.floatimg-left-hort { float:left; } .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 12px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;}
Amy Heinz runs on spur-of-the-moment time, and for that, she can thank an abandoned dog named Grace.

For the last year, Heinz has operated a dog – and occasionally cat – rescue business called Aheinz57 Pet Rescue & Transport Inc., which is based out of her home near Adel. She also has a full-time job in the legal department at Wells Fargo & Co.’s card services division in West Des Moines. The schedule there is pretty routine.

It is Aheinz57 that keeps her on the move, finding foster homes for critters that are scheduled to be euthanized when shelters cannot find them a home.

She coordinates a volunteer crew of about 30 people who house the abandoned pets until permanent homes can be found. When they are, she coordinates a transport crew of about 25 people who deliver the animals via a kind of Pony Express route in which each driver logs a 50- to 100-mile leg of the trail to a permanent home.

Many of her volunteers are Wells Fargo co-workers. Without volunteers and free or reduced-cost services at Adel Veterinary Clinic, Heinz said her rescue work would collapse.

“None of this would be possible,” she said.

Heinz entered the rescue business as a transporter not long after being transferred to Central Iowa from San Francisco.

A year ago, she witnessed a dog being abandoned at the entrance ramp to Interstate 80 from U.S. Highway 169 south of Adel.

At first, the dog didn’t want anything to do with Heinz. Although it had a broken leg, it avoided her for 12 days, apparently waiting for its owner to return, before it warmed to Heinz, climbed in her automobile and went home with her to stay.

While in her care, the dogs are vaccinated, if need be, wormed and treated with tick and flea repellent.

Her time is spent on the telephone and responding to e-mails, typically about dogs facing euthanasia at shelters across the country. That’s when she taps her network of transporters and foster homes.

“You wouldn’t believe my life,” she said. “I’m so crazy busy that it’s just unbelievable.”