Over 15 years as a journalist, I’ve won the Edward R. Murrow Award multiple times, awards from state organizations and even once from a film festival in New York.

I’ve also played with doggies.

This week, the Humane Society of North Texas and ASPCA were flying about 140 dogs and cats from shelters in North Texas to the West Coast.

We’re headed into “Puppy and Kitten” season, which sounds #adorbs, but the Humane Society and ASPCA said they’ve taken in five percent more animals over the past month. That may not sound like much, but it’s thousands of animals.

When I heard they would be loading up at Meacham Airport, I declared that as a dedicated journalist, it was my responsibility to hold our doggies accountable.

This got me to thinking: When did I start referring to “dogs” as “doggies?”

I’m fairly certain the Doggie Origin Story involved David Letterman. He would often refer to dogs as “doggies.” He also seemed to enjoy horseplay with the doggies.

In this case, I was somewhat disappointed that I was not invited to take any of these doggies to a bar, but they were friendly enough. And photogenic.

The Scaias had a cat growing up, but the cats could not have seemed less interested to see me, so there aren’t any pictures of them. Also, the doggies sounded psyched, but the closest kitty could not have been less enthusiastic.

The gang from the ASPCA and Humane Society were planning several stops. Shelters in Texas fill up in the winter because it’s still warm, but shelters in the North and on the West Coast empty out because no one is collecting stray kitties.

They were going to stop in California, then fly to Oregon and Washington.

They had locations printed on each doggie kennel. I noticed some were headed to Kitsap County.

“I’ve been there, li’l fellas,” I explained. “You’ll have a great time frolicking around Mount Olympus. Look at you! Ready to frolic! When I lived in the Pacific Northwest, frolicking is basically all I did!”

The Humane Society and ASPCA say these flights are actually quite hectic, so volunteers were also frolicking around Meacham. There’s a lot of paperwork associated with taking stray animals across state lines.

The volunteers were there until about 12:30 Thursday morning. Then they came back at 3:30 a.m. to start loading.

They said the doggies and kitties get scared when they’re loaded on the plane, so it’s tough to let them go, but they like knowing that people will be lined up to take one of the li’l scamps when they land.

The doggies were psyched, but they were still nervous. Some of them made a mess of the tarmac… which I still thought was #adorbs enough for a picture.