Having gone through this journey before, I am reminded of the difficulty it is finding a rescue dog. Of course we checked out local shelters but then swiftly moved on to internet rescue groups like Petfinder and Adopt a Pet. Occasionally I would spot a cute doggie face staring out at me from the screen and click on the image to retrieve more information. In a number of cases I realized I was looking at a homeless dog that was in fact located in Texas and not at the Vermont shelter that was posting this dog.

I won’t bore you with all the grueling details involving filling out six-page applications, having our entire life relentlessly scrutinized, including photos of the interior and exterior of our home, having to drive to distant locations to pick up a dog at a specified time or you’re out of luck. Then there is the hope that is dashed by someone getting in the adoption ahead of you … and then there is the price.

So why are so many dogs being transported to the North from the South? The warmer weather translates to a longer mating season for starters. Apparently the rural communities don’t have as much access to low cost spay and neutering services nor is there the desire to make funds available for that. Shelters down south are high kill for the most part because there are so many homeless animals resulting in 50% of them being put down because of the lack of space … now they are just shipping them up North. There seems to be more of a demand in northern states to adopt rescue dogs.

I’ve begun to wonder if somewhere along the line someone picked up on the fact that this could become a thriving business. This is just my theory. I’m hoping I’m wrong, but I’m looking at some pretty adorable looking dogs and wonder why on earth doesn’t someone down South want this dog? We’re all standing in line for something so darn cute up here. Willing to pay for it, too. The incentive to spay and neuter and regulate laws down South isn’t there if they can keep moving them North and getting paid for it.

The ASPCA Relocation Program alone has increased their pet shipments north from around 500 dogs in 2014 to more than 40,000 in 2018.

Well, the dog we applied for is in Texas and not in Vermont where we initially thought she was. She is also 1 year old, part Chihuahua and weighs a whopping 12 pounds and not the 3-month-old Shetland sheepdog mix that will be 25 pounds as originally posted. We’ll go over and meet her anyway when she travels to the North only because my heart connected to the photo of her little face and I visualized her playing with our dog Addie. I’ve been thinking of names too and pictured her in our life so it is now difficult to consider not adopting her even though she weighs as much as a cat we once had. It’s always about the connection so if that’s there maybe we are ready for a little dog … from Texas.

After completing this article, my husband and I did, in fact, drive over to Vermont, where we adopted Riata. The two large vans arriving from Texas were 90 minutes late because of a snowstorm, so the crowd of people arriving to pick up their dogs was rapidly increasing. The impatient mood quickly diminished when the volunteers began removing the dogs from the van and handing them to their future human family members.

One of them handed Riata to me. Shaking and fearful, my husband and I took her to our quiet car where she sat on Peter’s lap. Trust came quickly. She stopped shaking and fell asleep, and we took her home. She, in fact, is 7 months old, 14.5 pounds and breed is undetermined … but because of unknown behavior issues that were causing problems, we decided earlier this week that we weren’t keeping the dog.

Alas, the fickleness of an unsure choice. We, in fact, decided to keep her after all. She lived with us just long enough for us to feel that giving her back would have been too heart breaking. Her sweetness level is far outweighing the behavior issues at this point.