If you have any large, extra large or giant size airline crates hanging around now is your chance to get rid of them and help out the Galgos at the same time!
One of our underlying missions here at SHUG is to lower the cost of adoption. When I fell head over heels in love with my first Galgo in March of 2012, I went into the process blind. I'd been given a range for her expenses but my final cost far outstripped that range. Josephine was absolutely worth every penny. I'd seen her picture and known in that moment she was my dog. (How the heck did my dog get halfway around the world?? I still haven't figured that one out. I swear there's an I Love Lucy episode in there somewhere.) But the uncertainty of the ultimate cost of getting her home and the ever increasing expenses added anxiety to an experience that was already nerve wracking enough.
Our goal at SHUG was to at least cut out the uncertainty over cost. We knew from the beginning that we wanted to offer our adopters a flat fee so they could know what they were getting into. In our planning stages, we knew we could get that fee down to $850. Before we adopted our first dog, we were able to lower it to $750. This past February, we lowered our international adoption fee to $650.
Many people have asked us how we're able to do that. There are two answers. The first is because of you. Our supporters, who donate their time, supplies, and money toward helping Sighthounds in need make a lot of this possible. We honor your donations by spending them wisely.
The second factor is . . . we hustle! That's right--we here at SHUG hustle. We're always thinking, day and night, of ways to lower our costs. So . . . here's our latest brilliant idea!
Next month we're sending a shipment of crates by sea to Spain. Why crates? Because this is the best way to lower our expenses. There are three components to our expenses: vet care (reimbursed to the shelter in Spain), airfare for the dog, and the crate the dog flies in.
The shelters we partner with in Spain already do everything they can to lower their costs without skimping on the dogs' care. The airfare for the dogs is set by the airlines--although we’re always harassing them! (Side note: if you know anyone who works for American, Europa, Iberia, or United Airlines who might be able to help us get reduced non-profit rates or let us fly dogs as baggage without a ticketed passenger--especially on American--please drop me a line at info@sighthoundunderground.com.
So we've been working on ways to lower our crate expenses. The obvious answer is to reuse the crates. Unfortunately, most of our flight patrons aren't able to take crates over with them or bring them back if they're Spaniards.
This is where we got creative! The crates are too big and unwieldy to send to Spain by conventional means, so we're sending them by ship! We've collected 35 crates in the Washington, D.C. area and will be sending them in October to Spain. We'll also be including in this shipment leashes, collars, beds, coats, etc. that we think might be of use to the Galgos.
If you would like to contribute crates or other items, you need to get them to us in DC! Email me any questions(also info@sighthoundunderground.com). If you don't have any crates or extra martingales lying around, but would still like to help out, the cost of sending this shipment to Spain will be around $2,000. You can donate toward our expenses here or you can kill two birds with one stone and help us cover our expenses and buy yourself a cool t-shirt all at the same time. This limited edition t-shirt was designed to help us fund what we're calling The Madrid Airlift--although technically it's by sea. It's the thought that counts, right?
