They creep out of the truck, tails tucked and eyes darting. The eager foster and adoptive parents stomp their feet and rub their hands against the chill in the air. The new families are nervously aquainted in the Olive Garden parking lot and bustled off into warm backseats with bags of donated dog food and thick warm dog beds in tow.
Street Savvy Dog Rescue is an all volunteer organization founded and run by Barbette Falk that rescues dogs who have reached the end of the line in the high kill shelters of South Texas.
Dogs are pulled from euthanasia lists with a coveted "rescue tag" call sometimes minutes before they are walked to their death down a freshly hosed concrete hallway.
From the shelter they are welcomed into temporary foster homes.
While in the care of their Texas based foster families the dogs receive the requisite jabs and examinations necessary before they can climb into blanketed cages in the converted trailer of big rig trucks headed out on the one week trip to Oregon and the open arms of Barbettes' dedicated network of selfless foster parents.