Excerpts from Pat's Daily Dog Log:
MONDAY JUNE 26 2000 - Buffy has trouble standing up and is whisked to the doctor
10:00 a.m. - We all noticed that Buffy, the three-year-old Retriever mix, just did not seem himself this morning. He was quieter than usual--not his perky self, and he also seemed to be walking with a little bit of a limp. All of us decided it best to keep a close watch on him today.
2:00 p.m. - I had already started final kennel rounds, visiting all the dogs in their kennels, and Randy and Sue were finishing their early shift kennel work for the day when we noticed that Buffy was having trouble getting up from a sitting position. This worried me. "Okay, Buffy, let's go to see the doctor right now." Something was definitely wrong.
Dr. Stephen examined Buffy and said that he had a slight fever and an upper respiratory infection. After examining Buffy's hips the doctor explained that Buff had probably hurt himself while playing ball. (Buffy has had problems with his hips before.)
Buffy was very well behaved while the doctor gave him the injections for the infection in his lungs and the inflammation in his hips, and as Dr. S handed me the container of medication for Buff to take for another 10 days, he patted Buffy on his furry white head and said, "Sorry, fella, no more ball playing for the next two weeks."--a bit of advice that Buffy was not very thrilled to hear. This fellow loves to play ball! He'd try to play ball even if all his legs were broken!
By the time we arrived back home, Buffy seemed to be feeling much better.
Tammy didn't show up for work and didn't call in
Enough said. The rest of us will stretch to cover her shift. Ad goes in the local paper ASAP for a new kennel helper .
TUESDAY JUNE 27 2000 - Puppy Sammy goes for his second puppy vaccination
The cute six-month-old Shepherd mix, Puppy Sammy, who has been adopted but is staying here for another week while his owners settle into their new home, went today for his second puppy vaccination. This little fellow is growing fast. We will be taking Sammy to his new home this coming Saturday, July 1, where he will have three great kids for playmates! (Sammy is the pup Angry Neighbor brought to us a month ago.)
WEDNESDAY JUNE 28 2000 - Jake goes for an "official" checkup at our local vet clinic
This morning I will be taking our new fellow, Jake, to our vet for an official "new arrivals" checkup. We've had Jake for two weeks, during which time we were supposed to have received the veterinary report and rabies tag from the clinic in Dallas where Jake's rescuer had boarded him before his arrival here.
Being a bit fed-up with all of the hassle and run-around over not receiving Jake's papers from the other veterinary clinic, and because we want him to be officially "legal" for adoption, knowing for sure that he has indeed had all his vaccinations, etc., I decided to have Jake revaccinated at our clinic. I've just now heard two different stories of what, if any, vaccinations Jake has had at this other clinic in Dallas, so to clear up all the confusion, Jake and I are going to our vet this morning to have the usual thorough check up and all necessary vaccinations. Geesh!!!
Spunky may be adopted!
Daisy, the woman who came to our dog adoption day last Saturday afternoon at Petsmart to visit and spend lots of time with Spunky, just e-mailed us that she and a friend, Sheryl, would like to come to visit Spunky here at Straydog, this coming Monday, July 3. Daisy has a dog, Hannah, and thinks that Spunks would be a nice new companion for the two of them, but Daisy is still "just thinking" about adopting Spunky. We are really looking forward to their visit. Daisy spent lots of time with Spunky last Saturday, and he likes Daisy a lot. Daisy and Sheryl have been long-time contributors to our shelter and it will be nice to finally meet Sheryl too!
FRIDAY JUNE 30 2000 - Blind Dog Stevie and Pete are adopted!
A little over a week ago we heard again from a wonderful man named Mike, who has given several extremely generous donations to our shelter. During that phone call Mike said that he and his wife, Anne, are interested in adopting Stevie and his best buddy, little Pete! Mike and Anne are understanding of the special care that Stevie will need (because Stevie is totally blind) and they are looking forward to giving Steve and Pete a wonderful life. Since the couple is in the process of moving, Stevie and Pete will stay with us until Mike and Anne are settled in their new home.
2:30 p.m. - Mike and Anne arrived at our Happy Home for Strays today to visit with Steve and Pete. They had already fallen in love with these precious dogs from their pictures on the covers of our last newsletter, and they fell in love with them all over again during their visit here.
We all realize that it will take time for Steve to get to know his new "mom" and "dad" really well, so the couple plan to come here for more visits to see the fellows, and then when they do get settled in their home, we will take Stevie and Pete for visits there as many times as may be necessary until Stevie feels comfortable in his new surroundings.
This is the answer to our prayers for Stevie and Pete.
Stevie's story from the May 1998 Straydog Journal
It was Friday, May 22, 1998 when I heard about a blind dog at the county animal shelter. A friend who had just come from the shelter after leaving items there for their upcoming garage sale called me. She said she wished she had never seen the blind dog, because she knew he would soon be put to sleep, and it was just so sad to see him there.
It's unbearable for me to hear stories like this, so I drove immediately to the county shelter.
The following is excerpted from our May 22, 1998 newsletter:
When I went to see this special fellow and walked up to the cage in which he was being kept, the sight of his precious little face took my breath away for a moment. One of his eyes was closed and the other was so visibly deformed it was heartbreaking to look at. I knelt down talking to him gently and put my fingers through the cage door to pet him. He sensed that I was there and began swaying his head from side to side until his face touched my fingers and he nuzzled my hand with his furry little head. I brought him home to take care of forever.
We named this beautiful blind puppy Stevie. The eyelid of his right eye is almost entirely closed, and the doctors agreed that he needed surgery to remove his deformed left eye.
Emily is coming back home!
3:35 p.m. - I couldn't believe what I was hearing when I returned Joan's phone call about Emily. Emily had been adopted three weeks ago and during this time I talked to the "mom" several times and thought that all was just fine! During those three weeks I had heard such cute stories about Emily playing with their dog, Opie, and how Emily slept snuggled up to the mom and dad at night. Now the mom is saying that Emily will not stop going potty in the house. She said they have tried training her to go potty outside but nothing has worked, they are at their whits' end and have decided to return Emily to us.
I suggested that Straydog would cover the costs of a professional dog trainer, who could help with the house-training, but the mom said no, she had made up her mind to return Emily to us.
I just don't understand, but we definitely don't want Emily to stay where she is not wanted.
So, tomorrow while we are at Petsmart, they will bring Emily back.
"Is the dog house-broken?" is the question everyone asks us when inquiring about our dogs for adoption, and we don't always know the answer. We explain to the new moms and dads that they need to be patient with the house-training and that they need to understand that it will take time for their new pet to adjust to his new home.
Also, this busy day, Randy and I rescued the two "remaining" baby Mockingbirds from their nest in the Crepe Myrtle tree in Buffy, Muffy and Fluffy's kennel
This was really a fast, unexpected rescue of the two baby birds. We knew those three baby birds were at the age where they'd be trying to learn how to fly, and we've been concerned because the nest is in the tree inside Fluffy, Buffy and Muffin's kennel. Not the smartest place for a mommy bird to build the nest. And moving the nest was another project we knew we needed to take care of soon.
Since the nest was tucked away on a high branch of the tree, Randy was going to saw off the limb at the stem, so we wouldn't have to touch the nest with our hands, and then we'd secure the bushy branch with nest in tact outside the kennel area--somewhere safe. We had planned on doing this tomorrow, since we were so busy this morning but things have a way of changing fast around here, and when I looked out the kitchen window and saw Fluffy with something "unusual" in her mouth, I knew we had put the emergency rescue into action right then!
I ran out and called to Randy to hurry help save the birds, then I rushed into Fluff, Buff and Muff's kennel to remove the "object" (the poor dead baby bird) from Fluffy's mouth. No other baby birds were hopping around, thank goodness, and I made a quick check of the nest where i found the two remaining babies huddled close together. Randy hurried in with his saw and while he began sawing the thick stem of the big branch, I buried the one baby bird and went back to help Randy. The parent birds didn't make our job of saving their babies any easier as they zoomed back and forth over our heads trying to "protect" their kids!
Randy soon cut the branch loose and was carrying the big, bushy branch as carefully as he could out of the kennel while I tried to keep the three inquisitive doggies out of his way. Just as Randy had made it almost to the gate, one of the babies fell out of the nest. I grabbed for and caught Buffy, who had darted toward the little bird. Randy balanced that big branch in his right hand while he quickly reached his left, gloved hand down and swooped up the baby. The squawking of the baby brought forth another major attack on us from his mom and dad.
We made it out of the kennel okay, and I hurried to the back of the kennel area where Randy's two saw-horses are and positioned them close enough together so we could secure the end of the tree branch between them, which would hold the branch in place.
The little birds were scared when Randy tucked the one little fella back in the nest with his sibling, but the parents were not at all pleased with what we were doing. Finally the branch was in place, high off the ground, stuck in between Randy's saw-horses, and we moved far away from the area and stood back to watch. The parents flew to the nest to check out their kids, thank goodness.
A few hours later I noticed the baby birds were out of their nest and hopping around the field as their parents were teaching them how to fly.
SATURDAY JULY 1 2000 - Another Doggie Adoption day at Petsmart on Preston at Alpha Roads. in Dallas
6:30 a.m. - We're getting things ready for another adoption day in Dallas with several of the dogs, and we'll be taking Sammy puppy, who is finally going to see his brand new family! We'll fill you in on how the day goes later.
6:30 p.m. - We're back from the adoption afternoon. No new adoptions today, but the dogs always have a fun time. They love all the attention they receive during these Saturday afternoon outings. And we did take Puppy Sammy to his new home, and brought sweet little Emily back to her Happy Home here. The following is what took place today:
Sammy went to see his wonderful new family!
We arrived at the Petsmart store about 11:00 this morning and got the dogs settled with their doggie sitters, Ginnie, Bonnie Donwen and her friend, Connie. Then Susan Devers and I took Sammy to see his new family and his beautiful new home.
The family greeted us at the door and what a wonderful welcome Sammy received! This pooch was showered with hugs from his new mom, dad and three pre-teenage children! After the nice, warm welcome we all went in the house and the kids showed Sam around his beautiful new home, and showed Sammy his big fluffy bed, and then we went outside to see the lovely yard, complete with a "big people" swimming pool. When Sam saw the pool (this little pup loves water) I knew exactly what he was thinking: "Oh Boy! This is the size pool I've been waiting for!" And the kids could hardly wait for him to go swimming with them! What a wonderful life Sammy will have.
SUNDAY JULY 2 2000 -
[TO COME]
As always, complete financial records are available upon request.
Dog food, veterinary expenses and kennel crew wages have been running over $2,000 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 all our bills and living expenses 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 47 rescued dogs!
Please take a look at some of our newsletters (click on links below) 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 tax-deductible contribution to Straydog Inc. 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.
