SATURDAY, MARCH 11, 2000 - Tammy rescues a mommy dog and her two pups along the highway, and Blackie, our little house doggie, has back problems again

What a busy morning! I had just arrived home from the clinic with our small house dog Blackie (a once-upon-a-time stray who was very ill when he found us), who's been having back trouble again, and as I drove up our hill, I first saw Tammy, our wonderful new doggie kennel helper, playing with Spunky and Emily in the big fenced doggie play yard. It was the middle of dog-walking playtime. What a perfect picture: all was peaceful and quiet, and the dogs were happily playing.

I had just taken Blackie in the house to get him settled in his travel kennel (set up specifically to help keep him quiet for several weeks while his back heals) when Tammy came in bursting with the news that she had rescued a mommy Rottweiler along with her two puppies, all of whom she'd found at the side of the highway on her way to work, and they were in her truck--here--now!

This meant we automatically had three new arrivals--here--now! As we walked to her truck to see "the family," Tammy told me that she had rescued them just inches away from the busy highway. It amazes me, and Tammy too, that of all the hundreds of cars whizzing by with the drivers seeing and barely missing hitting this mommy and and her babies, and these drivers being fully aware of the probability of this family's imminent death on the road, and of the urgency of the dogs needing help--It amazes me that NO one stopped to pick them up--except Tammy!

More than half of the dogs here at Straydog are fellas that we rescued from along the roads and busy highways. Why more people do not stop to help dogs I will never understand.

The only thing to do now was for Tammy to take this precious Rottweiler family to our clinic for the usual "new arrivals" check up. Ginnie took over walking the dogs for Tammy, Randy left the kennel projects he was working on and took over Ginnie's kennel cleaning duties, and I came in to call the clinic and then to finish getting Blackie settled in his confinement kennel.

Thank goodness that our one quarantine kennel is ready for new arrivals--and is vacant! This Rottweiler mom and puppies would have a nice, safe, secure home here, after their checkup and vaccinations, etc., at the clinic.

SUNDAY, MARCH 12 - Petco Adoption Day #2--Silver is adopted

10:00 a.m. The weather was beautiful, just perfect for the upcoming Doggie Adoption Day at the Petco Store in Plano. At 9:00 Sue and Mike arrived to begin to brush and harness the six fellas that would be visiting the store for the afternoon. By 10:00 several Friends of Straydog volunteers had arrived to help take these wonderful dogs to spend the afternoon at the pet supply store with hopes of finding their perfect homes.

8:00 p.m. Silver (the beautiful Husky/Shepherd mix) was adopted by a wonderful family today, and Friends of Straydog took her to her new home and said that all went beautifully. We are so happy for Silver! She will be a much loved and very, very pampered house doggie for sure! The other five dogs are back at their Happy Home here again, snoozing in their hay-filled doggie houses.

MONDAY, MARCH 13, 2000 - ANOTHER rescued mommy dog and her four tiny puppies will be arriving soon, and Silver comes BACK to our Happy Home

When we received the phone call about this second stray mommy dog and her puppies, who had apparently been "dumped" along the roadside, my first reaction was that there was just no way that we could take them. We have no more room, no available kennel space.

But the woman went on to say that the animal shelters she had called with hopes of being able to take in this family were all full and were turning animals away. She then checked the Internet for no-kill animal shelters, and that's how she heard about us as being one of only four no-kill shelters in Texas [God, I hope there are many, many more than four!]. Now she was hoping we could please take this mommy and puppy family. She had nowhere else to turn, and she did not want them to be put to sleep.

How can pet owners be so irresponsible as not to spay and neuter their pets! And how can anyone "dump" any animal any time for any reason?

So here we are, no available kennel space and OUR shelter is full too!
But, yes, we will make room for this abandoned little family of five. The plan was for the woman to take them to our clinic tomorrow, and I called the clinic and told them about this second "family" coming in, and then I called Cassity Jones Lumber store and ordered enough 6'x6'x12' sections of chain link fence for another kennel and also ordered the wood needed for a shelter. Luckily we already had an extra nice big dog house, which we'll put in the shelter. This will now be our mommy/puppy quarantine kennel #2.

THANK YOU, our wonderful, loyal contributors, for making it possible for us to save these abandoned dogs. The cost of kennel and shelter, along with the vet checkups and medical care for the pups and the mommy (who was diagnosed with heartworms at her checkup) will be nearly $1,000.

8:30 p.m. - The end of a busy day and Silver comes back!
It was close to 5:30 this afternoon and I had just come in from my final-round visits with all the dogs when the phone rang. It was a call from the family who had adopted Silver yesterday. They said that things just were not working out with Silver and their cats. Silver (unbeknownst to all of us) does NOT like cats--not at all! Apparently there had been no problem with Silver and the cats when Silver had first arrived at her new family's house with several members of Friends of Straydog who had taken Silver to make sure she would settle in ok with her new family and new home. And all had gone very well.

Now it's 8:30 p.m. and Silver is back here with us, in her kennel with her companion Blackie Blue Eyes (and the two at first slightly growled at each other). We'll continue trying to find Silver her perfect home--with no cats!

TUESDAY, MARCH 14 - The first mommy dog and her 2 pups arrive

The clinic called saying that the Rottweiler family, Trixie and her babies, Buddy and Betsy, were ready to come to our Happy Home.
This is the family that Tammy had rescued from the highway as they scavenged for food just several inches away from the busy road. Now the mom and puppies have had their checkups and vaccinations.

The mommy, Trixie, is a beautiful, three-year-old Rottweiler and her two babies are adorable, six-week-old little Rottweiler puppies, with long tails (which will stay long). Little Betsy has a staph infection above her left eye, which we are treating , and the mommy is much too thin, (which we can also take care of) but other than that the three appear to be in good health and we will have the mom spayed as soon as she's able. Rottweilers are very susceptible to parvo virus so we will be keeping a very close watch on them for these next two weeks.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15 - Randy came in on his day-off to prepare the new quarantine kennel and build the shelter for the 2nd mommy and her four puppies

THURSDAY, MARCH 16 - The second mommy and fat little puppies arrive

This is another adorable family and the rolly-polly fat little puppies were cute to watch as they tumbled over each other while they checked out their nice, new quarantine kennel and shelter, and dog house.

The mommy, "Lisa" is a very gentle, three-year-old, black Lab mix. It looks like her head is the only Lab part and the rest of her short little body is the "mix" part. She weighs 32 pounds. Her check up shows that she does have heartworms. We'll have her undergo treatment for this problem as soon as she's able and she will also be spayed later too.

Lisa's four little puppies are five weeks old. "Charlie" is the fattest! He is so cute and is all brown with a stubby little tail. Shane is black and white, and a precious chubby little fellow too. Tasha is an adorable mixture of soft brown, white and buff colored fur, and she is the only puppy with ears that stand up. She loves to chew on Charlie's little tail. Dee-Dee is a cutie! She's all brown except for a bit of white on her chest, her little white paws and the white tip at the end of her wiggly little tail. The fat little puppies checkup showed there to be no apparent health problem at this time, except for the babies (and the mommy) being infested with round worms, for which they have been treated and get the next dose of treatment in two weeks.

These are your newest arrivals, and we thank you very, very much for helping them. These helpless, abandoned mommies and puppies are now safe and loved, and will be very well cared for at your Happy Home for Strays.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADOPT ONE OF THESE PRECIOUS LITTLE PUPPIES, OR MOMMIES (or any of the other wonderful doggies here) please call us. 903/479-3497

SATURDAY, MARCH 18 - Silver and Blackie Blue Eyes meet their new kennel companions

All five of us who care for Silver and Blackie Blue Eyes, think that the time has come to separate these companion female dogs, even tho they are "usually" the best of friends. It's those occasional times, which have been increasing more and more lately, when they are "not the best of friends," that have us concerned and we all feel that there will come a time when the two of them get into a not-so-friendly confrontation and we don't want a doggie care-giver to end up, accidentally, in the middle of it. Today was the day to introduce them to their new male companions--hoping they would be the perfect matches!

So early this chilly morning, with the five of us in complete agreement, we walked Blackie Husky to meet Bishop Rottweiler in the big doggie play yard. Figuring that we may have to sooner or later make this separation of the girls, we have had Blackie and Bishop play together in the play yard several times during the last few weeks so they would get to know each other well. Now we were ready to make the change.

The two of them got along beautifully as always, so we took Blackie back to Bishop's kennel with him which now made them "official" kennel companions. All went great! Wonderful, this was a tremendous relief to us all.

Next we tried Silver with Danny Boy but that didn't go over so well. No problem tho, it's just that Silver is a very playful, bouncy, strong dog and big old Danny Boy is a very laid back kinda fellow, who didn't care at all for Silver's playful whaps against his body, trying to get him to rough around with her. So much for that. Silver needs someone more playful.

"POKEY!!" He should be just perfect!!! He is just as bouncy and playful and whappy as she is. Since all these introductions were getting Ginnie way behind with her dog walks to the play yard, we decided we'd try introducing Pokey and Silver tomorrow morning.

SUNDAY, MARCH 19 - YEA!! Silver and Pokey Get Along Great!!

This sure worked out perfectly. We introduced female Silver Husky/Shepherd mix, with beautiful friendly male Pokey Chow mix early this morning in the big play yard and they became INSTANT FRIENDS. How Perfect!! They did the usual new friend sniffy greeting and then took off playfully chasing each other all around the play yard. They both love to run! and they are equally "whappy!" This is another absolutely perfect match. Now we are all happy! We took them back to Silver's kennel and they had a great time chasing each other all around as they "flew" in and out and around their shelter--and jumped on top of--and over the top of--the shelter, playfully chasing each other. They must have played for two hours straight!