Pilot Flies An Old Dog To Its Last Home And Changes Her Life
Meet Ashlyn, an old dog living at a shelter in North Carolina, where time was running out and hope was getting thin. She was severely underweight, battling sarcomas, and waiting for someone to give her a soft place to land.
Flying Fur Animal Rescue found a home willing to take her in for her final days, but there was one big problem, they still had to get her there. That is when Paul Steklenski, the founder of the rescue, stepped in and offered to fly Ashlyn to her new home in his plane.
What happened next turned a last trip into something much bigger for everyone involved.
As Steklenski flew the plane and watched Ashlyn sitting beside him, he began to feel emotional, thinking about the fact that this ride might be the last ride the little pup ever takes. Steklenski is used to flying dogs to their new homes; he usually flies around 15 to 20 dogs every month, but it's the older ones like Ashlyn that really tug at his emotions.
"Those are the ones where you focus even more on what they're going through," Steklenski said in an interview.
At the start of the flight, Ashlyn was a bit nervous and hesitant around Steklenski. But from his experience with flying dogs, he knew that giving out some dog biscuits would quickly lighten the mood.
"She started off a little distant," Steklenski said. "Then she would kind of open up a bit, and she got closer." ... "Then she gave me one paw and then the other,"
Look at her adorable little face!
"Then she laid her head on my lap," he said. "To me, that’s huge. That’s all that matters. That’s the reward in itself."
Her flight was about to become the part everyone remembered.
It’s a lot like the pilot who gave a dog left behind at San Francisco airport a new home.
Steklenski decided to take up flying as a hobby in 2013, which was around the same time that he also adopted a dog. At first, the two activities had nothing in common, but soon that all changed.
"We went to pet stores and then we went to shelters and started to learn the difference," Steklenski said in an interview last year. And once he realized how many animals in need there were in shelters, it was time to put his new hobby to good use.
If it weren't for him, many dogs like Ashlyn would still be in the shelters; instead, they have loving homes. Since she's been in her new home, Ashlyn has improved more than anyone had thought possible!
Ashlyn in her new home!
"When I picked her up from the airport, her condition devastated me," said Tracy Lander. Tracy has three dogs of her own and has been fostering for the NEHS for two years. "She was down to 39 pounds—her ideal weight is between 65 and 70. She came to me with a sweater on—when I took it off, I could see every rib."
Lander started feeding Ashlyn three times a day so that she would gain weight and then began adding supplements to help with all her medical problems.
She made it, and the new home changed everything.
She's doing really well!
And it wasn't long before Ashlyn started to perk up again. "She’s getting around more," Lander said. "She’s a great eater ... and she’s very attached to me."
She's even started to make friends with Lander's other dogs. She snuggles up with Angel for naps, and even Xander, Lander's boxer-mix, has taken an interest in their new furry housemate.
"He’ll go up to Ashlyn and just start licking her," Lander said. "He thinks he can heal everybody with his tongue."
After Ashlyn’s last flight, don’t miss the pilot who adopted a stray cat mid-flight during a hurricane evacuation.
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