Josh shared with us what started as a 1-dog, multi-leg flight and turned into a multi-dog success story.

I’m based in College Station, TX (north of Houston) and in early November, Jerry (a rescue flight coordinator in Montana) contacted me to see if I could help transport a Pit Bull named Bailey on one leg of a mult-leg transport from Houston to Seattle.

Coordinating a long-distance, multi-leg, multi-day transport like this is no small feat, especially considering it’s winter and weather can be a real challenge. Despite several attempts scrubbed due to weather, and pilot unavailability around Thanksgiving, Jerry kept at it and in the 2nd week of December everything came together. I was tapped to fly Bailey’s first transport leg from Houston to Lubbock.

During the run-up to that Sunday 12/9 departure, I kept a watch on the PnP board and saw a request to transport a small dog from Houston to Abilene.  Abilene is on the way to Lubbock, and since my plane had space I reached out to the coordinator of that flight to see if we could combine my Bailey flight, with dropping off Copper, the Doxi in Abilene on the way home (Bailey’s tightly-scheduled multi-leg day dictated the schedule).

Copper’s coordinator confirmed the foster could meet me at the same Houston airport on the morning of 12/9, and then mentioned she also had a small terrier that also needed to go to Abilene. After measuring the available space I said if the two small dog carriers could fit, and if the terrier’s foster could meet me at the same Houston airport, we could make it happen.

Shortly after that, another coordinator posted in Copper’s transport request thread asking if I also had room to transport a George, a Bull Terrier from Houston to Lubbock. After confirming that a crate large-enough to comfortable hold George would fit along with the 3 other crates, I gave the thumbs-up for the 4th dog to come along.

The day before departure Lubbock received over 8″ of snow, and the forecast for the following morning called for freezing fog. Fortunately though, by the time of departure that forecast changed to just fog/haze. Having learned from Jerry’s coordination of Bailey’s flight, I set up separate group texts with each dog’s departure and destination fosters, and their coordinators.  This ensured everyone was getting the same information on schedules & logistics.

December 9 dawned with low overcast over Houston, so I had to quickly redirect all 4 fosters to Hooks (KDWH) since an instrument approach would be necessary to get there. Fortunately I had prepared them for the possibility of a change, so everyone was able to make it to Hooks in time.

After a quick flight from College Station and an uneventful IFR approach, I landed at Hooks and started loading the dogs and carriers into my plane.

After heartfelt goodbyes from their Houston fosters, the 4 dogs and I took off and headed towards Lubbock. After climbing above the cloud layer, we settled into the 3 hour flight. Despite a strong headwind, the air was smooth above the clouds and the trip passed uneventfully.

We landed in Lubbock and taxied to the FBO, where I handed Bailey off to her next-leg pilot to continue her journey to Seattle.

I then handed George off to his new forever family.

The remaining two dogs and I then took off and headed back to Abilene.

The flight to Abilene passed quickly, and upon arrival I handed over Copper and terrier to their new foster JoAnn.

All in all it was a great day of flying helping out some deserving dogs!

And even better, Bailey made it to her day-1 destination A-OK, and to Seattle the following week. And best of all, she has now been adopted and is settling into her new forever home with her new siblings “Roxy” & “Flavor Flav.”

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