Straydog UPDATE posted FRIDAY 5/9/03 at ~9:00 p.m. CT

Pat's Daily Dog Log

FRIDAY MAY 9 2003

Three more phone calls asking us to take in family pets

     This morning we received three more phone calls (to add to the many phone calls that came yesterday) to take in people's unwanted family pets.

Surrendering family pets? If it is not an emergency, think about it first, please!

     Today the three calls were all from people wanting to surrender their once loved family pets. I really doubt that the pets were truly loved. If they had truly been loved their "owners" would never even think of surrendering them.

     One woman wanted to give us her handicapped dog because the woman wanted more freedom in her life, and didn't want to be "bogged" down with the care of the pet any longer.

     Another person has had his dog since the fella was a little puppy, but now, a year later the pup has grown (heaven forbid!) and is bigger than the owner had thought the "pet" would become, so the person didn't want the dog anymore.

     The third person was moving from a house into an apartment that did not allow dogs, so this person wanted to find a home for her 13-year-old fellow. My thought on this is why not move into an apartment that allows pets?

     I wish the people who seem so willing to give up a "part of their family" would just think about what it does to the dog (or cat) who has developed a much stronger bond with his "guardian," obviously, than the "owner" has developed with the pet.

     Dogs (and cats too) don't understand what is happening to them when they suddenly are uprooted from the only home they ever knew and are placed with strangers. If the dog or cat is one of the lucky ones, and goes from one good home to another, it isn't quite so hard on the pet, if the new guardians are loving, patient and understanding of the pet's feelings.

     For the older dogs (and cats) who have loved and trusted their guardians for years, a move like this can be devastating, especially if pet winds up going from a home where the pet has been a house pet, to the pound. It is a horrific experience, one so terrible for the dog or pup (or cat) to endure that before anyone gives up their pet, they should go to a dog pound and see for themselves what their "pet" will be going through before it is killed.

We're glad we at least have room for the one puppy who desperately needs help

     As we said yesterday, we have no room for adult dogs right now, but we do have room for this little needy puppy named "Willie." From the information I have on this pup, Willie may be a Lab/Shepherd mix, about three months old, and it sounds as if he has a bad case of mange, either Sarcoptic or Demodec, or possibly both.

     (We've had so many calls about dogs needing homes that if I do have the description incorrect about the pup, I will let you know.)

     Willie will be coming to our Shelter this coming Tuesday and will go straight to our vet clinic so we can have our doctor give him a thorough check up and begin to treat the mange.

Teddy Bear and Sunny get their ears "washed"

     Teddy Bear and Sunny are a couple of our "old timers." Teddy was diagnosed as having hip dysplasia at an early age, and as beautiful a fellow as he is, it is his imperfect hips that have kept him from being adopted many times. Sunny has been Teddy's kennel companion for almost all of their lives here, and these two are much too close to ever be separated now. Teddy is about nine years old, and he gets around absolutely beautifully, and he and Sunny together would have made wonderful pets! ... And still might, we are hoping.

We've become a sanctuary to many of these older dogs who have what many people consider "health problems"

     We've said this before, many times: Bill and I do not view hip dysplasia as a "problem." Dogs with imperfect hips make just as wonderful and loving family pets as dogs with so-called perfect hips. They run, play and show affection toward and trust their guardians the same as dogs with perfect bones and joints.

     Teddy Bear is a very special fellow, and so is his companion, Sunny. Even tho Sunny is smaller than Teddy, she is his protector.