TORONTO or BUST!
Oliver ready to roll!
Bella, watch for her story soon.
When I decided to start bringing dogs into Canada from Korea I knew it could turn into an adventure. There are risks involved and you HAVE to always put the dogs welfare above your own. When friends ask for a dog I have them apply just the same way as anyone else. There is no preferences given, the ultimate goal is the dogs best interest and the best match for the personalities.
Shortly after I started I was asked by my rescue partner in Korea if I could assist them with the interview processes with their applications from Toronto. Given Covid, distance makes no difference to how we do our interviews so I was happy to help out.
I interviewed a lovely applicant who was planning to go to Chicago to pick up her dog if it worked since we had a flight volunteer flying there. Unfortunately of course that wasn’t possible with restricted travel etc. BUT it started my brain going and I wondered how we might transport the dog from Chicago to the border at Windsor and the adoptive family could meet there.
What ensued was a week of phone calls to every possible agency in the US who could answer my questions! (If I ever hear elevator music on hold again I will scream…but it wasn’t about me, right?)
We also needed dependable transport! Someone who would meet our volunteer traveller and then bring the dog to Windsor and be able to cross the border to deliver them.
I googled and came upon Chicago Pet Transport and after reviewing their website I called and met John (aka our calming angel). We went over everything and he gave us a great price that started to make this all look feasible!
Back to the phone… after a whole day on the phone I got a paper saying we did NOT need a permit if the dogs were transferring to Canada.
We got the brokers in place for Chicago and the Canadian border.
We dotted our i’s and crossed our t’s. Triple checked. Checked again and took a huge big deep breath and on Sunday 24th two beautiful dogs left Seoul Korea on an epic journey to Toronto. I don’t think Yeonji in Korea slept for a week while we got this all organized on Canadian time which is night time there. She is amazing and my hero! Her passion for saving dogs is bottomless. Becca, the other volunteer, also was always there, answering questions and cheering us on.
The dogs arrived in Chicago on Sunday morning. The volunteer picked them up in the baggage area and then we all held our breath until we got the word they were through customs and in John’s hand. Honestly it took longer for the porter to assist her than customs took and before we knew it they were on their way to Canada. (Thank you Oliver for barking and that seemed to make customs anxious to get them through nice and fast lol)
The Canadian border took a little longer and we had radio silence for what seemed like an eternity. The adoptive families were waiting on the other side in a hotel parking lot. We were all glued to out screens. It took longer as the paperwork had to go to another area and then back to customs . Suddenly one of the adoptees typed “I SEE HIS VAN”.
I’ll be honest, I sobbed, the stress flowed out of me! WE DID IT! All the hard work paid off and now we have everything in place should we find another flight volunteer to Chicago!
JOB WELL DONE TEAM!
You will see updates on the dogs on our FB and IG accounts. Links below.
Please look at the photos below for the adventures! I will be writing their stories soon too.
