Joanne Lefson - Ahound the World: My Travels with Oscar

To my parents for giving me the ultimate journey and to Oscar for sharing the best part of it with me

No project of this magnitude could have made it around the world with a pooch without a little help from friends and we sure made (and found) many! In fact, without the generous support of various entities both large and small, far and wide, I have no doubt that Oscar and I would probably still be camping on some remote desert island, wishing on a shooting star that one day we find our way back to the mainland!

So, yes, indeed, we are most grateful to everyone who shared their bite of peace, love and yappiness with us. Whether it was one brief night of complimentary accommodation in the Namib Desert or a flight from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon, every contribution made a huge difference to both our budget and our experience.

I have listed at the end of the book the websites associated with those who supported the World Woof Tour, but I would place myself firmly in the dogbox if I didnt acknowledge the handful of top dogs that supported the tour before anyone else took a meandering madam and her mutt seriously. In particular, the Big Five: Christelle van Zyl from Animal Travel Services, whose organisational skills (fully opeional despite receiving the occasional midnight phone call from halfway around the world), unwavering experience and endless patience saw my mutt cross borders without the slightest hiccup.

The team at Pedigree South Africa, who provided us with a financial injection that kicked things off. Their yellow cans ensured that Oscar was on a nutritional high throughout the mighty long tour.

Paul Fuller and his team at Rogz Iren, John and Claire who so generously provided us with thousands of collars and leads to hand out to the underdogs around the globe. No words can capture the sheer gratitude and appreciation on the faces of the shelter staff and rural populations who so graciously received these gifts. We shall always remain incredibly grateful to Rogz for their unbelievable generosity in allowing us to share the worlds coolest gear with almost every corner of it!

Of course all these leads weighed a ton, and without UPS in South Africa Sharon Watson and Chantal Young the products wouldnt have travelled much further than my garage in the suburbs of Cape Town.

And then, thanks to my 911 operators, aka my mom and dad: it is so much easier to head off into the sunset knowing that if and when the poop hits the fan, someone will always be on the other side as your lifeline whether they like it or not! And, even more importantly, thanks for letting me always have a dog in my life it taught me more about compassion and caring than I could ever have learnt in a Buddhist monastery high up in the Himalayas.

These acknowledgements wouldnt be complete without my also recognising a few other people who really went out of their way to make the roses smell better along our route. Wonderful individuals like Dr Rajput (National Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries), who assisted with Oscars tests and tribulations on leaving and returning to South Africa; the agents who helped us around the world, specifically Chinda Siri-Aree at Dynamic Air Cargo in Thailand, who arranged four import permits for Oscar without even one yelp; Puru Timalsena (Above the Himalaya Trekking), who made obstacles no problem and went out of his way to help without any financial gain. He shows the rest of us how God always intended human beings to be.

To those who removed man-made boundaries and allowed a canine to experience bliss, thank you specifically Rishi Kapoor and Dave Junker, who allowed Oscar to wine and dine at the finest hotel in Asia, the Imperial Hotel, New Delhi, India; and Francesco Galli Zugaro and Dalia Gibu, who permitted Oscar to experience the great Amazon Basin in five-star comfort without being swallowed by an anaconda!

Jumping back in time: to my primary-school teacher, Di Black, who always encouraged me to keep on saving the whales and anything else, for that matter; and my English college professor, Gordon van Ness, whose passion for writing taught me how to cross my Is and dot my Ts.

To my editor, Ronel Richter-Herbert at Zebra Press, for turning my question marks into exclamation marks; and to one of my best friends, Evelyn Hunter-Jordan, for waking me up and making me conscious of how our daily choices can make or break the world.

To all the shelters that opened their gates to us when we were in town, and to everyone who works to improve the lives of others: you help to transform the world into what it was always meant to become. Thank you for inspiring Oscar and me throughout our journey, and in the miles beyond.

And, finally, to everyone who has ever adopted a dog and to those who will still adopt a dog: you are lifesavers, and Oscars true heroes.

This brings me back to the very beginning of this story. With enormous gratitude, I acknowledge all the other shelter dogs that have walked into my home, warmed my soul, enriched my life, eaten my socks, irritated my father and inspired my lifes purpose. The journey of writing this book would never have been undertaken had it not been for each of you writing a chapter in my heart

If anyone had told me years ago that I would one day travel around the world with my adopted dog, I probably would have called the loony bin and had the person committed. But the truth is, I should have known that my life was going to be dedicated to something in the animal kingdom. Id been trying to save dogs, whales, dolphins and anything else that moved since the very first time I bunked school.

I had my first opportunity to save a living creature when I was seven years old. The guinea pig was a bright-orange butterfly I named Daisy. I had been walking to school with my little brown box, some stale sandwiches squashed inside, when I came across a butterfly that couldnt fly on the pavement. I figured the problem lay in some type of mechanical failure, and that the disabled butterfly urgently needed to go to a private hospital. The situation called for an episode of Doctor Doctor, and I was the nursie-nursie who would coax my patient back to health. I decided to bunk school and skipped back home, where I stuck Daisy into the intensive care unit a small white cupboard in the corner of my room. It wasnt the largest hospital by any means. My parents were separated at the time, so my mom was renting a modest apartment in a middle-class suburb of Cape Town within walking distance of my primary school and the best ice-cream parlour that side of town. For a pup like me, the place was perfect.

I picked grass and rose petals for Daisy twice a day and gave her stale sandwiches when Id plucked everything from the garden. But Daisy died after three days, and I cried myself into a puddle. Butterflies made the world more beautiful, and I didnt know how I could go on without my flying flower called Daisy to make me happy.

Ive since saved a lot more dogs than butterflies in my thirty-eight years on the planet. In fact, from the moment of Daisys passing, Barbie and boyfriends never stood a chance. When it came to winning my affections, it was canines all the way and there would be many. I always had a dog by my side, licking my toes or humping my foot. Every single one of them I adopted from a shelter. They were all formidable fleabags, lounging legends in the Lefson household, and none had a lineage that anyone could unravel. Without these pavement specials, I have to admit that I would have been a totally different person today. They shaped my personality, moulded my future and inspired my purpose. I cant even recall the exact number of mutts Ive had, but three in particular leap to mind.