Photo Caption: Ambrosia Varaschin (LEFT) and Kristine O’Brien of Paws Republic (RIGHT) with Radar.
Photo by Prairie Pulse Photography
There are many animals in rescues and shelters all around the world that are in need of homes, and sometimes, the stars align and without even meaning to, someone falls in love with one of these animals and opens their heart and their home to it. Over the holiday season, Jenny Goodwin, who lives in Ottawa; was sent to the Prince Albert area for work. Rather than be alone over Christmas, she decided to spend some time volunteering at a local humane society. After hearing back from the Battlefords Humane Society, she volunteered four days there and met numerous animals that were being cared for; however, one stuck out.
This particular dog had been found in a dumpster on Christmas Eve and was brought in by the garbage man that discovered him. Radar, who is an approximately 9-month old Shepherd mix, was scared in the new environment and spent much of his time huddled in the back of his kennel. “By the end of my stint I had accidentally fallen for him. Although I was looking to eventually adopt an older dog, this guy stuck out. I spent time with him and he eventually started to come out of his shell,” Goodwin said.
On January 4th, Radar was officially adopted and was going to be heading to his new home; however, the journey for Radar to get to Ottawa proved to be a difficult one. At the time, the airlines had holiday pet embargoes on, so Goodwin reached out to Furry Hobos N Hiway Hero”s Dog Transport, a group in place to assist in the transport of dogs across Canada. Due to a series of events that were out of their control, such as a broken down truck, the transport fell through.
Goodwin was left with three options at this point, which included; find a flight companion to fly with Radar to Ottawa; cargo transport; or fly back to Saskatchewan to get him herself. Thanks so some amazing people coming together, barring any complications; Radar should be in his new home by Sunday.
One of the people to step up and ensure that this dog would be able to get to his new family was Kristine O’Brien, the owner/operator of Paws Republic Boarding, Training & Grooming Centre. O’Brien offered her facility to board Radar at no cost while they were waiting on arrangements. In addition to this, O’Brien will be opening the facility early on Sunday in order to have Radar picked up and on his way to the airport to make his flight.
O’Brien became involved after Ambrosia Varaschin of Martensville, who was driving to pick Radar up, reached out to her in need of a crate for the journey. “Within hours Kristine had sourced us a crate for free. Then she offered to board him overnight because one of my dogs can be aggressive. I insisted on paying for boarding because it’s my dog that’s the complicating problem, but Kristine absolutely refused,” Varaschin explained.
Upon finding out that the flight would be leaving quite early on Sunday morning and Paws Republic doesn’t open until 1pm, Varaschin suggested that she board her dogs and keep Radar at her home to make things easier. “Kristine being Kristine simply said, ‘whatever this little guy needs and made arrangements to open early that morning,” Varaschin added.
In addition to Paws Republic and Varaschin stepping up to help get Radar to his new home, the community of Martensville also contributed after Varaschin posted a request looking for donations of blankets in order to ensure that Radar would be warm on his journey.
