Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the people and rescues making a difference in the lives of animals. Welcome back to the show everybody. I am your host, Dixie, and today we're gonna be talking about the literal miles people go to save lives. Our guest is Vicki Johnson-Cain, a foster coordinator and the force behind willpower transport. Vicki founded this mission in memory of her son William, and today she's sharing how that legacy of willpower is getting dogs outta shelters and into loving homes. Vicki, it's an honor to have you here.

Good to be here.

Tell me about yourself. How did you get involved in animal rescue, and what do you do?

Okay. My career was in the marine industry for 40 years,. But in 2014 I lost my son. He was 27 years old and we were both avid dog lovers. We always had dogs. So when I lost him part of the way I dealt with my grief was I dove into animal rescue. I started by helping at my local shelter, they had a weekly dog run that they did, they call it. Rescue run club. So I started that and in fact it started on his birthday, so the very first dog I ran with them was on his birthday, in his memory. So I've just have done everything in my son's memory to carry it on. So I just started out doing that at the shelter. And then one thing led to another and I started getting involved with different rescues. And then I stumbled across a friend of mine that had, had fostered for take paws, rescue, so I got involved with them pretty heavily.

What do you do with take paws?

Okay. At take paws. It started out where I just started doing some I said I wanted to transport when I retired, so it was like a couple of years before I retired from my job. And I worked shift work so I could, I had one week on, one week off. So on my week off I would do transports. So that's how I got involved with take paws, was just doing transports and then one thing led to another and I fostered for them and now I'm a foster coordinator I've got over 30 dogs under me. And a group of volunteers that that work with me for my group.

I'd like to learn a little bit more about your transports and why. You decided to go that route with doing a transport. 'cause that's a difficult thing. That's a lot of driving depending on where you're going. And then I also would like to to talk more about you being a foster coordinator. If you can start with the transports and tell us where have you been and how many dogs were you transporting at one time?

I normally drive between here and Franklin, Louisiana new Iberia. I have gone other places too, but my weekly transport normally starts out of Crowley, Louisiana. And I have another lady that drives with me. So she starts, she lives out that way and she starts the transport and normally meets me around the Morgan City area. I live in Destrehan, Louisiana, so I meet them in there and like I said we, transport for multiple rescues. Take paws, trampled rose, big easy rescue. Hail Mary, just multiple rescues, whoever. Everybody knows that I do this on Mondays, so if they need a dog out of that area they'll call me up and ask me to bring it back to the New Orleans area. But the reason I started, I don't really know why I started,. There was just one day we were talking, I said, oh, I'm off, every other week, so I could probably drive, and I could probably go pick up. And once I did it, I got hooked. I really did like doing it. It's my main thing that I do like to do. I just feel like given the freedom ride, I just think that's just something really good for me to do in my son's memory that he would really think that was pretty cool. But I get a lot of joy out of it because, they get in the car a little bit scared and, I play some soft music for 'em. They each get a new collar when I pick them up. And we play the. Relaxation music. So normally my rides back to New Orleans are pretty quiet most of the time. But it just, by the time we get there, it just seems like they've got a big weight lifted off their shoulder and they just seem a little bit calmer and they know they're safe. I really get a lot out of that, it fills my heart to do that.

Now when you say a freedom ride, I'm imagining because you're pulling out of these high kill rural shelters.

Yes. Most of the dogs are coming out of high kill shelters. Most of them have been on the euthanasia list. We do work with some other local rescues out that way and get some, surrenders, owner surrenders. But primarily it is dogs that we're pulling from the shelters to get off of the euthanasia list.

And how many do you do at one time?

That it just depends on the week. I've had up to 15 dogs in my car. Now I have a CX five Mazda crossover car. I they say I play Crate Tetris to get all the crates in. So it just depends on the size of the dogs, how many dogs I can actually, fit in my vehicle.

Yeah, you must be really good at playing the Tetris then if you can fit 15. And that's a lot.

Yeah. That it is. Sometimes if it's a litter, life is a life though. But we can put, some in the crates together. But but mostly on Sunday nights I go through the list and try to figure out my configuration and, to make sure it's gonna fit. And sometimes It gets close because the dogs they say is 20 pounds is really 35 pounds, and that makes a big difference in the crate, so I have had some oops moments where, I didn't know if we were gonna fit everything in. And there's been a couple of times where. A dog had to run shotgun and sit in the passenger seat. And I don't like to do that too often just because they're coming straight outta the shelter and you don't really, know the temperament of the dog. So I like to keep 'em contained in a kennel and not running loose in the car. But there have been a couple of times we've had to pick the calmest dog to sit in the front seat, because we ran outta crate space, Normally it works.

You said that you play relaxation music. How did you come to start doing that? Did you try like different music or was that a recommendation by somebody?

In the shelter on in St. Charles Parish, they used to play that in the in the kennels, and. While the the animals in the shelter, it just seemed like it did calm 'em a lot, so I just tried doing it in the car, and it does work. I swear by it. Some people like to play other music, but, that's what I end up playing. And it just seems to calm 'em down, 'cause they're a little stressed out when you first get 'em in the kennel.

It's funny that you say that too because a while back I purchased this pet relaxation music device. It's this little thing that you can put on the counter. You press it and it plays the music you could set it like 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes. It's got all the sounds on it. Yeah. Yeah. But and it's got like meditative music and I got correct. I do the cat rescue and at the time we had in a cat and he was very stressed. Sometimes when the cats get stressed, they like to go on the floor. We were trying to solve that behavior problem. So I said, you know what, I'm gonna get it and I'm gonna try it. And it seems so stupid at first, but it worked. It actually works. Oh, it

definitely does. People laugh at me when they hear them, they're like, what? And I'm like, I'm okay. Try it. It works. But yeah I do that and, and we normally end up coming back to New Orleans and, some people meet me in New Orleans. I'll stop in Metaire. Just various stops just depending on what rescue I'm transporting from. How long, but does it like the

entire

trip

take.

The entire trip, usually I leave my house normally around 10:00 AM the meetup time is usually in Morgan City area around noon, once I get into Morgan City, we don't rush it. We take our time to transfer the animals from one crate to another, and we like to take their picture and give 'em a new collar. When we do all that and get 'em loaded up in my car. So it normally takes about an hour for us to do that. And then I head back to New Orleans. But after I'll usually stay at, take paws and help with the intake of the dogs that I get for them. I help with the vaccinations and, holding the dogs and getting 'em all settled. And then a lot of times if I'm bringing any dogs back to my area for fosters, then I end up bringing the dogs to the foster. Meeting doing the introductions with their animals if they have dogs. So sometimes, my day doesn't end until six o'clock and I've had even days where I didn't even end until eight o'clock, and then I've gotta unload my car, disinfect the crates, and wash all the linens. So it's a whole day affair every Monday.

How is it that you went from doing the transports to being a foster coordinator?

There was this one dog named Neo that was at St. Mary's Shelter. And when I would come on my transport each week, I would see the same dog with a little bandana on just staring at me in the kennel when I would walk through to see if there were any dogs that. The take paws might be interested in. And this one dog just kept staring at me. He was a little, bully mix and I'm a bully lover. And he was a little brindle bully and he just kept looking at me and I'm just like, we need to save this dog. We gotta save this dog. And so finally it was it was like a Christmas Eve and I said, look if we don't get a foster for this dog, I'm pulling this dog. I'm gonna foster it. So I did and I failed. So Neo is mine, but that's how I started fostering. At that time, that gave me four dogs, and I'm like I don't think I can handle it. Fostering a dog with four pit bulls already in my house. I started by helping that applications and, helping another coordinator. And then again, one thing led to another and it's why don't you just, just try to take a couple of dogs and it started out where I was not gonna have any more than 10 dogs, and now I have 25 to 30, so

Wow. That's a lot.

Yeah it is a lot. We have multiple coordinators and, it's just times are really, it's crazy. It's just never ending right now. And every one of us have about that many. It's just crazy. But, the dogs are all in foster homes and trying to look for their forever homes. And, I stay pretty involved with my fosters and try to go over there and take pictures and, we have some outings together to make it like a group and, just to try to make it fun. 'cause it, it can be. Hard on your heart. Some days, you get so attached to these dogs and you wanna see them get a good home. And some days you think you found that home and only to find out that it really wasn't. And then you've gotta keep on looking. But that's how I did. But it's a tough one because, there's just a lot of. Of pieces to the foster coordinating. You're not only just working, you're finding the dogs, you're finding a foster father, the dog, you're going over all the applications for that dog. And once the dog does get adopted, you're really not finished because. If it's a puppy, then you gotta follow it through, until it gets spayed or neutered when they're six months old. Pretty much, it's a six month commitment whenever you Foster coordinate for puppies. And if anybody has an issue with their dog after it's been adopted, they come back to the foster coordinator. So it's a lot of responsibility.

With doing the foster coordinating, you said that you review the application, so are you the one that actually approves the adoption applications?

We have a lot to do with it. The director of the rescue has say so in things too, but we do have a lot to do with it because we know the dogs, I get my fosters involved heavily in, all the process because they know the dog better than I do. So once I do the vet checks and. Do the home checks and kind of talk, talk to the applicant. Then the next step is I have the foster call them and let them talk about the dog to make sure this is gonna be a good fit. And then we set up a meet and greet and that's all done by the foster most of the time. And then. Then we either get an adoption or we keep on looking. So how many

fosters are under you?

I guess I have probably about 20 that at any given time. I guess right now I've got 25 because each one has one, one dog. I live Destrehan and St. Charles Parish, so most of my fosters all lived out this way. And it's funny I'm a pitbull girl and I love pit bulls, but most of my fosters are all little dog people. So most of the dogs I'm pulling under me are small dogs, which I think is funny.

When you pull the dogs are you primarily looking then in these like rural shelters that you transport from?

Yes. We, we just look at the Facebook all the time just different posts from from the different shelters, from different sites, different pages of people looking to rehome their dogs. If I've got an available foster and I see a dog that looks like their type, then, that's what I'm gonna try to pull, just because I know that I've got somebody that'll take that type of dog. I wouldn't pull a bunch of pit bulls and then i've got Chihuahua fosters. So it just depends on what we see and, who's available of what dog we have room for. If we see a few dogs that we don't have a foster far, then we've got a foster page for take, paws, and we'll post it on there looking for a foster and, sometimes that's how you get a new foster on your board then is, once they say, I'll take that dog. And then it's we can only take it if we have a foster coordinator to handle it. So then that way that's how you end up getting new fosters.

Yeah, and I know finding fosters can be quite challenging.

It is. It's quite challenging. Just the same as just finding people, to adopt. It's the whole process is challenging, but we desperately need more fosters, we need more people to help these animals it's just the numbers are growing, and even now it just seems like there's a lot of, people that are possibly leaving the country and they're having to get rid of their animals before they head back to their home country. And we've seen an upswing in that as well, but it's just the owner surrenders are. Unbelievable. It's just unbelievable since COVID, everybody got dogs when they couldn't go anywhere. And now that, things opened up, it just seems oh we're too busy. My job has me too busy and we can't give time to the dog, I'm having a baby. I'm moving. Can't take the dog. It's just never ending.

What do you think is the most successful way to find a new foster?

I use social media a lot, since I've been transporting. A lot of people have started following my page and so sometimes I'll put it out on my personal page and I'll get, some people that I didn't even know were following me, actually. And they'll reach out and say they wanna help. And so I use social media a lot and, just word of mouth too. A a lot of my friends are, dog lovers. That's how I've managed to build up my team.

What are you doing to primarily get 'em adopted or get seen to get adopted? Do you do like adoption events or Primarily social media.

Both, we have numerous adoption events. In fact, this week I think we have five events. And then sometimes I'll even get my fosters together and we'll go to a local dog friendly bar and just have a little get together and we'll bring our dogs. I take a lot of pictures. I post a lot of pictures of the dogs that I'm fostering. I don't foster too often just because I'm usually on the road and it's hard. But I lost a couple of my dogs this year, so I have taken in three puppies since then. But normally I don't. Foster too much, but the need is there. And I felt like I had a little space in my home that I could try. But yeah, we use a lot of social media though, and it's getting hard. I'm having some trouble on my social media right now, just like trying to tag people. I'm running into some issues, so it's getting it's getting hard to, to spread the word, because I was in Facebook jail there last week for a while. In fact, I still can't tag companies. It won't let me do it. So I don't know, I guess I'm still in jail.

Do you have any incredible foster success stories of a dog that maybe came from a really bad situation and got the perfect home?

Oh I just had one. It was awesome. There was this little. Scruffy dog I saw advertised on, that somebody had found in the sugar cane fields in New Iberia. And I looked at this dog and I'm like, oh my gosh, this dog is crazy. He was I don't think I've ever seen a dog that looked like him, he looked like. A ewok. And so I said, I've got to have this dog. He's just so ugly. He's cute, and so we found a foster for him. And we named him Wicket. And he just turned out to be the coolest dog. But he got adopted by, in January. He got adopted in January by a couple that. Lives in Long Island, New York, and they also have a home here in the French Quarter. But Wicket was just a little bit too big to put on the plane. He's 25 pounds or 27 pounds. So he is a little bit too big. He's too big to fit under the seat. We had to look for ground transport to get him up there. We had it scheduled for him to leave. And with all these weather systems that we had recently the transport kept getting delayed. So wicket went through four different fosters to keep him here safe while he was waiting to get to his real family. And, finally after two months we got him there last week. We got him there last week. And this dog is living the life now. They're sending pictures. He's on the beach roaming the beach and he's got furry friends and they just love him. I guess it was worth the wait. So he's gonna be one of my favorites and, there was another dog, his name was Chico, and he was found I think like around right around Christmas time and it was another new Iberia dog and he was found. Running with a female dog and they were about like a year old. And the female dog got adopted real quick and then Chico, he was a mountain cur mix and he was the funnest. He was just crazy. He would just make you smile to look at him. And we. Tried and tried to get this dog a home and it just took forever. And finally after about two years, he was wild hard to walk with. And I always said that he needed somebody very active or like a runner and. Finally one of the girls that volunteers with us asked if she could go pick up Chico and start taking him for this run club that she was belonged to. And I'm like, oh, that's great. I think that's perfect. She started running with him and she ended up adopted him. And this dog is just as happy as can be and he's running in the run club. They all love him There. And, he ended up exactly where he was supposed to be, but he was one of my favorite dogs. And we had just a hard time, keeping him on with a volunteer. He went through a couple of volunteers. We even tried him in boarding where I could, get to him and take him out on more outings to get him seen. And finally he landed the home that, that he really needed. And so he's another one of my favorites.

That's amazing and that's great too, that it was a volunteer 'cause, I know with a volunteer you'll be able to see 'em. You'll be able to get the updates, even though you're getting the updates from the other one too. It just still makes it a little bit more special.

Oh, absolutely. I get to see him all the time, I think if I didn't have four dogs, I would've adopted it myself. 'cause I just love this dog. And sometimes he even comes to some of our events and we have this bond. 'cause I used to take him out a lot and they remember Like even with the transports, I see dogs after a transport and I really do think they remember you. They remember that you saved them, that you gave them that ride.

I have to ask, with you being so close to some of these dogs, are you picky about selecting an adopter for 'em?

I think so. I think I am I know their story and, we don't wanna fail them again. And that reminds me of another one that I'm struggling with right now. And in fact I was part of a rescue. A week ago with a hoarding case and with Alyssa Muse, and I know you've had her on your show with it was like a chihuahua hoarding case and cruelty case. And one of the dogs that I got from that, that I had tagged we had named her lavender and she was totally emaciated and scared. Scared. And I had a. Approved adopter in mind for her that was looking for. Exactly. A dog that looked like her. And I felt this was a calm home. It was a, single lady that would be a good fit for her. 'Cause she didn't need a, a home that has a lot of traffic going through, just coming from the situation that she came from. You want a little calmer atmosphere for them to. Decompress and learn to trust again. And she was doing really good in her foster home. We was putting some weight on her. Just in a week's time. She made a transformation you wouldn't believe. And the lady that I had in mind did want to adopt her. So we got her there. Got her to the lady and, not even an hour after she had her, I was getting a phone call that they didn't feel they were ready to adopt yet. And I just was crushed because I thought this was the perfect home, for this dog. And now she's coming back and I just felt like, she's been failed again. So I think, the next home will I be a little bit pickier. Probably just because I feel I owe it to this dog, if that makes any sense. But,, I felt bad that she went through this temporary. Journey, and then ended up coming back. But thankfully she came back to the foster that she was starting to grow comfortable with and so it didn't seem to phase her. And dogs are amazing how they adjust much better than people do. We hold grudges and dogs just are so forgiving. It's just amazing.

Yeah at least they thought that it wasn't gonna work out and they did return her back, and that's good that she was able to go back with her foster. But I totally understand that because I think what a lot of people don't understand when they're going to adopt an animal, specifically from a foster based rescue, is how much time fosters put in with these animals. You know when these animals Oh, absolutely. Are when they're sick, they're up all night with them. They're worrying about them, and so you wanna make sure that they are gonna go to a home that gives them the same amount of care,

oh, absolutely. We've taken them from a bad situation. We don't want them to return to a situation. I know people have said, oh, there's so many animals. Why are you being so picky? That's exactly why we're being so picky, because, they've been failed before, and and they've been mistreated and they deserve better.

Before we end the call, do you have any final message for our audience?

Open our hearts to help an animal in need. And sometimes, I guess what I said the other day is It hurts sometimes. It's hard to to give up time for an animal. It hurts our heart to see them suffer, but sometimes I think we have to go through that pain and being a little bit uncomfortable. To see these animals blossom into what they can. And once you do that it's so fulfilling I know some people have said, oh, it's too soon. I just lost my dog our dogs would want us to help another dog, and I truly believe that. Or I wouldn't have been able to take in three puppies after I lost two of my own. And was it easy? No, it wasn't. And, but I think that's what they would want me to do, and that's what my son would want me to do. It's just for us to open up our homes and our hearts to help these dogs because there's too many of 'em. And and to help spread the word about spaying, neuter and, keeping your dogs on heartworm prevention because there's too many animals. And if we don't do better with spay and neuter and come up with a solution. To have less unwanted litters. We're just never gonna catch up, it's just a vicious cycle.

Yeah, it definitely is. And I think that's a great final message too. I couldn't agree more with that. I wanna thank you for coming on today and it's amazing the amount of work that you're doing to get these dogs into home with the transports and the foster coordinating. So thank you

Oh, my pleasure. And like I said, it's what I wanted to do in retirement and it's definitely what I'm doing.

Yep. It sounds like you're very involved. So I'm glad that these dogs have you.

Oh, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for having me on the show. And I've listened to several of your podcasts and thank you for doing this.

All right. Thank you and I'm glad you're listening. That's it for today's episode of Animal Posse. If you love what we're doing, please consider becoming a member. Your support directly helps us continue highlighting the people and stories that save lives across the country. Just a quick reminder, the views and opinions expressed by our guests are theirs alone and are provided for entertainment purposes. They don't necessarily. reflect the official position of the show, and this information should never replace the advice of your own veterinarian. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time.