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ABOUT US
Or Gone to the Dogs
 John and Kate are both retired
truckers. Kate worked with chemical tankers, dry boxes and flatbed/heavy
haul. John worked for several flatbed/heavy haul companies and also drove
for an oil drilling company, moving oversize loads on an almost daily
basis. In addition, John has several years of heavy equipment experience
and has been occasionally known to load the machinery he then escorts to its
designation. There have even been a few times when he's had to climb onto
a dozer or grader and actually "make" a road for his load to get to
it's unloading point. The pilot business can be pretty interesting some
days.
Before starting Big Dawg Pilot
Service, John did pilot work for another company, driving escort,
training some new drivers, and doing some dispatching.
Both love trucking and the open road, but
their biggest passion is their dogs. In 1997 they began volunteering
in
Greyhound adoption work, and in 2000 they built a kennel and opened their own adoption
program for retired racing dogs. The
kennel's max capacity is 21 dogs, and it's always nearly if not completely full. There's a
never-ending supply of retirees who need homes. Many weekends the purple
escort van does double duty delivering dogs to their new homes or bringing them
to the kennel from the track. On the road lots of people
ask  about the Greyhound adoption decals on the rear window or the
"GREYP" (grape) license plate, and every now and
then that leads to another adoption. The adoption program is strictly a
non-profit, volunteer activity, and donations help support the kennel. But
feeding and keeping so many large dogs healthy while they wait for families of
their own often costs more than donations bring in, so some of the expenses come
our of John's and Kate's pockets. When you hire Big Dawg Pilot
Service to help keep your load safe and legal, you're also indirectly helping
these beautiful dogs find the homes they
deserve.
In addition to the kennel dogs, John and Kate also have
10 pet
Greyhounds of their own and a litter of future racers in training, so if you run into them somewhere, you just might
see a little bit of dog hair on their clothes. Don't mention
it unless you're prepared to look at lots of pictures of Greyhounds!
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