New Driver Page

M.A.M.A.S. on the Move Transport is a transport group that exist to support M.A.M.A.S. (Mary Ann Morris Animal Society) in Bamberg, SC. We are dedicated to saving as many animals as possible from euthanasia and keeping MAMAS low-kill & hopefully no-kill one day.  We believe that every animal deserves a healthy life and a loving home.  Every other weekend our transport takes place to get animals out of the shelter and on their way to rescues & fully screened adoptive homes - onto their new lives. The transport goes from Bamberg, SC to Baltimore, MD on Saturday. Many of our wonderful volunteers in the DC/Baltimore area (& sometimes beyond) open their homes to the pets for a place to rest on Saturday night. On Sunday the transport branches out in different directions to get the animals to their locations, such as towards Pennsylvania, New York (Buffalo & Albany), New Jersey, and New England. The transport route is like a relay. It is broken down into legs of 1 - 1 1/2 hours. Volunteers drive the animals on a leg and then pass them off to the next volunteer, until they get to their destination. (See the Transport Guidelines for suggested supplies needed to safely transport the animals.) 

We are always in need of new volunteers!

To view our current transport, visit the home page

To get involved, or for more information please contact Emily Finck at mamasnewdrivers@aol.com

And provide her with the following information:

Name:

Email (one you check on the weekends):

Brief description of you so other drivers can recognize you:

Make and model/color of vehicle:

Cell phone:
Home phone:

Emergency Contact (name and phone):

How many crates you have for transport and what size they are:

Are you comfortable tethering a dog in your car if necessary?

Home city and State:

Have you transported rescue dogs before?

If so, with which group?  Please provide email address for that Transport Coordinator:

How did you hear about M.A.M.A.S. on the Move Transport?

If you are in the Baltimore area, are you interested in driving, over-nighting or both? :

Name and email of reference: ( rescue related preferred, but if n/a- then email of personal/professional reference):

*Do you have pets at home?

Please list your pet’s names and species:

Are they up to date on their basic vaccines and spayed/neutered?

Name and phone # of veterinarian:

Have you called your veterinarian to give them permission to release your pet's records to a representative of MAMAS on THE MOVE Transport and/or Mary Ann Morris Animal Society?

TRANSPORT GUIDELINES

Here are a few guidelines to help you with transports.  Please read carefully and let us know if you have any questions.  If you have any information to add, please feel free to contact us – helpful hints are always welcomed!

TRANSPORT GUIDELINES

Here are guidelines to help you with transports.  Please read them carefully and let your Transport Coordinator (or New Driver Counselor) know if you have any questions.  These Guidelines may seem long & detailed, but it is meant to help you help these animals in the safest way possible.  If you have any information to add, please feel free to contact your transport coordinator – helpful hints are always welcomed!

This 1^st page will give you some of the most important things you need to know; the “non-negotiables” .  The subsequent pages include more details that are meant to give you a fuller understanding of the whole transport process.  Please read the whole Guide even if you have transported before.  Different groups have different expectations.

“Non-Negotiables”

The following instructions are to help protect the puppies from Parvo. The parvo virus can live on surfaces (including dirt) for 6 or more months.  Parvo is a virus that will slowly destroy a puppy’s intestines.  It is very dangerous for the puppies & very expensive to treat. Survival rates are poor.  (For more info, check out: http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/parvovirus-in-dogs.)  Please follow the below instructions to protect them!

·       Puppies 6 months & under MUST be crated.

·       You MUST wear medical gloves when handling puppies & change those gloves when getting ready to handle pups  from a different litter. (Also, do NOT pet an adult dog & then handle pups without the gloves.)

·       Never mix puppies from different litters in a crate.  Only littermates may be crated together. They will be listed on the runsheet as a group.

·       Puppies canNOT be put on the ground.  They must be transferred from crate to crate. Some people think that making puppies go in their crate is cruel, but this is to protect them from parvo, a virus that is even crueler.   It is permissible to put them in an x-pen with plastic covering the ground.  Plastic must be changed between litters.

For adult dogs:

·       Dogs under 25 lbs must be crated.  Small breed dogs are more skittish & are at a greater risk of running away.

·       Crating is always preferred.  Any dog not crated MUST be tethered.  (Tethering means tying the leash to something immoveable in the car such as the drop down handles over the window, headrest, etc.) No more than 2 tethered dogs should be in a vehicle for safety reasons and they should be separated.

For all animals:

Paperwork MUST be handed off to the driver that has the animal.  It is important the paperwork stay with the animal in case he/she needs go to the emergency vet or the police ask for it.  (Health Certificates and rabies certificates, if age appropriate, are required to cross state lines.)

·      More Important Information.  Keep Reading.  It may save a dog’s life.

·       PRE-TRANSPORT PREPARATION

• Protect your pets. Make sure your personal pets are up-to-date on shots & on flea & tick preventative!  All animals on transport are up-to-date on shots, but please remember they are coming from a shelter.  Not all have been treated for fleas & ticks (due to costs) & any animal coming from a shelter environment may be harboring a virus.
• To also protect your pets, do NOT bring them with you when driving.  This will protect them from potential viruses, fleas & ticks.  In addition, your focus needs to be on the shelter dogs who, due to stress on the transport, may be flight risk or more prone to snap at other dogs.

o   You must have a cell phone; even if you don’t need to call another driver, they may need to call you.  They may be late or having car problems. You may need to relay information quickly to other drivers or the Monitor. If you get into an accident you may need help quickly for your passengers and yourself.

o   Make sure your cell phone is charged & on the entire day of the run in case of early/late arrivals or questions.

o   Check e-mails frequently the day of the run – there could be last-minute changes or information from the monitor, other drivers, or overnighter.  (Make sure the Transport Coordinator has the email where you can be reached on the weekends.)

o   Familiarize yourself with the run sheet and passengers. The intro will have important passenger specific directions.  Print it out and take it with you on the run – pictures (if available) of all passengers and detailed information will be included with the run sheet.  Don’t want to print the whole run sheet? Then cut and paste the leg before yours, your leg, and the one after yours. Make sure you also have the Monitor's phone number.

o   Before the run, the Transport Coordinator will contact you & the other drivers on your leg to assign passengers based on crate & car capacity. The assignments can also be a double-check to make sure you haven’t driven off and forgotten someone!  Please bring the crates you told the Coordinator you will be using and make sure you give her an accurate description of the weight capacity of the crate so that dogs &/or pups should fit properly.

o   MAKE SURE YOUR CRATES ARE CLEAN & SANITIZED BEFORE EACH TRANSPORT!

o   If you have extra crates you can bring, please do so. You may need to separate a pup or the dogs/pups may not fit.  (Sometimes dogs/pups are bigger than listed on the runsheet b/c pups grow & dogs can fill out.)

o   If you do not have crates, please contact other drivers to see if you can borrow some – other drivers are usually happy to let you borrow crates if they are returned in a timely fashion and have been bleached after the transport.  Any driver unable to obtain crates will only be able to carry 1-2 tethered dogs.

• NEVER, forward or crosspost a final run sheet.  Also please do not “borrow” drivers’ e-mail addresses and start copying them on urgent animal situations without their permission.  Many drivers are not necessarily rescuers & therefore are not an appropriate target audience.  Please be kind and protect everyone’s personal space.

TRANSFER/HANDOFF

o   Plan on arriving at the meeting location at the same time your connecting driver(s) is scheduled to arrive (10 minutes earlier is better) in order to help with the transfer. If a driver is driving multiple legs, they may be early. This will be noted on the final runsheet. Please have your crates set up & ready to use.  Have water ready to offer to the dogs & pups.

o   PAPERWORK AND MEDICATION, ETC. IS TO BE HANDED OFF FIRST – BEFORE THE DOGS – to insure it is not forgotten.

o   Be VERY careful when transferring dogs to insure they don’t get away from you or try to run out the car door before you have a good grip on them.  Any dog not crated must be tethered (tied) to something in the vehicle (such as the headrest or drop down handle), then when you open the door, the dog can not run away.

o   Please do not leave leashes or slip leads on the dogs when they are crated.  The leash or lead can get tangled around a limb and hurt and possibly strangle them.  When opening the crate to get the dog out, be sure to block the crate doorway with your body as you put the leash &/or slip lead on the dog.  DO THIS BEFORE getting him/her out. 

o   When possible, please use a clip on leash on the dog’s collar AND a slip lead to lessen the chance of the dog getting away from you.  ALWAYS put the loop-handle of the leash &/or slip lead over your hand & on your wrist & grip the stem of the leash/lead with your hand.  This secures the leash on your wrist so it is harder for the dog to pull away or keeps the leash in your hand if you fall or loose your balance.

o   Only one dog should be taken out of a vehicle at a time (unless there are multiple people to help) while the others remain safely contained in the vehicle.  Dogs MUST be on a leash or slip leash during transfer and must NEVER be taken out of the vehicle off leash.

o   If transporting cats, a cat/kitten will *always* come with his/her own crate.  The Transport Coordinator will provide the crate measurements for appropriate planning. Do NOT take the cat out of the crate unless the crate needs cleaning.  If the cat & crate needs some cleaning, do so INSIDE the vehicle with the vehicle doors & windows shut.  NEVER take the cat out of the crate outside or even open the cat crate door outside of a closed vehicle.

o   Do not leave tethered dogs in a vehicle with a door, window, or sunroof open. (Determined, scared dogs can get through the tiniest of openings!)  If they pull their leash loose, they can run away.  If it is summer, please keep the AC going in the car during the transfer to reduce the chance of the dogs & pups overheating.

o   Please have poop bags available and clean up after the dogs – also try to keep them away from other dog’s feces.

o   Try to keep the dogs away from each other during transfer (unless they have been together at the shelter) to lower the chance of spreading disease and/or fighting – transport is stressful for an animal so never let your guard down.  The Transport Coordinator will let you know who can be crated &/or tethered together. 

o   Puppies under the age of six months should never touch the ground to cut down on the spread of disease.  (Their immune systems are very vulnerable and most transfer locations are common areas where many, many dogs have been.)  If you must put the puppies down to potty, etc., lay down a large area of newspaper or plastic covering inside an x-pen or play pen and then throw away the ground covering afterwards.  If you cannot lay down a groundcover to protect them from infection, transfer them to the next crate and let them do their business there.  (This sounds harsh, but remember these pups have been in crates at the shelter.)

o   When transferring puppies, always use disposable latex/nitrile (not rubber) gloves or a 10% bleach/water solution to thoroughly wash your hands before and after handling each litter.  (Hand sanitizer can be deadly if ingested and does not kill parvo so please be safe and use the bleach solution).  NEVER mix litters of puppies unless they were together at the shelter.

o   Moms with nursing puppies should be coming in a crate together .  When the mother gets out to walk , please wipe her feet off with a baby or disinfecting wipe before allowing her back in with her pups.  Dimensions of the crate will be provided by the Transport Coordinator.  Moms with puppies that have been weaned or are close to weaning NEED TO BE CRATED SEPARATELY!  Moms can get “tired” of the babies constantly hanging on her.  The stress from the transport can cause the mom to take it out on the babies.

o   Unfortunately, puppies can be filled with worms and parasites; although they have already been wormed at the shelter, it takes multiple rounds of worming to remove all parasites.  Puppies fade fast, so be sure they stay hydrated and if they become lethargic notify the Transport Monitor ASAP.  You may want to keep some Nutrical on hand (this can be purchased at pet stores for around $10) for puppy transports.  Squeeze a bit on your gloved finger and if they will not lick it off, rub it on the roof of their mouth.  Be sure to have bleached your hands or changed gloves if you are handling different litters of puppies.

o   Keep food/treats to a minimum to prevent car-sickness; do NOT give any dogs or puppies rawhides due to the risk of salmonella.  Large chewies also increase the possibility of  fights over “ownership.”

o   Bring your patience!  Sometimes dogs get nervous and don’t want to walk well on leash.  They are relying on you to show them love and patience.

o    After your handoff, one driver must call (not email) the Monitor to update her/him on the timing.  If there are any concerns regarding any of the dogs, it is important to let the Monitor know! 

o   BE ON TIME and if you do happen to run late, always call the Monitor & next driver to let them know; that driver will then call the next driver, and so on.  If there are several drivers for each leg, please be courteous & help with calling the other drivers on the leg.

o   When you’re finished, give yourself a huge pat on the back for helping to save the lives of the furbabies – without these transports, many (or most) would have been euthanized!

o   If your child comes along with you on the transport, they should not walk the dogs or handle pups. Please understand that the dogs are stressed & could easily slip out of young, eager, well-intended hands. Children are welcome to come along & experience the joy of rescue but should be WELL SUPERVISED! Do not allow small children to hold puppies during the drive.  We know they love each other but puppies are wiggly and accidents can happen.

o   Never allow a dog to ride on your lap when driving – most would love to ride there but safety first!  (Think “deployed airbag!” They can kill small critters!)

o   NEVER transport a dog in the back of a pickup truck without a cap and it must have heat and ac.!

TIPS FOR PREVENTING PARVO & OTHER VIRUSES!

o   If you are using a crate for the 1^st time, it is best practice to sanitize it before using it.

o   After your leg, use a bleach solution (10% bleach to 90% water) to clean all crates.  Please remember that this solution is only good for approximately 4 hours.  After that, it decreases in its effectiveness.  Do NOT use the pre-mixed bleach cleaners sold in stores.  They are not as effective.  You can also purchase veterinarian cleaning solutions such as Trifectant or Parvo-sol online or through your vet.

o   Any towels, blankets, etc. should be washed in hot water and a strong bleach solution.

o   You can protect your clothes from getting any viruses on them by using a towel between you & the pup.  Like with the medical gloves, you need to change towels between litters.

o   Create a barrier between your crates (especially wire crates) by putting a sheet over the crate or put pieces of cardboard between your crates.  This prevents pups/dogs from sneezing on each other or getting bodily fluids on each other. This is even more critical when there are dogs on the run from multiple shelters.  Best Practice would also include covering your vehicle upholstery with a sheet or other protective covering whether transporting dogs in crates or tethered.

o   POSSIBLE SIGNS OF PARVO: lethargy, running poop with blood in it (though that could also be a result of treating for worms), vomiting clear &/or foamy liquid.  If a pup shows ANY of these signs, CONTACT THE TRANSPORT MONITOR IMMEDIATELY!  If you can not reach her/him, contact the Transport Coordinator.

ADOPTING DOGS ON TRANSPORT

o   Dogs on transport may NOT be adopted directly off the transport; dogs must continue on the transport to their receiving rescue.

o   If you are interested in possibly adopting, allow the dog to continue on the transport and contact the Coordinator, Monitor, or the receiving rescue and they will advise you of the next steps.

o   If bystanders are interested in more details of transporting or adopting a dog, please have them contact the Coordinator; again, dogs are NEVER to be adopted directly off a transport.

OVERNIGHTER GUIDELINES:

·       It is best practice NOT to have the dog(s)/pup(s) who are staying with you overnight intermingle with your pets.  Any animal coming from any shelter could be harboring viruses, fleas, ticks or parasites.  If you do allow them to intermingle, please introduce them slowly. Remember that transport animals may be stressed from the constant changes they have been through.

·       Do NOT just let a transport dog out in a fenced yard. You must be there to supervise the whole time.  Flight risk dogs should be on leash even in a fenced yard.

·       PUPPIES should NOT be put on the ground even in your back yard.  They may carry parvo but not be show any signs of being sick.  Do you want to contaminate your yard?

·       Puppies should be kept in a room with a tile or concrete floor that can be bleached before & after their stay.  Do not keep them even briefly in a room with carpeting, wood flooring, or any porous surface that cannot be sanitized.

·       Please provide your overnight guest with dinner when you get them home & a light breakfast in the morning.  (Please do not give a lot in the morning.  Over fed animals get carsick which leads to dehydration.)  Most the animals have been given whatever food has been donated to the shelter.  Please do not give them high-end store bought foods. It can be too rich for their stomachs & cause vomiting or diarrhea.  Please provide a mid-level brand of food (such as Pedigree).  To help entice a stressed dog to eat & to help with hydration, consider mixing dry & wet food.  Of course, any dog would be very likely to LOVE a homemade meal of boiled chicken and white rice.  (That is a good option given it is what we often feed dogs with digestive issues.)

·       The Transport Coordinator will try to let you know in advance if your guest needs medication.

·       Overnighters should arrive 20 minutes BEFORE the leg is scheduled to leave on Sunday morning. Give yourself time to load everyone up for the first leg (i.e. if the leg is scheduled to leave at 9:00am then everyone needs to arrive at 8:40am)

SUPPLIES THAT ARE HELPFUL TO HAVE ON HAND:

• Paper towels
• Baby wipes
• Disposable latex/nitrile (not rubber) gloves
• 10% bleach solution in a spray bottle
• Nutrical – puppy & kitty
• Extra collars, leashes/slip leads
• Plastic bags for poop duty
• Water & disposable dishes for drinking (if you are leaving a water dish in their crate please do not use something they can destroy and eat.)
• Newspaper, pee pads, and old towels or blankets
• Extra crate (if possible) for quick transfer from a soiled crate (good for puppies!) or an unexpected health or behavioral issue that requires further separation
• Pop top canned cheap, smelly dog or cat food to lure runaway dogs.  Vienna sausages are also great for attracting run-away dogs.

What to do if a dog gets loose during transport?

• If a dog gets away from someone during transport, DO NOT CHASE THE DOG!!!!  It is VITAL to remain calm!
• Realize that calling the dog by name MAY not help as names are often assigned for identification with rescues and transport.  Many dogs haven’t learned it
• If the dog is timid, your best bet is to use food to lure the dog back.  (Vienna sausages work wonders!)
• Even if you catch the dog quickly, please ALWAYS let the Monitor know of the incident so she/he can warn other drivers further up the line. 
• If the dog is definitely on the run (not transport run), notify the Monitor & local Animal Control ASAP.  If someone can stay in the area to try to keep the dog in sight, that is best practice.  The Monitor will notify others in the area to come help with the search & capture of the dog.