The journey from their hurricane-ravaged home in Houston was frightening for 39 rescue dogs, some refusing to eat or leave their cages for fresh air when the four-van convoy took breaks on its way back to Toronto. For volunteers, the hardest part of the trip wasn’t unloading the dogs for walks, cleaning up soiled crates or the more than 24 hours of driving.It was saying goodbye. “Just having three grown men, sitting in a van, bawling their eyes out was something that I was not going to forget any time soon,” said Curtis Cluett, a volunteer. Cluett and eight other volunteers from Redemption Paws, a Toronto-based, non-for-profit organization, parted with the dogs on Monday morning after a weekend rescue trip.The volunteers arrived in Texas on Friday to help animal rescue and sanctuary organizations like Hot Mess Pooches find a new home for some of its dogs in the wake of the hurricane.“It was controlled chaos to say the least,” Cluett said. The shelter received an additional 15 to 20 dogs after word of the Redemption Dogs’ trip spread, but the volunteers were only able to safely transport an additional two Rat Terriers.“All of these dogs were very loved,” Cluett said. “It was hard seeing these people who cared so deeply about their pets having to give them up.”The exchange process took volunteers about four hours. First, they unloaded the humanitarian supplies brought down from Toronto, and then filled up the vans. Poodles, a cockapoo, Great Danes, three Dalmatians (one of which had its eyes surgically removed following an infection), Chihuahuas, husky mixes, and other pups wagged their ways into dog crates, and hit the road.Nicole Simone, founder of Redemption Dogs, said the organization has already received over 2,000 informal requests for adoption from all over Canada. “It’s a bit crazy,” she said, adding that she’s gotten calls late at night inquiring about adopti ...
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