An Adventure
At 9pm, September 26th PetsConnect volunteers met at the Pet Refuge building in Mishawaka to help with the 25 Border Collies brought in by the Humane Society of USA Disaster Relief team.  We had been asked before hand if we could take some of the 25 collies and had said probably up to five.  In the past, we had been asked to help out but weren’t needed so this time I didn’t think anything of it.  Until the call came .. the truck will be here tonight, can you guys still take a few Border Collies? 
What an adventure, it’s dark, volunteers are milling about, a row of large dog crates had been set up in a long row outside of the Pet Refuge building in anticipation of the dogs arrival.  The truck was expected at 9pm but was running a few minutes late.  Reporters with their photographers and bright lights added to the excitement. 
News spread the truck was at the corner.  Volunteers were asked to clap and cheer the truck in .. well, quietly, it is a residential community.  So we did.
The Trailer

The trailer is long, a gooseneck as one volunteer called it.  This is the Humane Society Disaster set up.   Most of the trailer has cages for animals with a sleeping compartment at the front for the people.   There are three rows of cages up the side.  There is clever storage compartments too.  The truck is quite amazing!  Here is a photo of Shanin and Skye in front of the truck.

Here photos of the disaster truck:

The Border Collies

The Border Collies came from  Sumner, Tennessee, from the Border Collie Rescue of Middle Tennessee to be exact.  News reports from Sumner talked of filthy living conditions and photos showed rows and rows of outdoor kennels.  The owner of this rescue is said be breeding dogs too.  The facility was shut down by authorities with 105 dogs pulled out.   60 were owner released allowing them to be placed in other rescues through-out the mid-west, the remaining are in shelters in Sumner area.

The collies arrived scared.  Some were very dirty, caked in poop.  Many have teeth problems, some from general poor care and some from chewing on the kennel cages.  A couple of them didn’t look bad but most of them were just filthy.

Getting off The Trailer

It was quite the trick getting the dogs out of the cages in the trailer and headed to crates or kennels or in some cases handed over to the person who would be fostering them.

Despite the smell, I don’t think one person held back holding and talking to the dogs as they came off the truck.  And remember, some of these dogs had “dingles” – a kind way of saying poop embedded into matt, hanging all over their backs and rear ends.   What with the news cameras, the bright lights, and the volunteers  dogs appeared a bit awestruck.

  PetsConnect! Volunteers

Nine volunteers from PetsConnect! were on hand to witness this unusual adventure.  We all clapped when the truck pulled in.  And we did our best to pitch in but most of it was already taken care of. 

We absorbed five of the Border Collies and were able to pick what would fit into our foster homes.  A real gift.   Lindsay did a good job helping us choose which collies to take home.

That evening three of the collies went to one foster home while the other two went to two other foster homes.  By Monday the third collie was in her foster home and by next week the fourth collie will be in her foster home … I’m keeping one to foster!  I have Fern.

I love this photo because it is reality and not posed.  Here we are with five new dogs .. straight from horrible conditions followed by a long trip in small cages in the truck – and there we are posing with these dogs who don’t know us and probably don’t know each other.  How funny that we should expect a perfectly well posed photo.  And they say Border Collies are neurotic!

More photos of PetsConnect:

The Beagle

Along with the Border Collies were two non-border collies, a brown dog and this beagle. 
This poor dog is so old. 
There is a photo of  this dog on the website for the Border Collie Rescue of Middle Tennessee and it says there that this dog was surrendered to them at 14 years of age. 
We don’t know how long ago that was but how sad for this dog to go through all of this. 

  Favorite Photos

I didn’t take most of these photos, a friend of one of our volunteers did.  Here are a couple of my favorites.  I like them because they capture what it felt like to be there: the overwhelming sadness, the joy, the anticipation, the excitement and the smell too!

 

 

 

General Photos:

The PetsConnect! Gang in front of the Disaster Trailer

Here we are!
It is dark with bright camera lights and the reflecting lights on the trailer so it is not a good photo but it gives you an idea.
We pulled five Border Collies:

Bell
Cricket
Jean
Skye
Fern
and we will be posting more information about them!