In this two‑hour live‑stream, Michael Schneider of Pilots to Rescue documents a rescue flight that transports eight dogs from the Fluvanna SPCA in Virginia to various adoption partners in New Jersey. The stream opens with a sponsor shout‑out to Fi Dogs, whose FlyDog GPS collars are highlighted as a safety tool for the dogs. Pilot Alexis joins from Vancouver, and together they introduce each dog—Yoshi, Levi, Sweet Pea, Bear, Tate, Tilly, Lucky, and Wisteria—describing breed, temperament, backstory, and adoption appeal. A brief testimonial from a FlyDog user explains the collar’s features (long battery life, waterproof, activity tracking). The hosts discuss the logistical advantages of air transport versus a 24‑hour ground drive, emphasizing reduced stress for the animals and cost considerations. Throughout, they thank donors, promote merchandise, and announce upcoming flights, including a future mission involving dogs from Puerto Rico. The stream ends with a call for donations and a preview of the next rescue flight.
Chapters
Michael Schneider here, Pilots to Rescue. We had a 2-hour flight from Essex County to Charlottesville, Virginia, and it was an uneventful flight for a change. Beautiful visual day, and we're picking up 8 pups today from Fluvanna SPCA. And today's flight is being sponsored by Fi Dogs. Thank you, Fi Dogs. They make amazing GPS tracking collars. I suggest you check them out. It's F-I, Foxtrot India, Fi Dogs. And here we have, um, Pilot Alexis who joined us. We're going to invite her on the live stream. You have Alexis here all the way from Vancouver, so let's see when she comes on. Did you get the invite, Alexis?
Yeah.
All right, here you go. There's Alexis. How was the flight, Alexis?
It was smooth as butter.
Awesome. Turn the volume down in your phone. He's talking about the dogs.
So this is Yoshi, and Yoshi is a sweet young female hound, um, very friendly, very excited for this adventure that's coming up, and I think would make a great, um, play buddy and great exercise partner if anybody likes hiking.
I love hiking. Yeah.
Hi, Yoshi! Oh, kisses!
Hi!
And then we also have over here We've got Levi, who's a little more shy. Levi's a very sweet male hound who came to us in September. Um, and we have so many hounds in this area that they oftentimes are unfortunately just kind of overlooked, but they make wonderful family members. Um, I'm a volunteer with the SPCA but also a proud hound and beagle mama myself and, uh, highly recommend them. And they typically get along well with other dogs and make great exercise and hiking buddies.
Awesome.
Yeah.
Hi, Levi.
Oh, are you scared, buddy?
Yeah, Levi gets a little anxious, but he really warms up once he's kind of feels like he's in a safe spot.
It's so sweet. Back to Yoshi. Hi, Yoshi.
Hi, Yoshi. Definitely has lots of puppy left.
Oh, she's Sweetest.
Hi. Thank you.
Is she going to come back to New York with us?
Yeah.
Oh, kisses.
So many kisses. Oh my goodness, I'm in love. I'm in love.
Hello.
Yoshi! Hi!
Hey Luke, can we keep Yoshi? I think Zulu needs a sister.
Yoshi!
Hi! Oh my goodness, I love her!
I love her! I know!
Look at that tail.
You guys talking about the dogs, saying something?
Yeah, I, I want to keep Yoshi.
You want to take Yoshi to Vancouver?
I think so.
Lots more hounds where these have come from, interested.
Okay, moving.
Yeah, lots more hounds. All right, let's see who do we have next.
This is Sweet Pea. She's an almost 3-year-old pit bull, and unfortunately she and Bear got in trouble because they were chasing cattle, and they were surrendered to the SPCA. The court case deemed them, uh, that they had to be euthanized, and because they're such nice dogs, we said no, we don't want to do that. So our manager, um, Jesse, advocated for them and the ruling was overturned, but they had to be adopted out in a state that didn't border Virginia. It's some sort of animal control law. She is— she's very sweet. To me, it was just like, why can't they just go someplace where there are no cows? Yeah, but she's like— she's a good girl, and she came in with Bear. She said, I didn't know I wasn't supposed to chase cows. She gets along with other dogs. She doesn't seem to mind cats. She's just an all-around good girl. Can you shake a paw? Can you shake a paw?
Save her life. Oh, you got her. I can talk about Bear in addition to— Do you hear, do you hear the tail thump? Bear, do you want to say hi? This is a teddy bear dog. You want to ride co-pilot with me?
Absolutely. Bear is 2 years old. He's supposedly a Belgian Malinois, and we think he's some sort of shepherd mix. He's very tall, very sweet, gets along with other dogs. We didn't try him with cats, but he probably would get along with them. Very playful. He's still puppyish, really. He's just a very big puppy, and he didn't know he wasn't supposed to chase cows either. So both of them have gained a lot of weight. They came into the shelter rather thin, and they gained a good bit of weight from having good, good food. But we've had them since December, and you know, they don't want it. They were okay in the shelter, but it's, it's not a great thing to be in the shelter for a long time. Um, he's just, he's just a good boy. Yes, he's a good boy. Yes, you are a good boy.
Okay, let's go meet Tate. So Tate is a little bit nervous meeting new, new people, but he will soon warm up. Tate is about 3 years old. Hi! So he has a lot of puppy left in him. He would love, love to have training. And surprise, surprise, he's very food motivated as a hound.
Okay, you have to stay in there.
You gotta stay in there. We have to say hi. You're very lucky. This saves us so much time. I mean, a 24-hour trip probably to take these dogs, we'd have so many expenses, including— I mean of course gas, but just the transport of—
and the stress on the animals.
Oh my gosh, yeah. And this being a 2-hour-ish— is that right, 2-hour flight? I mean, it's just huge. It's a lot of stress. I mean, he's a little nervous and shaky right now, um, so this puts a lot less on him in terms of travel time. Um, but this would make— he's a medium, medium to small, I'd say, size hound. Look at him, he's just very curious.
Did you say you had a fire dog collar on one of your dogs?
Yeah, she does.
Yeah, we'd like to see that.
Yeah. All right, Tate, you have to stay back in there. Good boy. All right, we'll get you on the plane in just a minute. You want to go see— let's meet. Okay, you got to meet Tilly. So we hope that this pulls on your heartstrings because this is like an unbelievable opportunity. He is, we think, about 10 years old, so he— what we call a senior dog. Very chill, relaxed, and just looking for his forever home. Especially for an older dog, it really can kind of stress them with the transport and being in the crate for an extended period of time. And so he's— if we can get him from A to B, he's gonna, he's gonna have a lot of opportunity here for his next life.
Yeah, he's a good boy.
Very chill, very sweet. He really is just wants a second chance, don't you, Bubba? It's like, when do I get on that plane? Okay, gotta go back in. Good boy. Again, another hound, food-motivated hound that just wants to— he walks well on a leash too, which is amazing. So we think he's had some training in his upbringing. But you hear Chili like, can we get this— I mean, Tate, we get this show on the road. Yeah, you can see that fly dog collar. Oh, Kate will show you. Do we have the FlyDog collar?
Oh sure, it's right here.
Take the mic.
All right, I want to ask you what you think about it.
Okay.
Oh boy, just as we have of course like loud sound. So this is, this is Pené, and she loves her FlyDog collar. And of course we had to get the snazzy one that they offer, some of the different companies that they work with through Etsy that make the pretty ones. But, um, yeah, I love FlyDog for the peace of mind, especially with a hound. Um, It just kind of makes me feel a little bit better that if they did get loose, that I would have the ability to kind of keep track of them and know where they are and hopefully get them back home safely. It's— I love it. I've tried others in the past. I love it because it holds a charge for a long time, which is really nice. It's waterproof because they do like going in the ocean. And yeah, it's really, really easy to use. The app is easy to use, so I highly recommend a Spot. Especially if you think you possibly have a flight risk dog, or even if you don't, because you can just track their exercise and activity. So, so yeah, so she's just my, my co-pilot helping to get the dogs here for, for their actual flight.
And you're owner of Fi Dog Collar, not associated with Fi Dogs?
Correct.
In any manner?
Nope, nope. Just, just like the product.
Testimonial.
Just like the product, that's all.
Well, thank you.
So yeah, yeah, thank you. Thanks for what you guys are doing.
All right, so now we're going to load up these 8 pops. We're going to figure out how to play this. Oh, you got 2 more? All right, we got 2 more. Hope you all are enjoying the live stream. Thank you for supporting Pilots to Rescue. I see that 4 people donated. I really appreciate that. We wouldn't be able to do these life-saving flights without your support. As you can imagine, flying is expensive, and you heard how much of a help we are to the people, uh, on the ground here and the wonderful volunteers of Fluvanna SPCA and saving them a nearly 24-hour drive, not to mention all the stress that the animals would endure. So really appreciate your donations, and there are many ways you can support us by buying our merch like this hat. Um, shout out to Fly Girl Kelly. I'm wearing her Flyboard shirt. Uh, you can buy that merch on her website. She's a great, great woman, and, and really loved flying with her. We did a Guiding Eyes flight with with Natalie Kelly. And I'm going to hand the microphone back over to you so you can talk about him. Oh, it's upside down. Hopefully it picks it up.
This is Lucky. He is a hound. We've had him for quite a while. He's very sweet. He would make a great hiking buddy as well. He, uh, he just— look at the ears. He's got the best ears ever. But we typically, uh, Fluvanna SPCA typically has pit bulls and lots of hounds. So those are the main breeds that we have. So we always are, uh, always have a lot of hounds, often after hunting season, surprisingly. Oh, hello! He's a good boy.
I really need a bath. I'm just stressed out. A little more? A little stressed.
I hope she labeled this one because I don't know. I think this is— oh, this is Wisteria. This is little Wisteria. She's a good girl too. She's a houndy, probably houndy mix. I don't know what kind of hound she is, but she, she's very sweet. I'd say she's a small to medium hound. I know you want to get out, don't you? Yes, beautiful white stripe and soft ears. She walks well on a leash. She'll make somebody a great pet. Yeah, she'll make somebody a great pet, right, Mysteria? She's a good girl. Yes, you are.
Okay, so we're gonna sign off now. Alexa, you still got your microphone? Uh, does Alexa still have her microphone? You want to say anything to your audience before we sign off?
Um, no.
If you could donate, that would be awesome. It's a really worthy cause.
You don't— uh, I don't think you're on the live stream anymore. That's all right. Here, you can come on mine.
Okay.
Anything you want to, um, I just want to say that it's a super worthy cause and, um, yeah, it's, it's amazing to see all the work that you're doing.
My pleasure.
Thanks for coming.
I'm inspired.
Great. That's right, you can follow Fluvanna SPCA. Yeah, Fluvanna SPCA. Thank you everybody for joining and we got a 2-hour flight back to Essex County where a few groups, Mount Pleasant Animal Shelter, Ulster County SPCA see, uh, the different ones. Yeah, Ulster County, we got Mount Pleasant, Animal House, Father John's Animal House, and Mount Pleasant. Those are the groups you can go to. I'm sure my social media manager will post it in the description. Thanks for the 6 donations, really appreciate it. And we'll see you in New Jersey. Uh, the next flight is this Sunday with, uh, pilot Haley Herberg and her fiancé Nick. Uh, so we look forward to seeing you there. That, that, uh, rescue, I think we're transporting dogs from, uh, Puerto Rico, if I'm not mistaken. Or maybe getting that confused with someone else. I think it is the Puerto Rico dogs. So we'll see you then. Bye.
