[katmu]

I adoped a 3 year old dog last week at my local Humane Society, or more like she picked me and my son out as her new people. When I filled out the paperwork they said she was brought with a group of dogs from Alabama to Minnesota. She had her rabies shots in Alabama but the dogs were spayed/neutered once they arrived in Minnesota. I'm just wondering how commong this is? Is it more difficult to find homes for dogs in other parts of the country?

This is her. Her name at the shelter was Ginger, but she didn't answer to that so we changed it to Bridget. She is a Pointer mix, but smaller than a Pointer at 35 lbs.

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

Thanjs fir adopting. Yes, it is common to send dogs to areas where their breed is popular. Pretty girl.

[zugor]

Thank you so much for adopting this dog. I hope she will be a well loved and healthy member of your family for many, many years and bring great joy to your life.

Yes, it is very common for dogs (and some cats) to be transported around the country. There is an over abundance of animals in poorer rural areas, especially in the southeast where the concept of spay/neuter is not as common as in larger, metro areas. So rescues in those rural areas work with other groups to find organizations that can take them and find them new homes.

Every weekend there are thousands of volunteer drivers who help move hundreds of dogs to the bigger cities. Some of the dogs already have approved adoptions, the adopters finding them on websites such at Petfinder and Adopt-A-Pet, submitting applications for approval and then the dog goes on transport. The other dogs are going to approved rescues who will then find them homes.

Anyone interested in joining in this network of volunteer drivers need only find the Yahoo group(s) that cover their nearest interstate, join the group and then drive when you want/are able to. So if you lived somewhat near say I-40 you would simply look for the I-40 Animal Rescue Transport group in Yahoo groups.

A journey such as your new sweetie took is divided in to many "legs" with each driver taking the dogs about 50 to 100 miles and then handing off the dogs to the next driver in line at prearranged meeting points close the the interstate, usually the parking lot of a fast food restaurant. There is a volunteer "coordinator" who sets up each transport, sends out emails calling for drivers and oversees the whole thing. Many dogs travel over 1,000 miles and it takes two long days. Somewhere about midway in the trip there is someone who volunteers to "overnight" the dog(s) at their home, give them a meal and a comfy place to bunk down for the night.

The biggest transport I was ever part of involved 21 dogs and required 4, 5 or 6 drivers for each of the 19 legs, depending on how many dogs a driver could fit in her car.

There are also truck drivers who routinely haul dogs and there is also an organization called Pilots and Paws who fly dogs.

It's an easy way to help save lives and it only takes a couple of hours on a Saturday or Sunday for the most part.

You might want to take a few minutes to send a Thank You email to the rescue that your girl came from and ask them to forward it on to the coordinator who ran the trip for your dog. She can then pass it on to the ten or fifteen volunteers who drove. It helps keep us motivated to keep on driving. We love to hear about the dogs even though we only spent an hour or so in their company.

ps: hope your southern gal learns to love the snow.

[WildnFree]

There's some rare dog breeds that are transported around the country. Know of a person that got a dog from Canada to Maryland.

[atina33]

Chihuahuas are shipped out of Southern California all time. They're a dime a dozen here but sought after in northern states.