We were contacted by Phyllis Mook, a state shelter representative with ACDRA (Australian Cattle Dog Rescue Association….www.acdra.org). She reached out to us looking for a transport of a somewhat urgent medical case dog from Raleigh to New York (Bloomfield area).

Adele was struck by a car the night of July 30 in Wake County, NC. She was picked up by Wake County Animal Control, who dropped her off at an emergency vet and asked that she be euthanized. The vet refused to euthanize her as she felt she was worth saving. Poor Adele had a completely fractured radius and ulnas on both front legs and a fractured pelvis along with some other (less serious) injuries. Wake County Animal Control asked ACDRA to see if they could help Adele and they have committed to helping her. Part of that help involved getting her transported to her foster mom, Jessica in Bloomfield, NY after her medical needs were cared for and stable.

Adele was transferred to Quartet Veterinary Hospital in Cary, NC, where she received surgery to repair her two front legs. They decided to wait on the pelvis repair until later, after her front legs heal. She is a complete love and in spite of her pain, remains sweet and wants to give kisses.

Adele’s, foster mom Jessica lives in Bloomfield, NY and is a Vet Tech so they were trying to arrange some sort of transport for her as soon as possible to get up there. She would most likely need to be sedated and would travel with casts on her two front legs. We had hoped to transport her the week of August 7 or just as soon as possible. We needed a stretcher as soon as possible for we had less than a week to get everything ready for the flight.

Steve went right into fundraising mode because it was going to be a big flight to get her there. We didn’t want to have to transfer Adele to another pilot to fly half the way to NY so we decided to do the four hour flight ourselves. One of our wonderful donors even purchased a stretcher for us use so Adele would be safe and comfortable for her flight. If we hit more than our target we will have extra money to donate to the ACDRA to help with the medical expenses for Adele.

We were fully funded on the same day as the fundraiser went up by our wonderful followers. $1,000 was donated to help with the cost of Adele’s surgeries. We were all overwhelmed by everyone’s generosity.

Adele had her surgery to fix her two broken legs. One thing Phyllis hadn’t counted on was that Adele needed to be “cleared” to fly and that may or may not happen by August 7th. So we were uncertain about when to fly her. Adele’s surgery to fix the two fractured front legs went well. They did discover that she had a broken scapula (shoulder blade) though, which will hopefully heal on it’s own with time. The poor girl was really banged up. All we needed to know was when the Dr. would release Adele with a Health Certificate. We cannot fly a dog across state lines without a valid Health Certificate.

Phyllis found out from the Vet that Adele would need vaccinations in order to have a health certificate (she was a stray so they didn’t have a vaccine history on her). In the state of health she was in he didn’t not feel comfortable vaccinating her as it might challenge her immune system too much. We had to postpone her flight to NY until the week of August 21st.

Over the next two weeks Adele flourished. She would no longer need the stretcher because she was walking around on her casts. I guess it’s hard to keep a puppy down, no matter what happens to them.

Since we updated our plane to have more room for the dogs to stretch out we were sure Adele would settle down and sleep the entire way. Phyllis thought she might have some pre-flight “wiggles” and a strong urge to want to give out kisses and licks but like all of the other dogs we fly she should settle down and go to sleep.

Steve was concerned about lifting her into the plane as we didn’t want to hurt her in any way but she had a “Help Em Up” harness which has handles over the shoulders and hips. You can pick a dog up like a suitcase and it’s easy on them and you.

We were finally able to settle on a flight date of August 23rd to fly Adele to the airport in Canandaigua, NY to meet her foster mom, Jessica, who would take over the rest of her recuperation. If she needed more surgeries, she would be able to have them up there where Jessica could take care of her.

We met Phyllis and Adele at TACAir, RDU Airport the morning of August 23rd. To see this five month old puppy walk in with both front legs in a cast was something else! She didn’t let them get in her way at all.

Everyone in the terminal came to see her. She even had pilot’s come over on the tarmac to meet this little wonder pup. Finally we loaded the little superstar in the plane and off we flew to NY. It was going to be a four hour flight each way. That’s a long time in a small plane where you can’t get up and stretch. We normally don’t fly more than 2.5 hours one way.

It took us 4.5 hours up and boy were we tired. Adele didn’t rest one bit. She moved from place to place and wanted to look out the window constantly, she’d get bored with one side and wanted to move to the other. She couldn’t sit comfortably in the seat by herself so Pam held her most of the way, having to take care on how her hips were positioned. We didn’t want to add more stress on her pelvis which was fractured.

Adele was like flying with a toddler who was confined in a small space and wanted out. LOL. The only way to get her to stay still was have her chew on a rawhide stick. Boy could she handle that stick with her casts! Adel was a real love but also a five month old puppy who wanted to run and wasn’t allowed. We loved every minute with her, just one look at her face and you melted.

We got her to Jessica safe and sound and wished her a happy and wonderful life.

Two days after she got to NY she decided she didn’t like her one of her casts and chewed it off! Just like all puppies, if you don’t watch them for a minute they’ll chew something up that you don’t want them to.

Steve and I flew half way home and landed in State College in PA and spent the night. We slept for 11 hours that night. It was a long rescue flight but so worth it to get this sweet puppy the care she needed to heal properly.

Today, Adele is doing great! Her injuries have mostly healed without more surgeries and hopefully will be up for adoption soon. If you are interested in adopting Adele or any other Australian Cattle Dog contact the Australian Cattle Dog Rescue Association at acdra.org.

More Flight Photos