Straydog UPDATE posted THURSDAY 4/24/03 at ~9:47 p.m. CT
Pat's Daily Dog Log
THURSDAY APRIL 24 2003
New arrival, Redd, goes to live at Caregiver Joel's home
Joel is our employee, and he's the young man who made the trip to Mesquite Monday to pick up this frightened new arrival to take her to our vet clinic for her examination and spay surgery before coming to our shelter.
When Joel returned to the shelter, he told us that for the ride from Mesquite to the clinic he put Redd in the travel crate in the passenger seat beside him, and he left the door of the crate open so he could pet Redd as he drove, thinking this would ease her fears. It wasn't long before Redd crawled up to the front of the crate, and soon she was resting her head on Joel's leg as he drove.
Joel said that his heart went out to this pathetic, skinny, frightened homeless dog, and he asked me if he might give her foster care at his home for a few weeks, where she would receive lots of love and attention, along with being his house pet during this time. What could be better for Redd?! (I have a feeling this may become Redd's forever home.)
Joel picked up Redd from the clinic this morning, and he will be able to spend the next two whole days with her (his days off, his "weekend") to help her settle in to a loving new home life--a life this sweet dog most likely has never experienced.
The outcome of Redd's examination showed that in addition to being extremely malnourished she has an infection, and she has advanced heartworm disease. Because she is so malnourished, the doctor wants to wait a few weeks to give her time to get back to better health before beginning the first heartworm treatment. He thinks it will be in her best interests to give the treatments several months apart, instead of the usual two doses within two days.
EVENING UPDATE
Not such good news: Three dogs are being returned to Straydog!
Puppy Rex is coming back
The first call was from the woman who adopted little brindle colored Puppy Rex nearly two weeks ago.
The woman said that the reason she wants to return Rex is that this little puppy plays too rough with her older small dog. Whatever the reason we will be getting this little puppy back, probably this Saturday sometime during out adoption day at the Canine Commissary store on Lower Greenville. Rex will most likely be very happy to join his six siblings who are still with us.
Sally and Alice are being returned too
This is really sad news to hear. These precious young dogs, who had had such a terrible life as stray dogs, were happily adopted a little over a month ago by this family, and now they are being returned because the father's allergies have really gone ballistic, and there's no way they can keep the dogs, which is going to break their little girl's heart.
Whatever the reason, we are, of course, taking these dogs back. They were happy here before they left our shelter, and they will be happy once they return. And another family will come along to adopt them, we're sure.
We make room for our "returns"
Suffice to say that when Border Collie Billy was adopted last Sunday by Rancher Wheeler McGee, this left an empty kennel spot. Recently we've been moving the new arrival dogs (or pups) around to the kennels that best suit them. We now have one empty kennel, which we will use for Sally and Alice. This empty kennel was going to be used for new arrival Redd, who was permitted to leave the clinic today, but since Employee Joel took Redd home with him to give her foster care, Sally and Alice will move into this vacant kennel. It's all ready for them.
Redd is doing absolutely beautifully at home with Joel
As I reported earlier today, Joel picked up Redd from our clinic early this morning, and he called me this afternoon to give me an update on how everything was going. "Just Great!" about sums up Joel's first day of giving foster care to Redd.
"She has on her pretty red collar, which matches her new red leash. She isn't shy with me, like I thought she'd be," Joel told me during our phone conversation. Joel said he bought her lots of new toys and a swimming pool which he filled for her to play in in his big fenced back yard. He added that Redd loves to be in the house and her special place to sleep is right in the middle of Joel's big bed! She is going to be a very spoiled young dog--which is exactly what she deserves.
Little Puppies Jack and Jill are moved to the bigger puppy kennel
"Wow! Look at all this room we have now," Jill seemed to be signaling to her little blind brother as soon as I put the pups in the bigger kennel. Many of you already know that about these little White Aussie pups. (Jill has some sight in one eye, Jack is totally blind--we're 99.999% sure--and both are deaf.) They get around so well that I wasn't at all concerned about how they'd react to being in a new kennel.
Jack spent just a few minutes sniffing the new kennel grounds close beside his sister, but he was soon off and running the entire length of their new, longer kennel. Then the pups discovered their big swimming pool and the water sports fun began. In and out of the cool water they'd jump, then they'd take off running around their kennel yard. Back and forth they'd go. I tried to capture some pictures of the pups playing in their pool, but they were much too fast for me. (Bill, who came home to Straydog for a few hours this afternoon before he went back to take care of his sick dad, took a bunch of photos while he was here, so he'll get them on asap.)
* MPEG Video: Jack & Jill playing in the park
Krissy escapes!
It's been a busy day, and to top it off, at 6:00 tonight, just as I was heading outside to give diabetic Julie her insulin and meal, and as Caregiver Michael was leaving for the day, he saw Krissy running around the kennel compound outside (but still nearby) her kennel. She was trying to "catch" a toad! Michael swooped Krissy up, put her back in her kennel and filled the huge hole she'd dug with huge concrete blocks!
Hopefully we'll have a better tomorrow.