(See the Saturday, August 5 entry below.)

Excerpts from Pat's Daily Dog Log:

MONDAY JULY 31 2000 - The fence jumping problem with Tony seems to be solved!

I talked to Teressa this afternoon, and she said that two days ago they solved Tony's fence jumping problem by putting up a hot-wire along the top of the fence. They had talked to several Great Pyrenees owners about Tony's jumping, and this is the one method that all the Great Pyrenees owners had recommended to stop Tony's jumping.

They were carefully informed about the correct method of using this procedure and once the hot-wire was in place, they let Tony off the leash, and just as they expected, he immediately tried to jump the fence--but he got a bit of a surprise this time as he got shocked going over, and he hasn't tried to jump the fence since! Problem solved for this beautiful fellow. He has such a wonderful family and a huge yard to roam in, and we are all glad that the jumping problem has been solved so quickly!

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 2 2000 - One big puppy and black Lab mix join our Happy Home for Strays

The day began early this morning when I took a big three-month-old puppy named "Buster" to the clinic for his "new arrivals" checkup.

Buster's story:

The original owner of this big pup said that Buster (whose mother hadn't been spayed because the owner couldn't afford it) was one of three remaining puppies who all needed homes. Finally Buster was given away, but he was so traumatized by being separated from his mom and siblings, that the frightened puppy managed to get beneath the house at his new home, and would not come out except to eat the food left for him near the side of the house. For three weeks this petrified puppy stayed beneath the house, only coming out to eat the food left for him when no one was around.

When Straydog heard about this, we were shocked that this situation had gone on for so long, and we told Buster's new owner that he needed to crawl under the house immediately to get the pup and bring him here for proper care. The next morning Buster was delivered to us.

Buster goes to the Clinic for his New Arrivals Check up

At 8:00 this morning I was on my way to the clinic with the very frightened, big, three-month-old black and white pup, "Buster." This fellow was covered with ticks and fleas and ant bites, and I could hardly wait to get him to the clinic for a much needed bath, along with his vaccinations and to be neutered and have a thorough check up too. It was a tremendous relief to have the puppy safe now.

I left Buster at Clinic and came home with a black Lab!

Once at the clinic with the pup I was in for a quite a surprise. The doctor was happy to see me, he said, because he wanted to "just tell me about" the dog who had been abandoned at their clinic, while in their care, and now desperately needed a home. Her name was "Raven."

Raven's Story:

This year old, gentle, affectionate black Lab mix named Raven had been brought to the clinic seven weeks ago to be boarded for just three days. Now seven weeks had passed with no word from the owner. The clinic had tried to notify the owner with phone calls and certified mail that the dog would be considered an "abandoned" animal if they did not come for her. Now, without hearing from Raven's owner, Raven was considered "abandoned" and the clinic would have to take her to the local animal shelter, which the vet did not want to do.

Then, after telling me the story, the vet asked if I wanted to see Raven. I already knew I would take her without seeing her, but Dr. S led me to the dog boarding section of their clinic, and we walked passed several big kennels, petting the noses of inquisitive "boarders" as we went along. Then we came to Raven's kennel. What a sweet dog she is.

So I left puppy, Buster, for his checkup, vaccinations, the much needed bath and to be neutered, and I drove home with Raven.

This will work, I was thinking all the way home as Raven sat in the back seat of the car and nuzzled her head against my shoulder. She is a very quiet, affectionate dog. Certainly Raven will get along with Jake, or Binks, who are in separate big kennels and both need a companion doggie.

Raven and Jake get along Great!

When we arrived home Randy was in the middle of "dog walks," taking the pairs of dogs, two at a time, to the big fenced play yard (we call "the park") for their turn at playing, but we interrupted the normal walks so we could introduce Raven to Jake in the play yard. They became friends instantly and got along beautifully! What fun they had chasing each other around the big yard, and Raven spent lots of time in the little swimming pool too. This would be so great for Jake. He needed a friend and he was thrilled to have Raven as his kennel companion. They make a beautiful pair.

TWO MORE PUPS ARE COMING

Sisters of Buster are coming tomorrow.

When the original owner of Buster found out that Straydog had taken in Buster, he asked if we could take Buster's sisters, Pixie and Dixie. These pups had been spoken for but never picked up, and the owner could not find them a home and desperately needed a place for them to go.

It would be wonderful for Buster to be reunited with his sisters at this time. This terrified little pup was so fearful of everything now that having his sisters with him would be very helpful to him. So tomorrow morning the other two pups will be joining our Happy Home for Strays, after their new arrival checkup at the vets. And Randy would have to make the small quarantine kennel, bigger! The order went in to Cassity Jones for more fence sections.

THURSDAY AUGUST 3 2000 - Sisters of Buster, Pixie and Dixie, join their brother at our Happy Home for Strays

By 8:30 a.m. I was at our clinic with Buster's sisters, Pixie and Dixie. These big black and white pups look almost identical to Buster, and they are also quite frightened at being taken away from their mommy, but they made it through their examinations ok and got their vaccinations. The doctors were booked solid for surgeries this morning, so I made an appointment for this coming Monday for the pups to be spayed, and then I brought these two scared pups back to their new home to be reunited with their brother, Buster.

Happy Reunion for Buster and his sisters

Buster was so happy to see Pixie and Dixie again! The three of them had a nice sniffie "glad to be together" greeting time. It made all of us feel really good to know that Buster was happy again, but it will take a lot of time and love and attention to get him to become a normal, happy-go-lucky puppy.

Once again we thank you all for your continued support. Your help has made it possible for us to take in and care for these helpless frightened puppies, and Raven, who had been abandoned.

FRIDAY AUGUST 4 2000 - Stevie and Pete's new dad comes for a third visit

This was going to be another exciting day for Mike's "kids," as Mike refers to Stevie and Pete.

SATURDAY AUGUST 5 2000 - Successful Adoption Day: Binks is adopted!

We could tell by eight o'clock this morning as we were preparing the dogs for their Saturday doggie adoption day, that it was going to be another sizzling hot afternoon. But now that the weather is so hot we "set up" our Straydog Adoption Day area in the nice, cool air conditioned Petsmart store.

Since we only had three doggie-sitters scheduled for the afternoon, we could take just three dogs: Binks, Blackie Husky and Jake.

We arrived shortly after 10:30 and the store seemed to be bustling with people shopping for their pets. We had many visitors come by to visit with the dogs. Around 11:00 a.m. a woman and her two children came walking over to Binks. Binks was just the pet they were looking for, said the mom, Kathy. The two young boys seemed to fall in love with him instantly (so did the mom), and they wanted to hurry home to tell the dad all about him. Kathy thought Binks would be a wonderful companion for their young dog, Rosie, and their older male dog was very accepting of other animals and wouldn't mind a new fellow in the house. And she thought Binks was also another perfect pet for the kids.

At 2:45 the home visit was made and all went beautifully. Binks is now happily settled with his new family and we couldn't be happier.

By 6:00 p.m. we were home and got the dogs back to their kennels. Now all the fellas are peacefully snoozing in their shady "scoopy holes," which they've all dug for their favorite sleeping spots.

If any of you would like to volunteer your dog-caring services to help us out on our Saturday Petsmart Adoption Days, we'd love to hear from you. Please call me if you are able to help. Thank you. Pat (903) 479-3497

We continue to thank all of you for your financial and moral support, which has made it possible for us to save the lives of these wonderful dogs, give them the care they need and adopt them into good, loving homes.

Not only is it the morally higher choice to spay and neuter before more puppies and kittens are conceived rather than to euthanize millions of healthy young dogs and cats after they are born, but it is also a stupid waste of taxpayer money to deal with the overpopulation problem using the catch and kill method.

Year after year after year we Americans spend more money catching and KILLING surplus dogs and cats than it would cost us to put an end to the overpopulation problem of companion animals in one fell swoop by way of a massive spay and neuter campaign. In fact, with adequate funding we, as a society, could achieve companion animal population control--WITHOUT KILLING--before the next reproductive cycle is upon us.

The war on unplanned dog and cat pregnancies can end almost immediately if WE collectively decide to make it end!

Straydog's Proposed Plan of Action:

• FIRST: We must educate the millions and millions of Americans who are still unaware that there IS an overpopulation problem. With newspaper, radio and television ads we must immediately bombard the unaware portion of the public, and we must keep up a massive media campaign until we finally DO make everyone aware of how dire the situation is and how simple the solution can and will be.

 

• SECOND: Once everyone has been made aware of the overpopulation problem, we must, as a society, perhaps for just a limited period of time (possibly no longer than the length of one reproductive cycle in dogs and cats) make available free spaying or neutering for any dog or cat taken to any of the (yet-to-be-established) program veterinary clinics throughout the country.

 

• THIRD: With a drastic reduction in puppy and kitten births, the population of animal shelters will diminish rapidly. A solid plan must then be implemented to maintain the population of dogs and cats at a low enough level to ensure no more surplus, no more killing.

 

Straydog Inc. hopes to begin a SPAY & NEUTER campaign in our local area ASAP. We plan to run the above "Plan of Action" as an advertisement in our local papers, in which we will be asking that those who cannot afford to have their pets spayed and neutered apply to the "Straydog Spay & Neuter Fund" for financial assistance. Would you please consider implementing a similar campaign in your area?

Please continue to support Straydog (our Happy Home for Strays) AND please also contribute to the "Straydog Spay & Neuter Fund." Let us together end this horrible overpopulation problem the humane way: via spay and neuter rather than euthanasia.