here until next Friday & Claire will be going into surgery to help her so I have shown her a few of the things that I have learned to try to make it easier & faster for Natasha. We need those skilled vets. to keep performing these surgeries!!
Gabriel, Natasha´s boyfriend, has come to town from Switzerland to visit her for the weekend, so she got a room with him last night. This left Crystal alone, who was to be by roommate originally ... Laura was to have a room to herself & I had been rooming with Laura because Natasha had decided to room with Crystal before I arrived ... confusing, I know, but I changed rooms to room with Crystal as originally planned because that is what they all decided what was best I guess. Anyway, I got a new roommate last night ... not that it really matters because I am downstairs on the hotel computer till 1am every day since I still can´t sleep! :(
OK ... so first thing this morning, Cobi brought to us a kitten who was nearly dead. Poor thing had been fine the day before, but evidenlty this happens to kittens at Scooby. You must understand that Scooby is not a place for the very young & they try not to take them ... dogs arrive here daily & the kennels and pens always have a fresh face ... same for the cats. Because of all this, diseases, viruses, bacteria are coming & going constantly as well ... Owners who do not care to keep their dogs & puppies certainly do not care enough to vaccinate them ... & so young animals with weaker immune systems pay the ultimate price. I believe that Scooby does the best they can, but again, they just don´t have the money or the facilities to protect these babies against all that comes through the doors. And they certainly can not turn animals away ...
Anyway, it was very sad for the kitten. His body temperature was so low that he was already almost gone. It was decided by the ladies that it would be most kind to euthanize him and that is what happened. It was very heartbreaking because even in his weakened state he still protested the shot & Claire & Cobi told me earlier that he was a very affectionate little kitten. Both of them have cleaned his cage several times & spent time with him.
Directly after that we started to do the surgeries & had all galgos today. At some point during the first few surgeries, I decided to find out what to do with our deceased kitten as no one had come to claim him yet. He was there in the room in his carrier & I really couldn´t stand the thought of him laying in there anymore. I went and found Cobi & she explained that deceased animals at Scooby go to freezers and are picked up every other week to every week depending on the number of deaths. They can not bury them because they do not have a place and other animals would dig them up etc. ... So, as instructed, I wrapped the kitten in a plastic bag & placed him one of the freezers. There were several bags in there & I saw a slender pair of galgo feet sticking out of one of the bags .. had to leave & did not ask where they go after pick up. There are just some things that you can´t stand to know even after all of the rest of it.
Anyway, at this point, I met up with Claire out by the quarantine area & she had found a rat who was suffering from some poison intake. Scooby has lots of rats because of all the food out and about & they decided to put down rat poison. I personally, am not sure that this is the best decision because the rats wander around quite a bit while the poison takes it´s toll. The ladies told me that it makes them bleed to death inside. Not pleasant. They are actually wondering if that is why we had a dog the other day who bled more than normal because it had eaten some of the poison some how or a dead rat who had been killed by the poison. But, I guess that it is not my decision & that some thought is behind it & maybe it is the lesser of two evils in some way ... on any account ... Claire had found this rat & decided that it was only right to put it out of it´s suffering & I had to agree. She was really in turmoil over killing it so I had to go out & do the dirty work. He was suffering & I hoped that he knew how sorry I was and that I had to rats I had adopted at home. Just hope somehow that he knows it was not out of hate. Sounds silly to most, but that is what I hope.
At any rate ... this was not shaping up to be a great day. On top of it, I was beginning the process of trying to get the puppies home with me. I had to talk with Virginia at Passion Levriers in France, Cobi, Maria Jose, Fermin, Delta Airlines, Abby & Laura. Virginia is who I adopted Toro through with GRIN´s help and these puppies are technically hers even though she has never laid eyes on them other than pictures maybe. Logistically, it made more sense to have Scooby pick them up when the time came. The puppies are podenco mixes and podencos are Virginia´s are of expertise. The problem became that she was unable to come get them and had no date set to do so. Money is a problem for all rescues all over the world.
After quite some time in conversations, emails & phone calls ... it seemed as though this plan was set into motion. As I type to you now, I plan to pick them up at 6:30am tomorrow with Laura & Crystal and take them to the airport. I have decided to wave any sight-seeing to get on the plane with Crystal to Atlanta a day early. It seems to be the best option & there will be help in the Atlanta Airport from the Plaskett´s who dropped Toro off to me when he arrived in the U.S. ...
This will all be very tricky with my standby/buddy pass. Also, Crystal has decided that she believes they are too sick to fly. I am not sure why this is since she has never seen the female puppy & she had decided that the male puppy was fine earlier this week, but I guess she is entitled to her opinion & she is a vet. after all. Since she has given this opinion, I will not be backed by GRIN on this decision to take the puppies. I had already told Abby at GRIN that I would pay for their medical costs out of my own pocket because GRIN does not have the money to pay for it so that is not issue on them backing out. I knew that when I had their endorsement. What will be difficult to get around is that I am flying on a standby ticket & that it makes my chances to get on more difficult let alone the puppies. GRIN & Crystal do not want to be held responsible for any illness that the puppies could have and give to other dogs. I do understand their reservations, but again, they are regular puppies as far as I am concerned & Laura told Abby as much on the phone. So, I am moving forward on the hopes that we all get on. If I have to move to plan B again, then that is what I will need to do. I also told Abby to contact Fermin immediately to confirm the health ... the female has never been ill & the little male has not been sick for 6 weeks. Either way, I am on my own on this one after the ride to the airport so think of me & wish me luck. I feel like, at this point, that tomorrow is going to be more trying than today has been.
On a positive note, everyone at Scooby has been more than helpful. I feel like I have made some good friends there & I can not wait to return to them to help again! I would love to enlist some of my local vets. to go and work with me! I think it could be a really fun trip. Fermin & Maria Jose had all the passports in order for the puppies & were more than accomodating. Cobi has been a good friend to me while I have been there & I just can´t say enough about Claire. Claire is a really special person & I wish more of you could meet her. She is truly an angel to all animals.
I did not want to forget to tell you about my dog of the day ... this boy came to Scooby only a few days ago & he caught my eye immediately. He has eyes like my Shybar did & for those of you who know me, Shybar (who passed away on 12/21/05) was my very special boy. I still miss him very much & it is even difficult for me to write to you about him now. I have been taking bread to this guy now for a few days & today he got moved from the introduction pen into a pen in quarantine with some other young men. He is a galgo & he is tall & thin because he had been underfed ... he is tan & white. I went to visit him in his new place with his new friends & I was actually very touched because he remembered me and wagged his tail. He would barely move in front of me the first day & it was nice to see his progress in only a few days. I have the most wonderful photo of him when I can post it. I think that Renny, my pet photographer friend will even appreciate it.
OK ... so I am off to bed because it is after midnight here now & I must be up at 5:30am to be on the road to pick up puppies & get out of this country with them! :)
AND ... Abby just called and informed me that if I get on the plane, the puppies will .. when I called Delta the plane was only half full!!! This is wonderful news! I think this many actually get to be a happy ending! Please think of us & say a little prayer for the puppies that they don´t have too much stress during the flight.
I will post some more when I return & hopefully it will be ALL good news!!!
Natasha is staying here until next Friday & Claire will be going into surgery to help her so I have shown her a few of the things that I have learned to try to make it easier & faster for Natasha. We need those skilled vets. to keep performing these surgeries!!
Gabriel, Natasha´s boyfriend, has come to town from Switzerland to visit her for the weekend, so she got a room with him last night. This left Crystal alone, who was to be by roommate originally ... Laura was to have a room to herself & I had been rooming with Laura because Natasha had decided to room with Crystal before I arrived ... confusing, I know, but I changed rooms to room with Crystal as originally planned because that is what they all decided what was best I guess. Anyway, I got a new roommate last night ... not that it really matters because I am downstairs on the hotel computer till 1am every day since I still can´t sleep! :(
OK ... so first thing this morning, Cobi brought to us a kitten who was nearly dead. Poor thing had been fine the day before, but evidenlty this happens to kittens at Scooby. You must understand that Scooby is not a place for the very young & they try not to take them ... dogs arrive here daily & the kennels and pens always have a fresh face ... same for the cats. Because of all this, diseases, viruses, bacteria are coming & going constantly as well ... Owners who do not care to keep their dogs & puppies certainly do not care enough to vaccinate them ... & so young animals with weaker immune systems pay the ultimate price. I believe that Scooby does the best they can, but again, they just don´t have the money or the facilities to protect these babies against all that comes through the doors. And they certainly can not turn animals away ...
Anyway, it was very sad for the kitten. His body temperature was so low that he was already almost gone. It was decided by the ladies that it would be most kind to euthanize him and that is what happened. It was very heartbreaking because even in his weakened state he still protested the shot & Claire & Cobi told me earlier that he was a very affectionate little kitten. Both of them have cleaned his cage several times & spent time with him.
Directly after that we started to do the surgeries & had all galgos today. At some point during the first few surgeries, I decided to find out what to do with our deceased kitten as no one had come to claim him yet. He was there in the room in his carrier & I really couldn´t stand the thought of him laying in there anymore. I went and found Cobi & she explained that deceased animals at Scooby go to freezers and are picked up every other week to every week depending on the number of deaths. They can not bury them because they do not have a place and other animals would dig them up etc. ... So, as instructed, I wrapped the kitten in a plastic bag & placed him one of the freezers. There were several bags in there & I saw a slender pair of galgo feet sticking out of one of the bags .. had to leave & did not ask where they go after pick up. There are just some things that you can´t stand to know even after all of the rest of it.
Anyway, at this point, I met up with Claire out by the quarantine area & she had found a rat who was suffering from some poison intake. Scooby has lots of rats because of all the food out and about & they decided to put down rat poison. I personally, am not sure that this is the best decision because the rats wander around quite a bit while the poison takes it´s toll. The ladies told me that it makes them bleed to death inside. Not pleasant. They are actually wondering if that is why we had a dog the other day who bled more than normal because it had eaten some of the poison some how or a dead rat who had been killed by the poison. But, I guess that it is not my decision & that some thought is behind it & maybe it is the lesser of two evils in some way ... on any account ... Claire had found this rat & decided that it was only right to put it out of it´s suffering & I had to agree. She was really in turmoil over killing it so I had to go out & do the dirty work. He was suffering & I hoped that he knew how sorry I was and that I had to rats I had adopted at home. Just hope somehow that he knows it was not out of hate. Sounds silly to most, but that is what I hope.
At any rate ... this was not shaping up to be a great day. On top of it, I was beginning the process of trying to get the puppies home with me. I had to talk with Virginia at Passion Levriers in France, Cobi, Maria Jose, Fermin, Delta Airlines, Abby & Laura. Virginia is who I adopted Toro through with GRIN´s help and these puppies are technically hers even though she has never laid eyes on them other than pictures maybe. Logistically, it made more sense to have Scooby pick them up when the time came. The puppies are podenco mixes and podencos are Virginia´s are of expertise. The problem became that she was unable to come get them and had no date set to do so. Money is a problem for all rescues all over the world.
After quite some time in conversations, emails & phone calls ... it seemed as though this plan was set into motion. As I type to you now, I plan to pick them up at 6:30am tomorrow with Laura & Crystal and take them to the airport. I have decided to wave any sight-seeing to get on the plane with Crystal to Atlanta a day early. It seems to be the best option & there will be help in the Atlanta Airport from the Plaskett´s who dropped Toro off to me when he arrived in the U.S. ...
This will all be very tricky with my standby/buddy pass. Also, Crystal has decided that she believes they are too sick to fly. I am not sure why this is since she has never seen the female puppy & she had decided that the male puppy was fine earlier this week, but I guess she is entitled to her opinion & she is a vet. after all. Since she has given this opinion, I will not be backed by GRIN on this decision to take the puppies. I had already told Abby at GRIN that I would pay for their medical costs out of my own pocket because GRIN does not have the money to pay for it so that is not issue on them backing out. I knew that when I had their endorsement. What will be difficult to get around is that I am flying on a standby ticket & that it makes my chances to get on more difficult let alone the puppies. GRIN & Crystal do not want to be held responsible for any illness that the puppies could have and give to other dogs. I do understand their reservations, but again, they are regular puppies as far as I am concerned & Laura told Abby as much on the phone. So, I am moving forward on the hopes that we all get on. If I have to move to plan B again, then that is what I will need to do. I also told Abby to contact Fermin immediately to confirm the health ... the female has never been ill & the little male has not been sick for 6 weeks. Either way, I am on my own on this one after the ride to the airport so think of me & wish me luck. I feel like, at this point, that tomorrow is going to be more trying than today has been.
On a positive note, everyone at Scooby has been more than helpful. I feel like I have made some good friends there & I can not wait to return to them to help again! I would love to enlist some of my local vets. to go and work with me! I think it could be a really fun trip. Fermin & Maria Jose had all the passports in order for the puppies & were more than accomodating. Cobi has been a good friend to me while I have been there & I just can´t say enough about Claire. Claire is a really special person & I wish more of you could meet her. She is truly an angel to all animals.
I did not want to forget to tell you about my dog of the day ... this boy came to Scooby only a few days ago & he caught my eye immediately. He has eyes like my Shybar did & for those of you who know me, Shybar (who passed away on 12/21/05) was my very special boy. I still miss him very much & it is even difficult for me to write to you about him now. I have been taking bread to this guy now for a few days & today he got moved from the introduction pen into a pen in quarantine with some other young men. He is a galgo & he is tall & thin because he had been underfed ... he is tan & white. I went to visit him in his new place with his new friends & I was actually very touched because he remembered me and wagged his tail. He would barely move in front of me the first day & it was nice to see his progress in only a few days. I have the most wonderful photo of him when I can post it. I think that Renny, my pet photographer friend will even appreciate it.
OK ... so I am off to bed because it is after midnight here now & I must be up at 5:30am to be on the road to pick up puppies & get out of this country with them! :)
AND ... Abby just called and informed me that if I get on the plane, the puppies will .. when I called Delta the plane was only half full!!! This is wonderful news! I think this many actually get to be a happy ending! Please think of us & say a little prayer for the puppies that they don´t have too much stress during the flight.
I will post some more when I return & hopefully it will be ALL good news!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)