My Nonprofit Reviews

There's "nothing harder" than PCSing with the military to a foreign country and wondering what to do with your fur creatures. My husband received orders a couple of months ago to PCS to Germany from Hawaii, we were both excited to start a new chapter in our life with Alice, our 5 year old Great Dane!

After getting most of our ducks in a row, it was time to start planning the move for our Dane - which quickly turned into a nightmare. We contacted the airline that was flying us from the United States to Germany and were told "there's a 150lb weight max for each animal, including kennel. Sorry, we are unable to accommodate you and your dog is not allowed on the flight. " Well, anyone who knows anything about Danes she (including her kennel) are well over the 150lb weight limit. We didn't know what to do or where to turn.

Like most people, we turned to good ol Google and started researching pet shipping companies. Oh my, what a chore that is. So many options, so many questions, so many hours waiting on quotes and so many heartaches when those quotes are received. Comes to find out, shipping animals is not cheap - shipping a Great Dane is no where near cheap. At this point, we knew Alice wasn't going to make the journey with us right away, we accepted that - so the search continued. My husband and I accidentally stumbled upon SPCA international and found out through grants that they help get your furry creature to you. I immediately started filling out the application, question by question with tears running down my face knowing this was a great service and a huge help if all goes well.

A couple of weeks later, we arrived in Germany - leaving dear Alice with a family member until we could come up with the funds - and we received an email from Julie stating we completed the first phase of the process, please fill out a couple more documents. The newly filled out documents were emailed back within 24 hours, now the waiting game began again. I became very antsy and nervous, "what if I answered something incorrectly or didn't add enough detail?" Within a couple of weeks, I began the emails back and forth with Julie and she reassured me every time we "talked" that our application is still in processing and they have been very busy - never making me feel that we didn't matter or nobody was working on our case. Julie always thanked my husband for his services and stating how greatful they are to have military families that want to keep their pets and will do anything for them.

FINALLY, we received that "golden email" our grant has been approved and within the next couple of weeks we will be reunited with our sweet baby girl.

To Julie and the rest of the staff at SPCA International, from the bottoms of our hearts with so much great-fullness, we thank you for everything you have done for us and so many other military families.

Brandon, Danielle and Alice