Straydog UPDATE posted WEDNESDAY 7/9/03 at ~9:14 p.m. CT

Bill Arnold's Daily Straydog Log

WEDNESDAY JULY 9 2003

Yet another pup rescued, and today the rescuer was me!

     I was on my way to Gun Barrel City (about 17 miles from our shelter), and as I came around a curve, I saw a puppy voraciously eating from a bag of garbage someone had thrown in the ditch at the side of the road. At first I thought he probably lived somewhere nearby, but then I realized that he wouldn't be eating garbage with such a tremendous appetite if he had a home (and I could hear Pat shouting, "STOP THE CAR!"), so I pulled over about 20 yards past the dog so as not to frighten the little fellow into the road. There were occasional cars and trucks passing by going at least 50 miles per hour, so I walked very slowly toward the puppy, who had stopped eating and was looking up at me. I knelt down and clapped my hands softly and called to him in a gentle voice, and his ears perked up, and he started running toward me with a slight limp. I waited for him, and he jumped up on me, and I petted and rubbed and squeezed the little fella for a few moments as he wiggled around on the ground, and then I picked him up and put him in the back of the old station wagon. By the time I got around to the front of the car, the pup was in the front seat waiting for me.

     We take all new pups directly to the clinic (it was as if Pat was telling me what to do), so, with the pup squirming all over me, I turned the car around in the next driveway and headed back toward home and the clinic beyond. As I neared Straydog, I thought I'd better stop and get a crate for the pup and also pick up my daughter, Erin, who is here volunteering today, to show her where the vet clinic is and introduce her to all the people there.

     I turned into our shelter's driveway, called over the walkie-talkie to Guy, advising him I had a rescue pup and needed a crate to take the fella directly to the clinic. Guy sent Joel out and while he was putting a crate in the station wagon, I called on the walkie-talkie to Erin (who was working on thank-you letters inside the long, white trailer) to come on out and accompany me to the clinic so she'll know where it is so she can do vet visits in an emergency.

     Erin came out right away, and with the pup in the crate (at least temporarily), we started down the road toward the clinic in Athens (about 15 miles away). It wasn't long before the pup's piercing bark convinced Erin to open the crate and allow the puppy (whom we right then named Pierce) to jump into the front seat with us.

     Dr. Morton examined the puppy and said he'd probably been hit by a car but that the injury causing the limp and soreness in his right front leg was probably not serious.

     We left the pup for all his shots and a thorough check up, and we will pick him up tomorrow. (We're working on kennel "arrangements" now.)

     We are also going to be picking up Bobby tomorrow.