Noelle's first Christmas...

...in her new life, went off without too many hitches, for her anyway. We, on the other hand, had car issue after car issue, but that's neither here nor there. Noelle was very intrigued by all the goings on. The kids, of course, woke up with a vengence and came charging down the stairs. Noelle, wasn't quite sure what was going on, but within moments found herself a place to lay in the midst of all the chaos. In the middle of chaos is Noelle's favorite place to be, that way she is sure not to miss a thing. She helped the girls open gifts, using her pointy little nose, she pawed at the loose paper, and cocked her head at the noise some of the toys produce. She made sure to thoroughly inspect each package to make sure Santa hadn't slipped in a treat she could sneak away with. In other words, she loved every moment.

She got her own stocking complete with a few bones, a toy, a new collar, and some treats. She fished each toy out on her own and gave it a complete once over before moving on to the others. Her favorite is the marrow bone of course, what dog doesn't love a good marrow bone?

The food preparation, was also of high entertainment value to her, and she made sure not to miss a moment. You never know when something tasty might hit the floor!! Than it was time for the greatest moment of all. COMPANY!!! So many hands waiting to pet her, so many legs to sniff, all sorts of tasty morsals dropping all around her! She made sure to stake early claim to the best seat in the house (in a dogs opinion). She made herself a nice area right at the french doors. That way no one could escape without a final pat. She was in direct line to the breakfast bar where everyone restocked their plates, so she was sure to get first dibs on all morsals on the floor. She was closest to the refridgerator, so as to keep tabs on all new food that was entering the picture.

By the time the day was all done she slept like a log, and I would have to say, thoroughly enjoyed every moment of her day.

less than a week to Christmas

Well, we are quickly narrowing down the countdown until Noelle's first Christmas, with us anyway. Her new mom (she'll go after the New Year), was in this weekend boarding her other dogs with us. She is very excited for Noelle to come live with them, and I told her what living with Noelle was like. She is so easy, she just fits right in. I told her of Noelle's love for the vacuum cleaner, weird dog... and that I got Noelle a stocking this year as well.

Noelle is continuing to do well, and I'm going to miss her so much when she goes. Gwen was sick over the weekend, and Noelle thought it was her job to "nurse" her back to health. Noelle spent the whole weekend laying with Gwen on the sofa. My to "sickies" convalescing together, how sweet. My husband doesn't even mind having Noelle here. She just fits in so well. My girls love her as much as she loves them. We are approaching the hard part. I've had several other fosters at my house for extended periods, and its always hard to say "goodbye" to them, even though I know in my heart it is right. I couldn't be more thrilled about the family that is adopting my girl. They are wonderful people who treat their dogs as their children. They are the family who adopted Shiloh from me, and he even has his own room! The best part is I know Noelle will be happy there. Their current two dogs are a great fit for her. Shiloh will have a buddy who is as low key as he can be, and Summer will have a new friend who likes to rock and roll. She is a good match for both of them. I love the fact that Summer and Shiloh come to see me at work every weekend for the day on Saturday, soon Noelle will be joining them. I'm so happy for her. The time sure has flown by. On Christmas Eve it will have been 1 month since Noelle had her first treatment. Only two more weeks left to go!!

3 weeks post treatment

Well, Noelle is back to being Noelle, and the constant refrain in my house is Noelle lay down or you go to your room. She wants to play horribly. She wants to be a normal dog again. She's back to chewing on chew toys. She wants to join in my guys play so bad, she has decided that the vacuum is something fun to play with. She tries to go up the stairs to tell my girls good night. She tries to do everything she's not supposed to do yet. Three more weeks to go.

I'm very glad to see her feeling well again, although, she is very definitely getting bored with the low key life she's been leading and I can see the next few weeks will be an interesting challenge to get through. I am thrilled that she's doing so well, on the other hand I feel so mean squelching her boisterous behavior like I have been. She feels good and wants to show it. Poor girl.

Doing well.

Noelle is continuing to do well. She is gaining weight, which is wonderful. She rests alot, as she should, and she thoroughly enjoys a good neck rub. Noelle is learning to enjoy being brushed. Previously it was most definitely NOT her favorite activity, but as her coat condition is improving she is learning to enjoy it more and more.

She was groomed and had her mats removed prior to her heartworm treatment, so she looks gorgeous now. Of course continued brushing is needed to maintain it, but she's getting better with that idea. She tries to be my shadow, and loves to be with me. She does really well with my youngest girls as well. Noelle is truly a joy to be around. Her spirit and confidence despite her past issues, continues to amaze me. I can't wait until she can play again, and I know she can't either. She seems rather impressed with the Christmas tree, she frequently lays near it and watches all the lights twinkle. She will make her new family very happy, she's such and easy dog to work with.

A day in the life...

Well, it is late and Noelle has been home nearly a week now. She is learning that she can't be active, although she wants to be. She is obviously feeling much better. Every time she tries to involve herself and play with the others, I send her to her room. She has figured out that she can get up for potty breaks, change position, or get a drink, but bouncing around with the others is not allowed. She has chosen her spot in my family room that allows her the best vantage point, and I've moved her bed there. She lays there and moderates all the daily activity. She gets rather vocal if the others start to play or get a bit silly. Apparently, in her mind, since she can't play the others can't either.

This is one incredibly smart girl. She has her own room set up, complete with TV for company, when we aren't home (just a few hours total a day). When our day winds down or we are in the family room, Noelle comes out with us. The vet has said that its OK for her to be with us as long as she's quiet and laying down. It only took her a few days to figure that out. She oversees everything that happens, and is as involved as she can be from her position on the floor. She doesn't miss a thing.

I can't wait until she can go out to play again, and I'm sure she can't either, but she is tolerating her "confinement" very well.

So far there are no unexpected side effects of her treatment. She is shedding a bit more than normal, but we knew she would. She also has a mild cough on occasion, but that is normal too. She is eating very well and gaining weight. She has gained nearly 7 pounds since I got her already! She loves her daily grooming and overall is doing very well.

Day #5 post treatment

Noelle is doing well. She does cough a bit at night or when she's resting. I've been warned that that will get worse before it gets better. Overall though she is doing beautifully. Its obvious she is feeling better and spunkier since I've picked her up. Keeping her settled in her crate is becoming a challenge already, so she has a small room that is set up for her to stay in when I'm busy and can't keep an eye on her movements as well, or when I run out. She does well in her room.

In the evenings, when we are all settled an the daily chaos is done; I let Noelle out of her room and out with us. She moves around a bit, and she thrives on lovings. She usually settles on her dog bed at my feet and that is where she spends the rest of her evening, and parts of her day - at my feet.

The funny thing we've found is how she behaves with food or water in her crate! She buries it! She will not eat or drink while she is crated - instead she takes her blankets and pushes them into her bowls. This of course makes a rather large mess with the water bowl, so we had to go out and get her a bottle. Goofy girl.

Her new mom, when all this is done, stopped into visit with her this weekend. Noelle walked right up to her and planted her head in her lap for lovings!

She's Home!!!

Well Noelle is finally home, and resting comfortably if not in splendor in her crate. Its obvious she's not feeling well, but its non specific and she's not in pain either. She just....mopey.....for her. The doctor assures me that this will improve, but overall its for the best as we don't want her to be active. A dog who feels well is an active dog, so it will work in my favor for the next week or two. He assures me that in a week or so she will be back to her normal self, and than the fun will really begin as she still needs to be kept quiet. Nothing that raises her heart rate, gee that sounds like fun.

She is on a pain reliever (as the shots are given in her spine area and can cause stiffness and bruising in her back), Temeral - P to help reduce inflammation and stop coughing (which will start up soon as a result of the heart worm treatment) and doxycycline for the Ehrlichiosis (a tick born disease). She's eating well and doing her business like she's supposed to. Her crate is large enough that she can move around a bit, but not too much. There are several beds in there, and she has her water as well. She is doing great so far at keeping quiet, which apparently they had some issues with at the vet. I think she's just glad to be home again...

I'll be at work over the weekend, and it will be a very busy weekend, so I probably won't get to update again until Sunday. Remember....no news is good news. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

November 26 - day 2

I just got off the phone with the vet for another Noelle update. She is sailing through nice and easy, no reactions, no ill effects; all is looking good so far. She will be ready for me to pick her up this evening around 6 PM.

Now for the fun stuff I didn't really think too much about. Today is Thanksgiving Eve. This evening I'm supposed to go to my sister in laws to help prepare for a huge dinner tomorrow. On top of it I'm supposed to work tomorrow night, clear through Friday evening. My original plan had been to let Noelle call the shots. If she was feeling well enough, she'd go with me, where I can keep a close eye and her, and not put too much responsibility on hubby. The vet says its OK for her to travel as long as she doesn't get to worked up. I traveled with her plenty in the first week and a half that I had her to get her used to moving around. She doesn't stress and doesn't get worked up, so all should be good on that front.

What I didn't really think to much about, and should have, was this evening (no one will be home until late), and tomorrow (all day). I don't know how it slipped my mind, but it did. I was stuck more on the long term weeks ahead and the Christmas holiday with her than Thanksgiving. Goofy huh? Well I've spoken with my sister in law and despite allergies to dogs, she has agreed to let me bring Noelle, my nice long haired Collie, with me both tonight and all day tomorrow. It continually amazes me, what people will do for a dog!

I'll try to post tonight when Noelle and I get home, and I have lots of pics that I need to get on here. I still have catching up to do, but at least I'm keeping the updates current.

Just a quick insert about Arthur. I am working on his own blog, but I'm not there yet. I'll post it as soon as I am. He did have someone stop in to visit with him today and they spent nearly a half hour with him. I'll call him later tonight and see what his impression was.

Tuesday evening update

Noelle is handling her first treatment well, she is resting comfortably and eating well. They have her in an area that is right off the main office, so she has plenty of company. She apparently was not so quiet back in the kennel area, she was lonely. So they moved her, I guess partly to keep their sanity, and partly to keep her settled.

If all goes well throughout the night, she will be treated again tomorrow morning. Provided she does as well with the second treatment, she will come home tomorrow evening. She will remain crated or confined here as well for the next several weeks. Phase two of the treatment will start right before Christmas. The second part of treatment will kill the surplus of microfilariae in the bloodstream. The microfilariae are what will grow up to be adult heartworms.

Treatment day - Nov. 25

I just got off the phone with the vet. All is going well. Noelle, received her treatment this morning and is responding well. She is coming out of the sedation now, and nothing unexpected. She'll get her next treatment tomorrow morning, and come home tomorrow night.

So far so good. The next few weeks will be rough from what I understand. She'll feel rather punky for the first few weeks, and be sore from the injections. As the heartworms die off, she'll develop a nasty cough. The hard part will be keeping her quiet when she starts to feel better, and wants to be more active. The heartworms will still be in her heart, dead and slowly being absorbed/expelled by her system, but still there. If her heart rate goes up to high she runs the risk of expelling too many in her bloodstream at one time. That will be the hard time.

Keep your fingers crossed for my Collie girl. She is doing beautifully, and hopefully before long, she'll be able to run and play again. She so loves to socialize!

day 1 update

It is 8:37 PM, and apparently a very busy day at the vets office. Noelle is doing fine, but due to some other situations, not involving her, she will not be starting the acutal treatment phase until tomorrow.

Surprisingly, they retested her for Heartworm, and the test came up negative! Using two other different tests, she was positive for heartworm AND Ehrlichiosis. Her x-rays showed decreased inflammation in her lungs, although her heart is mildly enlarged. The vet is not horribly concerned as to the heart enlargement and feels as though it is heart worm related and not the beginning of heart failure etc. Her more extensive bloodwork was fine, showing that all organs are functioning normally. Her WBC, RBC and platelets were fine as well for a heart worm positive dog. She is not showing signs of being in the chronic stage of ehrlichiosis, so hopefully we caught it early enough.

Because it was so late by the time all tests were preformed and the confusion over the one negative heartworm test sorted out, we decided to wait until morning to start her treatments. All is going well, and while vocally expressing her desire to be out and about, Noelle is doing well.

Day 1

Well, its quarter after 10 in the morning and I just got back from dropping Noelle at the vets. She is sporting a beautiful new collar along with a special charm. The charm is of St. Francis of Assisi, and it was blessed by the Pope over the summer. She was spunky and lively and happy to meet new friends.

She will be x-rayed again later today to see if the Doxycycline (which apparently weakens heartworms), and the Temaril - P (which was to help reduce the coughing and lung inflamation) did what it was supposed to do. They will be doing a more in depth blood panel as well before starting. I'll know more this afternoon when the vet calls, and we will make some final decisions about the exact course of treatment that we will do with her.

I'll keep you posted of course as the day unfolds. For now I've got to go. My middle daughter wants to get started making her Christmas presents, and I have a green bean dish to make for my youngest "Thanksgiving Day Lunch" at her school.

Have a wonderful day!

Living with Noelle

Well, in a nutshell, Noelle has turned out to be quite the comedian. She is always finding something small that you rarely notice and it becomes "the object of the day", so to speak. The first day it was soft things; beds, sofas, blankets chairs etc. No matter what room you were in, Noelle had to try them all out out. She'd inspect them carefully first, sniffing them all over. Once they past the sniff test, she'd put them through the squish test. First one paw, a quick bounce, and than all four paws. If it seemed to possess the right amount of squish, than she would do a trial run. She'd hop up, circle around, curl up and wait. Sometimes just for a moment, and at other times a half hour or so. Then down she'd hop down to try out the next item that caught her fancy.

She is a rather spunky gal. Always on the move, always checking something out. Her favorite place to lie is on the dog bed behind the computer desk, next to the aquarium. She can see everything from that location. She eats extremely well, and on occasion she will raid the trash cans. She is learning her name and some basic commands. Her favorite treats are milk bones. She is extremely easy to medicate, thank goodness; and she needs to eat in a room by herself because she tends to be slower than my other guys. For the most part she has been very easy to incorporate into our home.

Guido my dachshund is having a love affair with her. She tolerates him well, and doesn't seem bothered by his affections, but she doesn't appear impressed either. Guido brings her his favorite toy, he licks her face, ears, and lips. Its really rather amusing to watch how he interacts with her, and how he tries desperately to win her affections. She seems totally unimpressed with him, and at times seems like she just wants to squash him with her foot. However, if a dog could roll her eyes, Noelle does, and just sits there while Guido goes nutsy.

On a different note, Noelle went to work with me this weekend and she loved it! I figured that I would let her decide how she felt and what she wanted to do. I started her in the office with all my other geriatric dogs. Noelle was too much for them though. She kept trying to get them to play, and they wanted no parts of it. Finally, I sent Noelle out on the hill with my teeny dog play group. I didn't want her overtaxed and wanted her to be able to rest if she felt like it, but she didn't. She had a wonderful time moving up and down the hill. It snowed that morning and she ran around trying to catch the falling white stuff. She made friends with Beau, and elderly Keeshound who also plays in teenies, and together they had a really nice time. I figured she'd be tired that afternoon and want to rest. I was wrong again, and back outside she went. Bee bopping all over, investigating every little thing, and making friends with everyone. She is quite the social butterfly.

Noelle, had a wonderful weekend full of people and other dogs. Lots of interactions and lots of love. We've started a candle jar fundraiser to help raise funds for her treatment, and we have a wonderful lead on an awesome home for her. My work, and a friends business have both allowed me to set up the candles there. Each candle comes with a gift tag bearing Noelle's picture, and a quick "thank you" on the back for sponsoring her.

Noelle has interest in a forever home as well. The family who adopted one of my fosters about 6 months ago, is interested in Noelle. The dog they adopted this past spring would make a wonderful companion for Noelle and I'm rather excited about this development.

Noelle is off to the vet tomorrow morning. I drop her off at 9AM to begin her treatment. Please wish her well. She is a glorious gal with tons of life left to live, I'm so excited that she may get to live it in comfort without the shortness of breath she experiences now. I watch her play, and bounce, and run; I watch her interactions with people and other dogs. She is amazing in her interactions, its as if she truly knows just how close she was and is busy enjoying every moment. I hope I've made the right decision for her. I see her know and know that at moments she isn't feeling well at all. I see how active she tries to be, and I see what she enjoys. I hope the next 6 weeks or so fly by quickly and that Noelle can experience the best life possible in the ways that she wants to, and that it will have been worth it. I pray all goes well for her.

Noelle's Health

Prior to bringing Noelle here I inquired of her health history and vetting she may have received. Noelle had been a stray who found her way into a Mississippi Shelter. Somehow, I'm unclear as to how or why, Noelle ended up being fostered temporarily at a vets office. Anyway, I was told by my contact that she believed Noelle to be current on her vaccines but she didn't think much else had been done. At some point Noelle's situation became urgent, I'm not sure if the shelter was so full they couldn't take her back, or if her age played a roll, or if the vet could no longer keep her. For whatever the reason was, Noelle's situation became URGENT and she needed a foster or forever home NOW!

I wasn't horribly concerned that a heart worm test hadn't been done. Here, where I live, its not uncommon for shelters to not perform this test. Its very possible to adopt or foster a dog that is heart worm negative despite not being on preventative, sometimes for years. I should have thought about this dog's location, but I didn't. I should have thought that Heart worm Disease is much more common down south than it is here. Not that its unheard of here either. After committing to bringing Noelle here I talked to a friend of mine who also does rescue. My friend, lets call her N, helped save over 60 dogs after Hurricane Katrina. Of the 60 dogs she brought here, only 2 were heart worm negative. I admit this got me a bit nervous about funding such and endeavor, but I was still optimistic.

Needless to say, once Noelle got here and I went through the vet records that she did have, I found that the vets office had tested her for heart worm and the results were.....POSITIVE!! My heart went into my throat. I had already gotten to know Noelle a bit and she was so sweet and friendly; very outgoing and social, and wanting to be active for her age. Which was older than we'd all anticipated. To further complicate matters Noelle was underweight and in poor condition overall due to her "stray days" I imagine.

I was unsure, at first, if treating Noelle would truly be in her best interest. She is older, what if she doesn't live through the treatment? All that money and the time everyone invested in getting her here for what? Since she is older, there may be other health issues that could be affected by treating or not treating. So we screened her for many issues, and all looks good. If I just let the disease run its course would it really detract from her life in years or quality of life? The x-rays we did showed the heart worm was fairly advanced, and most likely would cut her life short. She does occasionally have a cough that is from these nasty invaders. My other concern was of her breed....Collie. Typically, most Collie type breeds can't take Ivermectin (which is in many heart worm preventions and is part of heart worm treatment). How would this affect her treatment? Would it put her in a higher risk category? So many questions, but decisions had to be made, and there were no guarantees.

Ultimately, after living with Noelle for nearly a week, I saw her zest for life. I also saw her stop playing to catch her breath. I'd see her wake up each morning coughing. I realized she'd already started the downward swing of this disease, and that if I waited that in itself would be a choice. Life, for Noelle, is about experiencing as much as she can. Its about running, and chasing the other dogs, rolling on the floor for belly rubs. Rubbing her head under your hand to remind she's there. Its about following you around the house to keep tabs on "her family". Squish testing furniture and chasing dust bunnies. Life, for Noelle, did not include the effects of heart worm disease. With that knowledge, I made the choice...we were going to treat Noelle; she wants to live.

Our first night

Well, my luck didn't hold out, I could hear 3 of my own pups upstairs demanding to see what the upset was. They were no longer sound asleep, but very curious to know who was down there making all that noise. As quickly as I could, I let Stella and Guido out to join Sadie, and Banjo downstairs. Cody decided it wasn't worth his trouble and went back to bed. Nothing like meet and greets at 3 AM! Arthur was plenty excited, but getting along with the others well. Noelle, wasn't much bothered by any of it. She adjusted well, came right over to me to say "hi" after a cursory look at her new surroundings. It wasn't long before she found a dog bed to claim as her own.

Within a half hour my two legged guest were ready for bed, and I got them settled as best I could while continuing to monitor the new pups. I was especially watching Arthur, who was still rather stressed, and would sound his alarm off with little to no warning, if he found himself alone. I sent the rest of the dogs to bed and let Arthur and Noelle take in their new surroundings without the added excitement of the others. I admit it was late; I was exhausted and was rather anxious for the two dogs to settle so we could go to bed. Noelle was very cooperative in that respect. Aside from another potty break for the both of them, and a quick romp and jump in my foyer she was ready to snooze. Arthur on the other hand was having none of that.

Around 4 AM I finally broke down and gave poor Arthur a doggie anxiety pill, hoping to take the edge off his nerves. Than the three of us went up to my oldest daughter's bedroom on the other side of the house. My hope was since it was a smaller room, Arthur would be able to sniff all there was to sniff, and settle down quickly. Noelle, climbed up on the bed with me and was quickly off to sleep. I layed there in the dark listening to the ticka ticka ticka ticka of Arthur's nails as he paced the floor. My body would tense as he would fall silent, bracing for a hound sound to break the stillness of the night. I'd relax again when the ticka ticka ticka would resume.

Before long I felt myself drifting off, and as I began to fall asleep I heard the creak of my daughter's closet door. The ticka ticka tickas were suddenly further away as I realized Arthur had found more room to explore. Within a few moments I heard a crashing and banging that I was sure would wake the entire house, and my husband would think someone was breaking in. I rushed to the closet and flipped on the light to find Arthur had walked himself into the narrow end of the closet and couldn't figure out how to back out. The only thing he knew and understood was that he certainly couldn't turn around. I calmed him down, and talked him into backing out. Once I got Arthur out of the closet, I braced the door shut and returned to the bed.

Some time must have passed, since there is a portion of the time I don't remember; I must have slept. The next thing I know Arthur is howling to beat the band. Full out and out soulful howls, incredibly loud, and I shot out of bed in an attempt to quiet him. Shhh Arthur, shhh, I begged him. Do you need to go potty I asked? As Arthur paused for breath, gearing up for round two, I hear my husband calling for me. I quickly relax a bit, when I realize it was my husband that woke up Arthur. I rushed downstairs to see him off to work with Arthur baying on my heels. I'm guessing that Noelle was still sleeping upstairs as she never made an appearance. I quickly took Arthur back outside and we returned to bed. The next thing I knew it was 7:30 AM!

Meeting Noelle and Arthur

The excitement, the worry, the wondering, and the stress over the float is what woke me early Saturday morning. I knew somewhere a thousand miles away, two lives were about to change as someone else rolled out of bed grumbling at the early hour and the chill in the air. The transport was about to begin! I was up and about at 4 AM, and on the way to work by 5. I finally arrived at work at 6 AM, dressed to beat the chill and downpours we were expecting as we worked to prepare the float for parade time (nearly 4 hours later). My first thought as I got out of my car was wondering if B was up as well. Had she picked up Arthur yet? Or was she still at home getting together last minute items for the trip? Was she in the car and driving? Or giving her own pets her goodbyes? I thought of her and the pups frequently throughout the morning, as we prepared the float; stapling, wiring, tugging, covering, and praying for the rain to stop. Around 9AM I got a phone call; B was on her way and was already into her first potty break. Everything was on schedule.

The day wore on, the rain did stop, the float went off beautifully in the parade, and before I knew it, I was back at work. Not long after I got there, I got a call from M, she was on her way to pick up L and than on to meet B and meet the puppers! Things are really moving forward now, and the second leg of the trip was about to begin. M and L, met up right on time, they got a bit delayed since during the afternoon there was some severe weather rolling through, N.C, VA, and MD. There were even tornado warnings out! Needless to say they were about an hour late meeting up with B, however, B utilized the time well and went to purchase toiletries and clothing. In the chaos of her morning she forgot to pack her bag. I can commiserate with how thrilled she probably was when she realized it, however, I did get a chuckle as that is something I would have done.

M, L, and B finally met up at 8PM, and M and L were off to my house, where they planned to spend the night before heading home in the morning. My foster pups were almost here! I couldn't help but wonder what they were like. Messages had been relayed along the way, but there's nothing like meeting them on your own. Despite a minor detour when the GPS was late in informing M of an exit, and M and L touched on the state of WV. They very quickly corrected their route and arrived at my home around 2:30 in the morning! I met them at the convenience store at the top of my road, and I could hear Arthur baying in the back. I couldn't help but smile, ohhh how I love that hound sound.

I quickly got my gallon of milk and led the way back to my house. L needed to use the facilities as M and I quickly unloaded the pups. I got the collie girl, who at that point still didn't have an official name, and M released Arthur from the confines of his crate. Wow! He was gorgeous, and huge! He was a bit excited, but I figured he'd been crated for quite a long trip, and the hound sounds....they were gorgeous!!! M and I quickly pottied the pups and bustled everyone inside, where I prayed Arthur would settle quickly, or at the very least quiet quickly as it was close to 3 AM and I didn't want the whole house to wake up.

Preparing for Noelle's journey to me

Well, we committed to it, and we are preparing. Noelle and Arthur are moving north, driving nearly 1,000 miles from her home state, through 5 states and into a 6th one. We have 5 days to prepare. How to getthem here? What will they need when they arrives? How to get them here? Did I mention how to get them here?

As you can well imagine, forefront on my mind was how to get Noelle , at that time called Babee, and Arthur to my house from a point nearly 1,000 miles and 6 states away! It is no small undertaking, and of course life was busy rolling along as well. A life that included me working my job on weekends, hubby working his on weekdays, 3 kids all in different schools, and no time to arrange for anyone to have off. Shall we also, mention that the one vehicle large enough to transport dogs comfortably, not to mention my family, was being uncooperative at the moment? Of course, that's just the icing on the cake. I had a van that would go, but wouldn't stop. Not only was my front brake bad (not both, just one - I just replaced them 2 months previously), but apparently the wheel cylinders were leaking AND there was a hole in the brake line. Go figure, but of course....that's life for ya! Always unpredictable!

To further add chaos to my life, my work was putting together a float for a local parade. Not just any float, but a float that involved living breathing dogs, with their handlers riding on top. Of course after nearly a week of gloriously warm weather (for November anyway) the weather was predicted to be just plain nasty....rainy and cold. So there I am, on Wed, trying to figure out how to move this dog 100's of miles (x10), helping my friend weather proof. brainstorm, and gather last minute items for the float; while I'm fighting off my first cold of the season. Sorry folks, not trying to gather pity, really. Just setting the stage for the insanity of that week, and to properly show just how grateful I was for two friends volunteering to transport these two lucky dogs from the shelter all the way to me themselves! Oh I don't care to know what would have become of Noelle if it hadn't been for them.

B agreed to pick Noelle, than Babee, up at the shelter and Arthur from his Grandma's house. Than leave to drive north early Saturday morning. She met M and L 600+ miles away at around 8 PM that evening. B than went and stayed with a friend for the weekend while M and L drove Noelle the rest of the way to me. A quick unexpected detour through a 7th state had them arriving at my home around 2 AM. Everyone was exhausted and quickly fell asleep with the exception of the dogs who after being cooped up for nearly 20 hours had some nervous energy to burn. It was great meeting M for the first time! I had previously met L on another transport, but that day was exceptional freezing cold so we didn't visit for long. We had a wonderful morning chatting with each other and visiting before M and L drove nearly 8 hours back home.



Several wonderful and caring friends unselfishly took a good bit of time out of their lives for Noelle. I'm sure they were just as busy as I was that weekend. They had plans, families, jobs, lives, pets and kids just like I did. They dropped everything on short notice, got in their cars, and drove into areas they'd never been, went through states they'd never been to, and stayed at people's houses they'd never met! All to save these dogs lives! I'm so grateful to be able to call these people my friends.

Learning of Noelle

I open an unsuspecting email one morning, it was fwd from a friend. A simple email, a forward, I receive many daily as do most of you. I didn't realize the impact this simple email would have on my life, the people it would bring together, and the lives that it would save. The email was titled, "FW: Need home..." When I opened it I found this.

"We are overcrowded and have had a four to five year old Collie, looks to be full blooded, dropped off on us. She is a very good dog, housebroken, crate trained, loves children. BABEE is good with other dogs and cats just wants love. She looks to have been spay, current on her shots.

We have to get her moved from where she is into a forever home or foster. If you know of anyone that would be interested in having her for a pet or fostering her please contact me ASAP. "
A collie, not to old, through no fault of hers is in the most dire of predicaments; was my first thought. It was quickly followed by the realization of how far away she was; and the reality of URGENT means now, not in two weeks. How in the world could I arrange to transport a dog nearly 1,000 miles and several states quickly?! It takes time to organize these things, and Thanksgiving is two weeks away. Gas is coming down in price; but the time, effort and trust involved and less than a week to make it work?

In addition there was another dog, Arthur, 6 year old blood hound who was also in need of a home. Arthur's situation was a bit different from the Noelle's as Arthur was in a very temporary home in an effort to keep him out of the shelter. Arthur's parents could no longer keep him due to the birth of a new baby. See Arthur is very clumsy and a bit rambunctious and his parent's were worried he may accidentally hurt the baby. So, for a little while, Arthur's grandmother agreed to keep him.

Well, needless to say I responded to the email. Inquiring a bit more about the dogs, their situation, and ultimately agreeing to foster them IF we could arrange a transport in time. My shelter contact person admitted she'd never done a transport of this distance before, but she was quick to agree to help. I've arranged a few transports, and as a matter of fact the one year anniversary of the first was the same weekend we were planning on transporting these two . I decided to ask several of the people that aided me in that transport since this one was coming along some of the same route.

Amazingly enough, the friend who originally sent me the email agreed to transport Arthur and Noelle just over half the distance, and combine the trip with visiting a friend of hers in Virginia. Two other friends in Virginia agreed to meet up with each other, pick up Noelle and Arthur and bring them the rest of the way to me. They would spend the night, before driving home the next day. It amazes me, how many people are willing to come together, put their own lives on hold, travel great distances, all for the benefit of one lucky dog.