SUNDAY JUNE 2 2002

Yesterday's Adoption Day was at a new location for Straydog

     Yesterday our Straydog group went to the Canine Commissary store in Plano, Texas. There were quite a few people looking at our dogs, but no adoptions were made.

     Since we'll be juggling our Saturday Adoption Days between three different pet supply stores now, please check our website each week for our location, or since sometimes we unexpectedly have to cancel Adoption Day altogether, it might be best to call us on Friday to make sure we'll be at the planned location. (Call me, Pat Arnold, at 903-479-3497.)

Arthur is settling in nicely

     Arthur is a wonderful, friendly, happy-go-lucky, four-year-old dog. He will be a fantastic pet for some lucky person (or family). Arthur is so energetic and playful and we are all looking forward to the day when he completes his two weeks in the New Arrivals Quarantine Kennel* so that he will be able to go to the big play yard and run around like all the other dogs. When Arthur is out of quarantine, he'll also be able to have a kennel companion, who (at the moment) will most likely be five-month-old, energetic, Puppy Dog Kathy (one of Millie's two remaining pups), who has been staying with Volunteer Shannon on a foster-care basis.

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     *All new arrivals are checked by our vet before coming to our Happy Home for Strays. The doctor gives them a thorough examination and gives them their vaccinations, and they are spayed (or neutered). When they come from the vet clinic to our shelter, we keep them separate from the other dogs for two weeks so that we can watch for any possible contagious diseases which might show up during this time--such as parvo virus or distemper. Even tho all of the dogs are vaccinated here, we still take every precaution when bringing new dogs or pups to our Happy Home for Strays.

MONDAY JUNE 3 2002

Just another very busy day

      Bobby drove Misty and me to the vet clinic for Misty's scheduled allergy injection. Then we stopped at Wal-Mart so I could do the weekly shopping for dog supplies. I've had to depend on other people to do this weekly shopping for me for the past six weeks because I still have to wear a cast on my foot, and I should be using the crutches to get around, but the crutches are so much of a hassle that I don't use them anymore, and it is much easier to get around. So it seems like I just may as well do the shopping myself. So I left Bobby and Misty in the cool, air conditioned van while I shopped. I had no problem.

Tomorrow when Amber and Kathy go for their scheduled spay surgery, I just may drive the van to that appointment myself. I'll try it out here on our property first tho.

That's it.

A message to Pat from Bill, the editor (and husband) ...

Pat,

You must have a Straydog employee drive you to town ... period. And I hope you used one of those motorized carts they have at Wal-Mart while you were getting supplies. ... I'll await your response via e-mail in the morning and will publish your response here on our website.

Bill

Response to Bill from Pat ...

Bill,

No, I did not use a motorized wheelchair/cart when I shopped at Wal-Mart. That would have been as much trouble as using crutches, and much toooo slow for me! And I would probably have sent those displays of paper towels and canned goods that are stacked high in neat pyramids in the middle of the isles toppling all over the place!

I'll be taking the van on a test run before I go to town with it, and, of course, if I cannot handle driving the thing perfectly, I'll have an employee take me to the vets with the pups. We are so short-handed here I hate to pull any of our kennel team members away from their jobs here, and I actually did drive the van yesterday after we had brought Misty home from the clinic. I just wanted to try it, so after we took Misty back to her kennel, I drove the short distance to our van parking spot, and had no trouble. I did have on the big, clunky, over-the-cast shoe, tho, and I think it will be better not to wear it.

I'll report more later.

Pat

TUESDAY JUNE 4 2002

Update on me driving the dog van

      When it was time to leave for the clinic with Amber this morning at 7:30, I drove the van just the short distance from its parking spot to just past the front of the gate. I tried using the break several times, but it is too difficult with my cast on. There is no "feel" of how much pressure to apply to the brake (or the gas). What I could try would be to use my left foot for the peddles, but I'll try that another day. The left-foot method might take some practice, and I don't have time for practice right now. We always have to be in so much of a hurry around here, because there is always so much to do.

      Bobby (NOT I)drove us to the clinic for Amber's spay surgery. (Pup Kathy is at Shannon's for foster care, so Shannon will take Kathy to the vet.)

WEDNESDAY JUNE 5 2002

Both sisters, Kathy and Amber, have successful spay surgery

      Amber is home from her spay surgery and is doing fine. Shannon took Kathy for her surgery, and she is home too and is doing fine.

Contributor/Adoption Day Volunteer Mary Anne is planning a Garage Sale

      Mary Anne, one of our Straydog volunteers, who has donated her time on many Saturdays to help out with our adoption days, is planning a Garage Sale for Straydog to help raise funds for our shelter.

Excerpts from e-mail from Mary Anne to Straydog:

GARAGE SALE

Date: Saturday, June 29
Time: 8:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Where: 5451 Richard Avenue in Dallas

To contribute items for the garage sale, please call Mary Anne at (214) 525-2078 or e-mail at MaryAnne.Hifler@iesg.com no later than Sunday, June 23. Donations include anything you would typically find at a garage/yard sale, such as clothes, knick-knacks, collectibles, some small furniture, etc. Rule of thumb is that items must fit in a Mustang, as leftovers will be taken to Goodwill.

Volunteers to help staff the sale would be appreciated. I will coordinate schedules and those interested can reach me at the above number/e-mail address. I will bake some goodies and have lemonade, soda, etc., on hand, so refreshments will be taken care of!

Directions to 5451 Richard Avenue: From I-75 Central Expressway, exit Mockingbird Lane. East on Mockingbird Lane about .5 mile and turn south (right) onto McMillan (has a stoplight, Burger King will be to your right). South on McMillan about 1.5 miles to Richard Avenue. West (right) onto Richard Avenue. 5451 Richard is the third house on the right (yellow & white prairie). (Map to be included later.)

One more thing: Does anyone have any long tables that I could use? That's the only thing I would need that I lack now.

Thanks!
Mary Anne

      IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HELP MARY ANNE, please give her a call.

THURSDAY JUNE 6 2002

Amber gets too playful!

      Yesterday evening was a bit hectic. Amber had come home in the morning from her overnight stay at the clinic following spay surgery with doctor's orders to remain quiet for the next few days. We put Amber back in her kennel with companion, Candy, and the two pups stayed quiet all day (probably because Amber still wasn't feeling too good) but at 5:00 last evening the two of them began some rough and rowdy play, and we had to separate them.

      Employee Bobby and Brooke were just finishing up their day of dog care when Brooke told me that Candy and Amber were really tussling around too much. Luckily we had one empty kennel beside Katie's that had just been through its "spring cleaning" process, so it was ready for this playful pup, and after making a few changes (adding a security entrance gate and moving in a freshly cleaned dog house and a big drinking water bucket), we moved Amber in to spend the night, and most likely the next few days. I gave her some new toys to play with and she was happy.

      Candy wasn't so happy, tho. She missed having her little companion with her last night.

      This morning we put Amber back with Candy again, and as long as this little rolly-polly pup stays calm, she can stay with her bud. At least we're ready now to move her to the separate kennel if need be.

FRIDAY JUNE 7 2002

Newest employee quits due to the hot weather

      Some people just can't take working outside in the heat of the summer weather (and it's not even summer yet!), and there are other employees who have quit their positions here due to the bitter cold days of winter. Some just can't take the heat or the cold. Plus, most people who interview for the positions here initially tend to think that working with dogs and puppies is "a piece of cake" kind of a job, no matter what we tell them, but they soon find out how much hard work is involved in every aspect of the daily care we give the dogs and puppies here. The non-stop hard work has a lot to do with employees quitting too.

      So, our new employee, who worked only a couple of weeks, called me early this morning saying she was really sorry, but she just couldn't stand working outside in the heat, and now we are even more short-handed than we have been.

      Another reason we need a kennel building is not just to keep the dogs cool in the summer and warm in the winter, but the employees too!

EXCITING DAY for new arrival Arthur! He is out of quarantine!

      Yea! Arthur is out of quarantine today! We're probably happier about this than he is. Now the sweet fellow can have his daily turns playing in the park (the big play yard) like all the other dogs and pups. Arthur is so full of energy he will love these play times. He can now have a kennel companion too, who will probably be Candy. We'll introduce them to each other in a few days, after Arthur gets used to his new routine of playtime in the park.

      To prepare Arthur for his Big Day we first moved him from his quarantine kennel to our one available smaller kennel so that Randy could disinfect the big quarantine kennel where Arthur had been staying. This is the only big kennel available now, so after it's disinfected, and thoroughly dry, Arthur will be returning to it until another kennel is available.

      After Randy moved Arthur to the smaller kennel by Sassy Katie, he went to work on the quarantine kennel. The warm, sunny and breezy day will have the ground dry in no time, and then we'll move Arthur back.

Arthur is a mighty strong fellow!

      Randy had no idea how strong and powerful Arthur was till he leashed up the fellow to walk him to the park. As soon as Randy slipped the leash on Arthur, and opened the kennel gate, Arthur lunged forward almost pulling Randy's arm off he was so excited to "go play." It's going to take a little practice to calm the fellow down for his walks to the play yard.

Arthur Loves the Big Play Yard

      It is really beautiful to see how happy the dogs are when they finally get through their two-week quarantine period and can run free in the big fenced play yard (aka "the park"). Arthur loved it! Most of his time was spent sniffing the scents of the other 60 plus dogs, and then Arthur ran full speed around and around the huge yard. I tried to take pictures of him, but as soon as I barely had him in the view finder, he'd be off and running again, so I probably I just captured a big black blur as Arthur went flying by!

      After Arthur's playtime, he went back to his temporary kennel till the big kennel was thoroughly dry, which didn't take long in this heat, and now he is officially Out of Quarantine, and we all are thrilled--and so is he!

SATURDAY JUNE 8 2002

Amber and Candy have to be separated--again!

      These two female pups seem to be having too many serious squabbles lately, and tonight the pups were at it again. In order to separate the dogs before the argument got worse, Caregiver Brooke, who was in a nearby kennel, rushed to the pups' kennel and poured their big bucket of drinking water over the two of them, which brought an abrupt halt to the argument.

We move Amber to the recently vacated kennel by Sassy Katie

      It's really great when we do have an extra kennel available for such emergencies, and almost immediately after the squabble we moved sopping wet Puppy Amber to the recently vacated kennel next to Katie for a quiet "time out," and most likely Amber will stay in this kennel for a few days while we try to think up a solution to this squabbling problem.

      When "Arthur" spent the day in the extra kennel yesterday (while Randy disinfected Arthur's kennel after he was declared "out of quarantine") by the vet, we had filled a doggie swimming pool for him because he loves to play in the water. Amber Loves to play in water too, but because she was recently spayed, she can't go swimming for another few days so Bobby dumped the pool and took it out of her kennel.

The drain is blocked by sand

      As Bobby dumped Amber's pool, the pool water rushed to the entrance of the kennel gate but couldn't get out of the kennel because the drain was clogged. Just one more thing to fix at the end of this busy day. I could see that Amber was just about ready to "dive in," so I grabbed the shovel and quickly cleared the sand from the drain, which allowed the water to pour out of the kennel. Amber gave me a look as if to say I was just spoiling all of her fun, and then she went to lie down in the shade beneath her porch top to pout!

      It's always something!