Excerpts from Pat's Daily Dog Log . . .

MONDAY OCTOBER 30 2000 Cindy is returned to us

I sort of could not really believe what I was hearing when the new dad, who had adopted Cindy just two days ago, called to say that things were not working out with Cindy, and they needed to bring her back. Cindy's adoption seemed so perfect, and we all thought Cindy had been adopted by her "forever family."

Now the dad says that Cindy sheds and that this was causing the mom's allergies to kick up.

They want everyone to know that Cindy is a wonderful, wonderful dog and that she was very good with their little daughter. But they had made up their minds to return Cindy.

The dad and Cindy arrived at our Happy Home for Strays about 4:30 this afternoon, and Cindy bounced happily out of the car (on leash). She knew where she was and was happy to be here again, and to see her best buddy, Duke. Duke was thrilled to be with Cindy again.

Duke and Cindy were rescued in different places on the very same day about two months ago. They've been together for these last two months, and a very strong bond developed between them. We'd love for these two dogs to be adopted together.

TUESDAY OCTOBER 31 2000 Stevie and Pete will be coming for a Thanksgiving week visit while parents are away

When Mike and Ann adopted "the boys," they mentioned that they had made plans to be out of town during the week of Thanksgiving, and we told them that we would be happy to take care of the two fellas here at Straydog anytime they are gone. (We were planning to leave their kennels ready for visits in any case.)

So, in preparation for Stevie and Pete's upcoming visit, Juan touched up their kennel for them by refilling the low parts of their sandy kennel ground with more sandy dirt. We'll put fresh, fluffy hay in their dog houses the day before they arrive. They love fresh hay.

We're also wondering how the boys will take to becoming outside dogs again for a week. They have become so used to being "inside" fellows and love so much being in the house that I hope they will accept these outside "accommodations" again.

WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 1 2000 Message received: Urgent! Can you please take this dog?

The story about this little abused dog was so heartbreaking there was no way we could possibly refuse to help the caller, and I'll just leave it at that. The plans are that we will make a place for this little dog whenever the caller rescues the dog.

She will get back to me, and we should know more within the next few days.

2:00 pm. Another call: A woman named Nicole rescued two little mix puppies along the highway

By the end of this call two more abandoned pups would soon be arriving at our Happy Home for Strays.

Nicole, a very kind hearted woman from Plano, who had rescued these two little puppies along the highway, tried in vain for over a week to find them a home. All the no-kill shelters she called were full, she said, and then she luckily happened to hear about Straydog. Nicole said we were the last hope for the pups.

We never know from one day to the next who will be calling us, hoping we can take in a dog or puppy. As soon as we find a good home for one of the fellas here, we take in another abandoned pup or dog needing a home.

Nicole will bring the puppies to PETsMART this Saturday, and we will bring them from there to our Happy Home for Strays. I'll get the little puppies to our vet on Monday.

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 2 2000 Would you believe?--Another abandoned little dog arrives, today

Another phone call from Dallas brings yet another abandoned young dog to our Happy Home for Strays. The gentleman who found this Shepherd mix wandering his neighborhood with bloody wounds (probably from a dog fight) said he too had tried every no-kill shelter he could find, hoping they would be able to take in the skinny, abandoned young dog. He had been told by all the shelters that they were full. When he began checking with the different vet clinics in his area, hoping that they could help him place the dog, one of the clinics happened to know about our shelter and told the man about us.

How could I possibly say that our shelter was also full. I know there are hundreds and hundreds of abandoned pups and dogs needing help. I know we (alone) cannot help them all, but we have to help the animals in need who have no one watching over them who somehow "find us." Now that Straydog has heard about this big pup, we will just have to make room for her too.

Brandi arrives

The man brought skinny little "Brandi" to our shelter this afternoon, and she is now at our clinic being well cared for while we make a place for her here. She has had her wounds treated, a complete checkup, which shows no heartworms, and she has had her vaccinations and her flea problem taken care of. Other than the usual worms which all stray dogs seem to have, she appears to be in fairly good health. Just in need of good nourishing food and lots of tender loving care.

Brandi will stay at the clinic for a day or two until they can schedule a time for her to be spayed. Then this precious pup will join our Happy Home for Strays.

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 3 2000 Lots of work going on in the rain, getting ready for new arrivals

What a rainy day! But with the news of the three new arrivals all coming tomorrow (Saturday) there was a lot of work to be made in preparation for the arrival of the puppies and Brandi today, rain or no rain.

While Lisa walked the dogs in between downpours, Juan did his kennel cleaning jobs and also helped Randy out making the quarantine kennel bigger for Brandi using a few extra fence sections we had. Randy and Juan also got the dog houses in place for Brandi and the puppies and filled them all with fluffy fresh hay. It was a soggy, wet busy day of work outside in pouring down rain.

We are hoping for a drier day tomorrow, so we can take some of the dogs to their doggie adoption day. All the volunteers are lined up and ready to go.

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 4 2000 PETsMART Adoption Day ... canceled

When I got up at 4:00 this morning (my usual start time), a light rain was still coming down. This was our adoption day, the doggie-sitting volunteers were all lined up, but with the threat of bad weather continuing throughout the day, all the volunteers knew there might be the chance that we'd be canceling.

Still trying to figure out what the day would be like, weatherwise, I noticed that Blackie, our little house dog (a former stray from years ago) was sitting at the door, waiting to go outside to take care of business. I put his little red and white striped sweater on him and switched on the porch light, and out Blackie went, not especially happy to be getting wet. It was raining harder now. Two minutes later this little fellow was back inside, and even though I gave him a thorough drying with a towel, he felt it was necessary to roll and wiggle his damp little body all around on the carpet to finish the job.

Another New Arrival and another bad weather report make for cancellation of our PETsMART Adoption Day

6:00 a.m. - Just after listening to the weather report (again), which said there was a 100 percent chance of rain and thunderstorms all day today, Juan came over to the trailer from the office to announce that he had rescued a big Black Lab puppy-dog last night.

While Juan was at a Wal-Mart store yesterday evening, he heard the announcement over the loud speaker that a Black Lab had been found in the parking lot and that if no one claimed the dog within the hour, the dog would have to be taken to the dog pound.

Juan went to check out the situation, and he was told that the young dog, about seven months old, had been found wandering in the parking lot with a very heavy chain around her neck. It seemed to Juan as if someone had taken the dog there and just left her, which so many uncaring people do with their unwanted pets to get rid of them. The Security officer had removed the big chain from the dog's neck.

Juan was very concerned about this gentle Lab's welfare, so he decided to stay at the store to see if anyone would show up to claim the dog. He said that just about every 10 minutes the announcement about the rescued dog came over the P.A. system. After an hour had gone by, Juan went to check on the status of the pup. Security said that no one had come to claim the Lab, and the officer was going to have to take the dog to the pound. Knowing what her chances of survival would be if she were taken to the pound, Juan said he would take responsibility for her.

"Irene" had spent last night at his and Lisa's place, he said, and added that the pup had a big dog bite on her leg, which probably needed to be looked at right away by a vet.

Well, what could we do? Of course we'll take the dog.

By 7:30 a.m. the decision to cancel Adoption Day at PETsMART had been made due to the combination of bad weather and the new arrival of the abandoned Lab pup, who needed immediate medical attention for the bite wound on her leg.

I called all the sleeping volunteers and told them the adoption day was canceled, and then I took Irene to the clinic.

Irene goes to the clinic and Brandi comes home

Irene and I arrived just as the clinic opened for the morning, and luckily Irene was the first patient to be seen by the doctor.

Her initial exam showed her to be in pretty good health, and the doctor wanted to get the bite wound taken care of right away. He suggested I leave Irene there until this Monday because they'd have to anesthetize her now, for this minor operation and would try to schedule the spay surgery for early Monday morning.

While we were talking about Irene another technician brought Brandi in the room announcing that she was all ready to go home. She had been spayed and vaccinated yesterday.

I was really surprised that these two pups were so much alike in their size, their weight and their age. Both are female pups, seven months old, both weigh 37 pounds and both are the same size. Irene is a beautiful Black Lab and Brandi is a beautiful, sort of buff colored Shepherd mix. The two big pups had a short, sniffy introduction before Irene was led out of the room to have her leg taken care of.

Brandi and I came home and I got her settled in her nice, big quarantine kennel, which she will share with Irene when Irene comes home Monday.

4:00 p.m. The cute little puppies arrive, driven here by Nicole

These little puppies, like all little pups, are adorable! "Popcorn" (the name Randy gave to the black pup, who keeps jumping up and down) is all black with sort of wavy soft fur and floppy ears, and she has a cute wide-eyed expression on her little puppy face. "Peanuts" is just as cute. She is the same size as Popcorn and has soft, short blond fur, with big light brown eyes. These little ones are a pair of very bouncy, playful, happy-go-lucky puppies! I'd guess that they are maybe three months old and weigh about 10 pounds.

I'll take them to the clinic first thing Monday morning for their checkup and first puppy vaccinations.

Tonight just before 6:00 p.m. as it was beginning to get dark, I went outside to make the final check on the new little arrivals. It was very windy and beginning to rain again as I walked around, first to Brandi's kennel and then to the little puppies' kennel. All of them were snuggled up in their warm, hay-filled dog houses inside their wooden shelters.

Thank all of you so much for helping us give these puppies and all the other dogs we've rescued another chance in life.

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

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 many of them into good, loving homes.

If by our example we can inspire enough others to do what we are doing here at Straydog (our Happy Home for Strays), the killing will stop while all of us believers in no-kill wait for the rest of the human race to come to their senses about spay and neuter being the only acceptable method of controlling the population of dogs and cats.