5 Dogs, a Girl and a Civic

Quote of the Day: "Thank God I got the rejects. These animals are very, very affectionate." - Eartha Kitt


Have you heard the one about that starts out, "Two mutts, a puppy, a Pit Bull, a Chihuahua and a girl pile into a car...?" No? Well, up until today, I hadn't either. While it sounds like the start to a joke you might hear from your weird uncle or something, it's actually pretty much how I spent my day.

As I've mentioned, part of my job requires me to go to the local animal shelter once a week. After six months of doing this, you kind of develop a sense of wanting to actually do something to help these animals. Throw in the fact that I've been anxious to get out of town whenever I can since my South Carolina project ended, and I decided to volunteer to become a "transporter." This means taking dogs from kill shelters to homes and rescues that might not be nearby.

I've had two requests, so far, but after accepting them both, both fell through. I was more or less ready to give up on my little journey into doing volunteer work when a local lady emailed today and said they have a rescue group that's willing to take five of the dogs from our local shelter today. A rescue group taking five dogs at once these days is practically unheard of, and when I saw which dogs it would be, I jumped on the chance. A few of them were ones that I was familiar with and feared would never get adopted - that and tomorrow is "kill day" at the shelter, so who knows what would happen if they weren't saved.

I threw on some clothes, headed up there and the guy who runs the place asked if I really thought I was going to fit five dogs in my car. I told him I would try, and he looked at me like I was nuts, but he OK'd it. Two volunteers began bringing the dogs out and we soon realized this may not be a good idea.

First we got this little dog that looked like a Rottweiler-Dachshund mix into the car. She was medium-sized and a little hesitant, but very sweet. Then there was this larger Pit Bull. She was young, also very sweet, but very wild. Dog #1 and Pit Bull sniffed at each other and practically filled up my back seat. Dog #1 was not thrilled with how excited Pit Bull was and got a little scared. I told them to hold off on the Pit Bull. Maybe I could find a way to let her ride alone in the front.

Next, they brought out a little Lab puppy who is about 10 weeks old or so. She could care less about the other dogs and just ran around the car excitedly. No problems there. Next was the tiny chihuahua who was scared to death. She and Dog #1 got into a little rumble because one stepped on the other, but she was so tiny, I figured I could keep them separated for the ride. Finally, they brought out Sophie. I'm not sure what to call her. She's a larger dog who has been at the shelter for a while. The first time I saw her, I pointed out that she looks like an extremely large cat. The second time I saw her, I decided she looks like a cartoon dog. She's very unique, but I feared she wouldn't be adopted, because, and I say this as nicely as possible, she's kind of homely looking. She's also very timid and shy and doesn't really come around to the cage doors when someone visits the dogs in her row, but she is a very good dog, and I'm glad she got a chance to get out of there.

At some point, I made the executive decision that Pit Bull would be riding with someone else, or I'd have to make two trips. (Luckily, another lady volunteered to take her, so she made it out today, too.)

So, off I go with my tiny Civic full of dogs. I've got Dog #1 in my front seat, just riding along, occasionally trying to jump up on the dashboard; the Chihuahua in the front floor board, trying to climb over the gear shift, into my floor board (thank God she was wearing a collar I could easily grab); Sophie the huge dog sitting in the back seat, panting like she's in shock; and the little Lab puppy in the floor of the back seat, standing on her hind legs and barking every so often.

My destination was about 70 minutes away (well, according to Google Maps - the Atlanta traffic was not taken into consideration). I wasn't even out of town before I smelled something gross. I thought it was the puppy. Of course, puppies have accidents. Nope. Sophie, the large dog, had a large accident on my backseat. Ew. She promptly moved herself to the other side of the seat so she wouldn't have to stand in it and smear it all over the rest of the car. Good girl.

The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful. Sophie just sat and stared aimlessly at the window. At one point, she decided to snack on her poop. (I know, I know.) The puppy slept in the back seat floor and every once in a while, she'd stand up and bark at me over the arm rest or chew on my sweater. Chihuahua kept trying to climb into my side of the floor until I picked her up and put her in the seat, where Dog #1 felt it was her job to attach her nose to Chihuahua's butt. That was when Chihuahua decided to be held, and I learned that driving with one hand is perfectly acceptable when you have a tiny Chihuahua in your other arm.

They were all going to a foster home where they'd stay until they got into permanent foster homes, and I passed the place two times before realizing I was passing the right place. (It was just a house, I was expecting a farm based on some email exchanges.) Right before I went by the third time, Dog #1 decided to throw up all over my floor. Sigh.

I dropped them off, and their temporary "mom" and her family got them out of my car so fast that I didn't even get to say goodbye. I mean, I'm not a Chihuahua person, but you don't drive halfway around the state and not get attached to the little dog that laid in the crook of your right arm, whimpering.

After that, I made my way back through the Atlanta traffic and headed straight to Publix, where I bought paper towels, Clorox wipes, and Lysol, and something easy to cook for supper, and I drove over to a car wash, where I cleaned scrubbed, shampooed and vacuumed all of the dog remnants out of my car. It's as good as new, but more importantly, five dogs won't be killed tomorrow. That's worth half an hour of scrubbing out my backseat and half a tank of gas if I do say so myself.

I didn't get home until about 9:00 tonight. I came home to two little dogs who had managed to get into something gross outside and the thoughts of bathing them made me want to curl up in bed and cry. Not only did the little rescue mission wear me out, but I still have lots of work to do tonight. But after spending the afternoon with four and a half dogs who were rejected by irresponsible and uncaring people, I bathed them, got out their fleece blankets and even went upstairs to dig out my little space heater so they wouldn't freeze to death (it's currently in the 40's here).

I have a feeling this is the beginning of a life of volunteer work, whether it be with homeless animals or something else. And for once, I'm not doing it to make myself look good on a college or job application. And I think I am OK with that.