So you wonder what it's like going out on a rescue?

These video excerpts are small excerpts of that morning's "journey". The rescue of Jois took hours......All videos can be viewed in HD, you just need to click on the 720/HD on bottom right (hold mouse above to see where to click!).


Ms. PJ has been going to East St. Louis every single day for over a decade to feed & care & foster "Los Perros de la Calle".  She is one of the most beautiful, fragile yet resilient, and strongest women I have ever met and I feel so blessed that I am able to brush shoulders with her in this lifetime.  Check out Gateway Pet Guardian's Website for our "Adventures in Pet Rescue" blog & to buy the documentary about PJ (Gateway Guardians).  Yours truly, little Vegan Chic with an attitude, is doing the talking & the shaky filming (the ground is always something like this-collapsed homes!  and the only reason I am filming is because I will show up to her place on time and am on the rescue!  Not for my stellar videography!!  If you are interested in an Adventure or just a morning feeding (which is a lot more low key), then contact Gateway Pets!

So, wonder what it is like going on a rescue?? Or feeding the pups on the East side? Either way, if you are set to "ride" with PJ in the morning, you best be prepared for anything! Some mornings I would ride, unaware any type of rescue was planned, and find myself desiring thicker pants, and bulky gloves! Or maybe thought we would be in the car more, and realized once we got there that we would be outside for an indefinite amount of time and I really was fantasizing about polartec leggings under my jeans! Generally she provides the flashlights and tools, but you might want to make sure your attire is suitable for walking through thick brush (hats and long sleeves), bitter cold or windy weather, durable yet old footwear, bulky gloves for biting/nipping pups, thinner gloves for Pj's demolition team (usually ripping apart old buildings), glasses for either the sun or to prevent your eyes getting full of soot, and thicker pants that you don't mind getting muddy and that will provide protection from debris of outside or old buildings.

Bring your charged cell phone, you get extra credit for iPhones or the like since we will never be lost and will have all of our contact in for right there, along with video and still film. Oh, they also come in handy to find a vet that will let us take our freshly rescued do to them, spur of the moment, and also to scramble for additional fosters if we end up with more than we anticipated, or a different dog than anticipated! And in general, leave your time frame at home. Pj's time frame is generally, "until we get the dog". However, sometimes it takes multiple visits for a rescue, simply because there is no guarantee that the planned rescue will even be sighted that day, or that we will be able to catch them.

Although most of the dogs adjust quickly after they are rescued, they are often fearful of people and have survived solely because of their ability to outrun "man". Well, we all know Pj isn't "man", but a Hollywood Action Figure, and although she can't outrun them, she can usually devise a way to out "trick" them and find a successful path to their rescue. These videos give a glimpse of what our April 16, 2011 rescues looked like. From arriving at the site, just trying to even have access to it, to discovering that it was a slightly different situation than we had expected. We were expecting brush and maybe a crawlspace, as Pj is master of crawling on her belly, under floorboards.

However, this was debris, linoleum, carpeting, and very thick vines that had been impacted to create a nearly impermeable ceiling. Beneath this "ceiling" was a foundation of a home, and tunnels divided into sections by cinderblocks. It took endless hours of shoveling, at first with our hands, and then calling in backup. About 3/4 way through we made a spur of the moment call to Mr. B, who dropped his beekeeping duties at moment's notice to come help. Our Puppy Saving Prince came bearing tools that he claimed, were not invented by a chic, like shovels! We ended up with one puppy that day. Saw another "escape" and the third, we had no clue! They would have to wait for their "Journey Home". I think Jois fared pretty well during the whole ordeal. She was frightened at first because Pj had to hold to really drag her out of there, but she warmed up right away during her bath. And apparently she follows her foster family around the entire house, whining to be picked up and petted. And please let us know if you would ever like to ride with us! We promise to try to tell you if there is a rescued planned or if you need your work boots!

Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace. —Albert Schweitzer, French philosopher, physician, and musician (Nobel 1952)