Featured Visitors: Colette & Beau – From Dogs to Diesels
Most visitors travel to Best Friends by automobile, some by motorcycle and a few by bicycle, but big 18 wheeler semi-trucks are rare (unless they’re delivering pet food!).
So when Colette Welch, a cross-country trucker, called to make sure there’d be room for her semi rig in the Welcome Center parking lot we knew she’d have an interesting story.
Colette visited the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in May with her traveling companion Beau, a rather large pit bull. Ever since she adopted her first Pit Bull puppy in 1983, Colette has had a soft spot in her heart for “pitties”. Six months later she rescued another young pit bull who was scheduled to be euthanized.
Shortly afterwards, Collette became active in the effort to prevent a Breed Specific ordinance in the Minneapolis area. The city was going to require million dollar insurance on pit bulls and she began a seven year battle to stop the ordinance. Colette formed an organization called Responsible Dog Owners of Minnesota and they worked with the American Dog Owners Association to prevent the breed specific insurance requirement. In 1989, Colette’s organization was successful in getting a clause included in the Dangerous Dog State Law prohibiting breed specific clauses. Minnesota was the first state to pass this type of legislation and it is still on the books.
Colette and her husband became over-the-road truck drivers in 1991. At that time her traveling buddy was a five year old, rescued pit bull named Spanky. They traveled together for nine years before Spanky lost a long battle with cancer at the age of 14.
In 2006 Colette was looking for another “co-pilot”, when she learned about a New York pit bull rescue group called “Out of the Pits”. She submitted an adoption application and was immediately accepted. “Out of the Pits” was trying to find a home for Beau, but it had to be someone who would be with him most of the day – a perfect fit for Colette and her occupation as a truck driver! Not only did Beau have his Temperament Testing Status and Canine Good Citizenship Award, but he was also certified by the International Therapy Association! Not bad for a “dangerous dog”!
Colette (and Beau) were thrilled to finally visit Best Friends in May, as they were passing through Kanab. And yes – the semi truck and trailer did fit in the parking lot!
Thanks Colette for including Best Friends in your itinerary and we hope to see you and Beau again soon.
Story and photo by Sue Francesconi