Homeward bound
Lockeford groomer helps nonprofit find homes in Canada for 80 dogs
Country Clippers owner Genola Scott takes a brief rest outside of her Lockeford pet grooming business, where she has been helping a Pine Grovebased nonprofit organization prepare 80 dogs for their flight to Canada, where they will be adopted.
“I’ve been up to my elbows in dogs all day,” Scott said on Friday.
For the second year in a row, the nonprofit Pirrone Projects - Rise Above Rescue will help a dog rescue in Vancouver, British Columbia find homes for rescue dogs from California, with Scott helping to house and groom them before their trip in November, according to Stephanie Pirrone, the nonprofit’s founder.
“We secured dogs from highkill shelters all up and down the Central Valley of California, starting about nine weeks before the planned adoption event that’s going to take place on Nov. 5 in British Columbia. We already have 77 dogs, and we will have the full 80 by this weekend,” Pirrone said.
Pirrone’s all-volunteer organization will take care of all of the dogs’ veterinary needs before travel, such as rabies shots, other vaccines and spaying and neutering, before chartering an airplane from Livermore Airport, she explained.
About 100 volunteers will be in Vancouver when the dogs arrive, with a 10,000-squarefoot airplane hangar converted into an adoption center for the weekend. Pirrone herself will fly out of San Francisco to attend the event, and answer any questions the adopters may have.
Grooming is another part of the preparation process, Pirrone said, a task being handled by Scott, who is also helping to house many of the dogs before they are flown to Canada where Thank Dog I Am Out Dog Rescue will find homes for them.
“It’s amazing to be a part of such an amazing team with an amazing leader. For our small business to be a part of something so big is huge, I can’t really put it into words,” Scott said.
All prospective adopters are thoroughly vetted ahead of time, according to Pirrone, a process that involves inspections of their homes, and the adoption event itself is invitation only. Pirrone anticipates that the dogs will be adopted quickly, saying that 60 dogs were adopted within 45 minutes last year.
Rise Above Rescue is also coordinating transportation for a second group of 40 rescue dogs from Stockton, 16 of them pit bulls, to BARCS Rescue in Calgary, Alberta. The city has no breed restrictions, according to Debra Therrien, BARCS’ founder, and plenty of people eager to adopt a new four-legged friend.
“It feels amazing, it means that 40 dogs are going to wonderful homes. We don’t have a pet overpopulation problem in Calgary, so we have homes for all these dogs,” Therrien said. Those wishing to donate to Pirrone Projects can do so via PayPal at pirroneprojects@yahoo.com. For more information about Rise Against Rescue, email pirroneprojects@yahoo.com or visit www.pirroneprojects.com.
Country Clippers is located at 18680 N. Highway 88, Lockeford. For more information, call 209-933-1224.