Pukers and pee-ers and poopers, OH MY!

Oh, yeah, another transport. Fortunately the puking, peeing and pooping was going on in everyone else's cars! My passengers were quiet as little mice, settled down and slept all the way to Salisbury. Our friend Alex had the worst offender, in her brand new Buick Enclave! :( Mari helped her clean it up in Charlotte. UGH. Then on the way to Salisbury Mari called me to ask me to pull off at Popler Tent Road because one of her dogs had puked and peed in the crate, which was sitting on the front seat. And then the crate flipped and everything came pouring out. A good reason to have leather seats!!

We got that all cleaned up and got back on the road, but with all these events, we were late getting to Salisbury and they were 45 minutes late leaving for Greensboro. That puts every leg of the transport late, but sometimes it just can't be helped.

Add to all this trauma the fact that there has been very little gas in Charlotte. I waited in line a half hour yesterday to pay $4.09 a gallon. Fortunately when we got to Spartanburg this morning they had gas, $3.65 a gallon, so I topped off the tank.

Here's a little math: The transport run from my home to Spartanburg then to Charlotte, then to Salisbury, then back home is 250 miles. Jim's Highlander gets 18 miles to the gallon. So it takes about 14 gallons, or somewhere between $51 and $57 to make the trip.

Below are some more photos of my passengers. In all we transported 36 dogs today! THEY'RE ALL GOING TO FREEDOM!

Freddie


Freedom


Lena


Les

And here's Mari with her little puker Madeline. Such a sweet little dog to have made such a big mess!!! LOL

On the road again

Transport Saturday! This time Mari was out of town so wasn't driving. Instead I drove, and Kylie, another friend from Animal Adoption League, drove too.
Kylie took mostly puppies and one tiny little kitty. I had big dogs as passengers - a 50 pound shar pei named LuLu who was as sweet as could be, a 35 pound chocolate spaniel mix named Dovey, a 35 pound yellow lab mix named Goldie who loved to give hugs, and a little 20 pound chow mix named DeDe. The picture at left is of me and LuLu just before we loaded her up for the next leg of her trip, Salisbury to Greensboro, NC.

It was a perfect day, mid 70's temperature, a nice cool breeze, light traffic on I-85, and my passengers didn't make a peep, just settled in and went to sleep. Kylie's day was a little less perfect, she had to clean out puppy crates and replace the newspaper in them. Puppies that are less than 6 months old aren't allowed to touch the ground during transports because they are at risk of getting parvo. So they have to stay in their crates or be held by a person wearing rubber gloves while their crate is cleaned out. On transports, puppies are called "poopies". :-)

Here are a few pics of my passengers:

Dovey

Goldie


DeDe

11 year old black lab with arthritis is like a puppy again

Our dog, Amore, is an 11 year old Black Lab. She has been diagnosed with arthritis in her hind leg which causes her to limp.

Instead of giving her the pain medication that the vet prescribed my wife thought that PET RESTORE might help her. My wife and I were taking PET RESTORE for shoulder joint pain.
Miraculously, when the dog took the PET RESTORE she stopped limping and actually acted like a puppy again.

What is also very fascinating is animals do not have a placebo effect. A placebo is a substance containing no medication and given to reinforce a person’s expectation that they will feel better. In my dog’s case the PET RESTORE works because it really works not because the dog just thinks it is going to work.

That was all I needed to convince me of how great PET RESTORE really is.

Dr. Jonathan Musher
Maryland

Thanks! (you made my tail wag)

Yesterday I ran a transport for a good friend. I drove up to Concord, NC to pick up a scruffy gray labradoodle mix named Buddy. If my friend hadn't pulled him, he would've been euthanized yesterday evening. He was a good rider, laid down and slept all the way back to Waxhaw. Such a good boy!

Last night I attended the monthly meeting of a local rescue group, and I got a thank you card from Gus (Buddy has been renamed!)
Here's what he wrote:

Miss Ediee,

Thanks fur picking me up today.
My new mom is nice.
I'm really glad you git me out of that place.
You R A lifesaver!

Love,Gus
(the shaggy grey dog)

You really know you've done something great when you get a thank you card from a dog!!! This is one card I'll treasure forever, because to me it means I'm doing my life's work well.

Hail and Farewell

This afternoon Jim and I met Joyce from doxie rescue who was transporting our little Sidney to Greensboro, NC. His new foster mom would meet her there and drive back home to Durham, NC. We said our goodbyes to little Sidney and transferred the little pup to her car. Then we left and headed to the other side of Charlotte to pick up our next foster, wiping away tears as we drove. I was OK until I heard Jim sniffling!

We finally found the place, loaded up the pup and set off for home. He slept most of the way, thank goodness. The "new kid" in the dining room crate is 4.5 pounds, about 6 weeks old who was dumped at a lady's house. He looks to be part or most yellow lab. His appetite and energy level are good. We'll monitor that closely for the next two weeks to make sure he doesn't come down with dreaded Parvo.

We named him Simon. Sweet little guy. Casey and Noir are already trying to play with him, though Casey barked in his face once and it scared him and he screamed bloody murder and ran behind Jim!

Just look at that sweet face! I wonder how long we'll have him before he's adopted!

Saying goodbye to Sidney

We only had Sidney for a few days, since last Sunday. He's been a great little houseguest. In another hour Jim and I will leave to take him to our contact in Doxie Rescue, and she's going to drive him up to Greensboro, NC where he'll connect with his new foster mom, then head to his new home in Durham, NC. She already has two families that want him, that are already screened and approved to adopt. He's going to have a great life!

Yesterday Jim discovered that Sidney liked to play with the doorstop. It's one of those springy things that makes a funny noise. We got laughing so hard at him I just had to video it. Here 'tis:



And here he is chasing a tennis ball with Casey. Yes, I know, those poor hardwoods! What can I say? At my house, dogs rule!

Life's never dull where Houlihans linger...

In case you're wondering about the title of this blog, my maiden name is Houlihan. And that's what my friends used to say about the exciting things that always seemed to happen to me. If only they knew....

Today I was up at 5:30AM. Not for a transport this time. I was going to set up a booth at "Fur Festival" in Belmont, NC, a benefit for a local rescue group where I would be selling my all natural soy candles and Nussentials health products. Here's some photos of my booth:







While there, we had a visit from our former foster puppy, Marvelous Marvin. He's been with his new family for a month and he's GROWN!! But what a sweet puppy. He looks great, and seemed to recognize Jim and I. Here's a photo of Jim and our little buddy:

I had the best smelling booth at the festival! It was a hot day, in the 90's, and I sweated away another pound! About 6 PM we had packed up and were on our way home, exhausted.
We hadn't been in the house more than 30 minutes, and the doorbell rang. "Can you help us... we picked this little dog up running along the road and he almost got hit." It was a dachshund. ANOTHER one! This little boy was only about 2-3 months old and appears to be pure doxie. "Of course." Jim set up the crate and now we have "Sidney" living with us temporarily while we make connections with doxie rescue. Jim said that's what Casey and Noir wanted to call him! He is ADORABLE!!

So even though I didn't participate in a transport, the day was filled with rescue events - past, present, and future! Life really is never dull where this Houlihan lingers!

Horses gain health benefit

We own a team of Clydesdales. They are 17, and in our world considered geriatric. They are both pretty healthy except, like when all things age, had stiffness in their joints. Ted moved pretty good, but Stewart came up lame, found to be Ringbone, That usually means his quality of life is over. I had our shoer work on him, but he was still lame. We started him on PET RESTORE and MORE. He is still on PET RESTORE as a matter of fact they both are now. We are again driving them, and they act like 5year olds. Stewart's lameness is gone.

Cheri S.
Missouri

Claudia, a dachshund with a bad back helped with PET RESTORE

I have a 14 year old dachshund named Claudia. Last December, she herniated a disc (common in that breed), was in terrible pain, and could barely walk. The vet had given us a pain medication for a week and veterinary glucosamine and chondroiten.

Nothing seemed to help. The vet felt she was too old for surgery and would not survive it. I was panicking that I would need to euthanize her as I could not bear to see her suffer. Then I heard someone say how much Nussentials’ PET RESTORE was helping their dog, especially with inflammatory issues. I put my "baby" on the PET RESTORE. Within days she was walking easier. Her back legs started to support her.

Now, 9 months later, she is still with us, taking stairs, running around like a puppy. I am so grateful that this product not only relieved her pain and suffering, but has given us longer time with her. She is truly a joy in our lives.

Jackie V.
Maryland

Talker, the puppy music critic

Ah, yes, another Saturday, another transport. But this one was a little hairy. With hurricane Hanna pushing up the coast the transport was in jeopardy. And in our hearts we know that if we don't get the dogs out, they may be put down. Because of the potential for bad weather, some drivers were opting to stay home. So I was needed as a driver. I was to take 3 puppies and 2 adult dogs from Spartanburg, SC through Charlotte and on to Salisbury NC.

We got to Spartanburg on time and gassed up. We always do that because gas is cheaper the further south into South Carolina you go. Saturday morning I paid $3.35 a gallon. I never would have thought that's a great price, but these days it sure is!

The drivers coming from Newbury and Greenville shelters were late. When they finally got there, it was a mad rush to get all the animals loaded. One of my dogs didn't make it, but I found out later he'll get on the transport next week (phew!). In his place I got a very pregnant cat. I mean, about to burst pregnant cat. So I loaded up 3 puppies - Tiptoe, a chocolate lab/shepherd mix with crazy ears, Talker, a shepherd mix that looked just like my dog Casey, and Flame, a gorgeous Aussie/shepherd mix. Also had Kiley, a papillon mix. And the cat...

Talker's and the cat's crates were aside each other. BIG mistake. It turns out Talker is aptly named. Usually once we get going, the dogs settle down and snooze. I was listening to the radio, had the AC on, and usually that does the trick. It did for everyone but Talker. She barked and barked. I tried singing along with the music thinking that would reassure her that she wasn't alone. Oh no, she continued to bark. I sang louder, played the radio louder, and she barked louder. And then I stopped singing.... and she stopped barking! MORE DOG SARCASM!! Apparently she's a music critic and can't tolerate my off-key singing! SHEESH!

Meanwhile all this barking right next to her was making the pregnant cat a little nervous. Not a good thing. Have I mentioned I'm not a cat person? Thank goodness Mari is! When we stopped in Charlotte, I asked her to take the cat. Good thing I did - on the way to Salisbury she started to scream. Labor pains. Needless to say, arrangements were made and she got off the transport at the next stop, Greensboro, NC.

Other passengers on this run were a 110 pound German Shephed named Merlin who was convinced he should be driving... everytime Deb got out of her car, Merlin was in the driver's seat!
In all there were 25 dogs, 3 didn't make it and 2 dogs and the cat took their places.


As usual, Mari grabbed one of the little dogs to ride on her lap. This week it was a little Shih Tzu named Nikki. I got this photo of Mari in Salisbury before she had to hand her over to the next driver. Mari is sporting a rescuer's favorite necklace - a colorful assortment of slip leads!