Message From the Director: Giving Thanks for an Extended SHUG Family

Our volunteers at SHUG do a great job of making our work look easy – even when it’s not. Over the past year we've learned a lot and gotten pretty good at this rescue thing (with a few notable exceptions). The credit goes not just to the wonderful SHUG volunteers, but also to those who volunteer for our partners here and abroad. We've had two recent transports where it might have looked easy, but it definitely wasn't.

 

Safir seemed eager to get on with his new life in the U.S.
Safir seemed eager to get on with his new life in the U.S.

Salukis Safir and Loui came from Dubai – two sweet dogs headed to loving homes in the U.S. But stop for a moment and wonder at the sheer number of people who came together to make this rescue happen:

 

From Kay McIntyre, who rescued Loui, to Nin Saukis in Need for helping us find these dogs, to the crate sponsor http://www.moveoneinc.com/for donating their crates, to http://joumichic.com/ for donating their bedding and donating toward their paperwork, to Amanda Ainsworth (ASCOC) for coordinating all the moving parts on her end in Dubai and whose help was invaluable, and to Ranjit Bhonsle whose generosity and sponsorship helped make this transport possible. (And a special shout out to the Ras Al Khaimah Animal Welfare Centre for boarding and treating Safir for free!)

 

And when all the planning for the dogs was finally ready, Louise Arpa was able to get the companion ticket sponsored and her mother-in-law actually made the (very long) flight with our two boys.

 

That was a rescue literally months in the making. Sometimes we have just hours to pull together a plan.

 

Lucy, Miley, Noa, and Miranda are four Galgas who arrived from Spain on Friday. This was a complicated transport since dogs were going to California, Washington state, and Oklahoma. George Knott, who also sponsored one of the companion tickets, flew from California to New York’s JFK airport to meet transporter Sherry Van Dyke with his Lucy and Sherry's Miley. Then Monica Whitman was flying to Dallas to meet Jane Pace and help her with Noa and Miranda. But her flight was cancelled due to bad weather!

 

Noa and Miranda finally on the way home to Oklahoma, capping a long and complicated journey from Spain.
Noa and Miranda finally on the way home to Oklahoma, capping a long and complicated journey from Spain.

Once again the extended SHUG family sprang into action and within minutes there were Sighthound people on the way to the airport to lend Jane a hand! Jayne Wallace met Jane Pace at the airport and even offered her a bed for the night so she didn't have to drive the dogs home to Oklahoma on icy roads.

 

We've said it before and we'll no doubt say it again, but Sighthound people rock!

 

We're celebrating Thanksgiving in the states this week but we want to send this thanks out to all of our extended Sighthound family around the world. Thank you! We really appreciate the work you do. We couldn't do this without you. And there wouldn't be so many deserving dogs waiting under the table for the soon-to-be forthcoming turkey scraps without your efforts. We hope you all have a wonderful holiday, no matter where you are.

 

Thank you all!

 

Michael Owens
Director, Sighthound Underground

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