November 15, 2013 11:49 pm  •  By Christen Croley, The Sentinel

FAIRVIEW TWP. — Trusty knew no strangers Friday as he trotted around the plane hanger at Capital City Airport, waiting to catch a flight to a new home to Pomfret Center, Conn.

The 2-year-old bloodhound spent the majority of his life in a crate until a Midstate stranger rescued him and took all 105 pounds of him into her home. Though Trusty proved too much for her to handle, the woman turned to Canine Rescue of Central Pa. to find a more suitable situation.

“When she got it home, she realized it was a lot more than she bargained for,” said Diane Weller, a founding volunteer of Canine Rescue of Central Pa. “He is very active and she has small children, so she contacted Canine Rescue to see if we would help.”

So when a Connecticut man saw Trusty’s picture on PetFinder.com after losing his own beloved bloodhound on Halloween, Weller said the shelter asked for help from as far away as Iowa to bring the two together.

“We usually only adopt to Central Pa.,” Weller said. “So we contacted a bloodhound club in Iowa who arranged for a rescue group in Connecticut, Angels Among Us, to do a home visit.”

Trusty’s new home includes more than two acres of fenced-in property surrounded by more than 25 acres of fields — a far cry from the 23 hours a day he spent locked inside a crate.

“They said they were an absolutely wonderful family, and they would like to be adopted by them,” Weller said of the home-visit group. “It’s been a real joint effort with all the different rescues.”

One of those rescues — Pilots N Paws — reached out to volunteer pilots Retired Sgt. Steven Gill and Kevin McIsaac, of Pomfret Center, Conn., to help Trusty make the 341-mile trip in less than two hours.

“We can’t do everything, but we like to do what we can,” Gill said Friday in the moments after meeting Trusty. Gill has flown planes for about 30 years.

Gill and McIsaac say this isn’t their first flight with Pilots N Paws, but Trusty tips the scales as their heaviest passenger, so far.

“His weight will actually help,” Gill said. “We’ve flown people heavier than him before. It won’t hurt the plane, that’s for sure.”

Though Weller is happy to see Trusty go home, she won’t forget the group’s first experience placing a bloodhound since the group came into existence 11 years ago.

“We are an all-breed shelter,” she said. “We help a lot of pitbulls, but he is the first bloodhound we’ve ever had. He is a good dog.”

Email Christen Croley at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @SentinelCroley