MONDAY JANUARY 22 2001 Little blind puppy, Sparky, and seeing eye buddy, Penny go for their checkup

Sparky and Penny were outside chasing each other around their kennel yard this cold morning when I went to get them to take them to the clinic. It is so amazing to watch how well little Sparky gets around, being totally sightless. His main problem is that he sometimes gets confused and starts running in circles when he tries to go somewhere, such as when I call him to come to me. Today when they came running my way I scooped them both up and carried them one in each arm to the "pre heated" van for the trip to town. They slept curled up side by side in their travel crate all the way to the clinic.

The results of their checkups were okay. Penny has a minor intestinal infection, which will get better with the medication the doctor sent home with me, and little Sparky appears to be alright, except for a little cough and sneezing, which the doctor thinks will get better on its own. We're to take Sparky back to the clinic if it worsens. Both the pups weigh a little over 12 pounds--12.6 for Sparky and 12.2 for Penny.

The order goes in for sections of "security" fencing

We decided we must get the perimeter of our kennel compound enclosed completely after the scare we had with Danny Boy last week (when Danny was in his kennel yard and became frightened at the sound of distant gunshots and in a panic got out of his yard and ran straight over to the Angry Neighbor's property. (See the January 14, 2001 update of this website.) We figured we could enclose the kennels fairly inexpensively by simply adding portable fence sections to close the gaps between the kennels. With these gaps closed if any dog should accidentally get out of his kennel, at least the dog would be contained in the big kennel area.

Our plan had been (and still is) to some day enclose the entire kennel area with a six-foot-high wood fence. Almost a year ago we managed to raise the funds needed to at least begin this tremendously expensive project (thanks to our loyal contributors), and we were able to put up the one long strip of six-foot-high wood fence along the front of the front-end kennels. (See the February 13, 2000 update of this website.) Since enclosing the rest of the kennel area with wood fence will be so expensive (the lowest estimate given by Tom and Son's Fence Company is $7,000), we decided that for now we would have to go with the portable chain-link sections, closing off the gaps.

TUESDAY JANUARY 23 2001 Puppy dog, Gina, goes for her "operation"

Gina is five months old now, and her surgery to be spayed was scheduled for this morning. She is such a sweet puppy dog, and was just a little confused this morning as to why she didn't get her usual nice big breakfast. She didn't understand my "no food the morning of surgery" explanation. Gina will stay at the clinic today, and I'll pick her up tomorrow morning. Her sisters, Bunny and Nina were both adopted into wonderful families these past two Saturdays. Maybe this coming Saturday will be Gina's lucky day!

Sparky and playmate, Penny, have fun playing together

The weather was a beautiful, sunny 55 degrees this afternoon, so Sparky and Penny spent most of the day in their outside kennel. They had such a fun time playing together all day long, and their favorite toy is the knotted-towel tuggy-toy. Penny usually grabs it first and drags it all around their yard with fluffy Sparky running close behind her until he manages to grab an end. Then there's lots of tugging until Sparky tugs it away from Penny and it's his turn to be in the lead.

I'm glad to see Sparky play inside their wooden shelter more and more every day because this lets us know that he has learned where their shelter is and how to get in and out of their doggie-door. He sort of "taps" his head along the side of the shelter until his tapping leads him to the opening, and in he goes.

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 24 2001 New employee Gary has been with us for five days

Gary has joined our team of doggie care givers, and has been with us for the last five days, learning the process of dog walks and evening dog rounds. He has even had to work through some cold rainy weather, and he is still with us!

Chain link fence sections are delivered, and securing the kennel compound continues

Randy has been busy every "spare" minute fastening the fence sections together to close off the gaps between the kennels. With every "close-off" he makes, we all have a much more secure feeling that any "loose" dog or pup will at least be contained within the kennel grounds. There will be no more panic runs down our hill for Danny Boy--or anyone else.

Juan put up several sections this afternoon, since Wednesday is Randy's day off, and within a couple more days we should have every gap closed off.

FRIDAY JANUARY 26 2001 "Silver's" owner calls wanting to return Silver

Nothing could have surprised me more than the email message (sent last night) that I woke up to this morning at 3:00 a.m., my new start-work time. Silver's owner wants to return Silver. (See story of Silver's adoption in the June 11, 2000 edition of this webpage via Links to Previous Weeks.)

Silver is a wonderful, wonderful dog, and the perfect house pet, her owner said, but "life has gotten in the way," and now this beautiful husky mix, adopted last June is coming back "home" to us. (This is really hard for us to understand.)

Today Randy will prepare a kennel for Silver, and we'll have her nice dog house in her shelter all ready and waiting for her with fresh fluffy hay. We've made plans to pick her up tomorrow at our adoption day in Dallas.

SATURDAY JANUARY 27 2000 Saturday Adoption Day canceled due to bad weather, van trouble and an emergency here at Straydog

A combination of things happening this early, rainy morning made us decide we'd have to cancel our Saturday Adoption Day at Petsmart.

The first "almost emergency" was at 8:00 a.m. when Randy and I were outside with Gina removing the bandages from Gina's back paws. (The doctor had removed her back dew claws while she was under anesthetic for being spayed this last Tuesday, and the bandages could finally be removed today.)

When we rolled Gina over to remove the first bandage, we noticed how swollen the area was around her spay incision. The swelling looked serious to me, so I called our clinic and they suggested I bring Gina in so the doctor could check it.

Halfway to the clinic the rain came pouring down, and then the bright red brake warning light came on which means the breaks need to be checked!

The technician at the clinic was really nice about "squeezing us in" to see the doctor on a busy Saturday morning, and after Dr. Stephen examined Gina's swollen area, he said there is nothing to worry about, just try and keep Gina quiet for another week. This won't be too much of a problem, as poor little Gina has been rooming (kenneling) with four-year-old, laid-back Tommy Tootles since Gina's sisters were adopted--Nina last Saturday and Bunny the Saturday before. We had put Gina in with the "single guy" (Tommy) so she wouldn't be lonely, and Tommy puts up with her but is not at all playful, much to Gina's dismay. It's good to know that the swelling is nothing serious, and soon Gina and I were on our way home again--in the downpour, with the red brake warning light shining.

By the time we arrived back home it was just too late to then load up the doggie van for the hour-and-a-quarter drive to Petsmart in Dallas for a rainy afternoon. We'd just be getting there and practically have to turn around and come back home again, and the rain was still coming down.

Juan alone drives to Dallas to pickup Silver

Shortly after 10:00 a.m. Juan was on his way to Dallas to pick up Silver. (Silver had been with us for six months during her first stay before she was adopted last June when she went to her new home and became a pampered house pet.)

When Juan arrived with Silver (at about 1:30 this afternoon), we could tell she recognized her previous Happy Home for Strays, and we knew that she remembered all of us. I can't imagine what must be going through her mind tho, about being back here. Is she wondering why she is back here or where her "mom" is or why is she not going back home?

This is terribly heartbreaking for us as well as for Silver, and we all spent a lot of time with her throughout the whole afternoon to help her feel loved and at home with us again. Each time we left her kennel she would whine which was really sad to hear.

I know she'll be okay, and she will receive a lot of love and attention from us. Hopefully soon she will easily fall back into the routine at our Happy Home for Strays, and we pray that the next time she is adopted, it will really be with her forever family.

We want to thank all of you who have given (and continue to give) your support to our shelter. We will be forever grateful for your help.

SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL OUR WONDERFUL DOGGIE-SITTERS! Your help makes it possible to keep trying to find wonderful homes for our many furry friends. Thank You!