Daily Express driver Kevin Rutledge trucks for our canine companions

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Kevin Rutledge, 58, is not just a full-time trucker for Daily Express – he’s also an animal lover. For five years, Rutledge and his wife have rescued abused and abandoned Chihuahuas and currently own four of the small-breed dogs. “Four is all we can handle now,” Rutledge says. “Two of them ride in the cab with me, and the other two ride in my wife’s car while she follows me on my trips.”

Each of the Chihuahuas (Niko, Patches, Hemi-royd and Angel) has its own survival story. Niko was abandoned in Houston, a car hit Patches when he was 9 months old and Hemi-royd was born with a deformed leg. Angel’s previous owners decided after 5 months of keeping her that they didn’t want her anymore.

“The owners were going to put Hemi-royd down because he was deformed,” Rutledge says. “I just couldn’t let that happen.”

Rutledge also temporarily takes in Chihuahuas when current pet owners can’t afford to care for them. “It doesn’t bother me to help out like that,” Rutledge says. “People ask me how I can do this, and I tell them I take the animals just as they are, problems and all, and give them love and care. That’s all they really need.”

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I haul 122-foot power wind generator blades in my white 2007 Volvo 780.