Taking the Long Way Home
Imagine being the one left behind.
It happened to Rio the puppy. She is a Belgian Malinois (mal in whah), a breed known for its courage, intelligence, devotion, and general good cheer. Rio’s early days of puppyhood with her littermates in New Jersey were happy and full of fun: playing with each other and their people, and learning about the world.
As the pups grew, the others went home with new families and after some time, Rio was the only one left. At almost four months old, she wasn’t a baby anymore. A young Malinois is lively and athletic, and being a medium-large breed, they can grow quickly. It is difficult to place older dogs with new families, not because of any reluctance on the part of the dog, but because many people who are looking to adopt dogs are really looking for puppies. Rio’s rosy future as a family dog with a “forever home” paled some more when personal circumstances prevented her breeder from keeping her with the family.
Enter the rescue group of the Belgian Malinois Club of America (ABMC). Many dog clubs across the country have dedicated breed-specific rescue organizations, and the AMBC is no exception. All it took was one APB on the group’s email distribution list, and the rescue machine went into action.
The first step in rescue is to find a foster home — even short-term —for the dog so that s/he can be taken into the system. Within two weeks, Rio moved to Long Island, New York in the care of Jana, her temporary foster mom, while the ABMC coordinators looked for a longer-term foster parent. A home was located on a farm near Ann Arbor, Michigan. April, the new foster mom, prepared to welcome young Rio and provide her the food, veterinary care, training, and socialization she would need in order to grow up to be someone’s great family dog.
Fostering a dog is a serious commitment. While it is possible that the dog may find a home quickly, the older a dog gets, the more likely s/he will be with the foster parent for some time before a “forever home” is found. In the meantime, the foster parent is responsible for the dog’s care, expenses, and training.
But things were looking up for Rio. She could be on her way to a good foster home in Michigan — soon as she got a ride.
It’s a long way from Long Island to Ann Arbor. The Malinois are excellent swimmers, but even such an athletic dog would need help to cross Lake Michigan. Time for another email to the Belgian owners’ list, this one to call for help in transporting a young girl on a long journey.
People who rescue animals don’t do it because they love answering email and managing complicated logistics. Nor because it’s nice to hang around parking lots near highways while you wait for the dog to arrive and your leg of the relay to begin. Not even because all the time and expense is volunteered and you get to buy your own gas.
We rescue because of dogs like Rio, victims of circumstance who just want to go home and need our help. And because there is an unexpected perk: to see the way strangers pull together to get something done. Rio could be rescued, thanks entirely to the willingness of people to extend themselves to help her, and consequently, the breed. People who rescue specific breeds of dogs tend to do so to keep the dogs out of shelters and to make sure that they are placed in the right families for their temperaments and abilities. A Belgian Malinois is a high-energy working dog: they do not do well in shelters. It was critical for Rio to find an appropriate home, and the community really came through for her.
A journey of 500 miles begins with a single call for help. Within a few days (and after many emails) Rio had a ride to Michigan and an invitation to stay overnight with us in Pennsylvania during her two-day trip. At the end of day one, Rio was tired, hungry, and a little frightened…after all, she had been passed along by several strangers in different cars during the day. The process is very confusing for the dogs, and they find it stressful. But she perked up quickly on meeting her hosts, Jazz and Lily, my Belgians, and got a good night’s rest before heading out again in the morning.
The rescue network relies on the love of people for animals. Many transporters take photographs of their legs of the journey, and we watched Rio make her way west as volunteers returned home and posted photos of their transfers. I drove Rio to Ohio to meet up with a volunteer who has been transporting dogs for ten years. She keeps an album of “before” and “after” photos of all her rescues, and we passed the tissues as we looked at dozens of happy dogs, thriving in their forever homes.
Rio finished her journey at six o’clock on the evening of day two, where she was met at last by April and her dog Max, a Dutch Shepherd. Friends from the start, Max and Rio began to play in the snow right there at the rest stop hand-off point.
Today there is another picture in the album of happy, re-homed dogs. Rio’s joy in reaching April and Max touched them both from the first moment, and although Rio may have taken the long way home, she finally reached her forever family.
If you’d like more information about Belgian Malinois Rescue, please visit http://www.malinoisrescue.org/. For local all-breed rescue, go to http://anewleashonliferescue.com/ , or call the Lakewood Animal Shelter at (216) 529-5020.
