Caroline Canning saves dogs' lives.

She's not a veterinarian. She just has a huge heart and a soft spot for dogs and other creatures.

Canning exudes a sense of calm, quiet kindness. And if the subject of dogs comes up, which it's bound to, eventually, you'll find out just how compassionate she is. Her life pretty much revolves around saving homeless dogs.

Dogs, and lots of other creatures, have always been a passion for Canning.

Growing up in Rawdon, Quebec, caring for injured and sick animals was her passion.

“When I was 8 or 9 I started bringing homeless kittens, injured birds, and even a snake, home to my mom, to help them heal. Any time I saw anything that needed help I would bring them home. I even brought eggs home and put them on a heating pad to hatch them.”

One day a bear and two cubs had climbed a tree in her hometown. Town officials, concerned over the safety of the citizens, shot the mother and tranquilized the cub. Canning was devastated. She and a couple friends protested. “I don't remember all the details, but I know it wasn't in a very positive way.

“When it came to animals I would do anything to help. They are so innocent, and they're more important to me than anything.”

During her 20s and 30s, Canning took a hiatus from rescuing animals. She was busy raising four daughters. She focused on her career with Liberty Mutual Group, and her family.

Then, around nine years ago she met Jay Canning. He indulged her in her love for animals, and encouraged her to follow her true passion. She and Canning married and she left her job.

The couple has an active life, with homes on Westport Island, and in Vermont and Costa Rica. The Cannings spend a lot of time traveling back and forth among their three homes, all in beautiful locations, where Canning could easily just sit back and enjoy life.

Instead, she chooses to hike around poverty-stricken areas in Costa Rica and other places looking for homeless dogs.

Whenever they were in Maine, at their Westport Island home, Canning walked dogs at the Lincoln County Animal Shelter in Edgecomb. She said she’d walk through the kennel and choose a dog to walk that day. “One day I chose a dog named Ray. Jay was with me.” She explained to him that this was a job, of sorts. “You walk them, you love them while you walk them, but that's all.”

Ray was a puppy then. He's 4 now, his name is Ray Canning, and he's spoiled rotten.

Canning began looking for opportunities to help dogs find homes, and she became involved with New England Lab Rescue, an organization that rescues dogs from South Carolina. The Cannings started fostering rescued dogs.

A couple years ago, while on vacation on an island off Nicaragua, Canning had a hard time relaxing. The island was overrun with homeless dogs, and they were being mistreated. She thought that if she could save one dog from that island she'd feel better about leaving. It took a little persuasion, but eventually her husband agreed to take a puppy back to Burlington, Vermont.

It wasn't a simple undertaking. They had to transport the puppy across some rough water in a small boat, then take a small commuter plane to an airport in Managua, where they arranged for someone to meet them to take the puppy and care for him while they traveled around for a few weeks. After picking him up again, they took him to their home in Costa Rica. “He went everywhere with us. If we went out to eat, he went out to eat. He was a mutt, but a very special mutt.”

They finally got him back to Vermont. Six weeks and close to $1,000 later, after several visits to the vet, he was healthy enough for a forever home.

Canning ran an ad and got an almost immediate response from a woman in the same town. “She came to meet him, and liked him, and asked if it would be okay for her to come back the next day with her family to meet him.”

They came, they liked the dog, and they adopted him. After becoming friends with the family on Facebook, Canning learned that the pup's new mom was Bernie Sanders' stepdaughter. Now named Muddy, that special little mutt is Sanders’ granddog.

Canning recently met two women who have a dog rescue in Wilder, Vermont and Costa Rica called Hope 4 a Street Dog. She now spends a great deal of her time transporting dogs between the two places. And in August the organization hosted a fundraiser at the Hotel Vermont. “It was a beautiful evening and we raised a substantial amount of money for Hope 4 a Street Dog,” Canning said.

The Cannings are also involved in an organization in Costa Rica called Territorio de Zaguates, or "Land of the Strays.” Located in the mountains of Santa Bárbara, it is a sanctuary to around 900 dogs. Every dog is named, and spayed or neutered. Visitors like the Cannings are welcome to hike with some or all of the dogs. “Those dogs are the happiest dogs I’ve ever met,” Canning said.

One day in her small villa in Costa Rica, a local friend asked Canning if there were no dogs in Vermont, as he and others had noticed that she always took some back with her.

But she said that’s not enough.

“My ultimate goal is to help people understand what is needed to help animals, and to educate them. I can transport 10 or 15 dogs from Costa Rica every year to help the situation there, but until we really educate people nothing is going to change.

“It’s going to take a lot of people to change this.”

Canning said what she really needs at this point is a plane to help transport dogs. Her son-in-law is a pilot, so he can fly. “There is so much needed, and I'm willing to do it.” All she needs is a plane.

If you have a plane you’d like to donate, or would be willing to fly, yourself, to help transport dogs, or you’d like to donate money to help save dogs’ lives, email Canning at carcan43@aol.com.