A Lift for a Lab

For those of you who haven't heard of Labs4rescue, they are a group of dedicated volunteers who rescue and re-home Labrador retrievers throughout the U.S. - and they are also the only Lab Rescue Group that I know of whom currently services my area. I heard of them a while back through a Labrador retriever forum which I no longer frequent, and I've always thought their group might be a good place to start my search the next time I'm looking for a dog. 

So when looking for volunteer opportunities a while back, I filled out an application with Labs4rescue, offering to do things like home visits, shelter checks, and the like. But although they adopt dogs out to families living on Long Island, the group is based in Connecticut, and they haven't had much need for my help. Even though they haven't requested my assistance, I've remained on their mailing list, and I often see emails regarding dogs that need rides to adoption events, or dogs needing rides to and from transport sites - but they are usually too far away for me to be of help.

This Tuesday, I opened one such email regarding a dog named Rocco, a sweet yellow Lab mix in need of a hand. You see, someone wanted to adopt Rocco, but the problem was, he was being housed at Hounds Town USA here on Long Island - and his potential adopters lived all the way up in Maine.

But, lucky for Rocco, there was a transport truck coming through the area, run by a wonderful company called Rescue Road Trips, that could take him up to New England - as long as someone could get him to a pick up point in the Hudson Valley over the coming weekend. Being that I live on Long Island, and I'm somewhat familiar with the Hudson Valley because I drove myself to a Delta Society handler class in Valley Cottage about five years ago, I thought, "Hey, why not give that pup a lift?"

And I'm happy to say, the arrangements have been made, I'll be picking the little guy up later today, and he'll have a short stay-over before being escorted to his pick up point over the weekend. From there, he'll ride along with Rescue Roadtrips until their last stop in New Hampshire, and then he'll make his way to his adoptive family up in Maine. How great is that? 

But Rocco's story is far from unique. Did you know that there are groups of dedicated volunteers helping to transport rescued dogs from point A to point B every day across the Country? They tirelessly pull dogs from shelters, see that they are vetted, often giving them temporary housing before chauffeuring them to and from pick up points, passing them along from person to person, and helping them on their journeys to their Furever Homes. From commercial truck drivers, to airplane pilots, to people like you and I - these committed volunteers are, as the saying goes, "Saving lives, one dog at a time." 

Knowing that there are so many people out there doing this sort of volunteer work on a daily basis, I feel honored to be able to assist with just this one dog. You see, since I'm off the beaten path here on Long Island, there are not many opportunities for me to help with transport - and judging by my family's reaction to me volunteering, I think this is probably a good thing.

First my brother-in-law offered to ride along with me, and I also found out that my Mom planned to surprise me by coming along, but Nick took it one step further. He wanted to surprise me too, and not just to tag along, but by driving both me and Rocco to the pickup location. I'd like to say they all just wanted to take part in a transport too, and while that may have been one of their reasons for offering to help, it wouldn't have been their main one. The sad truth is, I've been known to get lost just going around the corner - and all of them were worried about me driving through the city and up north on my own. I guess after Nick makes sure that I get back safe and sound from saying "Bon Voyage" to Rocco, maybe I better stick to volunteer opportunities that are little closer to home...