<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span></span></div><div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">Courtesy of Parade Magazine at:</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><a href="http://parade.condenast.com/265264/peterzheutlin/one-dedicated-man-hits-the-road-in-a-12-wheel-rig-on-a-mission-to-save-precious-pups/">http://parade.condenast.com/265264/peterzheutlin/one-dedicated-man-hits-the-road-in-a-12-wheel-rig-on-a-mission-to-save-precious-pups/</a></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"> </span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">-----------------------------------</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></div><div><h1 data-parade-type="promoarea" data-parade-location-types="promoarea" data-parade-location-ids="article-headline" data-parade-views="false" data-parade-touches="false" data-parade-clicks="false" data-parade-mouseovers="false" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: adelle-n4, adelle; font-weight: 400; font-size: 30px; line-height: 34px; clear: both; margin: 0px 20px 10px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-align: center;"><span class="text">One Dedicated Man Hits the Road on a Mission to Save Precious Pups </span></h1><p class="first" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It’s 2 a.m. and I’m trying unsuccessfully to sleep in the loft of a <span class="linksmart_marketplace"><a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/13/smart-parking-london_n_4590793.html?utm_hp_ref=@sponsor_urban-progress&ncid=txtlnkusaolp00001003" class="linksmart_marketplace" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none;">tractor</a></span> trailer parked outside a motel in Allentown, Pa. A 12-week-old black lab is curled up inches from my face, and below us, 64 more dogs are resting peacefully in kennels stacked two or three high and secured along the truck’s walls. Our driver, Greg Mahle, is sound asleep in the middle of the floor.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Mahle is used to sleeping in his truck: Twice a month he leaves his wife and home in Zanesville, Ohio, to drive a familiar route through the Deep South, making stops in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama to pick up dogs that have been removed from “death row” at high-kill <span class="linksmart_marketplace"><a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/13/smart-parking-london_n_4590793.html?utm_hp_ref=@sponsor_urban-progress&ncid=txtlnkusaolp00001003" class="linksmart_marketplace" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none;">shelters</a></span> by local <span class="linksmart_marketplace"><a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/13/smart-parking-london_n_4590793.html?utm_hp_ref=@sponsor_urban-progress&ncid=txtlnkusaolp00001003" class="linksmart_marketplace" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none;">rescue groups</a></span>. Then Mahle turns north toward New England, where there is higher demand for <span class="linksmart_marketplace"><a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/13/smart-parking-london_n_4590793.html?utm_hp_ref=@sponsor_urban-progress&ncid=txtlnkusaolp00001003" class="linksmart_marketplace" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none;">shelter dogs</a></span>.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Over the past nine years, Mahle has helped save tens of thousands of dogs. His<span class="linksmart_marketplace"><a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/13/smart-parking-london_n_4590793.html?utm_hp_ref=@sponsor_urban-progress&ncid=txtlnkusaolp00001003" class="linksmart_marketplace" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none;">transport</a></span> service, Rescue Road Trips, just about breaks even. (A portion of adoption fees covers his costs.) But Mahle, who ran a family restaurant in his prior life, doesn’t do it for the money: “I turned 51 last year, and I am happier now than I have been in my whole life.”</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">At designated spots along Mahle’s route, volunteers meet his rig for “walk-potty-snack” breaks. Last night as he pulled into the Comfort Inn parking lot, two dozen “Allentown Angels” had gathered, as they do every other Friday night around 7 p.m. The volunteers are drawn to Mahle’s mission, as well as to the man himself: “His heart is as big as a Volkswagen,” group coordinator Keith Remaly told me.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The puppy snoozing in the kennel near my head is Audi. She’s on her way to the Dooley family of Connecticut. Teenagers Meagan and Lauren fell in love with Audi when they saw her photo on <a href="http://PetFinder.com">PetFinder.com</a>, a database used by rescue groups such as <a href="http://labs4rescue.com/index.shtml" target="_blank" data-ls-seen="1" style="text-decoration: none;">Labs4Rescue</a>, which arranged Audi’s adoption.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Audi’s mother was found pregnant, living by a dumpster in the small city of New Iberia, La. When two Labs4Rescue volunteers learned she was to be euthanized at the parish animal control facility, they rushed to get her; she delivered several of her 11 puppies in the backseat of their SUV. [Editor’s note: All 12 dogs have since made the trip north with Mahle.]</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But for every dog Mahle delivers, many more are euthanized. Southern shelters are overwhelmed by strays, says Keri Toth, president of the Humane Society of Central Louisiana, because spaying and neutering are not common practice. In rural areas, backyard breeders produce more puppies than they can sell; many dogs are let go to fend for themselves. In Louisiana in 2010 (the most recent year for which statistics are available), 32 shelters reported taking in 69,540 dogs; 43,278 of them were put down, according to Maddie’s Fund, a nonprofit that tracks canine euthanasia statistics.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">At sunrise, Mahle fires up the truck and we push off for New York and Connecticut, where dozens of families are waiting in parking lots to welcome our passengers. At every stop, Mahle leaps out of the cab and shouts, “Hello! I’m Greg! Is everyone excited?”</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">When we find the Dooleys, Mahle takes Audi from her crate and hands her to the girls; full of pent-up puppy energy, Audi squirms to lick their faces. For Audi, a long and difficult journey is ending as one filled with love begins.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Mahle has witnessed this scene countless times, but it never gets old. As he rolls up to a fast-food restaurant in Putnam, Conn., the final stop of the day, some 50 people burst into applause. “A few weeks ago these dogs were going to die,” Mahle says. “Now watch. The truck doors open, light pours in, and each one goes into the arms of a loving family. This is heaven.”</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><strong style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">To make a donation, visit <a href="http://www.rescueroadtrips.com/Rescue_Road_Trips.html" target="_blank" data-ls-seen="1" style="text-decoration: none;">rescueroadtrips.com</a>.</strong></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><strong style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Have you adopted a rescue dog? Share a pic at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/parademag" target="_blank" data-ls-seen="1" style="text-decoration: none;">facebook.com/parademag</a>.</strong></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">--------------------</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Mahle with Audi before she was delivered to her new family. </span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin-top: 0px;"><img src="cid:0BC0B3A2-EF7F-4E23-86D4-C853F26EE6A9" alt="1-26-14-American-Stories-ftr.jpg" id="0BC0B3A2-EF7F-4E23-86D4-C853F26EE6A9" width="728" height="454"></p></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">-----------------------------------<br><br><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</span></div><div><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">http://www.MoscowCares.com</font></a></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"There's room at the top they are telling you still.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But first you must learn how to smile as you kill,</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If you want to be like the folks on the hill."</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">- John Lennon</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>