Straydog UPDATE posted MONDAY 5/12/03 at ~9:10 p.m. CT

Pat's Daily Dog Log

MONDAY MAY 12 2003

Betsy and Buddy have a trial visit together in the park

     Early this morning we reintroduced Buddy and Betsy to each other in the play yard. This brother and sister team hadn't been together for the entire three long months that Betsy's broken leg has been healing.

Betsy wanted to play with Buddy, but Buddy was the standoffish one today

     We took Buddy and Betsy to the play yard on leashes and right away Betsy went over to Buddy and gave him a friendly nudge against his side with her head, and Buddy's reaction surprised us. His fur stood up along the top of his neck, and he glared at his sister as if telling her to stay away from him now, he's not ready to accept her to be back with him--yet.

     Tina and Guy walked them around together for a while until Buddy wanted to go back to his kennel. He showed no interest in wanting to be together with Betsy.

     For now Betsy will remain in her house kennel, except for her many trips to go to the play yard during the day, and on every trip that she does go outside, we'll also take Buddy to be with her. I'm sure that soon he will accept her again.

Three fellas go to the clinic and five fellas come back

     The little white (nearly blind and totally deaf) Aussie puppies, Jack and Jill, went to the clinic for their third puppy vaccinations this morning. I decided to also take Betsy (whose broken leg seems healed finally after three long months) for Dr. Morton to check Betsy's leg one more time so we'll all be sure that it's okay for Betsy to resume her normal dog activities of running, and playing. And I wanted to be sure Betsy was ready to go back in her outside kennel with her big, 125-pound brother, Buddy, who we saw earlier is not quite ready to take his sister back.

The doctor sees Betsy first

     Dr. Morton examined Betsy's leg very carefully and said that it appears to have healed just fine. He saw no reason to take another x-ray. Betsy will have a limp for a while but the doctor anticipates the limp will go away eventually. He then gave us the go-ahead to let her go back to her normal activities, including living with her big brother again. This was great news! We'll continue to walk her in the big play yard with her brother over the next few days to get them used to each other again, before putting her back in the outside kennel with him.

     After Betsy's visit with the doctor, we put her in the next examining room (which was vacant) to wait for us while the doctor saw Jack and Jill.

Jack and Jill are next

     These little live-wires are quite a handful, and they had a grand time playing in the examining room while waiting for the doctor. As soon as Puppy Jack received his vaccination injection, however, he became very timid and wanted to hide in my arms for a while. (Remember Jack can't see or hear anything.)

     Both puppies liked the wormer medicine the vet tech, Donna, gave them--especially Jill!

     Dr. Morton is amazed at how well both pups get around, especially Jack, who is totally blind and totally deaf. Jill, who is totally deaf too, has some sight in her right eye, so she is most often the leader of the two.

The two new puppies, rescued from the "Animal Auction" yesterday, are with us now

     After we got Jack and Jill back in their traveling crate in the van, and with Betsy still in the next examining room waiting for us, Donna brought in the new arrivals who had been rescued from the Animal Auction Saturday evening by our employee, Danielle.

     Dr. Morton had given the puppies their thorough examination yesterday, Sunday, and he said today that both puppies appear to be just fine and healthy and are ready to come home. Annie had us a little bit worried yesterday, because she was so quiet and had a slight runny nose and didn't want to eat, but today she was playful, ate well and appears fine.

     The pups are Lab mixes. Annie weighs 14.3 pounds and Amy weighs 10 pounds. They are approximately 11 weeks old.

     This morning Donna gave them both a bath (we're not set up for baths at the shelter yet other than quick hose-offs), and when they were dry, they were given their vaccinations and treatment for fleas and ticks. Both puppies are a little bit shy right now, especially Annie, but I don't think that shyness will last long once we get them settled in at our shelter. Dr. Morton said they had been having a grand time tussling around together when he had checked on them earlier this morning.

Guy had Annie and Amy's kennel all ready for them when we arrived

     As soon as we arrived back at the shelter, we put Jack and Jill in their kennel and the puppies, Annie and Amy, in their little puppy Kennel, which Guy had all ready for them. While we were at the clinic, Guy spent the morning preparing the kennel (which had been Betsy's outdoor recovery kennel) for the new arrivals, and he even made a nice shelter for the pups, complete with two dog houses inside for the little fellas.