Once upon a time, there was a dog named Princess. At 10 years old, she had spent almost 800 days at the Maui Humane Society, in and out of loving foster care — over two years waiting for a forever home.
The large, gray and white dog had been found as a stray in Hana and diagnosed with a heart condition.
Despite her background, she was described by staff as happy and friendly. She was even dubbed “Princess Tip Taps” because of the joyful dance she does with her feet.
Cassondra Christman, a volunteer with the Maui Humane Society, posted a video to social media highlighting Princess as the longest current resident of the shelter.
“It reached a lot of people. It was awesome, and it really blew up, and people were really supportive,” she says.
One of the people who saw it was Ginger Cabais of O’ahu. In a testament to the power of social media, she says her niece in Alaska shared the video and it caught her attention.
Born and raised on O’ahu, Cabais moved to the continent in 2014, where she worked with street rescue dogs before moving back home earlier this year.
“I noticed that Princess was marked off as a hospice adoption,” she says. “So clearly, she's a senior who is not doing very well, and being in the rescue so long, I know that this is a dog that's not highly adoptable. I reached out for her because I just couldn't see her spending her last days in a shelter.”
Christman’s post also caught the attention of Maui pilot Bianca Vasquez. HPR first spoke with Vasquez two years ago in a story about Maui pilots volunteering their air time to fly rescue animals between the islands. She's still continuing the effort.
“It just stood out to me, like, Princess's story is very similar to my family dog story from when we had adopted him from the Humane Society,” says Vasquez of their dog, Patrick, who had also been a stray from Hana.
Christman says the pieces fell into place.
“Bianca commented on [the video] and was like, ‘If this all does work out, let me know, and I'll help fly her over there.’ And I was like, ‘Oh my God, that would be so awesome,’” says Christman.
Vasquez is now a certified flight instructor but is still furthering her own training.
“I'm working on becoming a flight instructor for instrument training, so to teach students how to fly in clouds and under certain regulations like that,” she explains. “So I got to make it a training flight and pick her up.”
Once Princess was medically cleared to fly, Vasquez and her instructor, Jordan Lee, planned a flight around the precious cargo.
Riding in a Cessna 172 flown by Vasquez allowed Princess to fly in luxury, rather than in a crate in the back of a commercial flight, secured with a cargo net.
“Oh my gosh, she did so good,” Vasquez said. “That's another reason why I enjoy doing what I do, because it's always like the comfort of the of the pups that I like to focus on.”
Christman accompanied her in the backseat of the plane, where Princess slept most of the flight.
When asked, "What was it like when she met her new mom?" Christman said, “Oh my god, unbelievable!”
Cabais said Princess greeted her happily.
“It was almost like she knew she was home,” she said.
Cabais encouraged others to consider opening their homes to senior dogs.
“All they're really looking for is a comfortable home, comfort and love,” she explained.
Cabais saod Princess came with a supply of medication and resources.
“It could be scary if you're new, trying to bring a dog home with any kind of medical issues. But what people don't realize is, you get full support from the Humane Society. They support you all the way.”
Princess isn’t Cabais's only senior dog. When she moved back to O’ahu in March, she went straight to the ‘Ewa shelter, asking for their oldest dog and longest resident — a dog she ended up bringing home.
Adopting from another island or even the continent is also easier than people might think, Cabais added.
Vasqyez's volunteer efforts have inspired other pilots to help, making the journey to pups' new homes even smoother.
“A lot of my friends who are also instructors and pilots they are wanting to help,” she said. “We are flying all over the islands all the time.”
As for Princess? Well, she is living up to her name.
“Our family's trying to make up for the 791 days she spent in there [the shelter],” Cabais says. “So it's kind of like, whatever Princess wants, Princess gets, as long as she takes her meds.”
She quickly found her way into her new family’s hearts — and their bed.
“She’s getting super spoiled. The first night she slept in her dog bed, and she found her way into our bed, and like now she doesn't even know what a dog bed is anymore.”
Cabais describes Princess as “the sweetest dog.”
“I just have this connection with Princess, and I just want to give for the world.”
Christman said hours of volunteer time to get social media exposure for Maui Humane Society dogs is all worth it for stories like this.
“Princess finally got her happy fairy tale ending,” she laughed.
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