Transporting dogs up north can literally be a life-saver

There are a handful of topics that always seem to spark a debate among pet lovers. One such topic is transport dogs. For those of us that work in animal welfare, transporting dogs makes perfect sense and is a way to help save lives. There are some people outside of animal welfare, though, who vehemently disagree. Upon further discussion, though, it is often revealed that these people do not have a firm understanding of how transport programs work and why they're happening in the first place.

The term "transport dogs" refers to dogs that are brought into the shelter from other states, often ones located in the south. This is a very common practice in New England shelters. What seems to confuse many people, and therefore spark debate, is the incorrect belief that dogs from out-of-state are being accepted into shelters while local dogs are not being helped. On the contrary, New England shelters often do not see enough dogs come through their doors during the year to meet the adoption demands of their communities.

Possibly stemming from better spaying and neutering practices than in other regions, many New England shelters frequently have empty kennel space available. In the south, however, countless animals are being euthanized every day because of overcrowding and space limitations. There's simply not enough shelter space to accommodate the extremely high number of incoming animals, resulting in healthy, adoptable animals being euthanized simply to make room for more animals to come in the door. To help more animals in need, New England shelters started transporting dogs from overcrowded shelters into their empty kennels.

At Cocheco Valley Humane Society, we usually scheduled one or two transports a month, depending on the kennel space we have available. These dogs, which were on the euthanasia list at their original shelter, typically find their forever homes in New England within a couple days of becoming available for adoption. For shelters across the country to be able to work together in order to save more lives is an amazing thing. Our small shelter alone was able to provide more than 100 dogs with a second chance last year.

Nowadays, transporting shelter dogs from southern states is so common that some people opt to bypass the shelters altogether and connect with a transport directly. The downside of dealing with transports directly is that you lose out on all of the medical care and strict transport guidelines put into place by shelters. Animals may be transported in poor conditions or could arrive with illnesses. Many people try to connect with transports directly in order to get younger dogs than they would normally find in the shelter. Shelters do not transport very young puppies for a reason, though - younger puppies have not received all their vaccines yet and have a significantly higher chance of getting ill.

In New Hampshire, the shelters have come together to outline a set of minimum standards for transports. According to these standards, all dogs must be in individual cages with water available at all times, their environment must be temperament controlled, and there must be frequent bathroom breaks along the transport route. Once dogs have arrived at the shelter, they must test negative for internal parasites, be up-to-date on their vaccines, get spayed or neutered, receive deworming and flea/tick treatments, and get a New Hampshire health certificate from a veterinarian confirming they are healthy prior to adoption.

If you're interested in adopting a dog from a southern shelter, be sure to ask a lot of questions about the dog's transport conditions and all the medical care the dog will receive prior to you taking him home. While there may be established guidelines in New Hampshire, that isn't necessarily the case for other states. Likewise, the transport company our shelter partners with has strict guidelines of their own to ensure the health and safety of every animal in their care, but they are not representative of every transport company out there.

Transporting dogs from overcrowded shelters helps save hundreds, if not thousands, of lives each year. If you still are uncertain about the benefits of transport programs, speak to your local shelter directly.

Alaina Goodnough is the Promotions Coordinator at Cocheco Valley Humane Society in Dover, NH. She lives in Sanford, ME with two parrots, a cockatoo, a cat, and two dachshunds. She can be reached at CVHS at devassist@cvhsonline.org. To learn more about Cocheco Valley Humane Society, go to www.cvhsonline.org or call 603-749-5322.