Billy's story.....and Truck Drivers

Our Billy has a very unusual background.  We live in the Northeastern part of USA.  Billy (a rat terrier by breed) originally came from the Seattle, Washington area (WAY over on the other part of the country)......THOUSANDS of miles away from here.

He was a "rescue" dog - that is, he was being cared for temporarily but needed a home.  We didn't know the full story about him until after we had adopted him.  By the way, if you are looking for a sweet tempered dog, I highly recommend rat terriers and a rescue organization for rat terriers called "Ratbones Rescue" (online).  We saw Billy's photo online and fell in love!!  We read that he was great with dogs (at the time we had another dog), great with cats (we had those too!) and great with kids (we had one of those too!).  What is so cool about "Ratbones Rescue" is that they investigate the home as rigidly as one would be inspected to adopt a child.  They even come and check out the home to make sure it's a good place. 

  We knew we had to wait a bit for him because he had Lyme disease (caused by a tick, but curable) and that his "foster Mum" would release him only when he was completely cured of the Lyme disease.

    The foster Mum lived about 3 states away and agreed to meet halfway.  It would be a 4 hour drive for both of us (her/ourselves).  It was a very good meeting and Billy jumped into our car (and lives!) as if he'd been there forever.

    All the 4 hours back home, we couldn't help but notice that every time a 16-wheeler truck went by, he would get very excited and would jump up to see it pass by.  "We must ask his foster Mum, if she knows, why he's so interested in big trucks!".

So - we called his foster Mum and asked - she broke out in laughter!!  "Oh, you really want to hear Billy's life story?"  (of course we did!).  He came from Seattle, Washington, where he belonged to an elderly lady.  The lady had a stroke and went to hospital, never to return home again.  Billy hid while the paramedics came; he was scared.  Several weeks went by and neighbours thought they heard a DOG barking in the deceased lady's apartment.  Indeed it was - it was Billy.  There were no relatives, so Billy would have been taken to the pound (even possibly put to sleep) except that one of the neighbours happened to be a volunteer for "Ratbones Rescue".  She said all the foster Mums/Dads in the state of Washington already had more than their quotas, so they would "send" Billy to the first available Foster Mum/Dad - who happened to be all the way over on the other side of the country - in Connecticut!!  So how did Billy travel from Washington State to Connecticut??  His foster Mum said that a lot of truckers are kind-hearted and work with organizations such as theirs.  One trucker might say "Oh, I'm not going to Connecticut, but I'm going as far as Kansas City, if you can find another trucker to take him another thousand miles".  Then another trucker volunteers to take the dog as far as Chicago, and another trucker volunteers to take the dog from Chicago to Buffalo (mind you, this all has to be pre-coordinated!!) and finally a trucker volunteers to take the dog from Buffalo to Connecticut!  AND all the while, Billy sat up in the front seat, just looking down at the world and enjoying the ride!  So that explained his excitement and fascination of BIG TRUCKS.  His Foster Mum said "Hey, if you ever want to make his day - take him to a truck stop and he'll think he went to heaven!!" 

One learns a lot by living (and getting old!) - I never realized there were truck drivers so kind and compassionate to volunteer to do such things.  I have a friend who was a former truck driver, and as a female, she was a rarity among truck drivers.  She told us something I have never forgotten.  She said "if ever you are driving and feel sleepy and need to SLEEP at a rest-stop......don't go to where the cars go.  Go, instead to where the big trucks go.  Find a space between 2 large trucks and park there - it is a truckers 'code' that if a car parks between two trucks the truckers should protect the car's inhabitants for the night".  I NEVER forgot that.  One time we were driving from Ohio to Mississippi and although Nando and I switched off - there came a point about 40 minutes before Mississippi when I could not keep my eyes open.  Nando was snoring loudly and our daughter way too young to drive.  I saw a rest stop and did exactly as my friend, Fran, had told me.....went to the TRUCKERS part, found a space between 2 huge trucks and fell asleep.  I do not know how long I slept but when I awakened, there was only ONE truck and a note on my windshield....."you left your door unlocked; I locked it for you all; have a safe journey".