#333 TONTO (Rhodesian Ridgeback) Kilgore, TX - San Bernardino, CA
TONTO #333, male 9-12 month old 45# Rhodesian Ridgeback met his ride in Kilgore, TX, from Cecilia R.
All Ridgebacks have a decided aversion to water. They would prefer to die before getting near water. Driver Nancy R stopped to get her truck washed and had to wrestle Tonto out of the truck. She didn’t want to leave him inside the truck because of the sound the water would make hitting the bunk. Even outside the building, the sound of the power washers prevented him from peeing. Needing to take care of paying for the wash, she staked him outside in the grass. Inside, she glanced out the window to see him trying to eat his leash to get away. She ran outside telling him to stop. Tonto sat down and looked at her innocently as if to say, “What? Me? I wasn’t doing anything!”

After the truck was ready to go, Tonto refused to walk across the wet pavement. After Nancy finally got him to the truck, he scrambled inside, headed to the far corner of the bunk and looked at Nancy with the look that said, “Don’t you ever do that to me again.” Enroute Knowing he needed to potty, she would stop ever so often in a rest area, hoping the rain they had been going through would not start again. It would, each time and, true to form, Tonto would refuse to get out. During the rain storm itself, Tonto looked at Nancy so apprehensively, Nancy said, “Hey, I can’t do anything about the sky leaking, ok?”

Rhodesians are known not the bark unless you invade their property. They had bedded down at a rest area for the night. At 4 a.m. Tonto began jumping back and forth between the seats. Figuring he needed to go outside, Nancy took him out for potty. Back inside he sat in the passenger seat to watch outside and Nancy went to sleep. That is, until he began barking at all the trucks going by the rest area. She finally had to cover the windows so he would sleep also.

Tonto had had surgery so he had to be given antibiotics. Celia had provided wet food to mix the meds in with the dry food to cover up the taste. After feeding him the next morning, he began to pass gas so bad, Nancy said, the paint was peeling off the outside of the truck. At times, he would even offend himself. The second morning, figuring the wet food was causing the problem, Nancy mixed the meds in with the dry food only. All appeared to be well for the rest of the trip. While waiting on the receiving rescue to arrive, Nancy laid her head on Tonto’s side. He passed a very bad case of smelly gas. His look was one of “I don’t feel well.” Nancy said she would remember Tonto as the farting dog.

Instead of bailing out of transporting other pets after such an experience, Nancy was already planning upon picking up another pet on her return trip. You just can’t keep a good pet transporter down.
Operation Roger Driver Nancy R pu 2-4-09 del 2-8-09
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