Paddy's no show dog. He's a mid-size, aging brown mutt; shaggy, with white eye rings that give him a worried look, and a smell that's hard to ignore.
Dogs like Paddy abound at animal shelters across America. He was once a pound dog himself, back in Tennessee. But that was before.
Now he lives in California with a woman who saw him on the Internet and just had to have him. His 60-hour passage from east Tennessee to Silverado in the Orange County back country, involved a blues singer, a bartender, a retired orchestra conductor and 21 others who drove shifts across six states and four time zones to get him to what rescuers call a "forever home."
Most of those who transported Paddy never met his Tennessee rescuer, his new owner in California or each other. They were part of a vast, loose-knit movement known to animal rescuers as the "canine underground railroad." Linked by the Internet, cellphones and fervid love of animals, thousands of volunteers across the U.S., Canada and Europe go to enormous lengths to save strays like Paddy.
"If you can get a picture of a dog online, there's a 90% chance you'll get a home for it. People see a certain face, and they can't resist," said Elizabeth Sescilla, 27, a cheerful North Carolina pharmacist who coordinated Paddy's transport.
Although no one keeps official numbers, there are telling indicators of how widely the movement has spread. This week there were 195,294 dogs, cats and other species up for adoption on Petfinder.com, a virtual clearinghouse for unwanted animals funded by major dog food companies and others. Many will be adopted close to home, but sometimes a Minnesotan falls in love with a Texas coonhound. That's when the underground railroads gear up.
On any given weekend, dozens of relays move animals from one region of the country to another. Sescilla says she has arranged more than 75 such operations in the last two years.
Some animal welfare organizations question the need for the marathon relays, noting that people can easily adopt from nearby shelters. An estimated 3 million to 6 million cats and dogs are still euthanized nationally each year, according to the Humane Society of the United States. Those numbers are down from 20 years ago, when about 17 million stray dogs and cats were destroyed annually.
The organizations worry that it is stressful for animals to be hauled long distances, and wonder who monitors them during their journeys and afterward.
