Single dog flights

[Vetscalpel]

I recently changed my profile so now I automatically get an e mail with flight requests in my area although it seems they are coming from a lot further away from what I said I could fly. That's okay but what I find interesting is that it seems like many of these are requests to fly a single dog to its "new home." I thought this "organization" was conceived to "rescue" dogs and move them to an area where they could find new homes. Maybe it is the skeptic in me but when I see a single dog going to a home I wonder if this is a rescue mission or someone requesting taxi service to save themselves a few dollars to ship the dog from one place to another. Does anyone else wonder if we are flying dogs purchased online from a breeder to the new owner or am I out to lunch? I recognize that we are free to take on or refuse any posted mission so maybe it is a non issue but I am beginning to wonder if this organization will get a reputation for being a taxi service. It also makes me wonder if "legitimate" requests are getting overlooked because of it. I am curious if there is any data on the number of animals transported per flight and what percentage of requests for flights get flown.

Paul Howard
Vermont Veterinary Surgical Center
Colchester VT 05446
www.vtvetsurgery.com

[Jon]

Paul,

I think you have every right to be a skeptic. Most of the requests I see are legitimate, but we have had folks that will try to use PNP to have the family pet transported.

I cannot speak about how other pilots screen requests, but I have over a 30 month period sorted out how I choose to do a transport, and one of the criteria is that I want a full or nearly full plane to spread the cost over a greater number of animals. Just doing that tends to not expose me to people who are not sending a rescue animal. Also over time I have developed a relationship with a number of rescues who have become "regulars". They can keep me busy so that also minimizes my exposure to folks trying to get a ride for the family pet. I just don't have time.

However I have carried a number of animals to their new owners. Thanks to the internet it is not unusual to carry an animal from a rescue to the new owners so I think the best way to verify you are not being scammed if in doubt is to ask if the sending or receiving party is a rescue and if in doubt ask how you can verify it.

[Steve Foley]

I recently changed my profile so now I automatically get an e mail with flight requests in my area although it seems they are coming from a lot further away from what I said I could fly.

The goal is to notify you of any requests that pass within flying distance of your airport. So if a straight line request passes within ten miles of your airport, you'll get notified, even if both ends are thousands of miles away.

Since the calculation of the distance from your airport to the courseline is extremely complicated, I cheated, and wrote it so if routing the transport through your airport added less than your flying distance to the transport, you get notified. In actuality, the 'flying distance' is really 'how far out of the way is my airport'.

Adding many more trigonometric functions to the formula would likely break the server.

[flypiper]

Hey guys---you should never never never never "mix" dogs from different rescues. The dogs SHOULD BE flying with a health certificate, (please check---just read a horror story about that--just happened to an OTRA transporter) but I have received many with giardiia/worms/hw, and other diseases which may take time to manifest themselves. Then, all the animals are exposed.

People who run ground transports have known this for years, and do not do it.

Sometimes, rescues in one state have adopted a dog to a family in another---I have no problem flying that dog/cat to the new home! Think about it---it is expensive to transport a dog once adopted---that can be a 'deal breaker' and the dog would not have a home unless we fly them. People who are willing to take an animal unseen and unmet in to their home are gold!!

I foster as well as transport by air and ground, and can only foster one dog at a time. Yes, you see posts asking my fellow pilots to help me get a new foster to me---from a kill shelter usually to my home to be adopted. I work with a number of rescues---from TN to MI to NJ and PA.

Does it really matter -- if you CAN do the flight---whether you have 10 puppies or one adult dog? Whatever can fit in crates in my 140 is all that matters to me. You get to fly, and help, and have a tax deduction all at the same time---better than those $100 hamburgers!!

If you don't want to help that ONE dog or cat, then say no. Please, do not make it harder for others to say yes!! The last I listed--a 90 lb shep, got little response. Why? One large dog? I don't know.
She needed a home as much as those 4-5 smaller dogs....and harder to place b/c of her size and age.

I have never seen anyone asking for private transport other than military people to their new base. There is always a rescue listed---watch for that! Contact them. Check them---are they legit?

Thanks for all you do! Fly safe!
Linda

[traunero]

It is nice when it can be coordinated to maybe deliver a dog to an airport and pick one up there and bring it back to my home area. I've been able to do that a couple times. But, unlike Jon, I don't have the time to coordinate and figure out how to get many animals (they would have to be puppies in order to get very many together) from A to B easily. It's just easier to do it one animal at a time, or maybe two.

I have actually helped get animals to their new home, but I usually work with rescues, and I ask for verification (a web site is helpful). I'm sure I've been "taken" a few times, in the end I really don't care. I got to fly, and I get the tax deduction.

[flypiper]

I wonder if others have been "taken"? This is opening my eyes to something I never even considered prior to this topic being posted (I tend to fly with the same rescues all the time---they always have animals moving to the North East, which is me doing the last leg).

I LOVE that idea to coordinate going home---the other way!! Never thought of doing that.

Thanks for the insights!
Linda

[conneerobertson]

I cannot speak for other rescues, but, can tell you that we drive to the shelters, some as far as Baltimore, Maryland to pull our dogs. We then bring dogs home, usually only a few at the most, at a time because we may only have a few adopters and we do not pull dogs unless we have an adopter for them. We get our dogs fully vetted, along with a health certificate. Most of the time the dogs come out of the shelters with coccidia, worms and other health issues. We may have to spend some time getting them through health probs. We once took a dog that was emaciated and had a broken leg that needed amputation.We drove to Baltimore, Maryland for that dog, as he had to be closely monitored with the leg and not eating for two months and felt flying or transporting could only be done by ourselves with our knowledge and experience. We got lucky and our wonderful vet here saved that dog's leg. We get paperwork from the shelters and have to be approved by the shelters to pull as a rescue. If there is a question as to whether it is a "rescue" dog or not, we can provide paper work from the shelter that we pulled from. We try to get them to their homes as soon as we possibly can. We have people fill out an extensive adoption form. We try to get animals homes where they will not end up back in the shelter, so we can be pretty strict. Most of these people have had to pay for the fees to fully vet the dog (vaccinations, spays/neuters, and rabies and health certs) We do not charge for pulling or tranporting, fostering or feeding and medicating until the dogs or cats can be vetted. We do this to save their lives..Our ultimate goal is the animals go to forever homes...usually that is one home at a time and PnP provides a valuable part of the transport side. We all try to save them. One dog at a time. Right now out of my last pull...I have one dog that needs to go to Michigan, one to California, one to Washington State and a kitten to Arizona. Thanks to PilotsnPaws, Operation Roger, OTRA, we are able to save our best friends.

[arizonabsd]

I thought this "organization" was conceived to "rescue" dogs and move them to an area where they could find new homes. Maybe it is the skeptic in me but when I see a single dog going to a home I wonder if this is a rescue mission or someone requesting taxi service to save themselves a few dollars to ship the dog from one place to another.

I've come late to this post but I want to throw in my 2 cents from the perpective of a rescue.

As I understood at the time, PNP started as a bulletin board type of system for rescue orgs and pilots to connect and team up to move dogs that are already in rescue, or are ready to be accepted by rescue. The dogs typically spend 3 weeks in foster care while they are evaluated as to temperament, personality, basic obedience, training requirements, etc, while the rescue is also evaluating prospective adopters. I'd say this is true for 80-85% of posts requesting assistance. The appropriate new home or even the best temp foster isn't necessarily in the same city (or state) as the animal.

Sometimes, individuals operate similarly to rescues but lack a volunteer network to assist with transport, trips to the vet, and foster care, so are working on their own in an attempt to help a creature however they can, and they post requests too.

In some cases, shelters have volunteers or community "friends" willing to help rehome pets that are unwanted in their own area, including lining up transportation by whatever means. I'm thrilled that shelters, who until recently had no idea about transport (via any means) or how rescues function, have begun to turn to pilot themselves.

I network with other rescue orgs and shelters throughout the country. I rescue one breed from all of the US, and adopt TO homes in all of the US. This is a less common breed so I am usually routing long flights. I wouldn't combine adult dogs on a flight unless they'd known each other for some time beforehand; pilots have enough to do without listening to two dogs grouching at each other. And because they're fairly large dogs, there isn't room for two crates, although I do browse posts for other dogs going my way in case they'll fit in the airplanes and the pilots are willing.

All these factors and more culminate in the stage that you see-- the flight requests. If pilots did what rescues do, I don't think they'd have much flying time available, as rescue is usually a 24/7 effort in vetting, evaluating, working with our fosters, training and transporting. Arranging transportation, by whichever means or combinations, is and always has consumed the bulk of our time; PNP hasn't changed that but it DOES give us more options. It also substantially increases the odds that dogs in need get where they most need to go.

Yes, there are requests here from people looking for taxi rides, as you put it. Some pilots care very much about a poster's motives, as do some rescues. There are hoarders adding to their collections by getting dogs from all over the country that they wouldn't otherwise have access to. Pilots hear from breeders wanting delivery of their sold puppies, puppy buyers looking for a free ride, and people who are moving but didn't make arrangements to take their pets with them. We rescues are contacted by non-member pilots, people posing as pilots, and people offering to transport for a fee. I don't like that stuff but it isn't totally unexpected in a system like this. In the end, it comes down to deciding which requests pilots want to answer depending on their personal thoughts about each case.

I wish you many enjoyable trips!

[noomi]

I've looked around the site and have not found anything, so I thought I'd ask. Does PnP have a flyer that could be hung in airports informing pilots about the mission? I know eventually it's PnP's goal to have a pilot at each airport, and was wondering if there was something in place for this already. I'm planning to drive to Lordsburg this weekend and thought if there was a flyer I could hang it up or atleast let someone know about PnP.

[admin]

I've looked around the site and have not found anything, so I thought I'd ask. Does PnP have a flyer that could be hung in airports informing pilots about the mission? I know eventually it's PnP's goal to have a pilot at each airport, and was wondering if there was something in place for this already. I'm planning to drive to Lordsburg this weekend and thought if there was a flyer I could hang it up or atleast let someone know about PnP.

Noomi, yes there is a flyer on our homepage that can be printed out and taken to the small plane sections (FBO's) of any airport. Please ask them to post it in the pilot lounge or anywhere that is visible to pilots. Go to www.pilotsnpaws.org and you will find the flyer under DOWNLOADS at the top.

Thank you so much!