A home for Patches: pet saved due to volunteer pilot

Bedford County Animal Control director Michael Gregory and shelter employee Sam Sales load Patches onto a Beechcraft Bonanza for her flight to a new home in Iowa.
(T-G Photo by Brian Mosely) [Order this photo]

"EMERGENCY! PILOTS NEEDED! Pregnant dog in animal control facility near Shelbyville, TN. We need to fly her to Ankeny, IA. paws57@gmail.com ."

By Monday afternoon, little Patches was on her way to the midwest.

This was a first for Linda Goodrich of Bedford County Animal Control, who said that Patches had been with the county shelter since Dec. 7. The dog came in without a collar, no ID and she had not been claimed.

Goodrich said they had posted information about Patches on Petfinder.com as they do with many animals for which they are hoping to find new homes.

In Patches' case, several setter rescues, which she termed as "underground railroads for dog rescue," have been trying to find a new home for the mixed breed. Rescues as far away as Maine, Pennsylvania and even Canada were looking at taking Patches in, Goodrich explained.

However, Patches was discovered to be pregnant, which put a whole new twist on her fate.

But a woman in Iowa with a love for animals saved the day for the expecting canine.

Up in the air

Amy Heinz runs AHeinz57 Pet Rescue & Transport, Inc. in Adel, Iowa, which provides free transportation for dogs and cats from traditional shelters to no-kill rescues all over the Midwest and Canada.

Heinz made contact with Pilots 'n Paws, another non-profit that helps out with finding new homes for animals. Mike Ellis from Memphis and Mark Doss flew to Shelbyville in response to the Twitter message.

"This is pilots looking for somewhere to go and to do something good," Ellis said of his trip on Monday.

Patches left the Shelbyville airport shortly before 5 p.m., arriving in Memphis about an hour and a half later. Mike kept the pregnant pooch company until she could make her connecting flight to Kansas City, Mo. at 10 p.m.

At that time Andrew Towner took over the flying duties, arriving at their destination at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Then it was another wait for the final connecting flight to Winterset, Iowa, with Patches arriving at the home of Jon and Kristen Ide in Johnston, Iowa early Tuesday afternoon.

It was just in time as well -- because Patches had her pups, five boys and four girls, on Tuesday night.

Moving dogs

Heinz said she started transporting dogs about three years ago.

An acquaintance at an animal control unit in West Des Moines, Iowa asked if she could take two dogs to Minnesota when going there to visit her mother.

"That opened the surprisingly huge world of animal transport to me," she said via e-mail. "Long story short, I wound up transporting dogs every weekend in my car and talked friends into helping. It is a very addicting thing to do."

She says moving the pets is an awesome experience with very little commitment involved. A transport coordinator sends out an e-mail with the journey divided up into legs of about 100 miles and participants sign up when they can make a trip.

"You then drive to a designated meeting spot, pick up the dogs from one driver, drive them 100 miles, and hand them off to the next driver," she said. "It's a very easy and small thing to do, but that free ride actually makes the difference between life and death for these animals."

However, when gas prices shot up to near $4 a gallon, participation began to wane. That's when Heinz got the idea to start a non-profit organization.

During the same time, a dog was dumped on the interstate with a broken leg right in front of Heinz. With no shelters, rescues or even an animal control unit in her county to help Heinz catch the dog, she expanded her non-profit plan to include the rescue half of their organization -- AHeinz57 Pet Rescue & Transport, Inc., which specializes in "mutts."

They purchased a transport van and move dogs for their rescue and other no-kill rescues in the Midwest. The organization has partnered with Pilots 'n Paws (PNP) on several occasions.

Most of the time, transports are paid by the individuals driving their own cars or flying their own airplanes.

"These are all incredibly generous, good-hearted people," Heinz said "Transports, especially the flights, can be very expensive."

Non-profit

Heinz was able to fly with two border collies to a rescue in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, with Pilots 'n Paws pilot Sam Taylor paying for the majority of the fuel.

"Critics complain that a lot of money is wasted transporting these animals around the country," Heinz said "But, tell that to families that are absolutely thrilled and loving their dogs that they adopted."

Also, having the non-profit 501(c)3 in place helps because Heinz can accept donations which helps pay for gas and vetting, but it also allows the pilots to be able to write off a portion of their expenses as well.

AHeinz57 has been up and running for 18 months and Heinz said they have rescued and found homes for almost 200 dogs and six cats.

"I have no idea of the exact number of dogs and cats we have transported for other rescues, but I do know it is well over 500 dogs and maybe 30 cats just since we were organized in August 2008," she said. "Pilots 'n Paws have helped us with about 20 dogs."

Heinz said Wednesday that Patches is safe and comfortable and will be well loved "until it's time to be adopted after her babies are weaned and she is spayed."

Updates on Patches and her pups will be posted on the organization's Facebook page, and a link to that can be found at www.aheinz57.com.

Heinz stressed that none of this is possible "without the caring people that work in the shelters that reach out to the rescues on behalf of the animals."

"Brenda is a wonderful caring woman and the animals of Shelbyville, Tennessee, are very fortunate to have her on their side," Heinz said.