I’ve been a dog lover my entire life. I grew up in a family surrounded by dogs and always imagined one day I would have my own. A few years ago I got it set in my mind that I wanted a corgi. However, I also knew I wanted to rescue a dog. With the growing popularity of corgis over the last couple of years, rescuing one seemed like an impossible task. I submitted applications to all different rescue organizations and joined multiple rescue and rehoming corgi Facebook groups. One day on one of the Facebook groups, somebody posted that there was a bunch of corgis in China rescued from the meat market that needed to be saved. Usually on a post about an available dog the comment section would be filled with “I’m interested!” or “I just messaged you!” but this time all of the comments were complaining about how long it would take for a dog to come from China. I immediately clicked on the link on the Facebook post and that’s how I discovered No Dogs Left Behind. I knew in that moment that I had to apply for one of the dogs. I didn’t care if it would take a few months for him to be flown over from China – I just knew he deserved to be rescued. After applying and being accepted, I was ready to become a dog mom! Of course the world had other plans, and between the chaos of Covid and other geo-political issues, China decided to not allow dogs to be flown to the US. The NDLB team worked day in and day out to find a solution to this problem, which was made even more difficult due to the US CDC rules being updated and requiring rescue dogs to quarantine for 6 months before entering the country. After months and months of planning, the NDLB team was able to fly out survivors from China to Canada where a new safe house was waiting all for them. NDLB found my corgi a great foster for his 6 months in Canada and created a WhatsApp chat for me to receive updates and photos. Receiving videos of my dog always put a smile on my face. After his quarantine was over, the organization had a volunteer pilot fly my dog to the US to finally meet me. To say that moment was amazing would be an understatement! After almost a year and a half, Billie and I were finally united. He is everything and more than I could have hoped for. While the process might be long, it is so extremely rewarding. Each and every survivor deserves to be saved. They deserve our time and effort. And in return, they will be your loyal companion and best friend. Thank you, No Dogs Left Behind! -Samantha and Billie
