Riding the Underdog Railroad

Happy New Owners

Day Two began 90 minutes later than scheduled. The Shultzes had decided the dogs really needed more rest. Sescilla rejiggered the schedules overnight to make it all work.

At 7:50 p.m., after another long day of more kind souls and more hand-offs in fast food restaurants and city parks, the dogs arrived at a McDonald's parking lot in Grants, N.M.

Buck's new owners, David and Holly Thomas of Phoenix, were waiting. David, a jovial, tattooed truck driver, and his wife, a billing clerk, were ecstatic.

"I love his black nose!" squealed Holly.

"Ooh, look at his ears," said David. "I hope the guy who did that was drawn and quartered."

Holly said that when she saw Buck online, she couldn't sleep.

"He broke my heart," she said. "His only crime was the wrong owner. He was on death row, death row for pit bulls."

Within three days, she'd convinced David that they should adopt him, but it took months to put together a transport coming this way. Holly and David would take Paddy one more leg before cutting off for Phoenix with Buck.

David gave slobbery kisses to Buck before climbing behind the wheel. "I want my bonding time," he said. Buck rolled his eyes nervously.

After a 250-mile push to Flagstaff, Paddy was dropped off at midnight at the home of Laura Boe, an off-duty nurse who was volunteering for the first time. She coaxed him, trembling, into his crate. He'd gone another 900 miles in 16 hours. Her 125-pound English mastiff, Lola, watched with seeming indifference from the sofa.

At 8:30 a.m. the next day, the big green sign on I-40 said Los Angeles. Paddy didn't know it, but he was within reach. An additional 860 miles to go.

At Stop 15 in Kingman, Ariz., retired Las Vegas canine cop Sandy Spruiell worked patiently with Paddy during a dog park break. She soon had him straining happily at the leash, behaving somewhat normally.

By 4:27 p.m., Paddy was in California. The last leg fell to Keri Hardyman, 54, and Kimberley Richardson, 13, of San Bernardino County.

Hardyman's coonhound pup was brought from Texas to California a few months ago. She wanted to repay the favor.

At 7:40 p.m., they arrived at a Ralphs parking lot off the Costa Mesa Freeway in Orange. After a transcontinental journey of 2,260 miles in 60 hours, Paddy was about to meet his new owner.

Meddick pulled up with six empty cat crates in the back of her Toyota SUV.