Scott Messinger sends us yet another story…

This Pilots N Paws trip was from Bladen County, NC to Atlantic City and then on to Elmira, NY. The actual hound Rescue was located in Syracuse, but after we explained that due to low clouds we could only go as far north as Elmira, NY, the RESCUE group got a driver to meet us in Elmira.  The plan was that we would bring the dogs to Elmira and they would drive them the rest of the way. (or so it seemed.)

These hounds were yet ANOTHER group of southern hunting dogs that were turned into the Bladen County kill shelter. Hunting season was over, their owner had no further use for them…Happens all the time.  Yet another example of southern dogs being treated as nothing more than livestock, rather than the loving, soulful creatures that they are.

We were late getting into NC, and that’s when the trip started to get interesting.  First, these dogs were huge. Too big for our crates, we thought. Then after they were finally in the crate, fights broke out among the dogs.

After rearranging the dogs, we then got the next bit of good news…The receiver in Elmira threatened to back out. When we informed him that we would not be arriving into Elmira, NY, until 9pm, he wanted out. “Too late, and too long a drive,” he said.

Frantic calls were made so my rescue buds in NJ, and Lousiana. We needed a place to overnite these dogs until ground transport could be arranged.  It ended well, as the receiver had a change of heart and did meet us at Elmira, NY at 9 PM.

But, Mr. Murphy wasn’t quite done fooling with us this particular Valentines Day.  We had a flat tire on the runway at 10 PM, rented a car, and drove 6 hours back to Philadelphia, arriving about 4am. It just wasn’t our day, but them’s the breaks.