This past
weekend, Grey Face Rescue &
Retirement teamed up with the folks at Happy Ending Rescue in Waco, Texas
to transport 9 of their dogs the 1,000+ miles across country.
Happy Ending Rescue is a dog rescue located in Hewitt, TX. Happy Endings
opened its doors in 2006 with the goal of rehoming large breed dogs,
specifically Rottweilers and Pitbulls. Unfortunately, due to
insufficient funds, Happy Endings Rescue will be closing their doors in March
which leave many dogs homeless with the only choice to be transferred to their
local shelter. Happy Endings Rescue made an emergency Facebook page seeking
rescues to take a majority of their dogs and one way or another – Grey Face was
contacted.
Our Intake
Manager, Elise Lieser called me and surprisingly she wasn’t crying because a
special senior is pulling at her heart strings. She calmly said, “I’m going to
ask you something, and it’s kind of crazy.” Mind you, we’ve been open for less
than a year and our ducks just don’t line up in a row quite yet so her opening
statement was very frightening. She told
me all about the rescue, stated that they were closing their doors due to insufficient
funds and they don’t want anyone to judge or be disrespectful, we just need to
find homes for their dogs. Obviously, I had a few questions like how the heck
would these dogs get here? But Elise had it covered. I told her if she can find
transportation, guarantee the dogs are vaccinated, fixed and ready to go then
why not!
Elise was
quick to start posting multiple dogs on our Dogs Needing Foster Facebook group.
At this point, we failed to communicate this cross-country rescue to the rest
of our team who suddenly came out of the woodwork in a panic (rightfully so).
We gave a brief overview of this very large rescue mission to the team and
began moving forward. Sherry, our Foster Manager (who by the way, is a SAINT)
started to put together the ever so fast moving pieces while adding new team
members to our Fostering Team (did I mention Sherry was the ONLY volunteer
handling our fostering at this time? Yep, she’s a saint). She was stress… to
say the least but I made sure to supply the beer on our recent Wednesday
meetings which have now become Beer Wednesdays!
Long story
short, we found long-term and short-term fosters for all 9 dogs. The folks at
Happy Ending Rescue showed up at 7:00 PM exactly with all 9 dogs in tow. Our
team, the fosters and volunteers waited patiently outside the van looking at
our new temporary house guests.
Stella was
one of the first out the door and she was SO shy. Johnny B walked out with a
member of their rescue who spent a few minutes one on one with the big boy as
they had a close relationship. Oliver came out like a bat out of hell! Franklin
and Mighty were lifted out of the vehicle as their porky bodies weren’t ready
for the steep jump. Karlee was quickly uploaded and warmed with a blanket by
her new foster mommy. Ginny was nervous but warmed up quickly with her foster
parents. Casey was one of the first to come out of the van as well and she was
quickly placed in her vehicle to head to her new foster home. Last but not
least, Sandman the GREAT made his way out of the vehicle and with his foster
parents (who have one other Grey Face Foster).
All dogs
received an exam from the wonderful Dr. Bea Winkler and our Vetting Manager,
Sherin. They both did a phenomenal job assessing the dogs (although some were
pretty amped up).
Thank you to
the amazing fosters and volunteers that made this incredible experience
worthwhile. Most importantly, thank you Happy Endings Rescue for not only
driving across country but for donating kennels, food, medication and more. We
will never be able to thank you enough for your great doings. We wish we had
more time to spend with ya’ll (my attempt to reenact their southern accent).
Until next time, Texas – we will keep you updated!
