Straydog UPDATE posted WEDNESDAY 3/5/03 at ~10:30 p.m. CT

Pat Arnold's Daily Dog Log

WEDNESDAY MARCH 5 2003

The two little puppies I spoke of at the end of yesterday's update arrive

      About 9:30 this morning Carol and Steve Reeder came to bring the two little rescued Aussie pups to our shelter, per the arrangement we had made last night. Carol said she'd found the puppies when she was driving her granddaughter to school yesterday morning, and she narrowly missed hitting the pups when they ran across the road right in front of her. She stopped and picked the frightened pups up and later scoured the neighborhood with them trying to find the owners.

      No one claimed the puppies, and since the area where the pups were found is known as a "dumping ground" for dogs and pups, she and her husband assumed the pups had been abandoned there.

      Steve and Carol knew about our shelter from reading an article in The Dallas Morning News about Straydog several years ago, and they have been contributors ever since. Even though I had never met the couple, I felt that I knew them really well through our years of correspondence. Last night they called to see if we had room for the two little fellas, and I was glad I could tell them that at that very moment we fortunately did have a spot.

      These fellas can share the little puppy kennel we had already prepared for Puppy Corky for when he comes home from the clinic.

      When Carol and Steve arrived with the adorable, furry little Aussie pups, they took a tour of our shelter, and they left a generous donation to help out with the pups' vet expenses. A short time later they were on their way home, and I was on my way to our clinic with the pups for their new arrivals checkup.

New arrivals "Tina" and her big brother, "Terry," see the doctor

      Other than being too thin the pups were in pretty good shape, the doctor said. The little Australian Shepherd pups are about eight weeks old, and Tina, whose coloring is a mixture of browns, orange and white, weighs 11 pounds. Her bigger brother, Terry, weighs 12 pounds, and his fur is a mixture of different shades of grays and white. They are adorable, furry puppies! They received their first puppy vaccinations, wormer medicine and examinations, and I put them back in their crate in the van.

No change in Mama Dog Laura

      Next the doctor and I went to see Laura, Jesse's mom (the second of the rescued Tenison Golf Course Strays). Mama Dog Laura was lying on her quilt, and her two bowls full of food (dry and canned) were untouched in front of her. The doctor said there had been no improvement in her condition. She hadn't eaten since before arriving at the clinic Sunday evening, and she hadn't gone to the bathroom--unless she had gone while the vet tech in charge of the clinic kennels was on duty yesterday evening.

      I know from experience that some dogs just won't go potty in an indoor kennel, and this could be what was bothering Laura too. Some dogs will "hold it" for as long as possible, which could be days, and I think this was Laura's biggest immediate problem, and because Laura wouldn't walk on a leash, she hadn't been taken outside for potty walks. The newness of being confined in a small kennel inside a building could be a shocking experience for any dog who had lived her/his entire life as a stray free to roam.

Mama Dog Laura needs to come "home"

      I thought for a few moments about Laura's condition and situation and decided she would probably do better at our shelter. Maybe seeing her son, Jesse-Bear, would perk her up a lot too. The doctor agreed and said that she could come home with me today.

      Before putting her in the van we went to see little eight-week-old Corky, who had also been staying at the clinic to be observed these last few days (since last Friday) along with being treated for mange.

Corky can come home too!

      The doctor still couldn't find any reason for Corky's belly to be so enlarged, and for now the doctor thought we should "hold back" on any further tests on the little fellow, and he added that Corky could come home too. I still worried, though, about his abnormal looking back legs, but this also can be checked out later.

      I carried Corky to the van while Donna put Laura in the van, and home we came.

      When I arrived at the shelter with the van full of doggies, all of our team members came to Jesse's kennel to see how Jesse would react to seeing his mom again, and we were just as curious to see how Laura would react to her son, as well as how she would behave being confined now in a large, outside kennel. When we put Laura in with her son we were all surprised that neither dog seemed to recognize the other--at first. There was no hostility or agression, but Laura just ignored Jesse while he kept his distance, and just watched her inspect the kennel.

Mama Dog-Laura perks up immediately!

      As soon as Laura was placed in the kennel with Jesse, she looked around just a little and then she went potty! She had been holding it all this time, and she took care of three days of "business" right away, urinating for at least an entire minute (or more) without stopping. That alone must have made her feel so much better.

      Suddenly her whole demeanor changed, and she seemed happy and alert as she walked all around her new "home" checking out her kennel yard and wooden shelter with the two dog houses inside filled with fresh hay, while Jesse watched her every move as he sat quietly under the "porch" roof of the shelter.

Jesse and Mama Dog suddenly recognize each other!

      Then, all of a sudden, Jesse-Bear and Mama Dog Laura seemed to recognize each other! What a beautiful sight this was to see.

      Jesse suddenly ran over to his mother and his tail began wagging non-stop. (Click here to see the MPEG video.) Jesse-Bear gave his mother kisses all over her face and nuzzled his muzzle against her body. Laura's tail began to wag too as they were so happy to be reunited! Jesse stayed close beside his mom for the rest of the afternoon!

Mama Dog Laura's appetite comes back

      Laura hadn't eaten anything the two and a half days she was at the vet clinic, so we were curious to see if she would eat here. We prepared food right away for Laura and Jesse and took the bowls into them. Laura ate every bite in her bowl, so we gave her another bowl of food and she finished that off too! With these two dogs content and happy to be with each other we went on to get the three new pups settled in their kennel.

All three pups start out in the same puppy kennel, but . . .

      Puppies Tina and Terry are the same age as little Pup Corky, but they are quite a bit bigger than Corky. We put the three of them in the puppy kennel together, anticipating that the three could become kennel companions during their stay here until they are adopted, and all went okay for a while. But soon siblings Tina and Terry became tired of playing with their smaller friend, Corky, and they became too rough with the little tyke. I was refereeing, which needs to be done when introducing pups to each other (as well as when introducing adult dogs to each other), and when the two larger pups began "picking" on Corky, I picked him up and moved him into the small extra kennel outside that we keep on hand for when an "emergency" pops up.

Thank goodness we hadn't taken down the big kennel in our living room

      So, having the three pups "room" together is not going to work. This doesn't really present too much of a problem, though, because we will keep Corky in the house at night, in the big kennel in our living room, which we keep inside for just such emergencies. During the day we'll put Cork in with Terry and Tina when we can supervise them, and we'll also introduce Corky to bigger pups, Chubs and Cassie. We'll make this work out with the little hairless pup.

      I also want to have Corky's hips x-rayed. The more I watch him walk around, the more I see a definite deformity to his back legs--as if his hips or legs had been injured at sometime. From the way he was found (in a sealed box along the roadside) there's a very strong possibility that he had a very rough beginning to his young life.

      It's late now and Puppy Corky is playing happily with a chew bone in his house kennel as Toby lies beside the kennel to make Corky feel welcome. Toby always does this with every new pup or dog who temporarily resides in the house for one reason or another.

      New puppies Tina and her brother Terry are snuggled up in their kennel outside. Their heat lamp is on, which will keep them warm during the coming chilly night.

      Jesse-Bear and his mother, Mama Dog Laura, are in their hay-filled houses too, as are all the other dogs who are outside. It's the most wonderful feeling in the world to know Mama Dog Laura and her son are safe and happy now. And even though Laura is still very sick with heart worms, she sure seems a whole lot better.

      All is quiet.

All was quiet till the phone rang

      Pam Mitchell just called to say that they did not catch/rescue the other two golf course strays this evening. The plan now is that two of our employees (each on his day off) are volunteering to go meet Pam tomorrow at Tenison Golf Course to spend the entire afternoon attempting to rescue the remaining two dogs.

     More tomorrow.