SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15 2002

Busy morning!

     Sweet little old Snowflake still isn't feeling well, and she's had diarrhea all morning. Freckles is fine except that she also has diarrhea, and I've been spending the morning out with Snow, out with Freck, out with Snow, out with Freck.

     Freckles is learning (and I am learning) that if she needs to go out, she sits up, while still nursing her kids, until I notice her, and when I open her gate, she walks to me now. I've been making a cloth leash/double harness out of two leashes, criss-crossed around her chest, and she is getting the hang of learning to walk a little bit with this harness on. The ramp still scares her tho.

     Then one of Freckle's little white puppies got her head through the fence loop of their kennel, and I spent another hour tying folded towels (like baby playpen liners) around the bottom of their kennel so the tiny kids can't scooch their tiny bodies out!

     Randy and Guy are in the process of moving the back (southern-most) kennel (currently the kennel of the threesome which includes Melissa, Amber and Little Max), so we had to put Happy and Rover in the tiny outdoor Snowflake kennel and move the threesome to Happy and Rover's (much bigger) kennel so we can take down the threesome kennel and move it down to the west end by Arthur and Candy's kennel. (The main reason for moving this kennel is that it's very difficult getting the threesome to the park for their outing every day, having to walk them between [and close to] several other kennels. The dogs in the kennels lining the path go nuts every time we walk the threesome through, and someone has to stand with a hose while another caregiver walks the threesome through the gap.)

     During this temporary arrangement Amber (now in Happy and Rover's kennel) has been climbing on top of the shelter, and I've had to go flying outside to spray her off the roof a zillion times, stopping her from jumping into "The Family's" kennel (containing Mommy Dog, Bobby and Briar) just one foot away! Geesh!

     I was hoping to get in a full morning of office work, and it's been doggie work from 2:00 a.m. till now, and it's just 8:30!

Hopefully the rest of the day will be quiet.

The property and house of our neighbor just to the south of us is for sale

     This property would be absolutely perfect for Straydog Inc. It includes a house, but most importantly it includes a huge metal building (perfect for housing the many dogs with special needs). The neighbor used to raise emus, so there is already a lot of fencing in place all around the metal building.

     The property is on 27 acres, and adjoins our property. I just found out the asking price: a whopping $229,000, more than five times the value of the property Straydog is on!

ANOTHER FLASH UPDATE:

Amber gets too aggressive with Melissa, and we separate them!

     Just as I came into the house from taking Freckles potty again, Randy radioed me (on the walkie-talkie) saying that Amber is showing strong aggression toward Melissa. Amber is a sweet little dog, as long as she's with male companions, and up to a point she's been okay (for a while at least) with female dogs, but pairing her with another female dog is not wise we have found out after several tries. We would now need to separate Melissa from Amber right away.

     Randy, Guy and I got together immediately and decided we'd try "Top Dog" Amber with sweet, big, Shepherd-mix Arthur. Then we'd try gentle, quiet, timid (most of the time) Candy with Melissa. Melissa likes all dogs and Candy does too (at least so far here at our shelter).

Amber and Arthur get along

     It took a while for Amber to realize this big fellow was nice, after which the rest of their introduction went okay, and Amber has moved into Arthur's kennel with him.

Melissa, Little Max and Candy get along beautifully with no hesitation

     The three of these fellas are now in a temporary kennel while Randy, Guy and Tina take apart, and then move all of the fence sections and the wooden shelter and dog houses (which is the second kennel of the back row) up to become a first-row kennel next to Arthur's kennel.

     A whole lotta work is going on today--as is the case every day.

AFTERNOON UPDATE:

Freckles' two little white babies get into trouble

     Freckles' babies are just two days old, and I've noticed a big difference between the two chocolate pups and the two white pups.

     The chocolate babies stay "stuck" to their mom. They are very seldom ever away from her tummy. The two white babies, on the other hand, are all over the place! Mommy Freckles takes just as good care of the white pups as the chocolate ones, but the little white fellas are more "inquisitive," I guess--if it's possible for two-day-old puppies even to be inquisitive!

     While I was away from the kitchen for a few minutes early this morning, Tina came in to shut off the outside lights and saw one of the little white puppies beginning to scooch her way out of one of the fence panel holes. Tina picked the little tyke up and placed her back with Freckles and the other three puppies.

     So that this wouldn't happen again I spent about 45 minutes securing a thick "liner" of towels around the bottom edge of the kennel (which I reported on earlier) so that the pups couldn't try to get out anymore.

     Then, thinking that that puppy problem was solved I went back to the laundry room to start washing another load of soiled puppy bedding. It wasn't long before I heard the soft, familiar, little squeals of a puppy "in trouble" again, and sure enough, it was the same little white pup. This time she had managed to crawl beneath the towel lining and couldn't get herself back out from under it! I'm going to have to call this little one "Lucy." She needs a name because I have a feeling her antics will have her mentioned quite often.

     During these first two days of their lives whenever I hear the faint little squealy sounds of a pup "in need," it's always been one of the white puppies scooching herself too far away from mom. The two little chocolate brothers are always attached to Mom!

     As most of you know, we're not in the habit of having mother dogs give birth to their puppies at Straydog. In fact this is the first litter born here. As you also know, we are constantly preaching and will continue to constantly preach spay and neuter--conception control--to stop poor dogs like Freckles from becoming pregnant. But Lucy and Louie and their two chocolate brothers are tiny dogs now with very special needs, and when we made the commitment to provide a home for their blind mother,Freckles, two weeks ago, we made the same commitment to her babies: a home and good care until they are adopted.

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 16 2002

Little Lucy is a weak, tiny baby

     I've been more concerned over Little Lucy these last two days than the others, because the more I watch this tiny baby, the more I've noticed that she is the weakest of the four puppies.

     She and her little white brother, Louis (named by Brooke and Bobby), have pretty much been staying close together, except that Little Lucy (of all the pups) has occasionally ventured the farthest away from her mom. I began to wonder why, and I watched her more and more closely. Freckles mothers all the pups equally, but I began to notice that Little Lucy doesn't have much chance to nurse when her three "bigger" brothers scooch their way next to their mom's tummy. Little Lucy just gets pushed aside and she doesn't have the strength to "fight for her place in line."

Little Lucy gets rushed to see the doctor

     Worried that Little Lucy may need supplemental feeding, I wrapped her in "dryer warmed" towels and took her to the vet first thing this morning. (I should have taken the whole family!)

     Dr. Morton checked the tiny pup, and I pointed out the sore on her tummy. It may be from a nip accidentally given by Freckles as Freckles was cleaning the newborn, or it could be some internal problem, so I'm to clean the sore area several times a day to see if this clears up the problem. And Little Lucy should have four supplemental feedings a day, the Doctor said, and he showed me how to tube feed her with puppy milk. (Tube feeding is better for her than bottle feeding, because the milk will go right to her stomach. She may be too weak to suck on the nipple for bottle feeding since she seems too weak to nurse from her mom.)

Freckles goes to see the doctor next

     When Lucy and I arrived home, I began to wonder if Freckles even had enough milk for all the puppies (because to me she didn't look like she did), so I took Freckles to see the doctor this afternoon.

     The doctor thought Freckles is doing okay, she has milk on her left side but not the right side, so for a while it would be a good idea to give several supplemental feedings to the three little boy pups too, just to give them a nutritional boost. The boy puppies don't have any trouble holding on to their milk supply, just tiny Little Lucy.

Little Lucy and her brothers are tube fed at home

     Later in the morning when it was time to feed Little Lucy again, I tried really hard to remember everything the doctor showed me in his office.

     I attached the tube to the syringe and drew in the amount of milk for Lucy's feeding. Next I took Little Lucy from her mom and set her on the towel and held this tiny little puppy exactly as the doctor had told me while I carefully inserted the tube into her mouth, over her tongue and down to her stomach. Then I slowly pushed the milk from the syringe into the attached tube. It worked. Little Lucy was fed, ready to be burped and put back to bed. Her brothers were next, and they did fine too. Little Lucy will get three more feedings throughout the day and into the evening. I am praying this will help strengthen her little body.

     Now what we need is a whelping box. This will keep the kids in place. Freckles surprised us by having her babies so early, so we weren't as prepared as we should have been!

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 17 2002

Freckles and pups need to be moved to Freckles' outside kennel next to our house

     Snowflake and Freckles (with her four kids) share the kitchen in two separate kennels, which face each other, and early this morning (at 1:00 a.m.) I heard Snowflake bark to go outside, which was really unusual since her "I gotta go" call to me has always been a quiet little whine. So hearing her bark this morning caught my attention really fast.

     When I reached the kitchen I realized right away (by the strong odor) that Snowflake was barking to tell me that her neighbor, Freckles, needed to go outside--quick--, but I wasn't quite fast enough! There was diarrhea all over one end of Freckles' big kennel, while her babies were still sound asleep on their still clean blankets at the other end of the kennel. I immediately scooped Freckles up and took her to her outside kennel, whisked Snowflake, Toby and Blackie outside to the park so they could take care of their business, opened Danny's dog door (in the other end of the trailer) so he could tend to his business and then proceeded to clean up the mess in Freckles' kennel.

     Several more bouts of diarrhea throughout the morning made me realize that this pooch needed to stay outside with her babies until her health improved. We had already prepared Freckles' outside kennel. It's all "puppy-proofed" with a big Igloo dog house inside the wooden shelter, and Freckles was already used to staying outside in this kennel, so there would be no problem. I added clean soft blankets to the inside of her big dog house, and we moved Freckles and her babies out there for the time being. Since this kennel is right beside our house, I can check on the pups very easily.

Little Lucy

     Little Lucy is holding her own. I tube feed her often during the day and several times in the evening and during the early morning hours. She has no desire any longer to suckle from her mom. She prefers to sleep curled up on her mommy's neck while her three bigger brothers have their continuous meal throughout the day. When I put Little Lucy beside her brothers so she can nurse from her mom too, she just turns her head away and crawls back up to sleep snuggled beneath her mom's chin or on Freckles' neck. Lucy is much smaller than her brothers. Louie (who looks exactly like Little Lucy) appears to be fine, but he is also a little smaller than the other two (the chocolate pups), and the doctor thought it would be good to continue giving Louie a little supplemental feeding too.

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 18 2002

Little Lucy goes to see the Doctor with her twin brother Louie!

     Tiny Puppy Lucy has been on supplemental feedings since Monday, and to me she looks just the same. I don't think she's lost any weight, which is good, but she still wants nothing to do with her mommy's milk. Her three brothers continue to do well.

     Misty was due for her allergy injection this morning at nine o'clock, so I decided to take along Little Lucy (and Louie too) so the doctor could see the difference in size between these siblings, and I wanted Dr. Morton to look at Lucy again to see if he thinks she is doing okay.

Little Lucy is improving!

     At 8:30 a.m. I bundled the tiny pups in soft towels and put them in a sturdy, double bagged grocery sack with handles, which is a perfect "carrying case" for them, and I took them to the van and put the bag on the floor by the passenger seat. Tina had Misty outside of the front gate waiting for me, and Misty happily jumped in her traveling crate, and off we went.

     Dr. Morton looked at Lucy first and said, "She looks much better than she did a few days ago, and she is getting just a little bit stronger now." What a relief to hear! "And Louie looks fine too," the doctor said after checking Little Louie. The doctor weighed both pups, and Little Lucy weighs 9.5 ounces while Louie weighs 11 ounces. The other two pups (the chocolate guys) must weigh over 12 ounces now. They are stocky little fellows compared to Lucy.

     I'm to continue to feed Lucy every two hours and to keep on giving Louie occasional supplemental feedings several times a day.

Lucy goes to her mommy for an afternoon snack!

     Ever since this little pup refused to nurse from her mom, I still continued trying to encourage her by putting her close to Freckles nipples, hoping Lucy would "latch on" but, as I've mentioned before, Lucy would always turn her head away. This afternoon after her 1:30 tube feeding, I went through the same routine with her by putting her up against Freckles tummy, and this time Lucy seemed to realize this was "the real thing!" and she took hold. Hopefully she will continue to get stronger and stronger as she enjoys her mommy food along with the continued supplemental tube feedings.

     My days are now filled with doing doggie laundry, newborn puppy feedings, doggie laundry, and puppy feedings, special attention to Freckles, and lots of Snowflake care. Several vet visits pop up occasionally during the week too, which really livens things up a bit.

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 19 2002

A very busy, rainy day

     Rainy, short-handed, and busy is the only way to describe this day for the kennel team members at our Happy Home for Strays, and for me it has been non-stop care for the newborn puppies. Three of the puppies, Louie, the white twin to his little tiny sister, Little Lucy, and the chocolate fellows, recently named Luke and Leo, are doing just fine. Little Lucy is still being watched very carefully, and I continue to hand feed her every two hours during the day. She continues to gain strength, I think, and the doctor thought she looked better yesterday when I took Lucy to see him.

     Please tell your friends about Straydog. We have many wonderful, healthy and happy dogs who need wonderful families to adopt them.

     We also continue to need financial aid. Our shelter funds have never been so low. If you can help with a donation to our shelter, please send your tax-deductible contribution to: Straydog Inc., P.O. Box 1465, Gun Barrel City, TX. 75147

     Bill's back from Houston, where he became ill early in the week, probably due the the tremendous stress he's under having to spend every spare moment away from his regular job working on something to help raise money for Straydog Inc. As bad as he feels, he's still working frantically on our newsletter, which we're praying will lift us out of the red at least temporarily. (We have to do a mailer because probably three fourths of our regular contributors don't have Internet access and never see this website.) Hopefully we'll be going to press by tomorrow evening. (Again, our printing expenses are donated to Straydog Inc. by Bill's employer.) We are also working feverishly on grant requests.

     We thank you for any donation you are able to give, for without your (along with that of our regular mail-list-only contributors') help caring for dogs like Blind Mommy Dog Freckles and her tiny newborn puppies just wouldn't be possible.

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 20 2002

Julie, Jed and week old Little Lucy go to the vet

     For today's scheduled trip to see Dr. Morton I took Julie (who is diabetic) for another test of her blood sugar level, Jed was going because his right eye looked very irritated, and tiny, one-week-old Little Lucy went to have her weight checked and for the doctor to look at the sore "hole" on her belly, which seems to be getting worse.

Charles and Anna Anna greeted me at the clinic!

     What a surprise this was! When I walked into the clinic with Jed in one hand on his leash, and tiny Little Lucy in the "traveling grocery bag" in the other hand, Charles and Anna (loyal contributors to our Happy Home for Strays for many years) met me at the clinic door!

     Charles and Anna have been to see our shelter and visit the dogs on several occasions, always bringing treats for the many furry fellas here. Today they made the trip to our vet clinic to leave a very generous donation toward our never-ending vet bill, in memory of their beloved daughter, Debbie, who recently passed away.

     I wish I had had more time to spend with this wonderful couple, but the doctor was waiting to see Julie, Jed and Lucy, so our visit was very short, but we are VERY grateful for their contribution to Straydog!

Little Lucy sees the doctor first, she has gained weight!

     Lucy (and her siblings) are one week old today. Three days ago, when I took Lucy to see the doctor, she weighed 9.5 oz. Today she weighed 11 ounces!

     Dr. Morton examined the tiny pup and then cleaned out the infected area on Lucy's tummy. He gave me another natural type medication to put on the sore (which is a fairly big hole in her belly, but luckily it does not go through to her insides), and the doctor thinks it should gradually heal and will be better in approximately three weeks. I'll be taking Little Lucy often for a weight check so he'll be able to keep a close watch on her tummy too.

     Julie is okay,

     Jed has stuff for his "pink eye" and should be better by the end of this week.

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 21 2002

Little Max is adopted!

     For today's Adoption Day in Dallas we took our recent new arrival, Little Max, an adorable two-year-old Sheltie, along with Amber and Arthur. One of our dog sitting volunteers, Consuelo, had taken care of Little Max on another dog adoption day, and she had fallen in love with the cute fellow and wanted to adopt him. All we needed for this adoption to work out was the approval of her other three dogs.

The home visit goes great!

     All went really well during the home visit with Little Max and Consuelo's other dogs so now this lucky little fellow will live a wonderful life as a pampered house pet with nice dog friends to play with and a wonderful new mommy to take care of him for forever. What a happy day!

Little Max, Consuelo and Doodle the Noodle, who's warmed up to Max since this photo was taken, and the whole family is getting along fine.

Update from the shelter:

     Freckles and her babies are doing fine. Little Lucy (who still gets tube-fed several times a day) is gaining weight, as are her three chunky brothers, Louie, Luke and Leo.

     Kalli, the pretty Boxer, is fine too. Kalli was spayed a little over a week ago (on September 12), and Helen and Sweetie were both spayed a little over two weeks (on September 5), and this coming week they'll all be going to the vet clinic to have their stitches removed.