It Takes A Village: Dog Gone Transport

Dog Gone Transport was started in Nov 2009 to save the lives of dogs by transporting them from the Carteret County Humane Society to rescue organizations located across the country and to no-kill shelters in the north where overcrowding is not an issue. As with many NC counties, shelter overcrowding is a big problem in Carteret County where the average intake at this shelter is far more than the local homes in the area can accommodate --and many times dogs are euthanized simply to free up space. Candace Christopherson, manager of the shelter in Carteret County and president of Dog Gone, said that transporting the animals gives them a better chance of getting adopted and frees up space in the shelter for other animals. As can be expected, there is more to transporting than just…well, transporting. For Dog Gone Transport, this includes having the dogs professionally evaluated, continually networking to locate available rescues or shelters, arranging for fostering of these dogs until transport is available, arranging for vetting and obtaining a health certificate for dogs that will be crossing state lines and, of course, coordinating transport plans with volunteers to transport animals via ground and/or via air by Cloud Nine Rescue Flights, an airplane transport group. With the help of Dog Gone Transport and all of the other organizations involved in transporting these dogs, CCHS is now a low-kill shelter.

Without the work of Dog Gone Transport and volunteer /VP of Dog Gone, Julie Tiso, the following CCB Adopt-a-Bulls and alumni may have ended up as yet another casualty of shelter overcrowding. Dog Gone has transported countless dogs out of the Carteret County Humane Society to CCB including Hooch, Stig, Sophie, Jade and Gauge! And Kendra is on CCB’s waiting list.

What can you do to help? Dog Gone is always looking for transport volunteers and fosters to care for the animals while waiting for transport. Contact: Julie Tiso at jdtiso@gmail.com for information. Donate: It costs approximately $200 per dog for a transport flight up north (vetting, food/supplies while waiting for a flight, donation to pilot, etc.). Long term solutions: Promote spay/neuter. The primary reason the northern states where these animals are being transported do not have problems with overcrowding is due to the effectiveness of their spay/neuter campaigns.

Links:

Dog Gone Transport in the news: http://www.enctoday.com/articles/euthanasia-85225-jdn-homeless-transport.html

Video/Article Cloud 9 Rescue Flights: http://coastal.news14.com/content/top_stories/620685/nonprofit-organization-saves-pets-by-flying-them-north

Carteret County Humane Society Shelter: http://www.cchsshelter.com/  

Dog Gone Transport’s Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/DOG-GONE/111092135595417#!/pages/DOG-GONE/111092135595417?v=info


1. Does Dog Gone Transport pull from Carteret County only? Usually, but if there is a crisis in another high-kill shelter (Craven and Onslow counties), we will assist them and transport those dogs up north as well.

2. How has Dog Gone affected CCHS euthanasia rates? With the exception of November and December, we haven’t had to euthanize for space issues since Dog Gone Transport was started, however, we do still have to euthanize some due to aggression and/or medical reasons.

3. What is your primary need? Foster homes and transport volunteers. Of course, funds, too but we need people. Foster Homes seem to be the hardest to flnd.

4. The name “Dog Gone” implies dogs only. What about cats? We started with dogs, but now we also include cats. In fact, during the last few months of 2010, about 40 cats were also transported.

Volunteer Spotlight: Susan Johnson

By profession, I’m a Radiation Therapist. This means I treat cancer patients with radiation. This a very rewarding job. All the patients you make feel better or help them live a long cancer-free life just make your day.

I have to admit that I was a pit bull naysayer. When my son wanted to get a pit bull, we told him he couldn’t bring one of those aggressive dogs into our house. Needless to say when Jade joined our family, I had to eat my words. She is a sweetheart, no other way to describe her. After Jade joined our family, I researched the breed and found more and more reasons to love the breed. I began sponsoring pit bulls at an out of state rescue. When my toy poodle passed away at 11 yrs, I knew I had to rescue a pit bull. After searching online I found an instate rescue. I was going to apply for a Katrina dog, but there was a black male I liked also. After I finally talked my husband into letting me get a dog to replace my poodle, I looked for the black dog on pet finder. He was gone. My heart sank. There was no ‘adoption pending’, no ‘adopted’ , no nothing. I emailed the rescue. The black dog had been adopted but he had supposedly growled at his new owner. The rescue had two temperament tests done. He passed one and failed one. The deal was now he needed a home fast and someone to work with him if he really had issues. My husband calls work as I’m reading this email. I’m crying like a baby. Well being the great man he is, he said to go get the dog and quit crying. I went and got him on Jan 8, 2005. He has been the best dog. He loves kids, adults and other dogs.

After getting Buddy I had wanted to volunteer for a pit bull rescue. I was thrilled when I saw CCB on Face book and they weren’t too far from me. I began volunteering in July. I got my first foster, Roxxy, in August. We also have a temporary foster, Gizmo. Our house is a doggie zoo. We have Haley, our old grumpy Lab; Jade, our white pittie; Buddy, my black pittie; and Molly, our border collie mix, who showed up at our house starving with mange.

Since I started volunteering for CCB, I have met lots of nice people and pitties. The events are rewarding when you have interest in one of the adopt-a-bulls. I am the Triad Media manager and have helped to organize some events. I hope to be able to work with CCB for a long time. This helps me fulfill my dreams of helping animals, especially pit bulls.

Featured Happy Ending: Lola

We adopted Lola on January 9, 2010 after searching through many pictures of pit bulls on Petfinder.com. She immediately stuck out to me even before I ever met her in person. We knew we wanted a Pit Bull because we had previously rescued an American Staffordshire Terrier who we had to put down due to renal failure a week prior to getting Lola. She was just like our child to us and we were completely devastated by her loss. Our home was so empty and very lonely without our "baby" around. The day after we lost her I started looking for a pit bull on line and found Lola's cute picture that melted my heart. I contemplated getting a dog so quick after just losing one so I went back and forth with getting in touch with Carolina Care Bullies to meet Lola. A few days later I emailed CCB and they had told me that Lola was scheduled for a potential adoption the following morning. I was so upset because I KNEW she was the pit I wanted to bring into our family. The next day I got an email from Amanda from CCB saying Lola's adoption did not go through and asked if they could bring her to my house. I was ecstatic and immediately said yes. They drove about and hour and a half for us to meet Lola and we fell in love with her as soon as she came through our door. Her personality was exactly what we were looking for....Happy (hence her given name), loving, sweet, playful and most of all loves other dogs/cats and more so, people.

The very night we got Lola she slept with us as if she had done it every night before. She adjusted so well and it was as if she belonged here. This took every doubt about getting a dog so quick out of my mind. She had not only filled a void for us but we wanted to show her off. We enrolled Lola in training and she excelled at it. She loved being around all the other dogs and people to show off her skills. On her walks everyday she has even made such an impression on the kids in the neighborhood that they come over just to play with her. She just loves the attention.

Not to keep bragging on what an exceptional Pit Bull she is but we had even played with getting another dog for her to play with because she loved visiting my friend's dogs. About 4 months ago we took in a Dobermen/lab mix who had been abandoned on the side of the road. She is about the same age as Lola and, of course, Lola has taken to her so much we decided to keep her. So much so, that when Chloe (the new dog) had her spay surgery, Lola laid by her crate for the entire 7 days we had to keep them seperated. They get along great and are sad when the other is away.

Carolina Care Bullies gave me Lola at a time I needed her most and it was almost like she knew what I needed. Lola has truly blessed our lives with happiness and we cannot imagine life without her. If everyone who is afraid or just thinks Pit Bulls are evil dogs would meet Lola they would change their minds and want a Pittie! They are the most loyal, loving, kind hearted and misunderstood breed.

Thank you Carolina Care Bullies, Amanda and Terry for binging Lola into our lives and letting us share how much she means to us. You guys do a GREAT job for this breed and I cannot thank you enough.

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