SUNDAY MAY 5 2002

Getting ready for Adoption Day #2 of this weekend

      We are all hoping that the light drizzle of rain that's been coming down all morning will remain just that, a light drizzle, or it would be even better if the rain would stop altogether and the sun would shine for our Second Adoption Day of the weekend.

Kathy was returned yesterday. Now where do we put her?

      I think I forgot to mention yesterday that when Shannon and Guy returned with all of the dogs from the Saturday Adoption Day, bringing Little Pup Kathy, too (who had been returned to us from the mom who had adopted her two weeks ago), we were at a loss as to where to put Kathy. Our puppy kennel now had our new arrival little stray, Sabrina, in it, and Sabrina is in quarantine for two weeks so that we can watch her carefully for any signs of sickness. So Kathy couldn't go in with Sabrina.

      Kathy's sister, Amber, stays with Puppy Dog Candy, and Amber and Kathy cannot be together as they do not get along (weird as that may seem--and even our vet agrees with us on this one), so Kathy could not stay with Amber and Candy.

      The kennel that we are preparing for Bear #2, if he needs to come to Straydog, still lacks a gate to secure the kennel, so this kennel is not a possibility for Kathy.

Volunteer Shannon (Auntie Shannon as she is known by all of the dogs and pups here) takes Kathy home with her for the night

      Shannon and her husband John have given foster care to several of the dogs and pups here, fitting them right in with their groups of small, medium and large rescued dogs, and she had already given Kathy foster care for a week a while ago, so we knew that Kathy would love to go home with Shannon and that she'd have a fun time playing with all of her little dog friends. Shannon will bring Kathy back to our shelter this morning so that Kathy can join the group of dogs going for our Sunday Adoption Day in Dallas.

      We'll keep you posted on how this Adoption Day goes. ...

SUNDAY EVENING UPDATE:

      No adoptions today either.

MONDAY MAY 6 2002

      Bill's going to Houston tomorrow, so there won't be an update till the weekend, unless he can figure out how to update the website remotely, which is probably really simple, but we're 62 years old, and we feel blessed that we can do what we've been able to figure out how to do on these doggone computers.

TUESDAY MAY 7 2002

Never a vacant kennel ... for long

      The kennels here at our Happy Home for Strays are almost immediately reoccupied as soon as one becomes available. When we rescued little stray puppy, Sabrina, from the hands of Angry Neighbor, who had boasted he would have killed the little "chicken killer" had we not immediately gone to get her, Sabrina took over our little puppy kennel. Now another little stray puppy is in need of a home, and this little pup can share the puppy kennel with Sabrina. They will both be in quarantine together and will enjoy having each other to play with.

New little puppy is coming tomorrow

      The rescuers of this new little puppy are the mom and dad who adopted young puppy dog, Terry, from us a year and a half ago. It was wonderful to hear from them again, and they said Terri is fine and happy--and spoiled! They were hoping we could take this new little six-week-old puppy, whom someone had dumped in their yard.

      Since 10-week-old Sabrina is also a new arrival, this little puppy can share the kennel with new little puppy, who will be here tomorrow.

WEDNESDAY MAY 8 2002

New little stray puppy arrives at our Happy Home for Strays

      The person who found this little pup in Dallas took the pup to our clinic for us this morning. By 1:30 the puppy had been named "Buttons." Someone had said, "This little pup is as cute as a button" and the name took!

      Buttons had her puppy examination and first puppy vaccinations. She is a Shepherd/Chow cross, weighs five and a half, and her soft fur is fuzzy light brown, and her muzzle is black. She appears to be in good health, the doctor said when he called me to give me her health report.

      Guy went to pick up Buttons and bring her here to Straydog to become a companion to the other new little stray, Sabrina, who joined us a few days ago.

The introduction of Puppies Sabrina and Buttons is cute!

      Buttons is much smaller than 10-week-old Retriever mix, Sabrina, and it was really cute to watch these two little puppies as they got to know each other. Sabrina danced all around Buttons, happy to have a little playmate, while Buttons wanted to sniff around her new big kennel first. Then she began playing with Sabrina. Now the pups are curled up back to back sleeping in Sabrina's favorite scoopy snoozy hole beneath the shade of her shelter porch top.

What is the total cost of vet care for Millie and her five puppies?

      Someone inquired about the vet bill for this family of six. I figured it up, and the total so far comes to over $700, and this does not include the spay and neuter surgery for adopted pups, Scooch, Sasha and Andy. Their new moms and dads will be taking care of this. Otherwise Straydog would have covered the cost of their surgeries too. And the total so far does not include Kathy's last vaccinations or the upcoming spay surgeries in two weeks for little pups, Amber and Kathy, who are still with us. So, to answer the question, the vet bill for this family off six will near the thousand-dollar mark before we're through.

THURSDAY MAY 9 2002

Six dogs to the vet for routine checkups, tests and shots over the past two days

      Tipper, Katie, Rover, Misty, Johnny Blue and Julie all went to the doctor today (or yesterday). Some went for their yearly vaccinations. Diabetic dog, Julie, went for her day-long blood sugar level check. Rover, a little Red Heeler mix, went for his itchy skin problem, and five-year-old Johnny Blue, a Blue Heeler mix, saw the doctor because his gimpy hind leg has been bothering him more than usual lately. Because of this gimpy leg, no one has ever even considered adopting this precious little dog.

Johnny Blue's story

      I rescued Johnny Blue four years ago, in April 1998. Johnny was about a year old then. We think he had been dumped near our shelter property. Before I even got a glimpse of Johnny, I new there was a stray dog somewhere nearby because I continued to hear a faint, weak, pitiful sounding howl while I was out caring for our shelter dogs. This went on for about three days, and every time I heard him, I would go out and search the area around our shelter but never saw the dog. Then one afternoon the lonely howl sounded closer than before, and when I looked across the hay pasture in the direction of the sound, I saw Johnny's black head peering through the tall grass several hundred feet away. But when I went to try to find the dog, he had disappeared.

      The next day while outside caring for the dogs, I heard the howling sound again, this time coming from the two-lane country highway that runs along our property line at the bottom of our hill. I looked in the direction the sound was coming from, and there he was, sitting right in the middle of the road with his head thrown back, his muzzle high in the air, howling so sadly. I've never heard anything like it. When cars would come speeding along the road, the dog would move to the grassy shoulder and would then go right back to the middle of the road as soon as the cars passed and would begin howling again.

      Probably some uncaring person had dumped Johnny at that very spot in the road and had then driven off leaving the dog behind, and this bewildered, unhappy young dog had stayed near the "dumping spot" waiting for his owner, whom the dog trusted unconditionally, to return for him. I got in the car and hurried down to rescue this forlorn little animal.

Rescuing Johnny Blue

      I parked the car a short distance from Johnny and slowly walked toward him, holding out my arms to him and quietly calling him to come to me. Slowly, with hesitation, Johnny started coming toward me, limping very badly, with his head down, afraid but yet wanting help. He touched my hands with his nose and head and let me pet him, and then he crawled into my lap and put his paws on my shoulders and would not let go. He just clung to me, shaking. If you ever experience this, it will bring tears to your eyes. It is so heartbreaking to think of what these helpless dogs and pups go through after they've been abandoned.

Johnny had many health problems

      I took Johnny directly to our vet clinic for his new arrival checkup. The doctor took x-rays of Johnny's gimpy leg and back, and when he came back in the examining room with the pictures, the doctor said that Johnny had had a broken pelvis and a fractured left hind leg but that these injuries had occurred some time ago and had already healed themselves, though incorrectly. Johnny also had a degenerative right hip, which would need some medical attention. The doctor thought that the poor dog must have been hit by a car or truck.

I left Johnny at the clinic for surgery on his hip and also to be neutered

      A few days after his surgeries Johnny joined our Happy Home for Strays. From time to time Johnny still has bouts of extreme limping, especially in wet or cold, damp weather, but he is a very happy, playful fellow, and he and his kennel mate, April (a Spitz mix) have become an inseparable buddies.

Results of Johnny's visit to the vet today

      The doctor said that the limping Johnny is experiencing today is both a result of his previous injuries and the arthritis that is developing in his spine, but he will be okay.

      Many people have inquired about adopting Johnny, but once they hear about his medical history, they want nothing more to do with him.

      Johnny will have a happy home with us, playing with his very best friend and kennel mate, April, until the day they are adopted--together.

FRIDAY MAY 10 2002

Aerial photographer flies over our shelter today

      We got a postcard in the mail a few weeks ago advertising aerial photography of property in our area, and today a small plane flew over several times (apparently) taking pictures. If they aren't too expensive, we'll buy a few and put them on this website so you can see exactly what Straydog (our Happy Home for Strays) really looks like in its entirety. Luckily the plane flew over during the afternoon feeding, so there ought to be lots of action in the photos.

SATURDAY MAY 11 2002

Amber, Katie and Dobie going to Saturday Adoption Day

      Volunteer Shannon and Assistant Kennel Manager Guy left for Canine Commissary on Lower Greenville in Dallas about nine o'clock this morning. We'll report this evening on our Adoption Day results.

SATURDAY EVENING UPDATE

No dogs adopted today ... but maybe tomorrow . . .

      At our Adoption Day today a couple inquired as to whether we had any little puppies. We had with our group at Canine Commissary cute Black Lab sisters, five-month-old Kathy and Amber, but the couple wanted much younger pups and what is so neat is that they wanted to adopt two puppies so the pups could grow up together, and they wanted happy, playful little puppies who get along well with each other. This fit the description of newest little arrivals, Buttons and Sabrina! Both are very young. Buttons is eight weeks old, and Sabrina is 10 weeks of age, and they are adorable and are best buddies, and they play constantly and sleep curled up on each other.

      The couple saw the pictures of the pups in our dog picture book that we take with us to the Adoption Days, and they thought the little pups were adorable, so tomorrow Shannon will take both pups to the couple's home to see how all goes. It would be great to have the puppies adopted together!

      Other than this great news our Saturday went as usual here, with a whole lotta doggie stuff to do.