Pet Rescue Missions Give Shelter Animals and Retired Pilots a New Leash on Life

By Judith Reitman-Texier for Next Avenue

Volunteer pilots fly thousands of animals to safety each year.

I am belted into the cockpit of a Cessna 182, a four-seater single-engine plane, flying 5,000 feet above the North Carolina/Virginia border. The pilot, Thomas Hendrickson, points to the silhouette of the Appalachians and the blue-gray rivers fanning through miles of farmland. The flight from Horace Williams airport in Chapel Hill, N.C., to Tappahannock-Essex Airport in Virginia is an hour and a half, much quicker than what would have been a four-hour car ride, meaning less stress for our passenger. Heather, a fawn-colored collie rescued from a kill shelter, is normally skittish, but as we fly over those rivers, she is sprawled Zen-like in the Cessna’s back seat.

When we land in Tappahannock, a rat terrier with a surgically wired jaw is waiting to board Heather’s connecting flight. Pilot Bernie Frankowiak, 50, CFO of a car dealership, will take Rocky, the terrier, to Redding, Penn., where another pilot will fly the dog to his adoptive home in New Hampshire. Meanwhile, Frankowiak will continue with Heather to Brandywine airport. There, a representative of Rescue Express will take her to her foster home.

Writer Judith Reitman-Texier at Tappahannock Airport with Heather.

Hendrickson and Frankowiak are part of a network of thousands of volunteers who fly dogs and cats—and sometimes hamsters, snakes and birds — thousands of miles for organizations with names like Paws N Pilots, Flying Fur Rescue, Dog Is My Co Pilot, and Animal Rescue Flights (ARF). The animals are on the euthanasia list at kill shelters located mostly in the South. In Idaho, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Utah and other states that enforce spay neuter laws, rescue groups and adopters await them.

Who’s Saving Who?

The pilots receive no pay and, in fact, dig into their own pockets to fund flights. Victor Girgenti, a Long Island businessman in his 50s, has flown his Piper Meridian on 750 “missions” for Animal Rescue Flights; he spends about $1,000 in jet fuel per flight.

For these animal-loving flying buffs, mission trumps cost.

“We bring animals from places they will die to places that want them, where they will live,” says Dr. Peter Rork. The 62-year-old retired orthopedic surgeon founded Dog Is My Co-Pilot shortly after the death of his wife in 2012. Three times a week, he flies upwards of 50 dogs from western kill shelters to safe havens. “You save animals, but I feel they save me,” he says.

Businessman and amateur pilot Jon Wehrenberg found himself languishing in retirement when an animal rescuer asked him to fly a dog interstate, fast. At 64, he co-founded Pilots N Paws, which now has over 5,000 pilots flying 15,000 animals to rescue each year.

Flying for rescues provides a renewed sense of purpose to these hobbyist pilots who, like their passengers, are moving into a new stage of life.

“I feel useful and appreciated,” says retired lab technician Frank Walters, 62. Jerry Perleman, a retired music teacher from Roslyn, N.Y., values the camaraderie: “You’re stepping up to the plate as part of a team.”


A Need for Speed

Each day, 10,000 animals are euthanized in shelters across the county; that’s about 4 million dogs and cats every year. In many cases, the otherwise healthy dogs and cats could have found adopters in other states, but transportation is the challenge. Animal rescue groups network with ground transporters, but long hauls are stressful on crated animals and animals in kill shelters don’t have time to wait for scheduled transport. Pilots, on the other hand, can fly with little advance notice.

“It’s terrible to think an animal is going to die because he has no transportation,” says Jeff Bennett. The retired Florida businessman has flown more than 4,000 animals in the past four years on Pilots N Paws missions. Twice a month, he loads up his Cirrus SR22 with dogs and cats from the South and brings them to Florida rescues.

For Bennett, 56, the most poignant moments are on landing, when adopters first greet their new companions. “Especially the military personnel with PTSD, when they first meet their dogs, it brings tears to your eyes,” says Bennett.

Pilots N Paws and similar networks do not arrange the flights; they simply post a rescue group’s need for transport:

Blind lab needs ride from Lake City, FL to Franklin, MA. Distance 1039 miles.

Transport PTSD Service Dog to FL from Rochester, MN. Distance 925 miles.

Within a day, several pilots responded to the request to fly Heather, each offering a leg of the journey; within two days, the schedule was set.

Marines with PTSD meet their service dogs

.Happy Passengers

Most of the time, the dogs and cats are crated. Sometimes they are tethered to a seat or get a first-class ride with the pilot.

Rork flies his Cessna 206 with the largest dog in the passenger seat. Victor Girgenti recalls flying a nervous 175-pound mastiff/Great Dane named Sam who was too big for a crate. The dog occupied himself in the back of the jet with a bag of dog food…until he found his way to the passenger seat where he settled in, calmly gazing out the window. Layla, a rescued black lab on her way from North Carolina to service training in Ohio, sat on the lap of Pilot.dog’s co-founder Pam Rhodes, while her husband piloted.

“The animals know you are saving them,” says retired international airlines pilot Keith Becker, 69. Becker has flown 107 missions and over 450 dogs and cats for Pilots N Paws over the past few years. On one trip, he had tethered a large Doberman behind his seat. “When we landed, that dog gave me a big wet kiss on the back of my neck,” he recalls. “You can’t find a more grateful — or affectionate, passenger.”

Most of the pilots are men. But several woman have been among the trailblazers. Debi Boies, an animal rescuer, founded Pilots N Paws in 2008 with Jon Wehrenberg in 2008. Pat Picornell, 55, a wealth adviser, began a Bahama route for that organization when shelters there began closing. She herself has flown more than 1,000 island dogs to mainland rescue groups.

“It’s something to look forward to,” Picornell says. “When the weather is beautiful, why not make a flight and pick up some dogs?”



© Twin Cities Public Television - 2016. All rights reserved.



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Volunteer Puppy Love: Raising a Service Dog

Service groups rely on volunteers to socialize their dogs. Could you be a puppy raiser?

By Debbie Swanson for Next Avenue

Thinkstock

Today's new breed of service dogs provides assistance in a variety of ways beyond their best-known role as escorts for blind companions. They retrieve household objects for people with limited mobility, act as ears for hearing-impaired individuals, monitor children with life-threatening food allergies and more. Some researchers are even exploring the role dogs can play aiding adults suffering from dementia.

All of these impressive adult dogs, though, start life much like any other puppy, growing up in a home where they're loved, socialized and taught basic obedience. Volunteers are a critical part of this process. Because of the high demand for service animals, most training organizations rely on outside help to oversee their dogs' early care, usually from the time a puppy is about 2 months old until sometime between his first and second birthday.

"We could not do what we do without our puppy raisers," says Nancy Fierer, director of Susquehanna Service Dogs in Pennsylvania, which has more than 60 puppies receiving early socialization in volunteers' homes at any given time.

Who Makes a Good Volunteer?

An extensive background with dogs is not required to raise a service pup, says Joyce Thielen, board member (and three-time puppy raiser) with Canine Partners of the Rockies in Colorado. If you want to bring some puppy love into your empty nest — and make a difference in your community — becoming a volunteer "puppy raiser" may be for you.

"Puppy raising is an opportunity for someone who is nurturing and interested in the way a puppy learns," Thielen says. "You're expected to give the puppy your time, energy and love and attend regular training sessions."

Agencies ask that everyone in your home be consistent with the training methods and remain mindful that the puppy isn't a permanent member of the household. "Stay flexible, do your best, listen to your pup, ask for help and enjoy the lovely dog you are raising," Thielen says.

Many service-pup hosts are empty-nesters for whom the companionship enlivens otherwise quiet homes. "I received my puppy to train as my youngest child went off to college," Thielen says. "I had wrapped up my career with the public-school system and had just lost a parent for whom I was the primary caregiver."

What's Expected

Once a service dog starts working, he will accompany his future client everywhere, from medical appointments at hectic clinics to raucous family gatherings to quieter work or school environments. Time spent with a puppy raiser in a variety of situations is invaluable training. "The most important part of being a puppy raiser is to work on socialization and house manners," says Carol Nesbitt, who has raised three pups through Susquehanna Service Dogs. "You need to teach the dog self-control, house training skills and crate training."

Since socialization is so important in preparing a puppy for his career, volunteers are asked to take the dogs out as much as possible, even if it slows their routines down a bit. "You'll have the puppy with you most of the time," Nesbitt says. "That means a quick trip to the grocery store may take an extra 30 minutes. Some raisers bring their puppy to work and have a crate there."

Puppy raisers must also attend basic training classes with their charges, typically at the service organization overseeing the dogs or with an approved service-animal trainer. You'll learn how to teach basic obedience skills and will be expected to practice drills frequently. But you don't have to do it all on your own. You'll be supported by an extensive network, including professional trainers and more experienced volunteers. Most organizations also have pre-approved dog sitters on call should its volunteers need short-term puppy care.

Rough Goodbyes

It's only natural that after sharing your home and watching a puppy learn and grow, turning him over can be emotional. "It is very hard," says Donna Travis, a volunteer with Susquehanna Service Dogs who recently completed training a puppy for the first time. "The puppies are so cute and you've bonded."

While there's no easy solution for the pain of separation many volunteers experience, most say they find comfort thinking about the good work the dogs will do for others. "As a raiser," Travis says, "you are reminded always that it is not your dog. They're not pets; they have a job to do."

Travis received Judge, a black Labrador retriever, when he was 8 weeks old. When he was 1 1/2 years old, he began living weekdays at an advanced-training kennel, returning to her home on the weekends. At age 2, Judge left permanently to begin serving his client. Like most such agencies, Susquehanna Service Dogs does not allow puppy raisers to visit with dogs once they have moved on, but it does send Travis photos and updates about Judge's success.

"We know he is loved and cared for and has a fulfilling life," she says. "It blesses us over and over each time we think of how he is helping someone have a life in the community again. You feel very proud knowing you had a part in that.

"It is bittersweet, but we would do it again and again," she says. "You just can't say no. Instead, you say, 'How can I not raise a puppy to be a service dog for someone?'"

Copyright© 2014 Next Avenue, a division of Twin Cities Public Television, Inc.

Front Porch's Peggy Buchanan and Mary Miller talk about their passion for raising service dogs

Front Porch is a not-for-profit support system for a family of companies that serve individuals and families through full-service retirement, active adult communities, and affordable housing communities.

More information is available at www.frontporch.net.

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