*New Photos FROM LAST WEEK:
(6) Tina and Terry (the two Aussie pups) play in their pool (3/10/03)
(7) Alice and Sally inspect their new kennel (3/11/03)
(8) Corky meets Brigitte in the Big Play Yard (3/12/03)
(9) Corky and Brigitte in the Big Play Yard, continued
(10) Old Davey isn't doing too well (3/16/03)
Straydog, our Happy Home for Strays
(The hexagon is the "Big Play Yard," which we usually refer to as "the park")
Straydog is a "lifeboat" for rescued dogs. A vacant spot in a kennel is an empty seat in our "lifeboat," so please, if you're interested in adopting a dog, see our "Dogs for Adoption" links below, or call to inquire about dogs you may have seen recent photos of but who may not yet be included in our "Dogs for Adoption" links. And please continue to support us. We will continue to row this "lifeboat" to shore, dropping off rescued dogs into the arms of good adopters, and we will continue to fill the space left vacant by each adopted dog with another desperate homeless dog for as long as we can hold on (financially). We believe that our example (and the example of all other no-kill shelters) must be publicized in order to wake people up and make them aware of the necessity to SPAY and NEUTER their pets so that homeless dog-rescue "lifeboats" will no longer be necessary. (Ditto for cats!)
If you would like to help with our ever-growing vet bill, donations can be sent directly to:
Pat Arnold's Daily Dog Log
SUNDAY MARCH 16 2003
Mother Lab and eight tiny puppies are coming tomorrow
The woman who called me yesterday about a mother Lab and her litter of eight puppies, who are just four weeks old, called me again today to say that she had no positive results in getting other shelters to take the mom and her babies.
As I mentioned yesterday, the woman (who's from Irving, Texas) had found a female Black Lab two months ago. The woman had taken pity on the poor sickly stray and had taken her home and cared for the dog while trying, unsuccessfully, to find her a home. A month later the Lab gave birth to eight puppies, and now the pups are four weeks old, and the kindhearted woman cannot keep them anymore. All efforts to find the family a home have now failed.
We are full and running low on funds, but ...
We'll make room for the mom and her puppies by putting up a nice, secure temporary kennel with some old fence sections that were recently donated to us. (We knew this old fencing would come in handy some day!) Hopefully during our upcoming Saturday Adoption Days enough of the pups or dogs already here will find their forever families, which will then free up a permanent kennel for this new family--until they are all adopted.
The woman will be taking the family to our vet clinic tomorrow morning, where they will get a checkup and as soon as their kennel is ready here, we'll bring them to our shelter.
Pam Mitchell, who began the rescues of the dog family at the Tenison Golf Course in Dallas, came to visit our shelter this afternoon
It was really wonderful to finally meet the person I've been corresponding with these last several weeks concerning the rescue and care of The Tenison Golf Course Stray Dog Family. When Pam came out today to meet us and to see our Happy Home for Strays, she visited with the four dogs she helped rescue--Jesse-Bear and Mama Dog Laura, plus Sally and Alice who were rescued at the golf course last Sunday.
The dogs were happy to see Pam. They remembered her and were probably expecting Pam to hand out weiners to them, which is what she used to feed them while trying to win their trust with rescue in mind! We gave the dogs biscuit treats instead, and Pam was glad to see both dogs of the Tenison Golf Course family looking so healthy and happy, and Pam was happy Sally and Alice are also doing fine.
Davey doesn't look well today
He didn't eat much at all today, and he seems to have lost the little bit of spark he's had the last couple of days. Even tho he still enjoys his playtimes in the park, we think he is now telling us that he is almost ready to cross Rainbow Bridge.
We'll see how he is feeling tomorrow . . .
Yesterday
...
Straydog UPDATE posted SATURDAY 3/15/03 at ~9:28 p.m. CT
Pat Arnold's Daily Dog Log
SATURDAY MARCH 15 2003
Gidget is Adopted!
We had six dogs going for our adoption day with the one home-visit already planned for Puppy-dog Gidget.
Yea for Puppy-dog Gidget! Guy took her to her new home this morning and called later to tell me that this little dog will be a very pampered house pet with her new mom and little girl to play with and a whole basket full of new toys! The mom also called later to say that Gidget had made herself right at home and all was going beautifully! They are so happy they adopted Gidget. ... Unfortunately no other dogs were adopted today.
It was also a busy day here at our shelter with two sets of visitors
We had two sets of visitors come to our shelter today. This morning long-time contributors Steve and his wife Linda came to visit our Happy Home for Strays. They have been supporters of our shelter for years, and it was wonderful to finally meet them.
We took the tour of the shelter, stopping outside the kennels to meet every dog, and they seemed to fall in love with them all. They also brought two big bags full of yummy doggie treats, enough for every dog and pup!
Steve and Linda were very impressed with what they saw here, the roominess of the large kennels, how happy the dogs are, and they also saw a little bit of the routine that goes on during the morning. The dogs were being walked while the kennel crew went about their jobs of cleaning kennels as they gave attention to the dogs too. The couple met Old Granny Snowflake (who seems to be feeling fine today) and several of Snow's caregivers as they were taking Snowflake to the play yard at different times, and Steve and Linda met the new puppies Terry, Tina and Corky, and little blind fellow Chubs and his sister, Cassie.
We had a very nice visit.
Mother and Son came to visit this afternoon to look at Rover
Later in the afternoon a mother and her son came to look at Rover. They took the tour too and went into several kennels to visit with the dogs. They liked Krissy, Emy and Pokey, and the little Aussie pups, Tina and Terry, but the mom really fell in love with Rover, and the son wanted to adopt Happy, Rover's kennel companion. The mom thought it best to think things over for a few days, and she'll get back to us.
A mother lab and her eight puppies need a home
In between visiting with people here today we received a phone call from a woman who had found a female Lab two months ago. The dog appeared to be sickly so the woman took her home. Shortly thereafter the dog gave birth to eight puppies. The puppies are now four weeks old, and the woman hasn't been able to find a home for any of the family members and hoped we could help her by taking them in.
We are really full here, I explained, and I gave her the number of another shelter to call to see if they might have room for the mom and her babies. I told the woman to call us back, tho, if she couldn't find anyone else, and we'd see what we could do to help.
It's now after seven p.m., and we haven't heard from this person seeking refuge for the family, so hopefully the other shelter was able to care for the dog and pups.
This is now the end of a very long and busy day.
A
Note from Bill (3/9/03)
...
Just think of the added expenses we're incurring by taking in these two unexpected new arrivals (Alice and Sally) we just couldn't turn our backs on at Tenison Golf Course in Dallas on Sunday, March 9, 2003! (Also spaying these two females will quite literally stop thousands more of their possible descendants from ever being conceived and born.) But we've already got so many rescued dogs crammed into this "lifeboat" that the "water is up to the gunwales"! We've got to get more funding somehow. We're already working on our next newsletter, and we're using our personal credit cards to bridge the shortfall. It's too bad the Internet is still inaccessible to more than 85% of the contributors on our mailing list of 1700. As you can see from the "HIT COUNTER" below, only about 200 people hit this site every day, leaving 1500 contributors knowing nothing about what's going on here since our last mailing in early January. (If it weren't for the postage expense, we'd mail out an update at least once a month. [Many thanks to one contributor who emailed us after reading this "Note from Bill" saying that he would be sending us a thousand stamps to help "keep the newsletters coming!" ... The 1,000 stamps arrived 3/14/03, and we thank our contributor very much.]) We're sure there are many, many more people out there who would feel the same way our regular contributors feel about Straydog and our methods of rescuing, rehabilitating and adopting out formerly homeless dogs, but how do we reach them?
*Pat Arnold's Daily Dog Log
LAST WEEK:
*Photo Pages and Videos
LAST WEEK:
(1) Blind Pup Chubs is introduced to Corky (3/9/03)
(2) Blind Pup Chubs wants his sister to come back
*MPEG Video: Corky and Cassie tussle while Blind Chubs sits "on the sidelines"
(3) Corky loves to be held as he helps Pat at the computer (3/9/03)
(4) Blind Freckles (who has no eyes) visits vet for eye socket infection (3/10/03
(5) Allie (Alice) and Sally (from Tenison Golf Course) get new arrivals checkups (3/10/03)
(6) Tina and Terry (the two Aussie pups) play in their pool (3/10/03)
(7) Alice and Sally inspect their new kennel (3/11/03)
(8) Corky meets Brigitte in the Big Play Yard (3/12/03)
WEEK BEFORE LAST:
(1) Jesse continues to keep his distance from Pat
(3) Sick Mama Dog Laura is examined Monday.
(4) Steve and Carol Reeder bring us two homeless pups they found in the road
(5) Mama Dog Laura comes from the clinic to our shelter
(6) Mama Dog Laura inspects her new kennel and lets Pat pet her
(7) Mama Dog Laura continues to let Pat pet her as she looks around
(8) Mama Dog Laura finally reunites with her son, Jesse-Bear
MPEG Video: Jesse-Bear reunites with his mother, Mama Dog Laura
(9) Terry, Tina and Corky arrive and meet each other in the puppy kennel
(10) The three new pups arrive and meet each other, continued
(11) Mama Dog Laura has her first meal at Straydog, as does Pup Terry.
*Adoption Day Saturday, March 22 - Canine Commissary on Lower Greenville Avenue in Dallas
*Our Dogs for Adoption - Volunteer Shannon's page
*Our Mission & How We Got Started
*"Goodbye, Danny Boy." - An example of the only acceptable use of euthanasia
*Click here for continuation of our homepage