Straydog UPDATE posted SATURDAY 5/17/03 at ~10:21 p.m. CT

Pat's Daily Dog Log

SATURDAY MAY 17 2003

Mandy and Brigitte to be adopted today!

[Later update tells of Mandy's return to our shelter just three hours later!]

     Before the adoptions of Mandy and Brigitte, we were already making plans here for Bear, who has been Mandy's companion and best buddy for over two years. Bear is an easy going fellow, so we felt that he would adjust just fine without Mandy if he had another kennel mate. Black Lab Rosie seemed to be the ideal candidate.

Rosie and Bear meet in the play yard and have a great time!

     There was no problem with Rosie and Bear during this introduction. They became friends instantly, and after their short sniffy introduction they were off running and playing together. We were able to take them to Bear's kennel, where they continued to romp and chase each other around and around.

     That was easy. Now Bear has a new friend if Mandy's adoption works out.

Mandy goes to her new home

     When we found out how many dog-sitting volunteers we'd have for our Adoption Day at PetsMart (on Central at Parker in Plano), we planned on which dogs and pups to take: Mandy, Brigitte, Puppy Kimberly, Alice and Sally.

     As soon as Guy and Tina arrived at PetsMart and our volunteers had everything set up and ready for a hopefully successful day, the young couple arrived to see Mandy, and they were ready for Guy to take Mandy to their home to meet their cats.

     The couple had visited our shelter about a month ago to look at Chubs and Cassie along with the other dogs and puppies, and they had first met Mandy here during that visit and had fallen in love with her at that time. Their only concern was how well Mandy and the family cats might get along.

Noon U P D A T E

Guy called around noon to say that Mandy is adopted! She and the cats are okay together and that Mandy wasn't aggressive at all toward the cats!

     All of us at the shelter were anxiously awaiting the phone call from Guy to let us know how the home visit had turned out with Mandy and the cats, and at noon Guy called with the wonderful news that Mandy showed no aggression toward the cats and that they seemed to be getting along fine and that Mandy was officially adopted! Mandy has been with us for over two whole years, and we are so happy that Mandy finally found her wonderful new mom and dad. She is going to be a very pampered house pet! The young woman had assured me earlier that any pet they adopt will be their pet for forever.

Brigitte is adopted!

     This good news about Brigitte's adoption came a few hours after Mandy had gone to her new home. Volunteer Sue Knudson and our employee, Tina, who volunteered her time today to help out at Adoption Day, made the home visit with Brigitte and her new mom and dad. When Tina called to tell me about Brigitte's adoption, Tina's first words were: "Brigitte is going to be sooooooooo spoiled!"

2:00 p.m. U P D A T E

A few more changes are made at our shelter

     As of 2:00 this afternoon the report from Guy was that no one had shown an interest in adopting Sally and/or Alice. We were hoping so much that Alice would be adopted because she needs a good home more than any of the other dogs or puppies here, and the reason Alice needs to become a house pet more than the others is that she is extremely afraid of thunderstorms. She and Sally are in an outside kennel, as are all of the other dogs (except for the few house dogs), and anytime Alice hears the slightest rumble of thunder, she panics and frantically tries to get out of her kennel.

Alice panicked during the thunder yesterday evening and broke out of their kennel, which necessitated the changes today

     Since Alice panicked at yesterday's soft rumble of thunder in the distance, and actually did get out of their kennel by charging at the gates and popping the latches, we decided to move them into the triple secure kennel that Mandy and Bear had been in, and we moved Bear and Rosie into Sally and Alice's kennel. This move worked out just fine, with Bear and Rosie, and we're hoping that the problem of Alice getting out of her kennel during thunderstorms is over.

3:30 p.m. U P D A T E

MANDY IS RETURNED!

     When Guy called me around 3:30 this afternoon and said that the couple wanted to return Mandy, I could not believe what he was saying.

Why?

     The couple called Guy to tell him to come pick Mandy up, because they were worried about their cats. The first report from Guy had been that the cats and Mandy had shown no aggression toward each other. Now the story is that the cats are hiding from Mandy, so the couple has become worried about the cats, even tho Mandy has made no attempt to harm them.

Don't people know animals go through an adjustment period when new pets come into the household?!

     I can't express my feelings on this except to say they did not even give Mandy a chance and yes, it is extremely upsetting to me to have Mandy be returned after only a short, three-hour period, during which Mandy was showing no aggression toward the cats, which is the basis for thinking that Mandy should be returned. But anyone who wants to return an animal has that option, and they have their own reasons, and of course, the animal should come back to our shelter. And we will continue to take care of the animal till she or he finds her or his forever home.

     Guy had explained to the couple that Mandy and the cats would be going through an adjustment period and that it is very normal that the cats would stay out of Mandy's way for several days or even a few weeks, but the couple insisted they wanted to return Mandy--yet added that Mandy did get along with the cats.

     They did say that Mandy is a wonderful dog, she is housetrained, they are sure, because in the few hours they had her, she whined to go outside to go potty whenever she had to, and the couple wanted us to be sure and tell everyone what a wonderful dog Mandy is.

Mandy did not want to leave her new home

     When Guy went to pick up Mandy, the couple brought her to the front porch, and Mandy lay on her stomach and would not move. She did not want to leave.

     I'm glad that I was not there when Guy picked Mandy up, because Guy said it was a very sad departure for Mandy. She'd look up at what she thought was her new mom as if to say that she liked it at this new home and wanted to stay, and then she'd look at Guy, then back at the couple again. Even when Guy called her name (and Mandy loves Guy), Mandy would not move. It was so sad that Guy said he finally had to pick Mandy up and carry her to the van and put her in the traveling crate for the ride home.

Mandy is back "home" with us now, where she will always have a loving home, until the day she is adopted ... again

     Mandy is back with her best buddy, Bear, and Rosie is back with her kids.

     I'm sorry Mandy had to go through this. Sometimes I get just plain frustrated with people.