Dear Friends,

We are interrupting the completion of our next regular newsletter, which we were hoping to finish this weekend, because we have an urgent message, which cannot wait to be part of the upcoming newsletter. We desperately need your help.

Before you begin reading the following, let me assure you that NO dog was hurt during these rescues.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2000 - Rescue of two strays near our shelter

10:30 a.m. - We had just spent several hours with the rescue of a Husky mix, and with the dog now safe at our clinic (I will fill you in on that story later) things had gotten almost back to normal. Then the following emergency rescue hit us fast:

11:45 a.m. - Suddenly the horribly sickening loud "BOOM!" of a gunshot followed by our neighbor's angry voice yelling at something to "get the hell off my property" sent Randy and me hurrying to the car. We sped down our hill certain that neighbor had just shot at a black and white dog which Randy had seen running away from the man's house after the shot.

We quickly pulled into the neighbor's driveway, where he was standing with a bunch of other men. I asked him if the stray dog in the area was his, and he angrily snapped, "NO!" This shot had been a "warning shot" at the new stray pup that had just shown up on his property, and the next time the pup showed up, our neighbor said he would "shoot to kill the dog!"

"The cost of a bullet means nothing to me" he went on to say. "I shoot to kill," he boasted, "and that pup was lucky I gave him a warning shot!" He quickly went on to say that he has killed many strays that have wandered onto his property and "killing them is the way I solve the stray dog problem." He reiterated several times during our short conversation, that bullets are cheap and he's tired of people dropping off strays in this area, which he blamed on our shelter.

"And I'm ready to make war with you and all those barking dogs you have!" he said to me in a threatening manner.

While I tried to reason with this irate person, Randy began looking for the pup. He quickly spotted the little fellow crawling beneath the barbed wire cattle fencing across the road trying to hide in the tall brush along the fence.

Randy hurried over to the pup who was so frightened he cowered when Randy approached, but Randy soon had the scared little dog safe in his arms. The pup appeared unharmed.

I learned very quickly that there was no way to reason with this cruel man. He hated the fact that our animal shelter was near him, he hated our "barking dogs" and he was very proud of shooting the helpless strays who happened to wander onto his property. (I wondered then if the little black puppy I'd found lying dead along the roadside last year across from this neighbor's house had been one of his victims. I had wrapped the puppy in a soft blue towel and buried the puppy that cold winter day thinking he had been hit by a car.)

I explained to our neighbor that our shelter dogs are not "constant barkers," that their barking alerts us to an unexpected visitor, or at night an intruder (animal) on the property. I also went on to explain that we were planning to put up a building to house the dogs at night which would keep them quiet, but even this did not appease the neighbor.

In my parting words to our neighbor I sternly made it clear that I expected no harm to come to our dogs because of him.

As Randy and I left with the little dog I was bristling with anger at this man's cruelty to animals. Later Randy told me that when I dropped him back at our shelter so he and Tammy could begin the afternoon feeding, Tammy was in tears, certain that the neighbor had killed the pup. Randy had to assure Tammy the puppy was ok and that I was taking him to the clinic for his "new arrival" checkup, vaccinations and to be neutered.

Our Emergency Plan: Now fearing for the safety of the dogs in our care because of this irate neighbor, we are trying to raise funds to install an eight-foot wood security fence around the perimeter of our shelter. This should help block at least some of the sound of the dogs that occasionally do bark at night, and will also block the neighbor's view of our shelter. This will cost thousands of dollars, we know, but the cost of the kennel building which we eventually hope to construct will cost a great deal more, and we need to do something immediately.

We have contacted several fence companies to come as soon as possible to give us estimates on what this fence will cost.

We hope we can find a professional fund raiser who can help us with this and also to raise funds for the much needed kennel building.

We are not going to close our doors to the helpless, sick, abused, lost and abandoned strays, simply because of a hot-headed, cruel neighbor.

Update on the pup:

By the time I arrived at the clinic with the little fellow, I had named him "Rex." He had crawled from the back of the car and curled up in the passenger seat beside me for the last half of the drive, often staring at me with his big brown eyes and licking my hand as I petted him. He is an adorable mix of soft black and brown fur with a white chest.

I had to leave him at the clinic and the doctor called later to say that his "new arrivals" check-up showed that Rex appears to be in good health and he does not have heartworms. He's about 8 or 9 months old, weighs 30 pounds, and probably won't grow much bigger. Rex is a mixed breed, per our vet, maybe a touch of Aussie and a touch of Border Collie "along with everything else." He is a sweet, gentle, lovable pup. The vet gave him all necessary vaccinations and Rex will be neutered this coming Monday (2/14/00).

Update on the dog rescued earlier this morning:

Two hours before the rescue of the pup from the neighbor, we had made an earlier rescue.

We rescued "Cheyenne," a Husky mix, early this morning as she came running down the quiet side road at the east side of our property. Sue, one of our kennel helpers, was taking a bag of old hay to our hay pile near that side of our property when our shelter dogs' sudden barking caught Sue's attention. She looked toward the road and spotted the silver/gray Husky mix running so fast it seemed as if the dog was running to get away from something. Just as Sue noticed the dog, the dog saw Sue and came running toward her, crawled under the cattle fencing along the road and came barreling right up to Sue.

This Husky appeared to have been a nursing mommy dog. She has a horrible rope mark around her neck, and mange on her back. Seeing how badly the dog had been treated brought forth a mixture of extreme anger toward the person who had treated her so cruelly, and tears to our eyes for the hurt and suffering this wonderful dog must have had to endure until she somehow got free.

I went to call the clinic to tell them we were bringing in another stray, and while Sue stayed with the dog Randy went looking up and down the road to see if he could find any little puppies. When Randy came back empty handed we were all hoping that the pups at least were being well cared for, because this Husky mother dog had certainly been terribly neglected.

Sue gave the Husky food and water and suggested we name this beautiful dog "Cheyenne." Since we couldn't find any puppies, Sue left with Cheyenne to take her to our clinic for the necessary checkup.

Cheyenne is a beautiful, silver/gray, Husky mix, about three years old.

She does have heartworms and once her health improves, she will be treated for this health problem.

The mange along her back is Demodectic mange which is not contagious, and will be treated.

Cheyenne is at the clinic now, along with little Rex, being well cared for by our wonderful doctors and "nurses."

If you have room in your heart and your home for either of these precious new rescuees, please call us at (903) 479-3497. And if you have any ideas and/or financial help for our proposed sound barrier fence and kennel building, you can reach us at the above number and our mailing address remains: STRAYDOG INC. P.O. Box 1465, Gun Barrel City, Texas 75147.

Sincerely,

Pat Arnold

As always, complete financial records are available upon request.

Dog food, veterinary expenses and kennel crew wages have been running over $1,800 per week, and we are quite often literally paying this week's expenses with this week's donations. We, Pat and Bill Arnold, receive no remuneration whatsoever for any work we do for our no-kill shelter, which includes managing it. (Bill pays our bills from his salary from his regular job in Dallas.)

We continue to thank those who continue to write us such encouraging letters and e-mail messages letting us know that you believe in what we are doing at Straydog (our Happy Home for Strays) as we continue to provide a decent life (as long as may be necessary) for each of our now 49 rescued dogs!

Please take a look at some of our newsletters (click on links at end of page) and see the original article in The Dallas Morning News --on the Internet at "dallasnews.com/archives" (search for Pat Arnold on March 13, 1997).

We rely on donations to keep our shelter going. If you believe in us and in what we are doing, please help us with a contribution to THE ARNOLD STRAY DOG FUND at the following address:

Straydog Inc.
P.O. Box 1465, Gun Barrel City, TX 75147

STRAYDOG - THE ARNOLD FAMILY'S HAPPY HOME FOR STRAYS

We are a 501(c)(3) Tax-Exempt Non-Profit Corporation, which means your contributions are tax deductible.