Straydog UPDATE posted MONDAY 8/18/03 at ~9:10 p.m. CT

Bill Arnold's Daily Straydog Log

MONDAY AUGUST 18 2003

An email from a daily reader named Jen about Jack's situation:

I've been a daily visitor to your website for almost a year from here in Pittsburgh. PA - which I have to do from work, as my two cats (Armando-Toro and Ebi) will have none of this dog stuff. I've laughed and cried along with you and the dogs and also have had many favorites - Nikki having been the most recent. I was recently trying to figure out if I could get Jed to Pittsburgh and if my cats would be able to handle a dog. (Unfortunately, I came to the conclusion that it would be too much for a trial visit.) I admire your work and am, at times, jealous of your work, as I sit in a climate-controlled office while reading your site.

I'm very sad about Jack and am wondering if anyone has suggested to his mom to muzzle him on walks and even at home when guests are present. I have been a strong proponent of muzzling dogs for about three years now.

About three years ago, I was sitting outside in my three-foot fenced yard (closed on three sides by the house, a six-foot fence and a garage, the three-foot fence mostly lined with hedges) with my cat, Calby, who was very lazy and very well behaved. She would walk around the yard, sit, sniff, take a few more steps, sniff some more, watch the insects and butterflies for a while, maybe lie down for a bit. The phone rang and I went inside to answer it. When I came out, Calby was face-to-face with a German Shepherd in the yard. I ran for the broom on the porch, but by the time I got to it and back, the dog was coming after me. I shut myself in the house and screamed at it to go away. My poor Calby took her last breath in my arms. All I could do was cry and tell her again and again that I was sorry and that I loved her. The owners of the German Shepherd (the mom was almost as shaken up as I was) swore that he had NEVER ONCE shown any aggressive behavior to cats, dogs or people. A friend was walking him and had allowed her five-year-old niece to hold the leash. The owners ended up being very nice people and their dog was given away to a woman in the far suburbs with no children and a very big fenced-in yard where he could run and play without danger to anyone.

If possible, could you maybe suggest to Jack's mom to always have a muzzle on him around people and other dogs? And suggest to all of your friends, readers and supporters to always keep a muzzle on their dog(s) when in public, no matter how docile the dog is? Maybe we can get Jack back to his mom and prevent other kitties (and puppies and people) from being hurt.

Thank you for listening and for possibly helping in yet another way.

In admiration,
Jen G.

Thank you, Jen, for sharing your story and offering your advice

     From time to time I have "preached" about how careful we all must be with our dogs. But I often think that only those who have had to go thru such a horrible experience as a dogfight pay much credence to my words.

     Pat and I witnessed and had to break up three dogfights between family dogs over 20 years ago. Perhaps one has to experience the horror of a dogfight to even begin to realize how serious (and often deadly) such an event can be.

     You might wonder why it took three dogfights for Pat and me to become so careful handling dogs. The first fight we didn't know was going to happen. Looking back the signs were there indicating that the two dogs were getting closer and closer to a confrontation, but we were naive about the potential disaster. The second fight (a "rematch" between the same two dogs) was caused by one of our family members inadvertently leaving a door not closed tightly. The third fight was between one of the original combatants and a new family dog, who we thought was compatible with our original dog. Again we misread the signs of an impending battle.

     The third fight was the worst. It took us at least 15 minutes to break it up, and I'll never forget how exhausted both Pat and I were when we finally got the two dogs separated and how horrible we both felt. We vowed that no matter how inconvenient extra precautions might be, we would never allow another dogfight to occur in situations we had total control of.

Erin's report on today's vet visits and last night's first night shift ...

Sally and Alice get their tails checked

     We took Alice in to have her tail checked again. Dr. Morton rebandaged it and said it was healing fine, although it's healing more slowly than Sally's tail. Sally got her e-collar off and stitches out and is not chewing her tail anymore. Yea! The irritation has gone away.

     Since Sally and Alice are so dependent on each other, they will both remain inside while Alice is still recovering, and we are still watching these nervous dogs closely. (And Sally is watching me very closely too, as I type.) "Your just the cutest little girl," Dad just said to Sally. She is very, very cute indeed!

Julie goes for another blood sugar test

     Julie's glucose reading has risen back up to 241. Dr. Morton said that we should just sit tight and do everything the same as we've been doing, and we'll hope her levels will stabilize. She's not in danger of death with a high reading at least. We'll be getting in some supplements from Dr. Aiken (the holistic vet) next week to support her system too.

Pierce goes in for his neuter operation

     Pierce will spend the night at the clinic will be ready to be picked up tomorrow.

Sunday night was Randy's first night on the nine p.m. to six a.m. shift

   Laura escapes before Randy arrives

     At 8:15 last night the dogs announced their "Dog is Loose!" cries, and I looked out and saw Momma Laura trotting around just outside Toby's kennel. Laura didn't come to me, but she did run into a small area, and I was able to catch her. Since Bobby was outside in the puppy quarantine kennel, enjoying a break from his inside kitchen kennel, I took Momma Laura inside the house and put her in Bobby's house kennel, where she was the model in-patient dog until Randy came and wired up her and Jesse's kennel more securely where Laura had torn the chain link fence open.

   Randy learns to give Julie her insulin injection, and cooking special foods for special dogs

     Sunday night Randy watched me mix Julie's meal and do her insulin at nine p.m., right after he arrived. It was also a 'cooking' evening, and we prepared three days worth of meals for both diabetic Julie and Anthony, our recovering cancer patient. We cooked up meat and veggies and portioned them out for our fur-babies.

   Critters

     During the cooking, there was a 'rabbit is here' barking episode outside, and we chased the rabbit away. I warned Randy of the occasional toads too, which he has, of course, seen in the daytime as well.

   Making the rounds

     Randy then had time to visit all the kennels and let all the dogs know he was here. Their barks stopped as they realized it was Randy. He visited some of the dogs for longer periods, and in the kennels with lights he was able to sit on the ground with the dogs. We're going to get more lights.

   Feeding the hospital dogs and helping the morning feeders

     Randy and I fed and walked all the hospital dogs at about 3:30 a.m. to help our morning feeders before they arrived at four. Randy was then free to watch Tina prepare the meals and various medicines for the outside 74 dogs, another job Randy will eventually learn! Randy came into the "hospital" trailer again at five a.m. to go through another Julie meal and insulin session. (Julie eats three meals and receives three doses of insulin every day.)

     After more hospital dog walks, Randy was then free to go home, but he offered to stay a bit longer and help with kitchen clean up, washing all 74 dog dishes in the kennel crew office/kitchen.

     Thank you Randy! And, we'll do it again tonight, minus the cooking this evening.