REGINA -- A puppy made a non-traditional trek across the Canada-U.S. border in a semi-truck to meet her new family in Regina.
The Coderre family was supposed to pick up their new 10-week-old Maltese named Ella, from a breeder in the United States, but because of the border restrictions, they were not able to make the commute to pick up the dog.
“When the border closed in March, and [the restrictions] kept getting extended, and the time was coming closer for when we were supposed to go and pick her up, we were desperately trying to find a way to make it happen,” Chantelle Coderre said.
The family has been waiting a long time to get to hold their new puppy.
“We were so excited when we saw the truck coming from down the street,” Coderre said.
Coderre’s husband, Bryan Flood, was explaining the dilemma to friend at Richards Transport, a local transportation company, who had a solution.
A driver with Richards Transport would pick up the dog and bring her to her family in Saskatchewan while coming back from the U.S. for an essential trip.
The company had to fill out a lot of paper work and call Canada Border Services a few times, but were able to get the okay to bring the dog.
“We try to do everything we can for our customers,” Alex Urzada with Richards Transport said.
“[I'm a] huge dog person and at a time right now, everybody needs as much help as they can get and we are just trying to be there for everybody in every way we can to help.”
The family has only known Ella for a few hours, but she already filled a hole in their hearts.
In November, the family’s seven-year-old dog, Mickey who was also a Maltese, passed away of cancer. The family was devastated.
“We were understandably heartbroken because while it’s never long enough that you have your pets, he was taken from us far too soon,” she said.
Ella is now at her home in Regina with her new family and adjusting well. The family says they will forever be grateful for the driver and transportation company, who went out of their way to help.
“Thank you from the bottom of our hearts, we are so grateful,” Coderre said. “We are so happy that we finally have her and there is still some good to be found in this mess that we are all in.”
