MONDAY FEBRUARY 26 2001 Little Prince or Danny Boy may be adopted today

Last night a woman called inquiring about adopting a dog. She and her husband are a retired couple, and they had seen our "Dogs for Adoption" page on our website and were interested in adopting Little Prince, a beautiful, three-year-old, fluffy-haired Shepherd/mix, and they also liked the pictures of big, gentle Danny Boy, our 85-pound, Chow/Retriever mix, who now resides in the north end of our trailer.

During our phone conversation I learned all about their family and that the dog they adopt will be a house pet and will have a big, secure fenced yard to play in. I answered all their questions about both Prince and Danny, and I also explained that both fellows are "special needs" dogs: Prince has hip dysplasia and Danny Boy has a skin condition. Both health conditions are completely under control now, but the dogs will continue to have to have their special needs taken care of (through diet and supplements) to keep both of them in good health.

We are always very honest about the health history of all of the dogs at our Happy Home for Strays, and the couple did not see the special needs of Danny or Little Prince as being a problem for them, should they decide to adopt either of these two dogs.

Little Prince blows his adoption chances--big time!

When the retired couple arrived this afternoon, we walked over to the outside of Prince's kennel to see him. This fellow is so sweet and lovable until he hears the word "adoption." I am positively certain now that he knows the meaning of the word "adopt," and he does not like it, when it's referring to him. Little Prince simply does not want to be adopted. He reacted the very same way with the last couple who wanted to adopt him.

At first Little Prince and Bailey were their sweet, cute, well-behaved selves while the couple talked doggie talk to the two dogs, saying what good doggies they were and how pretty Prince was and what a sweet doggie he was. Then, the moment the man said, "We'd like to adopt Prince," Prince backed up and began barking loudly (and quite aggressively) at the couple, scaring them half to death! (Little Prince had reacted the very same way with the last couple interested in adopting him.)

Prince wouldn't quiet down until we left their kennel. The couple was very disappointed at Prince's reaction toward them and decided to go look at their second choice, big Danny Boy. As we began walking over to see Danny Boy, Betty spotted Tommy Tootles in the next kennel. She gasped and immediately covered her face with her hands and said, "My Gosh! That's our dog!" She then explained that Tommy looked exactly like their beloved pet who had recently died of cancer. Her husband was taken aback too when he saw Tommy.

They fell in love with Tommy Tootles!

Tommy is a well rounded (literally well-rounded) Spitz-Mix about four years old. He has beautiful soft fluffy golden fur and big brown eyes. Tommy is a very gentle, happy fellow with a loving personality. He is extremely good natured, is always happy and is a quiet, mellow fellow who loves everyone, and he is sweet all the time. (This is one very perfect dog!) The couple wanted to go into Tommy's kennel to visit with him.

Tommy jumped up and down excitedly and his short little tail wagged happily as we entered his kennel, and his little tail kept wagging the whole time we stayed with him! I could see how Tommy touched their hearts as he gave them kisses and snuggled up close to them, and I knew they had fallen in love with this cute little guy.

After the visit with Tommy we took the tour of our kennels so they could see all the other healthy, happy dogs, who were barking excitedly in anticipation of the visitors coming to see them. After the tour we came back to see Tommy again.

Tommy Tootles is adopted!

The couple visited with Tommy Tootles for quite a while, and at the end of their extended visit with him they wanted to adopt Tommy and wanted to take him home to become a member of their family right away. They showed me photos of their house and securely fenced yard, and I had spent so much time with the couple while they were here it seemed as if we had all become good friends by the end of their visit, so I felt very comfortable with letting them take Tommy with them. They welcomed us to come and visit Tommy any time we can.

While they filled out the adoption papers, I gathered all of Tommy's important things together, his special toys and the food that he is used to eating, and, of course, he had his collar on (with identification tag) as I walked him to their car on his leash. Betty had the car door open, and Tommy happily jumped right in the back seat!

Urgent Email message "Found puppies and mom! Desperately need a place for them!"

This urgent message came this afternoon. The man emailed me that he had recently found a mother dog and her litter of eight puppies living underneath a storage shed in his back yard. The mom appears to be a black Lab mix and is very leery of people, and the man doesn't have any idea how old the puppies are, just that they are small, "about two-hands-held-together big," and have their eyes open. He had called everyone he knew to try and help him find a home for the mother dog and her puppies, but has had no luck, and even the other animal shelters he called would not take them, due to those shelters being full.

Lab mommy dog and her puppies can come to our Happy Home for Strays

We are full too, but since we are apparently not getting the three-legged dog that we rushed to prepare a kennel for after receiving that urgent phone call last week, and because we did not hear back from the "finder" of the three-legged dog (who did not even return my messages to him about the dog), we now have the kennel space for this family of nine.

The problem we have now is that this person who discovered the mom and pups living beneath his shed will have to try to befriend the mom of the pups so he can bring her along with her puppies to us. He will be in touch with us, and we will have the kennel ready in time for their arrival, whenever that may be.

Tommy loves his new home!

Tommy's new mom called me tonight to let me know quickly Tommy had settled in at his new home. All was going just beautifully she said, and Betty and David (Tommy's new mom and dad) are so happy to have Tommy as a member of their family now. I know they'll keep in touch. We will miss Tommy Tootles a lot, but knowing what a wonderful life he will have as a very pampered house pet makes us extremely happy! And, just as with all our other adopted dogs, we can go visit him any time.

TUESDAY FEBRUARY 27 2001 Rain, rain, rain!

Caring for the dogs goes on as usual. Hard days for me and the kennel team.

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 28 2001 Rain, rain, rain on my birthday.

Bill gave me a funny doggie card for my 61st birthday. The picture on the card shows a woman with her dog on a leash. The woman is bending over shoveling dog droppings into a small bag. The caption in the dog's thoughts bubble reads: "Just sniff it, and be done with it. ... Why save it?" The inside of the card says: "Birthday greetings to the head grounds keeper!" ... Cute card.

THURSDAY MARCH 1 2001 Rain, rain, rain! Randy out sick

These bad-weather days are grueling, especially when we're short on helpers.

FRIDAY MARCH 2 2001 Recently-adopted George is found running loose!

I dread these phone calls telling us one of our adopted dogs has been found running loose in the streets of his new neighborhood (in Dallas).

Today's call was from a woman who'd found "a big, gentle, young red Chow." She got our clinic phone number off our vet tag on George's collar, called the clinic, and they in turn gave her our phone number. She called us leaving the message that she had found this friendly Chow.

George is returned safe to his owner

After several frantic hours of phone tag I finally got in touch with the woman who'd found George, and I also called George's mom, Judy. It turned out that George had been found in a neighbor's yard, just a few houses from his home. The neighbor woman kept George until Judy was able to pick him up. Judy had no idea how George could have gotten out of the yard.

Judy called me this evening to tell me she had made a thorough check of her yard and would be doing repair work on the area where she thought George must have gotten through the fence. George will be staying in the house tonight for "safe keeping." George has a companion dog to play with at his new home, so it's puzzling to us why he wanted to get out of his yard. (Remember that this is the same reason George was returned to us last week by his previous new owner.)

SATURDAY MARCH 3 2000 Adoption Day at Petsmart is canceled due to rain

Also Juan, one of the best employees we've ever had, seems to be so excited about his upcoming move to California, that he has lost his gung-ho interest that he used to have in his job here. It was by mutual agreement that he no longer continue working here so he can get on with his plans to move to California. We wish him the best of luck.

SUNDAY MARCH 4 2000 Rain has stopped; sun is out; beautiful day in the 60s

Here are some photos taken this afternoon: [TO COME]