Virtues of owner-operator status: Pet boarding problems avoided

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Updated Feb 27, 2012

Gizmo1Company drivers, be careful who you leave your dog with.

Today’s “grizzly tale” comes by way of Jenni Reynolds-Kebler, one half of a Washington State-based team with Robert Kebler and past-featured photographer in Truckers News. The Keblers recently switched carriers, signing on as company drivers with a carrier that had a no-pet policy. Too bad for their dog, Gizmo (pictured), as Reynolds-Kebler’s recent “Grizzly Tales of the Gizanator” note on Facebook makes abundantly clear.

The problem wasn’t just that Gizmo wouldn’t be able to ride along with them on their cross-country hauls any longer, as they learned the company system in a company truck, but rather that the friends they left Gizmo with, well, weren’t up to the pet boarding experience. After some time, the couple intended to buy their own truck and lease it to the carrier to solve the no-pet-policy problem, but in the meantime, calls to the couple who were fostering Gizmo were going unanswered.

Finally, when Reynolds-Kebler called and got a “this line has been disconnected” message, she began to panic — trying every route she could think of to contact them: “Facebook, YouTube, Google, Yahoo… Whatever email address I came across, I simply stated, ‘call me ASAP!'”

Finally, a response: Turns out Gizmo’s foster parents had simply given the dog up to an another acquaintance (after considering taking him to the pound, apparently), and ultimately he was fine. ” So, in the end,” Reynolds-Kebler says, “we took on the venture of purchasing our own truck, a Gizmo doghouse on 18 wheels….” Read Gizmo’s dramatic story in full via Facebook.