2011 Mar 16

Romo, the handsome young dog with the heart problem who was rescued from a high-kill shelter in California, was flown to his forever home in Young, Arizona today! They will have him neutered under very careful supervision, when veterinarians think it is safe to do so. And for the rest of his happy life, he will have family and excellent socialization with other dogs in this special sanctuary called "Tara's Babies."                           One of his new aunts, Karen, is shown here in the truck at Payson airport when she came to pick him up. Romo was accompanied by another very lucky young canine, a one-year-old dachshund named "Stanley" from central California!  On the drive down to Los Angeles, Stanley had been put in a plastic crate.  He quickly chewed his way out and thereafter sat next to the driver as sweetly as could be.  Stanley wants only love and compansionship -- and proper respect due a dog of his stature! He was just as sweet in the airplane (of course we didn't even consider trying to put him in a crate!).  Romo we DID put in a crate, so as to be sure that he remained still, for the sake of his heart.

Romo is the first dog we've ever flown in a crate.  Most dogs we just leash loosely from a tiedown at the aft cabin, so that they can move freely and find their own comfortable place in the roomy, cushioned, blanket-covered main cabin.  But this trip, we squeezed in an extra-large kennel for Romo, plus the plane's back seat on top of that (since the backseat was needed for the return trip). There was plenty of room, at least at the start of the flight.  We had extremely strong tailwinds, which made the flight much shorter than we expected, but those tailwinds led to much turbulence in the descent into Payson.  So much so that in one instance, just as we were ending communications with air traffic control and switching to the local traffic frequency for Payson airport, we were hit with such a jolt that we all floated abruptly to the ceiling.  Headsets came off, the portable GPS went flying, and Romo's cage lurched forward, hitting the backs of the front seats and opening the cage door.  So just as we were flying the final approach in the pattern to Runway 24 at payson, Romo's head appeared at my right ear:  "Hi Bonny!  This is where I wanted to be all along!"  Oh boy... but we made it to the runway just fine.  Once safely landed, it all seemed quite amusing.  And the dogs were so cheerful and sweet, it was easy to forget about the winds and just be happy with them in the beautiful surroundings of that special part of northern Arizona.  Karen was in her truck looking for us and was at the airplane before I even had it tied down.  Romo and Stanley jumped in her truck and her lap as if they had been looking for her forever.  Which I guess, they had!  Thank you all, for making this happen.  Especially Mark Penn of Sonoma, who drove Romo all the way down to Bakersfield;  On Wings Of Care volunteer Dave Couch, who drove both Romo and Stanley to Glendale Humane Society to board Monday and Tuesday nights  (in Los Angeles);  Glendale Humane Society, who never fail to offer to board our rescue animals while they wait for their flights with us; Larry Buchanan, our airplane mechanic at El Monte airport in CA who fixes everything and who managed to find a way to pack everything -- large dog crate, airplane back seat, Romo and Stanley, our luggage -- into the airplane so that we hardly noticed it was all there; and everyone who donated to help cover some of our costs to make these rescues happen.

Original call for help with Romo follows:

Romo's heart is broken, and he needs transport from Sonoma to Payson, AZ