27/04/2024
Welcome to the family Zeke!
The things we will do to make things work for our bullies and their humans…
We first learned about Zeke, formerly known as Andy, on April 3rd when we received a hotline call from the director of the Dyersburg - Dyer County Humane Society, Jenny Humphrey, in western TN. Although Dyersburg is more in the coverage area of the national rescue, Rescue Welfare Trust Fund (RWTF)of the Bull Terrier Club of America, we decided to work jointly with RWTF, which is run by Glenna Wright (https://www.facebook.com/GlennaMitchellWright), as we often do as we both had limited resources in that area and he was the third Bull Terrier from western TN that we were contacted about in a week and a half time span. Our initial thought was that someone who lived within a reasonable distance of Dyersburg would come along but when we posted him, that didn’t happen but a recent applicant of ours from Virginia Beach, VA quickly expressed interest. Meanwhile the information we had on Zeke was that he was picked up as a stray and had been a great boy since being at the shelter. What we also learned was that a few months prior, a gentleman had surrendered a female bull terrier to the shelter and had mentioned having a male as well. Later on, he tried to surrender the male but the shelter was beyond capacity and told him to contact a rescue. We don’t know if a rescue was every contacted, we know we weren’t and even though it appears that Zeke looks identical to that bull terrier, the gentleman denied that he was his. When discussing potential homes with Glenna, she mentioned that she was driving from Arkansas to Morgantown, WV for the Golden Triangle Bull Terrier Club dog show towards the end of April and could bring Zeke with her to get him closer to Virginia Beach. We spoke further with the interested family and they were on board with driving over six hours to Morgantown to get him. We thought we had a foundation of a plan laid out… but alas, this is rescue and what fun would it be if we didn’t have a simple plan turn complicated…
Due to timing issues and a scheduled appointment in Washington DC on Friday morning, Zeke’s family was not going to be able to get to Morgantown on Thursday. We weren’t going to let that wrinkle impede our efforts to get him getting closer to the east coast so we set to work on new plans, which took our transportation coordinator about 3 days to figure out and get all the pieces to lined up. We are sharing all of this with you so you can understand the efforts and dedication that goes on behind the scenes in order to get bullies into good homes. Here is what we finally got sorted out and how things happened. On Wednesday evening, Glenna Wright started her drive from Arkansas, bringing along RWTF rescue Smudgie and a few show dogs. She drove east a little over three hours and met up with Dyersburg Animal Control Officers Baldwin and Henson, who drove about an hour and 40 minutes from the shelter with Zeke. Glenna hit 3 separate pockets of construction zones on her way, which caused her to be an hour and fifteen minutes late and the awesome Animal Control Officers just patiently waited until she got there at 10:15 in the evening. Glenna then drove another few hours, got a couple hours of sleep and then headed out Thursday morning. First was a stop in Nashville to pick up another Bull Terrier for the show, then to Charleston WV, where she met up with Tony Nettleman and Nicole Fletcher.
If Tony’s name sounds familiar it is because Tony has been an amazing help to Blue Ridge Bull Terrier Club Rescue over the years, piloting his planes to fly bullies for us when needed. Tony and his wife Stephanie lost their senior Bull Terrier Roman last month and wanted to open their home to a Bull Terrier in need. Initially they were going to foster a female who had been on the euthanasia list at a shelter in TX. After going back and forth on multiple possible plans on getting her to Tony and Stephanie, it was decided that she would go to Glenna in Arkansas last weekend and then tag along for the ride with Glenna. However, on Tuesday, she showed evidence of some sort of infection and it was decided that she needed to stay in Arkansas for the time being to get her medically taken care of. Glenna talked with Tony and they decided that Smudgie would come instead. Since the plans called for very precise meeting times due to scheduling, on Thursday Tony drove 3 hours to Charleston, WV from North Carolina rather than flying to get Smudgie and then headed back home with Smudgie in tow.
Since Zeke’s new family had that appointment in Washington DC on Friday morning, they couldn’t get to Charleston on Thursday. Nicole graciously offered to meet up with Glenna to get Zeke and have him spend the night. Our friend Alicia then picked Zeke up on Friday afternoon and drove a few hours to meet up with Zeke’s new pawrents, where he seemed instantly smitten. There was still more to go as they had over 4 hours left to drive to get home. Finally, late last night, after a 3 day journey, Zeke made it home. He has done remarkably well for all he has experienced the last few days. Every single person who has met him has said the same thing, “he is such a sweet boy”. This sweet boy is exactly what Zeke’s new family needed as they lost their beloved senior Bull Terrier Sahara at age 15 last month. Along with his new parents, he now has a teenager human sister and a college age brother, both of whom are beyond excited. Zeke traveled approximately 1150 miles over three days to get to the family who needed him just as much as he needed them.
We know this was a lot to read and comprehend but we want people to know how incredibly dedicated our Bull Terrier community is. Zeke’s journey was a group effort and happened because of wonderful human beings wanting to make a difference. Although Facebook doesn’t seem to let us tag most people anymore, we would still like to acknowledge those who made this all possible. Special thanks to Jenny Humphrey and all the staff at Dyersburg-Dyer Humane Society for taking such great care of Zeke while under their care, Animal Control Officers Kyleigh Baldwin and Justin Henson for driving Zeke and waiting an extra hour and 15 minutes late into the evening to get him to Glenna, Glenna Wright, who goes above and beyond for our Bull Terrier and Miniature Bull Terrier breeds in every capacity, for taking Smudgie and Zeke hundreds of miles to help them get along their way in their rescue journeys, Aubrey Jacobs who had been ready to foster Zeke until we got him moved (even though we didn’t end up doing that, Aubrey was ready and willing even with very short notice), Nicole Fletcher for opening her home to Zeke overnight, Alicia DiPietro for helping come up with the plan from Charleston on so that Zeke could make it to his family and for driving him some and Zeke’s new family for driving many hours extra to get him and for giving him the home he deserves.
Below are some photos taken at various times throughout the 3 day journey. You can also check out Zeke’s freedom walk here: https://fb.watch/rIRVr_CcZr/
You can like and follow Zeke’s adventures on his page, Get Your Zeke On.
