The REST of the Story: the Grrls Go HOME!

The rest of the Great Rescue Run is that last Monday, the Grrls all went to a veterinarian in Lakeland, Florida. Miss Cindy emailed the chauffeurs and told ‘em about it. The vet said the Grrls are healthy -- no heartworm, no ear or eye problems, good development in hips, good skeletal development.  They have their vaccinations now.  

They went to their forever homes that afternoon. Turquoise Grrl is now called Aly. Pink Grrl is Xena. Purple Grrl is Zoey and she has already had her first grooming. Xena even slept in bed with her new family the first night.  Do you think she's going to be happy with them? They are all scheduled to be spayed within the next week. 

Things are quieter around our house, but Mom says we might have another rescue dog to Hooligan with real soon. She hasn’t mentioned this to Dad yet though.

Note from Duke’s Mom:

I’m sure you will all be happy to hear that the ADT mom of the Grrls has been rescued from the puppy mill too! We are thrilled.  She had 2 litters back to back and she is not even 2 yrs old. UGH!! She is terribly thin and needs some real  TLC. Her foster mom and the family vet have put her on a good diet and are seeing to her medical needs. Eventually she will be ready to be adopted by a loving family who will take care of her for the rest of her life. 

She will never be a puppy mill dog again.

 

This is the Grrls' mom! She is safe now, thanks to Miss Diane and to NAR.

Transportation Volunteers Are Frequently Needed.

You can help by applying at:

http://www.airedalerescue.net/  

The Great Rescue Run, Part Four

Mom says this is the next to the last installment of The Great Rescue Run and it is kinda long. Y’owl need to be sure to go potty before ya start reading, okay?

So, the parents settled us all down for the night. Jack and Sissy went to bed in the dog den. Buddy curled up in Dad’s office. Me and Maggie were in the big bedroom with Mom and Dad.

After Mom and Dad chased them around for awhile, the puppies got crated in the guest room. They were used to crates so that wasn’t a problem. But they weren’t used to the guest room or to the rain, the thunder and the lightning that was going on outside.

So they howled. And they howled and they howled and they howled.

Well, natcherly the rest of us had to chime in and teach them what howling is sposed to sound like. Pretty soon there were EIGHT Hooligans AAAROOOING at the top of our lungs! We sounded great! Xceptn I think we might have startled the puppies because after only a few seconds, they stopped singing and they didn’t make a peep the rest of the night.

Mom set the alarm clock for early thirty so she could get up and get us all medicated and fed before time to get the pups ready to go to Florida. We woke up all excited like we usually do and Maggie stopped on her way outside to growl at the door to the guest room. Mom bopped Maggie on her rear end and helped her move on down the hall. I always like it when that happens.

Just so’s you can appreciate the mileage involved in transporting the Grrls, here’s how the whole thing was organized.

Jackson, MS to Hattiesburg, MS to Gulfport, MS to Grand Bay, AL (overnight) to Pensacola, FL, to DeFuniak Springs, FL, to Tallahassee, FL, to Gainesville, FL, to Lakeland, FL. From Lakeland, Purple Grrl had to go about another hundrud miles to get to her new family. All in all, Miss Cindy at Sunshiner Airedales in Florida said she guesstimated it was about an 800 mile trip for the puppies. That’s a lot of stress. But they did fine because all the people who chauffeured them took time to cuddle them and kiss them and talk to them. One lady even rode in the back of her SUV with them while her husband drove.

Here’s a picture of the MS-ALA rescuers and drivers. That’s Miss Virginia on the left, Miss Delia is next to her, Mom is next to Miss Delia, and Miss Diane is next to Mom.

the Rescuers in the Rain!

It had been storming when the Grrls got to our house and it was storming when they left. Thunder and heavy rain was drenching the entire Gulf Coast and there were flash flood warnings from New Orleans to the Atlantic Ocean. But Mom kept on driving (she always only does the legal speed limit anyway) and even though she passed two bad wrecks near Hwy 59 in AL, Mom didn’t have any trouble getting to Pensacola.

When she got there, she met Ms Kathryn and her husband at a Cracker Barrel restaurant. The rainwater in the parking lot was ankle deep. They had to carry each pup separately to Ms Kathryn’s car and of course, everybuddy got completely drenched. The pups were smelling like… well, like wet dogs. Mom kissed each Grrl and wished them long and happy lives. Then she hugged Ms Kathryn and got back in our SUV. And Mom cried most of the way home. It doesn’t take long to get attached to dogs. That’s cause we’re Man and Woman’s Best Friends.

These are pictures of the Grrls trying to evade capture by hoomans and by the camera.

This was pretty much how the entire evening went.



Sunday night, Mom admitted to Dad that she was having separation anxiety. She *needed* to know how things were going and if the pups were okay and where they were and when they would finish their long trip. Late late Sunday night, Ms Cindy emailed all the chauffeurs to let them know that in spite of a long delay outside of Gainesville due to a traffic jam, the pups had arrived safely in Lakeland. Mom cried again, but this time it was from relief.

She let me sleep with her that night. Which is where I should sleep all the time, except that Dad has a different opinion.

But sometimes, Dad has to travel away from home on business.

                        AAARRROOOOOOOO!





Great Rescue Run, Part Two

Before I get into the shenanigans of late Saturday night with the rescue pups, Mom wants me to tell you a little bit about each of them. She says it matters to the story.

When they first got to our house, all three of them were freaked out. One went under Mom’s car and got all muddy. Dad fussed but he knows Airedales aren’t happy unless they’re wet and dirty. This girl not only got herself covered with mud, but also her leash and her collar. And Dad’s shoes. And his pants. And his hands. I think there was even some mud on his chin.

And the puppies didn’t know about leashes so they wouldn’t walk on them. Instead, they hunkered down in the rain and refused to move at all. Mom and Dad had to pick each one up and carry them indoors. These girls are around eight months old and they weigh 45 pounds each. Heh heh heh. Wish I had a picture of Mom and Dad totin’ those muddy pups into our house! By the time everybuddy was inside, Mom and Dad looked like they had been rolling around on the wet ground with the puppies.

The puppies were very very shy and not used to being petted. But within just a little while, the mud worked its magic and the pups started wrestling and playing with each other. Just like normal Airedale Terriers.  

Two of the girls were sisters. One had a pink collar and the other one had a turquoise collar. Their fur was long and soft and curly. The third girl was taller and her fur was coarse and wiry. She had really long legs and was taller than the sisters were. Mom said she’s an Oorang like me. She had a purple collar and wasn’t as shy as the others and she was the first one to go running up the hall like Buddy does when he and Mom are playing bowling ball.

So Mom went and got a treat and held it out and told the tall girl to “Come.” And you know what? She did! She came close enough to sniff the treat and then she darted away before Mom could touch her. But it only took a couple more times until she came right up to Mom and stood still and ate the treat. Smart Girl!

The pink collar girl watched all that and decided it was okay for her to run up and down the hall with the purple girl. So they did that for quite awhile and then they went further, into the kitchen. And that’s when things got interesting.

Now, you need to know that I do not counter surf. I have better manners than that. Jack has been known to inspect the kitchen table for special treats from time to time but he's elderly and he gets speshul privilegges.  Buddy and Sissy are too short to counter surf. But Maggie… have I told you how she thinks she’s a princess?

Maggie can stand up on her hind legs and stretch them waaay out and then she stretches her whole body waaaay out and then she stretches her neck even further until she looks kind of like a snake dog. It’s really weird looking. And boy howdy, does she get in trouble for doing it! You’d think she’d have learned not to counter surf a long time ago because let me tell you, our Mom is a not pretty sight when she sees this happening. She doesn’t sound very pretty, either. But Maggie is “special”, as we’ve said before. I guess she doesn’t remember from one episode to the next that she’s gonna get her a-double-scribble in bad bad trouble for counter surfing.

Well, the reason I’m tellin’ you all this is because that Pink Girl watched Maggie counter surf ONE TIME. And THIS was the result!

And you know what? Mom didn’t say a word to that puppy. NOT ONE WORD.

She said “Pink Girl needs to have her confidence built up and reprimands are not in order under these circumstances.”

WhatEVAH!

AAARRROOOOOOOO!