Straydog UPDATE posted SATURDAY 8/2/03 at ~8:00 p.m. ET

Bill Arnold's Daily Straydog Log

SATURDAY AUGUST 2 2003

Erin's report from Straydog ...

Adoption Day went well: Old Jed has a chance for adoption into a real house

     We had a very promising time at Adoption Day! An avid follower of our updates (named Larry) came to the Plano PetsMart store just to see Old Jed. He brought in his two dogs, Champ and Jake, and all the dogs got along fine, so Joel and I made a home visit. Larry is a great animal lover. He's fostering a kitten with a broken pelvis, whom Jed barked at through the crate. Larry also has two other cats. This wonderful potential adopter is willing to take a week off work to try to help make the adjustment period among all the animals, and he can possibly do this very soon, he said.

     Jed enjoyed walking around Larry's home, but we quickly had to pick up all Champ and Jake's bones, which Jed was happily finding. Larry will need to go from 'free feeding' (just leaving the dry kibble out all day) to scheduled feedings, with Jed separated from the other dogs, which isn't a difficult thing to do. (When my cat got cancer, I went from free feeding my cat (which I had done for many years) to scheduled feedings with more supplements and a variety of foods, and yes, it was a little more work, but it felt very rewarding and was a 'bonding' time between us.)

     Speaking of cats, we think that after Jed gets used to the kitties, he will not want to bark at them. A little squirt bottle of water might help him learn that the cats are off limits too. We will encourage a greatly monitored environment and total separation while Larry is out of the house during the beginning weeks until Larry learns how well and how soon Jed can get along with the cats.

     It is so wonderful that Larry is considering giving Old Jed a chance at an inside home with a wonderful big, grassy fenced yard plus more animal friends to be with. It will be great for our old fella to be out of the hot sun and out of his sandy kennel, which dusty, blowing sand irritates his eyes and throat, and he won't be lonely anymore.

Someone came in and fell in love with Benny

     A lady said she will be bringing her chow/lab mix to PetsMart next week to see if Benny and her other dog get along. We will report on this next week.

Thanks to our Adoption Day Volunteers!

     It was a great Adoption Day, and we want to thank Margaret and Pat for volunteering, and as always, we thank Susan Devers for organizing our doggie-sitters!