MONDAY MARCH 5 2001 No call from person about Lab mom and eight pups

We've had no more word from the person "desperately" needing a home for the mother Lab and her eight puppies. He was going to call yesterday evening, but we received no word from him, and today has come and gone with no word, so we are now assuming the person managed to find help elsewhere for this dog family.

We have to put up the rest of the wood security fence before I go nuts

Our neighbors who live at the top of our hill always let their two big dogs run free (as do many of our other neighbors in our remote area of East Texas), and their dogs, of course, often choose to run free on our (Straydog Inc.) property. As the neighborhood dogs frolic at the top of our hill or trot up and down along the edge of our property, our dogs see these "visitors" and naturally bark up a storm!

We try very hard to respect our neighbors' privacy and not disturb them. We keep all of the dogs at our shelter confined to our shelter grounds. (Even Danny Boy's side yard at the north end of the trailer is so secure now, he couldn't get loose if he were Harry Houdini.)

It stays pretty quiet here most of the time until our fellas spot a loose animal in the distance. Then all heck breaks loose!

The neighbors who own these two aforementioned dogs know that Angry Neighbor, who lives at the bottom of the hill across the road, will shoot their dogs if their dogs get on his property, yet they are not at all concerned about keeping their dogs confined.

We're working on the financing to construct the rest of the wood security fence. What our dogs do not see (or hear or smell) in the distance, they will not bark at, and we can at least cut down on their visual alert system with a six-foot wood fence around the other half of our property.

TUESDAY MARCH 6 2001 George gets loose again and almost gets hit by a car on Garland Road in Dallas!

It was just sheer luck (or perhaps by arrangement of an angel) that I happened to be in the house when the phone rang about 2:00 this afternoon. It was a very nice-sounding gentleman calling to say that he had rescued a big red Chow who was trying to cross Garland Road.

The man said he had been walking along the sidewalk when suddenly the sound of blasting horns and screeching tires made him immediately look toward the road where he saw George, who had just missed being hit by a car. The man managed to get George off the busy road and took the dog to his house for safe keeping till he could find the owner.

The vet tag on George's collar showed the number of our clinic, and the clinic gave the man our number. This wonderful rescuer said he'd be happy to keep George safe at his house until we could come and get George.

We go pick up George!

Since this was the second occasion (that we know about) that George has gotten out of his yard in the 10 days that he has been at his new home, and the second time that I've had to set the rescue of George in motion, and because this time George had almost been killed on Garland Road, the decision was immediately made, my me, to reclaim George. The thought of George nearly being hit by a car literally made me sick.

Dogs getting out of their yards is a serious situation and definitely is not taken lightly by Straydog Inc. Loose dogs can be injured or killed on the road. If they are lucky enough to avoid being hit by an automobile, they often wind up lost, bewildered, confused, hungry, and ultimately sick, their lives constantly in danger.

George is once again safe at home with us!

By 6:00 p.m. George was back with us, safe and secure in a nice kennel. I could tell he was glad to be "home." He looked thin and tired and was limping. I fed George a good meal and stayed with this precious big pup until dark. I felt so bad that he had to go through such a horrible experience, and I was so thankful to the man who had rescued him. When I left George for the night, I was not at all concerned that he would try to get out of his kennel here. He has never made any attempt to jump his fence or to dig out when he has been here with us, which speaks for itself about how happy George is with us at our Happy Home for Strays.

George's recent adoptive owner has been notified that George is once again back with us.

WEDNESDAY MARCH 7 2001 Another rescued puppy-dog joins us

Shannon, one of our newest employees, has been a wonderful addition to our team of doggie care givers at Straydog, our Happy Home for Strays. She has been with us for two weeks now, and during this time she has rescued two pups from the road. (Rescuing strays is not part of her job description, but when it happens, it happens, and we have to deal with it.)

Shannon rescued the first pup, whom she named Speedy, from the roadside the first week Shannon was here. She fell in love with this cute little five-month-old Terrier mix and luckily all worked out well at her home for Speedy to be a companion for Shannon's little female pup.

During Shannon's second week working here, she and her husband found a starving five-month-old Cocker/Retriever mix as the pup was scavenging for food in the middle of the highway. They rescued this pup and took her right to their vet too. For the next four days they tried, with no success, to find the dog a good home. Although Shannon had hoped Cookie would fit into her growing doggie family, things were not working out well at all with the three pups being together along with their other adult dog.

Cookie moves in with George

Since George is back with us now, and is a single fellow in his kennel at this point, we have room for Cookie to be George's companion. Cookie is a big pup, weighing nearly 50 pounds, and she's just about the same size as George. The two of them hit it off beautifully as soon as we put them together, and they continue playing together almost nonstop. This has worked out perfectly for both big pups.

I'm sick for the first time since we started our no-kill shelter in the early '90s

Actually I've had a bad cold since last Saturday, but my throat finally got so sore today that I went to a doctor, who prescribed some antibiotics for the infection. The pills literally knocked me out, and I had to call Bill to come home from his job in Dallas to take care of me while our loyal and dedicated crew stayed all afternoon to take care of the dogs.

FRIDAY MARCH 9 2001 Gina, recently adopted pup, needs basic puppy-dog training

A call from Gina's owner this morning really took me by surprise. His first words were that he was thinking he'd have to bring Gina back to our shelter. Gina is the big, gentle, lovable Rottweiler/Shepherd/Lab mix pup adopted from us February 10th. The dad adopted Gina to become the family house pet as a companion for his two little girls. He said that they all love Gina very much but they are still having a terrible problem with her jumping on the children. Now with Gina growing bigger every day and because she continues to be a jumpy, bouncy dog, it is beginning to scare his daughters when Gina jumps on them. The dad has tried to teach Gina not to jump, but is having no success, and though he does not want to return Gina to us, he is simply at a loss as to what to do. He said he was hoping we could give him some suggestions.

I suggested he take Gina for training at the PetPerfect Academy in Dallas. I've heard wonderful things about their Positive Reinforcement method of training, and I have talked to the trainer there several times this year about a few of the problems we've encountered with some of the strays we've taken in.

This sounded like a great idea to the dad, and he will keep in touch. I was relieved to know that he wanted to work through the training problems for Gina.

Geesh! Now the man calls about wanting us to take the Lab and her eight pups!

Another surprise phone call came tonight from the person who had called me nearly two weeks ago, wanting us to take in a stray mother Lab and her eight puppies. It sounded like such a serious situation at that time that I had told him we would hold a kennel open for this family of nine. He had sounded very relieved, said he had to be out of town for several days and then would catch the family when he returned and would bring them to us. We agreed to hold our one vacant kennel for this homeless family for the next six days, as he had requested.

Two weeks went by without a word from the man about the dogs, and I had assumed he had found another place for them. Now with the possibility of Gina coming back to us, the kennel would need to be reserved for her for at least for the next week or so.

I had to tell this person that we were now full. Since the pups are now eight weeks old (according to the caller), they have reached the age that two other shelters say pups have to be before they will will take them in (according to what the man said during our first phone conversation). Hopefully all will work out well. He will keep in touch.

(Please remember that it costs between $500 and $1,000 to construct a new kennel with a sturdy shelter enclosing a dog house.)

SATURDAY MARCH 10 2000 Adoption Day at Petsmart is canceled due to me being sick with a bad sore throat

Another stray dog finds her way to our Happy Home for Strays

It was about 6:45 and had just gotten light this morning when all the dogs let out their loud "Unauthorized Animal on the Property!" alarm. I hurried toward the door to see what the commotion was all about just as Randy come running up to the house. "There's a stray on the hill," Randy announced as I opened the door to meet him. Shannon had spotted the dog coming up our hill toward our cars parked at the front of the kennels. Then when our bunch of dogs caught sight of the intruder, they all began barking loudly, and this sent the poor stray running back down the hill. Shannon took off after the dog to catch it before it went to Angry Neighbor's property. I grabbed a leash, and Randy and I took off toward the bottom of our hill to help Shannon with the rescue.

Randy and I slowed down our pace as soon as we spotted Shannon at the bottom of the hill kneeling at the dog's side, holding and petting what appeared to be a medium size, furry Shepherd/Husky/Collie/Aussie mix female.

This dog was extremely frightened as are many strays, especially the ones who have been out on their own for a long time, and she became startled (spooked) when any of us made the slightest movement. As we petted her and talked soothingly to her, we could feel many huge ticks beneath her fur. We also could feel every rib in her body. The poor dog was probably starving.

Shannon takes the new dog to the vet for the New Arrivals Checkup

The first step we take upon rescuing any dog is to get the dog to our vet as soon as possible. I held the dog while Shannon went to get her car. Seeing we had everything under control, Randy went back up the hill to continue with his kennel work.

The only problem Shannon and I had in getting the very frightened dog in the car, was getting the very frightened dog IN the car. This pretty (but very dirty) furry fella was just too afraid to get near the car or to allow us to lift her in. The use of a muzzle comes in very handy in these cases, and within minutes Shannon and I had the muzzle securely on the dog, and we were able to lift her into Shannon's blanketed back seat with no problem.

Shannon calls from the clinic to give me the report from the doctor

By the time Shannon had gotten to the clinic she had named the dog "Mandy." All our rescued fellas are very important to us, and each needs his or her special name right away.

Shannon reported that Mandy's checkup was generally good. The doctor examined Mandy thoroughly and ran the usual tests, and all turned out okay. The heartworm test was negative, thank goodness, and Mandy has the usual intestinal worms that most strays have, which the doctor treated there. She is very thin, but we can take care of this problem with the nourishing food we feed the dogs here.

The doctor sent home a tick-dip for us to use on Mandy, which is the fastest way to take care of tick infestation, and he also gave Shannon some medicine for Mandy's bad ear infections. We'll have this precious stray feeling much better very soon.

Mandy joins the others at our Happy Home for Strays

By the time Shannon returned with Mandy, the day had warmed up to a beautiful, sunny 65 degrees, and without a cloud in the sky it was a perfect time for giving Mandy her tick-dip sponge bath. Her long fur would dry fast in the warm breeze. While Shannon and I were taking care of Mandy, Randy continued to put the finishing touches on her kennel, which was to have been Gina's kennel if she were to be returned. (No matter how we try to plan, it seems we're always running out of kennel space.)

After the sponge bath to get rid of the ticks and after massaging the ear medicine gently into each ear, we fed Mandy a good meal. She was very hungry, and then, with her tummy full, and having received lots of attention from the three of us, she curled up on her grassy lawn in the shade beneath her shelter porch top to sleep. She appears very content to be here, and now she is safe.

SUNDAY MARCH 4 2000 A normal day till it started storming mid afternoon, which cut the dogs short on final rounds

Thunder keeps most of the dogs in their dog houses inside their shelters. Some will come out for the late-afternoon treat (a dog biscuit), but they'll scurry back in, each with a biscuit in his mouth. Tomorrow's another day.

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.