EXCERPTS FROM PAT ARNOLD'S DAILY DOG LOG - First published on www.straydog.org 05/13/2001
MONDAY MAY 7 2001 TOOTSIE!
This big, 95-pound Saint Bernard pooch is causing a mighty lotta trouble!
Tootsie came to our shelter yesterday, May 6, at 9:00 in the morning. We tried introducing her to Big Boy but the two dogs did not get along, at all, and realizing they would not be compatible companions, we had to do fast rearranging of the three Lab puppies in order to make room for Tootsie to stay here, which we did. We took the three puppies, Jay-Jay, Missy and Dusty from their big kennel and moved them to the kennel by our house, which we like to keep available for any emergency that comes along, and this seemed like an emergency, and now we had room for Tootsie.
Tootsie becomes very restless in big kennel
As the day went on Tootsie, who had been used to being a house dog, became very restless in her new surroundings and began pulling on her fence and digging at the entrance gate of her kennel. She wasn't very happy and wanted out.
Tootsie is moved to kennel by house so I can watch her!
By afternoon I felt we had to move Tootsie to the kennel by the house, where the pups were, and move the pups back to their original kennel. This way I could keep a closer watch on Tootsie and maybe with her being nearer the house she'd be happier. So the switch was made and she calmed right down, and was quiet the rest of the day--thank goodness.
Evening: Tootsie gets out of her kennel and takes a stroll in the big doggie play yard!
At 8:30 p.m. I was very sound asleep when suddenly the sound of all the dogs barking woke me up. Something was seriously wrong! The only thing that could cause such a huge commotion from the dogs is if someone were to drive up to our shelter fence, or if a dog got out of his kennel.
I rushed to the kitchen and looked out the sliding glass door as I opened it, and there, in our big dog play yard (the "Park"), was Tootsie, taking a nice evening stroll in the big fenced yard! Geesh!! How the heck did she get out of her kennel!? Her kennel fence is six feet high!
We always leave the play yard gate open when it's not being used, because if any of the dogs should slip away from us or dig out of their kennels, they go directly to the play yard, and this is just what Miss Tootsie did.
I hurried out to get her and escorted her back to her kennel. Both her entrance gates were shut and there were no "escape holes." I didn't think she could jump the six foot high fence. Now, immediately, there was this unexpected problem to deal with: What do I do with Tootsie tonight? Certainly she can not stay outside, unsupervised.
Tootsie spends the night in the house, in the huge dog crate in our kitchen!
I was really glad that this crate in the kitchen is so big. Plenty of room for this escape artist til morning, so in Tootsie went! She curled right up on the soft towels and looked at me with her big brown eyes as if to say, "This is more like it!"
Toby and Blackie (also former strays) are our house dogs, and as they always do, they went over to see who the the new guest is this time, but Tootsie let them know with a loud, deep growl that she did not want them to bother her. This made Toby feel bad because this beautiful, eight year old Aussie likes to be friends with everyone, and he for some reason is used to sleeping beside the fellas who need to be in the kitchen crate, maybe to help the new "night guest" feel comfortable. Not wanting anymore trouble from Miss Tootsie, tho, I blocked off the pathway to Tootsie's sleeping quarters so Toby and Blackie wouldn't upset her, and we all went back to bed.
TUESDAY MAY 1 2001 Tootsie "shows us" how she got out of her kennel
Early this morning I put Tootsie back in her outside kennel by our house and then I watched her from the kitchen to see if she'd try to get out again. Tootsie sat staring at the house for a long time, which made me feel really bad, because I knew she wanted to come back in. This wonderful, three-year-old Saint Bernard had obviously been a house dog for years, and now she couldn't understand why she couldn't come in this house, but from the way she growled and angrily barked at Toby and Blackie again this morning before I put her out, I realized that our plan of hopefully making her another housedog here, until she is adopted, was not going to work.
After a long time of just sitting and staring at the house Tootsie decided she'd get out of her kennel again, and she walked to her four-foot-high shelter, jumped on the roof of her shelter and from there she hopped up another two feet to get to the shade board top that runs completely across the top of her neightbor dog's kennel. Her plan was to walk across this kennel top (as I am now sure is the way she got out last night) and from there she must have jumped six feet down to the ground and then headed for the play yard. Well, not this time tootsie!
As soon as I saw her plan of escape, I hurried outside to her kennel and called for her to come to me. She immediately turned around and jumped back down and came to me for hugging and petting. It was quite obvious that we couldn't leave her in this outside kennel until we put a top on it, so she'd just have to be boarded at our clinic until Randy got the fence top sections in place.
Randy and I figured that Tootsie certainly couldn't jump over the six-foot fence, so there would be no need to "top" the entire kennel, and we'd save money by topping only the area right above her shelter--which she had used for her escape route.
Tootsie is boarded at the clinic till the fence topping is in place
I called our vet to see if they could board Tootsie for a day or two while we got this new fence project done, and then I took her straight to the clinic. She needed to go to the vet for her new arrivals check up anyway, so this would be a good time to have this all done.
Joel took us in his car, since the van is in the shop, and I stayed with Tootsie for her examination. The doctor said that aside from Tootsie being underweight her health seems to be okay and her heartworm test is negative. She weighs 92.6 pounds (underweight for a Saint Bernard), and she is about three years old, and she had been spayed already. She appears to be purebred, but of course we have no way of really knowing, which doesn't matter to us anyway. I left Miss Tootsie in their care and Joel and I came back to our shelter.
TUESDAY MAY 8 2001 I call Saint Bernard Rescue; they may be able to help
When the couple brought Tootsie to us, they said they had tried the Saint Bernard Rescue phone numbers that I had given them, but that the rescue groups could not help them because their shelters were full. Just out of curiosity I tried calling them too. I got no answer from the first two groups, but the third person I tried was very helpful, and said she would have a Saint Bernard rescue person near our area call as soon as possible.
Tonight at 9:00 p.m. I got a call from a Saint Bernard Rescue person, who said their group would try to help us place Tootsie. She will come to see Tootsie when we get her back from the clinic so she'll know first hand as much as possible about this gentle, laid back, sweet Saint Bernard. We will also be taking Tootsie to our Saturday adoption days in Dallas.
THURSDAY MAY 10 2001 Lisa-Lisa and Big Boy are flirting with each other!
I happened to be outside this beautiful breezy morning when it was Bishop and Lisa-Lisa's turn to play in the big play yard. I watched them as they enjoyed sniffing around the large grassy area, and then suddenly Lisa-Lisa ran happily over to the side of the play yard that is closest to Big Boy's kennel.
Big Boy was standing there watching her, as if waiting for her to come see him. The next thing I knew, Lisa-Lisa began "flirting" with Big Boy! She would do her cute little jumpy dance while looking at Big Boy, then scooch down to the half-pounce position and wag her tail as if inviting Big Boy to come play with her! Much to my surprise Big Boy responded in the very same manner! He did his playful, scoochy, jumpy, pouncy dance too. It looked as if Lisa-Lisa and Big Boy wanted to play together. This is Great! I wanted to introduce them right then, but because we were running behind schedule this morning, we decided we'd try to introduce them together in the big play yard tomorrow. How wonderful it would be for Big Boy to accept Lisa-Lisa as a playmate.
Randy comes to work but goes home sick
Joel comes in on his day off to cover for Randy but is still sick from yesterday and has to leave again
Gary and Ginnie do a great job of covering
We have the most dedicated dog care-givers imaginable, and when they get sick and can't work, the other team members try their best to cover for the ones who are out.
FRIDAY MAY 11 2001 Randy and Joel work hard to get the top on Tootsie's kennel above her shelter, and then they put a top over Big Boy's kennel too!
Tootsie's kennel would be the first to top, and since Big Boy spends a lot of time lying on the roof of his shelter, showing serious signs of "thinking" of making one huge jump from his shelter roof to the big play yard just a couple of feet from his kennel, we figured we'd better put a top over his shelter too, which would keep him from going any further.
Randy and Joel both came to work feeling much better today, and as soon as it got light, they began putting the fence sections on the top of Tootsie's kennel over her shelter so I could bring her back from the clinic. This top will inhibit Tootsie from getting any further once she gets onto her shelter roof.
They worked fast and by mid-morning Randy gave me the "okay" that the top was in place and Tootsie could come back to her kennel now. Our daughter and son-in-law had gone to get the van out of the repair shop for us yesterday, so I was able to take it for the trip to the clinic.
Tootsie comes "home" and tries her jump again!
As soon as I got this big pooch back to her kennel, she jumped on her shelter roof and was greatly surprised that she could go no further. Good! The problem of Miss Tootsie getting loose was solved!
It didn't take long for Randy and Joel to put the top over Big Boy's kennel too, and all of us felt better when that was finished.
Lisa-Lisa and Big Boy became friends and kennel companions!
This was an amazing introduction between Big Boy and Lisa-Lisa.
Because Big Boy had aggressively let us know that he did not want to be introduced to the last two female dogs we had intended to introduce him to (he had snarled and growled and aggressively charged the fence before we even got them to the play yard to meet him), we were just a bit leary as to how this introduction with Lisa would turn out, but we definitely wanted to try it.
We took them to the play yard on leashes to meet each other. I took Lisa-Lisa into the play area first, and then Randy brought Big Boy in. Lisa-Lisa was ready to play right away, and Big Boy showed no aggression at all towards her, but before we removed their leashes, we had to make sure that Big Boy would accept Lisa. We walked the dogs around together, keeping them on their leashes and soon realized that they were getting along fine. Lisa was "making eyes" at Big Boy, and he was friendly towards her too. We removed their leashes and off they ran to play! How wonderful! Now Big Boy has a new kennel companion and Lisa-Lisa will stay with Big Boy until the day he is adopted.
Bishop, and new arrival, Puppy Missy, meet and get along fine!
Now that Lisa was "rooming" with Big Boy, Bishop (her previous companion) had no kennel mate. Bishop is a six-year-old, lovable, gentle Doberman/Rottweiler mix, and we thought that he would get along well with the newest arrival, six-month-old Lab mix pup, happy-go-lucky Missy. We introduced these two next, and all went just fine! Missy, who is just half the size of Bishop, is very playful and was not intimidated at all by Bishop's size. This should be a perfect match for these two fellas! Missy is now sharing Bishop's kennel with him.
SATURDAY APRIL 12 2001 GEESH! Tootsie jumps her kennel fence and lands in our house yard!
This morning has been unbelievable. There's been a steady downpour of rain, with lots of thunder and lightening and one problem after another has been popping up around here from 4:30 a.m. until 8:00. Plus it is Adoption Day, which we needed to get ready for, and added to that Miss Tootsie jumped the part of her fence that is not topped, and landed in our house dogs' yard!
I had just finished taking care of yet another problem outside early this morning, and as I came around to our house, I saw Gary (the dog walker for the morning) in our house dog yard struggling to get Tootsie back into her yard! I hurried to help him and asked what had happened. Gary said that while he was in the play yard with a pair of dogs for their turn at playtime, he heard a fence-rattling commotion coming from beside the house, and he looked over just in time to see Tootsie as she was climb-jumping the fence. She flopped her big body over our fence, her front half drooped over our side of the fence and her back half still on her side of the fence as she added the finishing touches of pushing herself over the fence, landing in Toby and Blackie's fenced yard.
I was so thankful that Toby and Blackie were safe in the house! Tootsie had already let it be known that she does not like these fellas.
Back in the kitchen kennel Tootsie Goes!!!!!!
I'm sure I let out a few choice words as I put Toby and Blackie in the bedroom so I could bring Tootsie back in the house to the kennel in the kitchen. She'd just have to stay here inside until we left with her and a few of the other dogs on the weekly trip to Dallas for our adoption day. What a problem this pooch is turning out to be!
The only thing we could do now would be to take the fence top off of Silver's kennel (she has shown no signs of jumping recently) and put it on the rest of Tootsie's kennel to securely top the whole thing.
Randy and Joel had their rainy morning cut out for them, and Randy assured me that they'd have Tootsie's kennel all ready for her by the time we returned home from the adoption day. Maybe she would be adopted . . .
Adoption day at Petsmart
We hadn't been at Petsmart long when a young man came over to our small group of volunteers who were sitting with Tootsie, Silver, Dusty, Duke and Scooter. He was very interested in adopting year-old, furry, Chow mix Scooter, who is a very sweet, gentle fellow. The man had a secure fenced yard, he said, and a huge 300-pound Pot Bellied Pig, two cats and several rabbitsm, all of whom Scooter would have to get along with if this adoption were going to work.
Scooter goes on home visit and does not like the Gigantic Pot Bellied Pig!
I can't say that I really blame Scooter for being frightened of this huge Pig named Petunia. She frightened me a bit too! Susan Devers and I made the home visit with Scooter, and he did fine in the man's back yard. Then we went to meet Petunia the pig. She wouldn't come out of her open shady pen, so we were asked to go and see Petunia.
Susan and I at least knew what we'd be looking at, but poor little Scooter had no idea. As soon as we turned the corner of the house and looked into the shady area, Susan and I saw the huge, gray, 300-pound (with all due respect) Blob of a Pig! I was holding Scooter by his leash, and I looked down at him. He stood motionless and rigid and so quiet as he stared at this huge animal. I could feel his eyes focusing in on the pig as he was trying to figure out just what this animal was.
Then suddenly Scooter let out a huge bark and jumped back and took off running in the opposite direction with me trying to hold on to him as he tried to flee. He was really scared and wanted no part of being near this Petunia thing!
We can sum up the rest of this visit by saying Scoots decided that it would really be best for the man to find another dog to be a companion for his monster pig.
We brought Scooter back home with the other fellas and he was happy to be back in the "safety" of his kennel with his best bud, Penny!
There were no adoptions today.
SUNDAY MAY 6 2000 Happy Mothers Day to all the moms everywhere!
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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!
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