By Ashley McCarty
People’s Defender
Two residents of Maysville, Kentucky and former graduates of Manchester High School have invested their retirement to helping dogs find their happy tails.
Jim Sandlin retired from teaching in 2017 and is also retired from the Navy.
“So, for the last four years, I’ve been retired. My wife, Susan, and I were just looking for something to get involved in. Though, this started a long time ago, because we became really good friends with Alyse Lovejoy-Pettit. We started to learn about all of the stuff with the dogs through Alyse, largely. Initially, she inspired us, and we’ve adopted dogs,” said Sandlin.
He and his wife began to see Facebook posts regarding dogs in need and followed Bracken County, Lewis County and Brown County shelter pages.
“We saw where they were transporting dogs. We kept seeing this phrase, ‘sent to rescue.’ We asked, what does sent to rescue mean? How does that work, and who does what? Robbin Snapp, that runs the Bracken County shelter, asked if we would mind transporting a dog to Brown County. We went down, picked up the dog, and thought, ‘wow, we could do this.’ There’s a place in Batavia called The League for Animal Welfare. We got asked to take a couple of dogs down there, and we fell in love with that place. Everywhere has the same problem — there are cats and dogs running everywhere, and they’re not spayed or neutered, and they don’t have a home. That’s what kept us going,” said Susan Sandlin.
The pair also became involved with the Stray Animal Adoption Program (SAAP) in northern Kentucky.
“We became transporters for them. They pull animals from shelters in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and West Virginia. They work with shelters, and if a shelter becomes too full and they need to transport, SAAP will pull some animals. When SAAP contacts us to transport, we take those animals to the vet. From there, SAAP has fosters who will pick them up after they have gotten the care they need. It’s a huge operation, what we do is just a small part of it. For us, we’re rewarded in knowing that we helped a dog find a forever home and they’re not on the street anymore or living in a cage in the shelter where they may never end up being adopted,” said Susan Sandlin.
It’s just their love for dogs, she said.
“I’m retired, Susan is retired, our kids are grown and our granddaughter is grown. So, this is what we do to be useful and helpful. It’s something we really love to do. We can’t take any more dogs, we can’t foster, but, we can transport. It’s just our way of helping,” said Jim Sandlin.
When canines need to be transported, the associated rescue will solicit their transport staff for help. If a transport is needed close to the Sandlin’s location, SAAP will tag them.
“They’ll text or email us. The coordinator at SAAP will post on their website [dogs that need to be transported and where]. They’ll provide a time to pick them up, and they’ll give you a lot of supplies. They gave us crates and things we need to transport. Shelters will also get a hold of rescues. They’ll work it out, and then reach out to the transporters. Once they get down there and vetted, they start the process of getting them a foster,” said Jim Sandlin.
The League For Animal Welfare closely watches shelters for target animals.
“They even have a trainer on-site that likes to work with troubled dogs to get them ready for adoption. They get in touch with the shelter, and the shelter will message us, and they’ll ask if they can meet us. They may have two or three dogs they may have to send to Batavia or somewhere. It’s so rewarding to see dogs and puppies that we transport that have gotten into foster homes or adopted. We see pictures, and the dogs are happy. We were a part of that,” said Susan Sandlin.
On any given transport, the Sandlin’s travel 150 to 175 miles.
“People come to us, we’re kind of a central point. Shelters will bring them here to Mason County, or we’ll meet them halfway. A lot of times what will happen [is we’ll make multiple stops.] So, I would say by the time we leave our house, it’s 150-175 miles round trip for almost every trip. I’ve been asked to go further. They’ll set up rendezvous points for transporters,” said Jim Sandlin.
Unfortunately, there are not a lot of volunteers available to help transport animals or lend a helping hand to shelters in general.
“It’s something we would like to see other people get into. It’s so rewarding. With SAAP, if you want to transport, there is a place on their website (https://adoptastray.com/) to volunteer. You have to fill out a form, they approve it, and they give you all the guidelines that you’ll sign electronically,” said Susan Sandlin.
Interested individuals can also contact shelters directly.
“They can contact shelters and tell them that if there’s any circumstance where they need an animal transported, they can give them a call. The folks running the shelters are super helpful. They’ll load the dogs for you and give you something to tether the dog. So, go through the shelter if you’re interested, the local humane society, or visit SAAP’s website. People can contact shelters, any of the rescues. They need help with all kinds of things, such as during the adoption events. At adoption events, they look for volunteers to help. The more people they have in their database that can help in any way, the better it is for everybody [and the animals],” said Jim Sandlin.
Volunteering means that they can do something good.
“We feel good about that. Other people can do it, too,” said Jim Sandlin.