Dog Rescue Flights

AuntPeggy

AuntPeggy

Final Approach
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Namaste
After answering this question in another thread, I decided it deserves its own thread.

TangoWhiskey said:
So I know there are several pilots on this board that do these "dog rescue" flights. Tell me more... what is the situation that exists that requires flying the dogs around? (Not being flippant, I really want to know more!)
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For the most part, these dogs are coming from shelters with high-kill rates to shelters or adopters in other parts of the country.

Pilots N Paws http://pilotsnpaws.org/ has a board where pilots can arrange a leg for dogs that need a flight.

Animal Rescue Flights http://www.animalrescueflights.org/ also has a board, but they take a hand in coordinating the flights. They try to handle longer multi-leg flights. As a result, they have a need for ground (coordinators) volunteers, too.

Unlike Angel Flight and others involved in transporting humans, the pilot requirements are less restrictive. You only need to be willing and able.

Law enforcement around the country is working to rescue animals in puppy mills. As a result, there are a large number of mothers with pups going to rescue shelters. Now, there is a need for puppy food and blankets at one of the shelters. A fly-in was planned for 1-17 to bring supplies. Another is planned for 1-24.

The Anderson County [South Carolina] Animal Shelter is in dire need of puppy food! The shelter has already taken close to 150 puppies already since the beginning of the year and its NOT puppy season. The shelter does not have a puppy food supply and they are scrambling to feed all these pups on a very limited budget. They are looking for any kind of dry puppy food...they aren't picky...it's just got to be dry puppy food.

The shelter is also in need of blankets for moms/pups so they don't have to be on the concrete floors while nursing. This shelter is 501c3, so all donations are tax deductable.

If you are local and can foster, it would be greatly appreciated!
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1) Almost $500 was donated from pilots across the nation today, from as far away as California and New York. This certainly delivers the message that people across the country care about the animals in South Carolina

2) A reporter from the local paper showed up. We told him that we are rescheduling the fly-in for 1/24 and he said he would be there with a photographer. This is a great opportunity to get the word out to the citizens of Anderson that 1) their local shelter needs help, 2) the importance of spaying/neutering and adopting shelter animals

3) We were able to line up FREE lunch for the fly-in next week. FBO FOODS caters for NetJets, FlexJets and others and we thank them for their generosity. As we all know, pilots love to eat so we are hoping free food gets more pilots there (with their bags of puppy food and blankets)
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If you want to help, check in here: http://aviation.meetup.com/95/calendar/9545419/
 
I'll add that yesterday was my 6th transport I've done for ARF since I started with them in November. It's a great reason to fly, and helps a good cause. Peggy does a better job of explaining it than I can, but I will state that we need pilots all over the country. A lot of the country is not well covered by us. The more pilots we have, the more areas we can cover.

This time of year especially, a lot of flights get postponed due to weather for us at ARF because of the long distances we tend to cover. Once spring hits and icing is less of an issue, it is especially beneficial to have IFR pilots who can help increase the likelihood of a mission getting successfully accomplished. It is also a great example of practicing ADM, with pilots looking at information to determine whether or not they can make the flight, making in-flight changes in flights as necessary, and working with everyone to try to accomplish the mutual goal.

I'd highly recommend participation. As Peggy said, the restrictions for ARF are only willing and able. Even student pilots can participate. What better way to choose a destination for a student's XC than to actually use aviation for the purpose of making a difference? I've got a number of students lined up who are already interested in doing this for XCs.
 
I did a flight for Pilots n Paws last week. FDK-ROA-FDK. Another guy took over from there and took "Sam" up to HFD.
Great dog. A super friendly Border Collie.
Was glad to help, and I'll do it again.
 
I signed up with ARF. My first mission was canceled due to the dog not being ready to fly. But I hope to be able to fly some of the critters soon.
 
smigaldi said:
I signed up with ARF. My first mission was canceled due to the dog not being ready to fly. But I hope to be able to fly some of the critters soon.
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Couldn't get packed?
 
wabower said:
Couldn't get packed?
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Dogs aren't always ready to fly, especially if they were recently operated on. A number of times the dogs are recently spayed/neutered or have had some other sort of operation. My first flight was a recently spayed dog - she probably could have stood another week before traveling.
 
The back seat in my Long-Ez is somewhat small. For those who are flying these dogs, have you had any issue with them moving around? Are they sedated?

The more people I work on the more I come to understand that I prefer dogs! :rofl:

I would love to help. My dog was a rescue from a local "no kill" shelter.
 
The dogs aren't sedated, but they are in cages most of the time. You do have the option of putting them in harnesses.

So far, I've done two flights where the dog wasn't caged. The first time, she moved around a bit, licked my headset, and then went to sleep for the duration of the trip. Second time, she jumped to the back of the plane on the parcel shelf and glared at me for the duration of the flight. So, my experience with the dogs out of cages is that it's not a big problem.

If you want to participate, you just look at transports and see what size cages you can fit, or what size dogs you can fit in back and harness down. If you're limited to small dogs there's nothing wrong with that - we have no shortage of trips with only small dogs!
 
Allen C said:
The back seat in my Long-Ez is somewhat small. For those who are flying these dogs, have you had any issue with them moving around? Are they sedated?

The more people I work on the more I come to understand that I prefer dogs! :rofl:

I would love to help. My dog was a rescue from a local "no kill" shelter.
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Usually the dogs come with a crate. I would not take one without it because my cargo area is open all the way to the tail. My nightmare would be a large timid dog climbing into the tail while airborne. The crate size is listed along with the weight of the dog. Since I don't want to deal with large dogs, I sign up for small ones.
Crate Sizes:
Small: 12.56"w X 10"h x 19"d
Medium: 15.2"w X 11.84"h x 23"d
Intermediate: 16.73"w 14.5"h 24.1"d
Large: 18.56"w x 16.5"h x 26.1"d

You are asked to "walk" them and give some water at every refueling stop. 'Passengers' are accompanied by veterinarian-signed health certificates. It is a law for transporting animals in most states, and should be considered their boarding pass.

To be honest, though, my ARF flights have all been cancelled either because of weather or illness, so I haven't any practical experience other than helping with 'ground' activity of planning.
 
hopefully someday ill have personal resources to do this kind of thing. Although I think the small and maybe even medium size kennel would fit in the baggage area of the flybaby. probably would be faster just to drive though...
 
AuntPeggy said:
To be honest, though, my ARF flights have all been cancelled either because of weather or illness, so I haven't any practical experience other than helping with 'ground' activity of planning.
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That's alright, Peggy, I do enough ARF flights for the both of us! ;)

Hopefully we'll meet soon on an upcoming one! :yes:
 
If I am hijacking anyone's thread... please tell me and I will go elsewhere. I googled dog rescue flights and this came up and not much else.

What are the chances of having a dog flown from FL to NY? He will be put down otherwise... so it is urgent. We need to know how quickly and at what cost it can be done. THANK YOU
 
ThatCrazyPetLady said:
If I am hijacking anyone's thread... please tell me and I will go elsewhere. I googled dog rescue flights and this came up and not much else.

What are the chances of having a dog flown from FL to NY? He will be put down otherwise... so it is urgent. We need to know how quickly and at what cost it can be done. THANK YOU
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Aubrey - try these folks

http://pilotsnpaws.org/

And perhaps a faster way to get in touch with you other than the board....
 
To steal a partial phrase and add to it...

"You can't swing a dead cat over your head... and not hit an animal rescue organization these days."
 
Id love to do one of the rescue flights when I get my ticket. the problem is finding a rental that doesn't prohibit animals in the contract :dunno:
 
cavmedic said:
Id love to do one of the rescue flights when I get my ticket. the problem is finding a rental that doesn't prohibit animals in the contract :dunno:
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That's my problem also. Local rentals do not permit animals.
 
I'm looking for information about transporting a dog that is heartworm positive. Is it possible?

The dog in question is my dog, Linus. I rescued him from the Los Angeles shelter 3 years ago, but last July he was stolen from my dad's backyard in Atlanta (many dogs in the area have been taken as guard dogs), but somehow he must have escaped his captors and been fending for himself- but he was weak and was not moving or making a sound when a couple found him laying beneath a ledge...but he was alive and on New Years Day, after 6 months apart, we were reunited. Heart-breakingly, hours after being reunited with my best friend I had to return to LA with hopes he'd be checked out by a vet and be able to join me. Sadly, he's been through hell and worst of all he's contracted heartworms. We've begun him on the antibotics and his vet says I can fly him about in February before he begins the heartworm treatments...but it doesn't appear that the airlines or ground transport companies will ship him if he's HW+.

I've been told by numerous people that rescue groups often transport dogs who are HW+ and I'm trying to learn how.

I'm willing to pay to transport him, I just don't know how. He's been through so much and he's such a little fighter, but he needs to be back with me. I don't want him to have to go through this awful treatment without me.

I am sorry this is slightly off-topic, but he was a rescue and I'm desperate for any information anyone might have of any company that'd be willing to transport him...

Thank you in advance!!
 
So is there anyone out there that does flights for dogs that are long distance like Atlanta to Seattle?

Thanks!
 
Same answer, GA Peach... see the post right above yours.

They may do relays, like Atlanta to St Louis to Denver to Boise to Seattle, but they'll know if they can get your dog there.
 
Thanks for posting and bringing attention to the topic. For the last few years I have really gotten into animal rescue transport. I promised myself that I would fly at least one Pilots N Paws flight per month. This usually translates to me flying two or three per month. I also drive transports and did two this weekend. I always walk away a little taller. Pilots N Paws will provide crates. For anyone who needs a little inspiration, go to the website pilotsnpaws.org. The stories are posted there of a sampling of most recent transports, usually with pictures. Mine happens to be the "taxicab" story that was added this week. If you have concerns about flying dogs (I've transported hundreds of dogs without a problem) then check with local rescue groups about providing ground transport. I guarantee you will feel good about helping creatures find a better life that have been neglected and abused. Thanks for posting Aunt Peggy.
 
I suggest a nice long chat with whoever you will be meeting ... to insure that they
understand GA. Why? Some of the "dog people" are a bit, um, odd (inflexible). It
may be necessary to exercise your command authority and decline a trip due to the
people.

I've done one [1] flight, and turned-down two [2] others. In the first case, the
pick-up insisted that I make the pick-up at a turf field convenient to them. It had
been raining several days, and was still raining. Winds were 20G30. 2600' long,
surrounded by trees with an airmet for turbulence and low-level wind shear. There
was an 11,000' runway ~15 miles away. They declined to drive the ~15 miles, so
I declined to fly ~750 miles round-trip.

The other flight, the drop-off person was the problem. He wanted a guaranteed and
*precise* drop-off time, and kept mentioning, "like the airlines' schedules." I passed.

The one flight I completed was a delivery to a "forever home." The WHOLE
family was at the airport, four [4] generations. According to the FBO, they
arrived ~45 mins early, just to-be-sure and had a huge picnic/pot-luck
spread. I even received a Xmas card with the dog front & center. Quite
heart-warming.
 
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Couple of questions:

What is the guidance on flying dogs at higher altitudes 12.5K+? I'm talking about crossing the Rockies, etc.

On communications, I usually text who ever I'm meeting when I start flying the arrival or ~20 min. out. Would that not help those that can't stand to wait at the airport?

BTW- I could really go on a rant about people and their expectations about something that is being done for charity (regardless of type). They can be quite effective in discouraging anyone from participating.
 
I flew my first PnP flight this weekend.

Cute video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCRyJ2TTQwc

Everything went very smoothly. Michelle the organizer/"dispatcher" set things up with volunteers from rescue organizations on both ends. We determined that although a small crate would fit in the back seat of my EZ, this dog was so calm that there was really no reason not to just carry her loose. I'm sure that was much more comfortable than the cage. I blocked up and taped off all access holes so there was really nothing she could interfere with.

Looking forward to a repeat!
 
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