Hush, puppies!

Hush, puppies!


         Dawn Lee-Laub, left, Sandra Luppi, and Danielle Youngman hold a litter of four at the Animal Rescue League of Boston Shelter in Brewster. Nineteen puppies arrived Saturday after a trip up from Louisiana and Mississippi.Cape Cod Times/Steve Heaslip

By Mary Ann Bragg mbragg@capecodonline.com March 16, 2014

        Nineteen soft-coated and wide-eyed puppies arrived Saturday morning at the Animal Rescue League of Boston's Brewster shelter after a two-day trip from Louisiana and Mississippi.

The pups, each with names written on bright-colored collars, explored their kennels and then promptly demonstrated what they were made of: Some fell asleep, some barked, some wrestled with a kennel mate, and some stared placidly at the humans.


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Sophie, a Mississippi dog weighing in at less than 10 pounds, was in a corner kennel by herself, with a pink collar. She had a camel-colored coat of fur and a dark muzzle, and was among the smallest that arrived Saturday. She originally had been at the Jackson, Miss., city pound but was removed from there by the nonprofit Jackson Friends of the Animal Shelter, board member Lyn Crawford said in a phone interview Saturday.


"The (city) shelter is really a tough place for puppies," Crawford said.

The Mississippi nonprofit is one of a handful of groups in the two Southern states working with the nonprofit Animal Rescue Front Inc. of Groton and the Brewster shelter to bring puppies, which might otherwise be killed, to owners on Cape Cod.

The Southern groups rescue the pups from city pounds or situations where they are strays or abandoned, and provide a haven and veterinary care until they are taken by ARF to Brewster."The people we work with are rescuers," ARF Executive Director Chris McLaughlin said.

"They have interceded. They've mitigated the danger for these animals, but it doesn't get them out of the woods, because there are so many, and there are so few good families."

Saturday's pups were driven north Thursday and Friday by ARF volunteers in a van that ARF owns.
The trip typically takes about two days with frequent stops for the dogs to stretch, play, drink water, eat and relieve themselves, McLaughlin said. Each dog travels with veterinary care paperwork and health and travel certificates issued from veterinarians with the Southern groups. That veterinary care is duplicated by Brewster shelter vet Kyle Quigley during the 48-hour quarantine period when the pups initially arrive, according to Brewster shelter manager Sandra Luppi.

"We do it again just to make sure we cover all the areas," Luppi said.

In 2013 the Brewster shelter, which is licensed by the commonwealth to take out-of-state dogs, took in 160 puppies through this process, Luppi said. ARF and the Brewster shelter have been working together since 2010.

The 19 pups, all mixed breeds, already are spoken for, Luppi said Saturday, and there is a waiting list of about 25 to 30 people. But other south-to-north trips are planned. The Brewster shelter charges $450 to adopt a dog and another $100 to cover the cost of transportation.


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