Pat Arnold's Daily Dog Log

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 24 2002

Beautiful weather here at Straydog

     It's 72 degrees at mid afternoon today, and the dogs are loving it. It's been getting down into the low 40s at night, which for them is wonderful sleeping weather.

Helen's new family will be coming for Helen this week

     Our rescued deaf and nearly blind Great Dane pup, Helen, will be going to her new home in The Woodlands, Texas sometime this coming week (probably Friday the 29th). Helen's new dad, Neal Fort, who plays offensive right tackle for the Canadian Football League's Montreal Alouettes, answered my email sent yesterday to the Forts, asking them for Neal's jersey number so we can pick him out in the CFL Championship game (the "Gray Cup") between Neal's team and the Edmonton Eskimos being played in Edmonton this afternoon starting at 4:30 Central Time on Fox Sports World. I also asked that if the opportunity should arise (like an interview on television) we'd very much appreciate it if Neal could mention Straydog. In Neal's reply he said that his number is 66 and that he "will give a North American shout out to straydog.org and get as much attention as possible, and with the power of every stray who is out there I should not have any problem winning this game." Thanks, Neal, and we wish you all the luck in the world! [... Later: Neal's team did win and are champions of the Canadian Football League!]

     The Forts are very excited that Helen will soon join their family of two children plus their current family dog, Winston, and we couldn't be happier for Helen. We've heard from Neal and Darla so often these last two months we feel as tho they are good friends. We are looking forward to meeting this wonderful family in person.

Freckles is once again scheduled for spay surgery tomorrow morning

     Tomorrow we will remember to take Freckles to our vet clinic for her spay surgery first thing in the morning, and her remaining pup, Leo, will go for his second puppy vaccination.

Puppies, Puppies Everywhere!

     This morning we put all the puppies together in the big play yard for a little socialization fun. Rhonda, Michael and I went to the various puppy kennels and rounded up little Leo, the smallest of the bunch, his friends Perry, Dakota and Jimmy, and the two newest Shepherd mix pups Pepsi and Pepper, who recently joined our Happy Home for strays.

     All six puppies had a grand time running around chasing each other even tho Little Leo, the youngest of the bunch (by about two weeks), was occasionally "overpowered" by the bigger Shepherd mix fellows, Pepsi and Pepper. We kept a close watch on Leo to make sure he could hold his own with the bigger pups, and we had to play referee quite a bit with Pepsi and Pepper since their way of playing is a bit rougher than that of the other four pups, but all six had a great time!

     Gathering them all up to take them back to their separate kennels was quite a chore as the pups kept scattering every which way when we went to get them. I think we were more tired than the pups by the time this "socialization" period was over and we had them back to their own kennels once again!

Pepsi and Pepper tussle with Leo as the caregivers watch them closely to keep them from getting too rough.