I know I promised a trip report and I would have liked to have gotten this done by now.
Bridget & Flanagan's Mommy came down with the much dreaded Spring cold/flu. It's dreaded because it hangs around forever. Every time you think you are feeling better, you go straight back to feeling worse.
Anyway, I'll do my best.
Once we learned that Bridget & Flanagan would be ours we had to figure out away to get them here. I had never done this before and the folks at CARA hadn't had much experience with flying the pups from down South to up North. Because of this I was uncertain what would be acceptable. I know that I had read, over and over again, that Continental had the best pet cargo service. So, I was totally disappointed and dismayed to find that Continental does not have the required type of plane for pets out of Jackson. The closest to Jackson was either New Orleans or Alabama.
So now I needed to find away to get them there so they could get on a flight to Boston. This was not an easy thing, at all.
First of all, Janet never put Bridget & Flanagan in the kennel area of the shelter. There were two reasons for this. The first reason was they simply ran out of room. Lucky for Bridget & Flanagan and very lucky for us that CARA always has room in it's heart. Now, seeing that the pups were young and add to the fact that Janet knew they would be going to us, she thought it wise to keep them in the lobby, separated from all the other dogs at the shelter. Why subject them to any possible health risks? I agree. But this also made it hard to find a way to transport them to us.
It would be silly to then put them on a rescue transport with lots of other dogs.... it would defeat the logic of keeping them separate at the shelter.
So, what to do? I'll tell you what I did. I spent a frantic few days trying to find someone, anyone, who would get them to the nearest Continental airport. I have to tell you that that many folks here in Massachusetts told me I was being foolish and expecting way too much. I was also chastised for looking at rescue shelters so far away.
This did not deter me...I knew the minute I saw Bridget & Flanagan that they were ours. They were in my heart. I knew I'd find a way.
Turns out that a rescue transport group that I contacted told me about Delta and that they had a fine pet cargo program. But before they did, they offered to go get Bridget & Flanagan in Jackson and take them to another town in Mississippi for an in house, overnight, stop and the following morning they would get them to Memphis, Tennessee where they could pick up a Continental flight to Boston. And they offered to do this for nothing... personal pick up. Imagine that! The woman who kindly offered to do this is Cindy Leigh MS/NoTX/OK Team Leader and Board of Trustees of Small Paws Rescue http://www.smallpawsrescue.org Just the trip from one part of MS to Jackson was a 7 hour round trip. The trip to Memphis was a 3 hour round trip. Yes, there are good people out there and I knew I would find them. Thank you, Cindy. Before I found them I came across a rescue transport network made up of private pilots. All of them animal lovers. And, yup, they told me they would try and help, too. Good folks at http://pilotpaws.flyimc.com/
So, now you're thinkin' this should be a piece of cake, right? Ya, me too!
A band of tornado's had a different idea. I still can't believe that tornado's down South would have any impact on me, here in Boston. They even made our news up here. Geesh! The pups were scheduled to fly from Jackson. MS to Atlanta, GA and finally, to us, in Boston. I made the arrangements the day before the scheduled flight on Friday, April fifth.
All Janet needed to do was get them to the Jackson airport two hours before the departure. And she did. This was good news and bad news. The good news is that they were at the airport before anyone even knew that the tornado's would be a factor because the tornado's did touch the CARAMS shelter. Janet managed to get all the dogs in from their outdoor play spaces just in the nick of time. Not two minutes after rounding up all the dogs a metal roofed shaded area of the play space was ripped off and sheared sending it careening into the play space. Thankfully, all the dogs are fine.
The bad news is that Janet quickly realized that these tornado's were heading east, towards Atlanta. It was not likely that the pups would get out on schedule.
Janet had sent a shelter staffer/volunteer to take the pups to the airport. She was in touch with her and somewhat in touch with me. We had already decided that no news is good news and I didn't want to talk with her until they got out of Jackson, on Janet's end, and arrived in Boston, on my end. Turns out that the volunteer staffer was also delivering another lucky pup heading to New England. It was one of the adorable M and candy named pups, M & M, that I've written about earlier. M & M had a loving new Mama waiting for her in Connecticut. The pups were going to go on different flight, at first. Now the tornado's had caused all kinds of delays. Janet and I were back and forth on the phone, the whole time. Right about the time that I suggested that we cancel this until the next day, Janet heard that the 3 pups were now assigned on the same flight to Atlanta where M & M and Bridget & Flanagan would then part ways. I was even given the phone # to the Delta employee that was with my pups. I breathed a sigh of relief. Too soon, much too soon.
Even though the departure time kept changing, I was assured that my pups were in good hands and just waiting for the flight to get clearance. When it finally did I was so relieved. Turns out the pups were never given an assigned flight and nobody could say where, exactly, they were. Or what, if any, flight they were on! This was a nightmare! They were so young and tiny and I had horrible fears for their safety.
Not to mention the guilt! I kept thinking, over and over, that if I wasn't so impatient to get them here that they would be safe. Not mine, but safe. My heart was breaking.
What to do? What to do? Janet tried calling Delta from her end and I did the same. I was able, right from the start, to get in touch with Delta Cargo at Logan airport and Janet could do the same at Jackson. Neither of us could talk to the Delta people at Atlanta. Or, more accurately, the right people at Atlanta. It appears that some nitwit pencil neck (read: upper management) had decided it was more important to get all the live animals onto a plane, any plane, than following proper procedure and keeping a tracking record that lets you know where, exactly, your pet is at all times! Did he/she really think that this would be reassuring? It was not! I felt that they were, now, trying to hide something. And I kept being told Atlanta was Delta's hub, it was huge and not as easily reached if there was a problem. And that I should understand that. I didn't. I thought that because it IS Delta's hub things should be managed even better and that there would be a clear line to departments. All I could think of was my babies put on an international flight, or worse, left alone and left behind and nobody would notice in time.
All I can say is thank God for the three Delta Cargo employees at Logan. They were fantastic! Went way above and beyond their job duties.
The first one was Kim Sholtz. Oh! What a sweetheart she is! She was the 3 to 11 shift supervisor and spent hours on the phone with me and for me. She stayed an hour after her shift was over to make sure the next guy, Karl Marshman, was aware of this situation. And, oh boy! Was he ever! My goodness, he was fantastic. As was his supervisor, Kristen O'Donell. These three, wonderful, people stayed way past the official closing time and they personally searched each plane and called me at home after each flight. When we were down to the last flight of the night, I was near tears. Karl told me to never give up. He was right! It took major restraint on my part to NOT call after I saw that the last flight had landed. When the phone rang, I held my breath and my heart was in my very parched throat. It seemed an eternity before I heard his sweet words to me. "Come and get your babies, Momma". OMG!
It was 2:45 am, we got there at the empty, should've been long closed, Delta cargo at 3:15 am. I didn't see Karl, at first. He was down on the floor, behind the counter, bribing my little Devil Dogs with biscuits for good behavior. HA! It didn't work, of course, but I give him loads of credit for trying. I was looking to see Bridget & Flanagan when Karl asked me a strange question. He said "Do you know Dr. Seuss"? I said "Green eggs and ham"? "Ya, him". At that he disappeared below the counter and promptly popped up with Flanagan, otherwise known as "Thing number 1" LOL! Bridget, Thing number 2, was up next! Karl agreed that Bridget & Flanagan were, indeed, beautiful pups, more than worth all the worry! He also said they were a Handful! A handful, eh? Devil Dogs, pure little devils!
He told me that I really did luck out because the 3 dog lover's were all on duty the same day that Bridget & Flanagan went missing. And it's true.
Wanna know somethin' else that's true? Kim, Karl and Kristen (OH My... I just realized that they all share the same first initial, tee hee, like the dog litters at CARAMS) don't actually, work for Delta. They are employed with a subcontractor of Delta called Air General and although most of the employee's of Delta that I did deal with, that long day into night, were wonderful, one of them was not. He was dismissive, flip and rude. Pretty much told me that it was the end of the night and I shouldn't expect him or anyone else from Delta to help, or care. He told me that Delta was a passenger airline and that humans are their main concern.
Ya know, Karl Marshman was horrified that someone from Delta would give me such lousy customer service and he said he felt personally responsible to apologise on behalf of Delta. He wasn't happy, at all, to find that one jerk could leave such a bad taste that it could cause anyone to think that this was the norm. Karl assured me it was not and he was very proud of Delta . Here's a great, big shout out to Kim, Karl and Kristen...Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! It wouldn't be right if I didn't give a much deserved tip o' the hat to Delta! Well done, Delta!!
We finally leave the airport with Bridget & Flanagan, safe in their crate, at 4:15 am. This had been a very, very long day. We got home about 4:30. Mommy and Daddy were exausted and wanted nothing more than a few hours of sleep. Bridget & Flanagan had other ideas! They were wide awake and full of energy, so glad to be out of the crate. Mommy & Daddy spent the next 3 hours on the floor with the pups. We were so tired we were silly. Silly in love with the 2 pups! I couldn't get over just how adorable they were! They still are!
So, that's how the 2 lucky Chow Chow pups got from Point A to Point B, for Boston.
A bit of bad news. The snazzy new Sanyo camera is not working out. I will return it on Saturday and will have to wait until Walmart gets more Coolpix's. Don't like this, at all. For now, you'll just have to read about the pup's antics.
Later,
Bridget & Flanagan's Mommy
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