Husky Caravan

Yesterday several Harnessed to Hope volunteers coordinated to get two dogs in Maryland to foster homes in Pennsylvania. Here is how their day went.

Volunteers in Maryland get up at 7:00 am (on a Saturday!!), drink lots of coffee, and go to the Frederick County Animal Control Shelter to get Adak, a 2 year old red and white male Siberian Husky. Adak had been at the shelter for about 3 or 4 weeks, so he had a LOT of pent up energy and was pretty hyper. He also had no leash training, so the volunteers decided to try and tire him out in the field behind the shelter before putting him in the car. As you can see, he was VERY excited!



Adak has a LOT of energy, so they play with him to try to tire him out before the long car ride.

Here you can see just what a goofball he is!



Here you can see HOW MUCH he was shedding!



Then the volunteers spent about 15 minutes putting a harness on Adak and fitting it correctly. This harness hooks into a car seatbelt and gives the dog enough room to sit up, lay down, and move around a little, but keeps them secured in the back seat of the car. They got Adak into the back seat and were trying to hook the harness up to the seat belt, and Adak got anxious. He wiggled backwards, right out of the harness, and made a run for the street. The other volunteer quickly grabbed his collar and they got him back into the car and secured. Close call!

Then they drove about 30 minutes to pick up Brody, a 4 year old male Siberian Husky that was staying at a temporary foster home. Brody was now going to his long term foster home, where he will stay until he is adopted. Adak had gotten restless in the car, and Brody was very excited to see the volunteers and Adak, so they decided to walk the dogs around a little and run them to tire them out before the next leg of the trip. They both enjoyed drinking from the pump by the barn.





Then Adak and Brody each got a turn on a long leash running around a field.



Once both boys had run around, had some nice cold water and had a chance to cool off, each volunteer secured a dog in the back seat of their cars and they began the next leg of the transport. If you're wondering why they took two cars, it's becaues neither person had a car big enough to fit dog crates in, and they couldn't have the two dogs loose in the same car. It wouldn't be safe to have them wrestling in the car!

They finally made it to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania where the dogs would change cars again. This van would take them to Brody's foster home in Lancaster, PA. Adak's foster family would pick him up and take him to their house in Bethlehem, PA. Both dogs were ready for a little more exercise, as they were both very excited.



Adak prefers to play tug of war with his leash.




After the boys were tired out, they were put into crates in a van for the next leg of transport.



Brody managed to jump up on top of a 6.5 foot wall at his foster home in Lancaster. His foster family went out that night and got a section of iron fencing to block off the part of the wall that is near the fence.



Both dogs are doing very well in their foster homes. Thanks to the 8 volunteers that worked together to get these two dogs to foster homes and a new "leash" on life!

If you are in Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware or eastern PA, and think that you might be able to do something like this to help dogs in need, please visit www.nbrescue.com and click on Volunteering. The dogs will thank you for it!