Pat Arnold's Daily Dog Log
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 3 2002
Puppy Jimmy "survives" the night without his brother
As most of you who follow our website know, three-month-old Puppies Jimmy and Joey are brothers. Joey was adopted at yesterday's Adoption Day in Dallas, and Jimmy was not. Last night Jimmy had no companion in his kennel, and he was very sad. We put different pairs of Freckles' pups (first Lucy and Louie and then Leo and Luke) in with Jimmy when he returned from Adoption Day late yesterday afternoon, but both pairs missed their mommy (and Freckles, who is blind, was in a state of panic hearing her babies crying to come home), so the pups were put back with their mom.
In last evening's update I left off telling how I had brought sad little Puppy Jimmy in the house with me to keep him from crying, and the forlorn little fellow fell asleep on my lap as I was typing last night's update. I didn't know how I'd solve the problem of keeping the pup happy through the night, but I had to figure out something.
As soon as I finished working at the computer, I scooped the tiny pup up and cuddled him as I carried him outside to his shelter, trying not to wake him--fat chance of that! His house inside his shelter was nice and warm, having been warmed by the heat of the heat lamp, which had been turned on a couple of hours earlier, and as I laid him in his house he looked up at me, his big baby brown eyes wide open now, as if to say, "I'm not staying here by myself, am I?" As soon as I left the little fellow, I felt him at my heels pawing at my pant legs wanting to come back inside with me.
A big doggie biscuit solves the problem
I picked him up again and brought him inside with me while I got a big doggie biscuit (the kind I give to Danny Boy), and then I took Jimmy back to his shelter and put him inside his house with the big treat, knowing that that huge "cookie" would keep him happy for quite a while. That did the trick. He ate the big biscuit (which probably took him a half hour), and then he must have curled up and gone to sleep for the night inside his house, because when I peeked outside at his shelter to check on him a while later, all was quiet, thank goodness!
SUNDAY MORNING
Freckles says an aggressive "NO!" to Jimmy
This morning we wanted to see if Blind Mother Dog Freckles would accept Jimmy into her family of four pups, which would then be the solution to Jimmy's loneliness. So when the caregiver took Freckles to the park on her harness and leash, I brought Jimmy to the park to meet her.
While the caregiver held Freckles on a loose leash, I held Pup Jimmy as I talked to Freckles telling her, "Here is another little puppy for you to meet and maybe be a mommy to, nice Freckles, good girl," etc., but as soon as Freckles caught scent of this new pup, she immediately lunged aggressively at him, and I whisked Jimmy out of her reach as she snapped at him. Then she became very panicked and began her frantic circling, as she does whenever she becomes frightened of any situation that is new to her. This is the type of behavior I expected from Freckles over any new dog or pup. She perceived this "new" pup as an intruder, so while I took Jimmy back to his kennel, the caregiver held Freckles close to calm her down.
SUNDAY EVENING
Jimmy gets visiting pups to keep him company for the rest of the day
I've spent most of the rest of the day swapping out two of Freckles' puppies at a time to be in Jimmy's kennel with him. When the two current visitors fuss to go back home to their mom, we exchange them for the other two. So far this has kept all the pups (and Freckles) happy.
Hopefully tomorrow the two pups still in quarantine at the vet clinic will be able to join Jimmy, and the problem will be solved, at least for a few days.
As we've said many times before, there is never a dull moment around here!
LATER SUNDAY EVENING
After spending this long, cold, wet and dreary day switching Freckle's little puppies back and forth from Freckles' kennel to Jimmy's kennel (seemed like every half hour) to keep little Jimmy company, I think we've finally found a match for Jimmy: Chocolate Puppy Luke has been the least fussy of Freckles' four kids during the time he has spent with Jimmy today, and now at 5:30 p.m. after Luke and Jimmy ate their third warm meal of the day together, Luke is curled up next to Jimmy (just like Joey used to do), both pups sound asleep in the hay in the small outside-the-shelter puppy house. (Jimmy's big dog house is in his heated shelter). I find myself tiptoeing around this house so as not to wake the little tyke up with hopes he will be content to spend the whole night with Jimmy.
All is well.
A LITTLE LATER SUNDAY EVENING
Luke finally woke up and realized he wasn't home with Mommy Freckles, and started fussing, so I took him back to Freckles' kennel.
Then I gave Jimmy another BIG dog biscuit, and he seems okay for the night.
*Pat's Daily Dog Log - LAST WEEK - Oct 27 - Nov 2, 2002
*Pat's Daily Dog Log - Previous Weeks
Repeated from 10/29/02 update in our Daily Dog Log ...
" The small buff colored mother dog seemed very quiet as she lay along the roadside while her two little mangy puppies were playing with each other right in the middle of the road. Driving on and leaving this helpless mother dog and her puppies behind was simply not an option for me. ... Again, I shudder to think of the tens of thousands of others out there who will be rescued by no one. This tragedy has got to be stopped! And it could be stopped for a fraction of the cost of just one jet fighter plane."
A Note from Bill ...
If you can find any candidates for any offices anywhere who in their campaign speeches say anything about trying to stop the ongoing homeless dog (and cat) tragedy via any kind of a spay and neuter program (rather than allowing our society to continue killing the homeless [or leaving them to die], which is the current method of dealing with the problem), please let us know who these candidates are, and please vote for them.
A 2nd Note from Bill ...
I don't mean to imply that President Bush doesn't care about dogs or the homeless dog (and cat) problem. I do believe that President Bush must not be aware of what the solution is and that he has the power to solve the problem right now. Perhaps someone could forward this to the president and to all other politicians.
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