Pilots To The Rescue News - September 2024
The weather may be getting colder, but PTTR is turning up the heat on the road and in the skies to keep innocent souls out of harm’s way. In the month of September, we rescued 19 dogs and 44 cats from overcrowded shelters in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. We also coordinated an emergency rescue through our aviation network to take 3 more dogs from Kentucky off their shelter's euthanasia list!
In this month’s newsletter, you can meet some of the animals we rescued in September and get to know one of our newest volunteer pilots on a deeper level. You can also learn a new tip for teaching your adopted dog how to stay calm when the doorbell rings!
Thank you for your support in making these missions possible!
PTTR Gives 3 Abandoned Dogs from Kentucky a Second Chance
On September 13th, PTTR received a call about an emergency rescue from The Minnis Sanctuary in Bowdoin, Maine. Three dogs named Hannah, Braxton, and Diamond were scheduled to be euthanized at an overcrowded shelter in Kentucky. The dogs had been surrendered to the shelter as infants. Along with her two siblings, Diamond was literally dropped outside the Kentucky shelter’s doors by their former owner, nearly sick to death with Parvo. After relaying the situation to our aviation network, we found out that volunteer pilot Chris McKay was available for this critical mission. Springing into action in a matter of hours, Chris picked up the dogs in Greenville, Kentucky, and flew his paw- ssengers to Lewiston, Maine. The trio is now safe with The Minnis Sanctuary, where they are in good health and ready to meet their new families any day now.
19 Dogs from NC Avoid Euthanasia, Now Safe in NJ
Just ten days after the previous mission, PTTR’s amazing driver, Albert Picewicz, drove down to Dunn, North Carolina to pick up a whopping 19 dogs ranging from 14 to 70 pounds. The animals were supplied by multiple local shelters including Saint Frances Animal Center in Georgetown, South Carolina and Caring for Hearts Canines in Aberdeen, North Carolina.
From there, Albert drove back up to PTTR’s home state of New Jersey, where the dogs were received by three of our most trusted shelter partners: Mt. Pleasant Animal Shelter in East Hanover, New Jersey, Long Road Home Rescue Inc. in Manhasset, New York and Castle of Dreams Animal Rescue in Aberdeen Township, New Jersey.
Volunteer Spotlight: Chris Mckay, Volunteer Pilot
This month, we’re shining some light on volunteer pilot Chris McKay. A native of New Hampshire, Chris is very fortunate to have grown up in a dog-loving family. It was only a matter of time before he adopted his own rescue dog, a loyal Black Labrador named Piper. Before passing away earlier this year, Piper accompanied Chris on countless outdoor adventures. Chris even hiked all 48 of New Hampshire’s 4,000-foot mountains with Piper by his side. Their magical friendship eventually inspired Chris to get involved with PTTR, where he can harness his passion for aviation to help other people experience the incomparable joy of a rescue companion.
Chris's initial interest in flight emerged shortly after graduating from the University of New Hampshire’s Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics in 2009. He subsequently attended Southern Maine Aviation flight school and has since logged over 1,000 hours of flight time. When he’s not flying his Cirrus SR22, Chris serves as a partner at the accounting firm of Leone, McDonnell and Roberts, PA. An active affiliate of the Skyhaven Flying Club, he currently resides in Wakefield, New Hampshire, with his wife and children.
Adoptionn Tip of the Month
Does your dog lose their mind every time the doorbell rings? It’s very common for dogs to bark loudly or rush to the front door at the sound of a doorbell, no matter how many times they’ve heard this familiar sound. Don’t worry, the following training exercise can teach your dog to treat the sound of the doorbell like any other mundane noise, i.e. a bird chirping outside.
1. Knock quietly on a hard surface and see how your dog responds. Do they rush to the door? If so, make the knock quieter until your dog stops reacting.
2. Next, gradually increase the volume and frequency of the knocks. Do this until your dog starts ignoring reasonably loud knocks.
3. Now it’s time to introduce the sound of a doorbell. Ring the bell, and allow your dog to see that nobody is at the front door. Eventually, your dog will see there’s no reason to react to this noise, because it doesn’t mean that anything is actually happening.
4. When your dog begins to stay calm at the sound of a doorbell, you know what to do: Give them a treat so they learn that staying calm when the doorbell rings is good behavior that gets rewarded.
Now You Can Support PTTR by Selling Items on eBay!
Do you sell items on eBay from time to time? Well, now you can use your lucrative hobby to help us go on more rescues and save more pets! It’s called eBay for Charity. Whenever you put an an item up for sale on eBay, you just have to select Pilots To The Rescue as a non-profit beneficiary. This allows a small portion of your sales to go directly towards the ongoing costs of our missions.
Remember, every single dollar we receive puts more fuel in our cars and planes so we can go on more missions every month and save more animals from euthanasia. So, for every item you sell on eBay, PTTR gets another reason to say “yes” when our shelter partners contact us about homeless pets in danger. This is a great way to play a vital role in PTTR's work if you don’t have the means for a donation. As a testament to our paw-some community, PTTR has already been named as a beneficiary for a host of items, from shoes to watches to collectible dolls. To learn more about or start selling items for PTTR, visit https://charity.ebay.com/.
