Wednesday I received a call right when I got off work at the hospital (4:30pm) from one of my rescue groups saying that she had found a transport for the 2 Shar Pei mixes that I had for a little over 3 weeks. As excited as I was about this, they have to get health certificates before they can go out of state (they were going to Idaho). I had to work at the hospital the next day and I also had to pick up one of my regular clients (a pug named Journey) in Rockwall at 12:30 (which is an hour away from my house).
After many phone calls to various people and lots of stressful worrying about how to make this work, I finally had it figured out. I had to take the day off from the hospital (luckily my boss lets me be very flexible with my schedule – that and the great insurance are the only things keeping me there!). I had to get the dogs to the vet at 8:45am for their exams & health certificates, then drive an hour to Plano to drop them off at the transport meeting place. I had planned on going straight from Plano to Rockwall to pick up Journey, but there was an overturned semi on Hwy 75 and I ended up sitting on the highway for an hour and a half. I had to reschedule Journey to that evening around 6pm. I finally got the dogs off on the transport and got back on the road at 12:30. I got back home around 1:30 and had to get Scentsy orders put together from a party a did not too long ago. Once that was done I started getting things ready to take in 3 more rescue dogs, and prepare for my first official get-together at the new place (with a bonfire, weenie roast and smores!). Then at 3:30 I took Boomer to the vet in Leonard to get his health certificate (which includes an exam). I left for Rockwall around 5pm to pick up Journey and was home by 7pm, and it was time to eat supper and feed all the dogs.
Friday, after dropping off those Scentsy orders in Sulphur Springs (which is about an hour drive) I had to drive to Rockwall again to pick up the 1st of the 3 new rescues, Buddy. He was so sweet and adorable, but he kept trying to get into my lap as I was driving. I got him home and spent a couple of hours getting him adjusted at my place. It’s always interesting when bringing in a new dog into the house. At this point, we had our 5 dogs, Journey the pug and Boomer the rescue (who looks to be part German Shepherd and part Golden Lab). Buddy got along great with everyone and was able to stay in the house with my babies. I never know how things are going to work out because every rescue dog is different. Some get to stay in the house and others end up having to stay outside (like Boomer). Saturday we had our get together & bonfire, and it was a lot of fun. The dogs did fine, even though I had them all out in the pens (so that none of the little kids would accidentally left them out of the house or yard – they always leave the door & gates open! lol).
Sunday I drove 3 hours down to Centerville (I’m told that’s the 1/2 way point between Houston & Dallas) to pick up the other 2 rescue dogs (Queenie & Freckles), only by this point, they had added a 3rd dog, Lizzie to the group (she’s a tiny little black lab mix puppy). This was their first time to meet, so I wasn’t sure if they would get along well in the car. I put Queenie in the front passenger seat. And because Freckles wasn’t too excited about being with a hyper puppy, I let him go in the big comfortable crate, and I just let Lizzie have a big play pen in the rest of the back area of my car (I drive a Honda Element and I have the backseats out so the whole area behind the front seats is open). After being back on the road for about 30 minutes to an hour, Lizzie got bored and started chewing up things she shouldn’t be chewing on. So, we stopped at one of those huge safety rest stops and I walked everyone then Lizzie was put in a crate with lots of toys and we continued on our way.
When we got home, I went through the whole meet & greet thing with all of the dogs again, but this time with 3 new dogs instead of just 1, which was interesting! I was so excited when everyone got along so well! And all 4 of the new rescue dogs were able to stay in the house (poor Boomer was the only one outside). For awhile I had my 5 dogs, Journey, Boomer, Buddy, Queenie, Freckles and Lizzie all in the backyard playing and it was wonderful! It’s very rare that I have that many dogs who can all get along so well.
Journey went home on Wednesday and Thursday I left my house at 5:30 am to head to the Texas Panhandle with the 5 rescue dogs. I’ve always told the rescue groups that I can only get 3 large dogs in my car, but somehow I agreed to take 5!!! I can only get 2 large crates in my car, so I had to do some creative maneuvering to make this work. Boomer was in the biggest crate, Freckles was in the other big crate, Lizzie was in a smaller crate on top of Freckles crate and Queenie & Buddy laid in the area behind the crates that a big crate won’t fit in, but has plenty of room for 2 large dogs.
I drove the 8 hours to get to Dalhart, making 2 major pit stops to walk the dogs (one at a time). And after I dropped them off, I took a little mini-vacation. I spent Thursday night with my parents in Dumas and then spent the whole day Friday visiting with my parents, grandparents and my brother & his family. Then Saturday I spent the day with my bestfriend, Joe, in Canyon (walking the college campus where I graduated in 1993), lunch at a great new restaurant and Palo Duro Canyon (where I spent so much time exploring when I was in my 20’s), before I headed home.
AB Petcare 