The Road to Manitoba continued
We met in Springfield, Winnipeg, with our friends at K9 Advocacy (lead by Jasmine Colucci) and started to connect with the fosters who were watching over our little angels. We took the time to chat with each foster and even had them follow us on our social media so they could watch the rest of their furry friends' journey to their new forever homes unfold.
Once all the tearful goodbyes were said it was time for us to hit the road again and start the long trek home, this time with the doggo's in tow! . Everyone took the time to get to know the needs of each of our new friends and learn all of their names. Of course, before leaving, two of our crew members decided to take two pups, North and Yogi, for a roll in the grass! Once their hearts had been fully satiated, off to the races we went!
The plan was straightforward: since we had quite a few young puppies on board and they would need to constantly eat, poop and pee, we had to stop every 2-3 hours. The first stop was quite chaotic, as we all had to take extra care to make sure we earned the trust of these beautiful and sweet beings, who were understandably confused and scared. We took the time to show them all some love and eventually they came around.
The toughest ones to win over were definitely Boxer, Lady, and Rocky. Boxer had anxiety issues and was often scared to even get out of his crate, but he bonded with Rob and slowly started to come out of his shell and trust us all. Lady was so scared of everything and everyone. Jessica spent the entire trip working with her and showing her all the love and affection she had never received before. That was a very strong bond built between the two of them and nobody else could go anywhere near her without her getting scared. Then there was Rocky, who was a bit jumpy at first and worried all the time but in the care of Yossi he softened up quite quickly.
After all the love and trust was shown and the respect was earned by our team, it was time to get on the move! We had a lot of road to cover and a deadline to meet. Each stop came with its own set of challenges. Many of these pups had not been in a vehicle before and were very timid.
Whenever Boxer heard a noise, it would send him running away scared which proved to be quite a large challenge and we had to be slow and gentle with him at all times. At one point he got loose and decided to take one of our team members on a little frolic in the forest until he was seduced by some delicious treats. Lady had the same type of apprehension as well and would really only go near Jess, hiding under anything she could when anyone else came over (slow and steady wins the race with that one). Ginger always made us laugh, as soon as you opened her crate she would jump right into your arms! Who would have thought it but, we actually had some of the easiest times with the puppies (when they werent fighting each other over every little thing like siblings usually do on car trips!)
As the kilometers kept rolling, so did we. Our 24 hour one-way trip to pick up the dogs turned into a 36 hour trip back to Montreal (with all the stops for the dogs). The closer we got to Montreal, the more our energy started to return upon the excitement of seeing all those faces of our new friends who were about to be fostered. On arrival, our teammates at Canin Traks made space for us at their doggy daycare so that we could clean up the woof pack, do a quick medical check (to ensure no boo boos happened on the ride home), feed the hungry monsters (for the millionth time) and we even had a photographer (Neil Mota) volunteer his services to us to help raise awareness for the little guys. With the arrival finally there and the road team pushing on their last fumes of energy, our team in MTL who had been patiently waiting was ready to finish everything off and send them to their loving fosters.
In the end, we rescued 21 dogs from Manitoba and they were all fostered and adopted in their new loving forever homes. A road trip we won’t soon forget!
