Straydog, our Happy Home for Strays
(The hexagon is "The Big Play Yard," which we usually refer to as "the park")
(Photo taken May 2002)

Bill Arnold's Daily Straydog Log

SUNDAY OCTOBER 19 2003

Erin emails to me a phone-in report from Chubs and Cassie's new dad

     I just talked to Charlie (Chubs and Cassie's new dad) asking for an update on Chubs and Cassie. He's "sorry to say" the dogs are staying there, forever!

     "Right now Milo and Chubs are playing tug of war with a toy, in the house, dragging each other around," Charlie said, and he went on to tell me all kinds of new things the pups are doing.

     Chubs swims across the width of the pond, and gets out on the other bank and then wades back in and swims back. Every day the dogs get to run and swim.

     Chubs also knows his way around the house. He can walk from the kitchen, through the laundry room, through the breezeway, which leads to the garage, and then into the workshop. Chubs does this without bumping into anything!

     There is no change in appetite. They're both "little pigs." Sometimes Cassie stops eating to see if everyone else is still eating and to check everything out. Cassie is a little apprehensive when she hears different or strange noises, especially if they are loud noises, but "Chubs is dupe-de-do," said Charlie. "He's not afraid of anything!"

     Cassie and Milo run around the house and pond a lot. Chubs is learning to relax. He'll take naps and not worry about where anyone else is. "He really loves me too," Charlie said. "He walks right next to me all the time, knowing that he won't run into anything if I am near."

     Feeding the horses is a fun time. All the dogs come out to the gate and sit waiting for Charlie to feed the horses and come back. As they approach the gate Charlie tells Chubs, "Eeeeeeeeeeasy", and then when they get to the gate, "HALT." After the first time Chubbie really learned what that meant, and he knows these directions and commands now.

     All five dogs are getting along fine together. At first Summer didn't like that Chubs just bumped right into her. She didn't realize Chubs was blind, so she growled at him when he bumped into her. But now Chubs smells her and doesn't bump her by accident.

     The cats and the dogs get along fine too. Cassie especially likes the inside cat. Chubbie doesn't pay much attention to the cats.

     Chubs is also turning into a good watch dog. When people come over and Chubbie begins to hear their voices, he barks!

     Chubs and Cassie both follow Charlie around all day every day. As Charlie was talking to me on the phone, he said Cassie was sitting on one foot and Chubs was leaning against the other leg.

     Cassie doesn't want to come home to Straydog. When Jana put on her shoes with bells to work with Chubs the other night (as she had worked with these shoes with Chubs at Straydog), Cassie went over to Charlie and backed away from Jana, as if to say, "I want to stay here, please."

     What a difference a forever home makes in a dog's life.

     What a difference forever dogs make in our lives.

*Bill Arnold's Daily Straydog Log

LAST WEEK

SUNDAY October 12 2003:

* Amigo's all alone now with Freddy gone, so we try him with diabetic Julie [PHOTOS];

MONDAY October 13 2003:

* Two tiny pups found in a garbage bag inside a dumpster join us [PHOTO];

* Three other people called today wanting us to take dogs they had rescued.

TUESDAY October 14 2003:

* More calls today from people who are trying to place dogs they've rescued;

* Why we don't take 40 or 50 dogs to adoption days.

WEDNESDAY October 15 2003:

* Flash! - Late rescue of a dog named Henry;

* Puppies Madison and Sadie come in the house for a bath in the bathroom sink [PHOTOS];

THURSDAY October 16 2003:

* The rescue of Henry [PHOTOS];

* So now we've got two new dogs coming (both males);

* The golden-tan Pit/Lab mix will be dropped off at Morton Small Animal Clinic tomorrow; the other new dog, Henry, will probably be released to come home tomorrow.

FRIDAY October 17 2003:

* Henry does not have a broken jay, but an abscess, which is draining while Henry stays at the clinic;

* A large, soft lump is discovered on Misty's belly, and Juany takes her to the vet [FILE PHOTOS].

* The new golden-tan Pit/Lab mix (we've named Russell after his rescuer) is at the clinic, and we'll pick him up Monday.

SATURDAY October 18 2003:

* No adoptions today, but Straydog receives $96 from the proceeds of a raffle [PHOTOS].

 

WEEK BEFORE LAST

SUNDAY October 5 2003:

* It's been raining all day with temperatures in the low 70s [PHOTOS];

* Newsletter is almost ready to stuff into envelopes.

MONDAY October 6 2003:

* First hundred newsletters make it to the post office in time tonight [PHOTOS];

* Diabetic Julie went to the vet clinic for her blood sugar test, and Big Boy went for another blood test too [PHOTO].

TUESDAY October 7 2003:

* Blind Chocolate Lab Chubs and his Black Lab sister, Cassie, are officially adopted and go to their new home today! [PHOTOS WITH MORE PHOTOS TO COME]

WEDNESDAY October 8 2003:

* An email to Erin from Jana (Chubs and Cassie's new mom);

* An email to Bill from Heather's new mom (from last week) [PHOTOS];

* Several hundred mailers go to the post office every day before the 4:30 p.m. pickup;

* Thanks to Ofelia for helping out for several hours on the mailer today;

* We got diabetic Julie one of those blood sugar reading machines.

THURSDAY October 9 2003:

* The newsletters are not all in the mail yet;

*Overcast, gray day with intermittent rain;

*Julie's new glucose level machine is working great.

FRIDAY October 10 2003:

* The balance of the newsletters are in the mail;

* Late yesterday evening we decided to bring Alice in for the night. Then today we had to bring Sally over to be with Alice in Chubs and Cassie's former kennel [PHOTOS].

SATURDAY October 11 2003:

* Daisy and Freddy are adopted together at Adoption Day at PetsMart [PHOTOS];

 

 

3 WEEKS AGO

SUNDAY September 28 2003:

* I spent the day working on the abbreviated newsletter;

* Sassy Old Katie has a very good day [PHOTOS].

MONDAY September 29 2003:

* Heather was adopted today!

* Julie is rushed to the vet clinic at a little after one p.m.

TUESDAY September 30 2003:

* Blind Chocolate Lab Chubs and his sister, Cassie, go on a special home visit [PHOTOS];

* Julie went for another blood test this morning: normal range!

WEDNESDAY October 1 2003:

* Sally and Alice escape from their kennel this morning [PHOTO];

* Old Pup and Angel chew up an air-conditioner filter [PHOTO];

* Heather's new mom called concerned because Heather hasn't eaten very much;

* We took in two newly rescued dogs today and immediately adopted one of them out [PHOTOS].

THURSDAY October 2 2003:

* I drove to Dallas this morning and picked up the printed and folded newsletter [PHOTO];

* Freddy comes home from the clinic after his new arrivals checkup and neuter surgery [PHOTOS];

* Old Pup and Angel resumed bowel movements;

* Employee Michael reports that his new Red Pit is doing fine at his house.

FRIDAY October 3 2003:

* After a long, barky night Freddy meets Amigo in the park and moves in with him early this morning [PHOTOS];

* Julie's blood sugar is high again;

SATURDAY October 4 2003:

* Chubs and Cassie go for their second home visit;

* Adoption Day in downtown Dallas.

 

 

PREVIOUS WEEKS (TABLE OF CONTENTS of Previous Updates, Continued)

*SUNDAY UPDATES: Headlines Linking to the Last 215 Consecutive Sunday Updates of our Straydog website, which is also updated nightly before ~9:00 Central Time U.S.A.

*Adoption Day Saturday, October 25th at PetsMart in Plano [Texas] on Central [75] at Parker.

*Our Dogs for Adoption - Shannon's page

*Our Dogs for Adoption listed on Petfinder.org, kept up to date by volunteer and member of our Board of Directors, Susan Southerland, Esq.

*Our Mission & How We Got Started

*"Goodbye, Danny Boy." - An example of the only acceptable use of euthanasia

*When a dog rescuer approaches Rainbow Bridge

  If you would like to help with our ever-growing vet bill, donations can be sent directly to:

*Email from Neal Fort's wife, Darla, received Thursday, September 18th and published here Friday, September 19th.

*Article in newspapers across Canada on September 20, 2003 about the Montreal Alouettes' Neal Fort and his Great Dane, Helen, whom the Forts adopted from Straydog. (Links to the articles are working again.)

* The Neal Fort articles upped our readership! Every bit of media exposure gives us a boost!

     We really want to thank Neal a lot for getting Straydog and our website address mentioned. Every mention on broadcast TV and radio and every mention in print is a potentially big step and always increases audience.

*Click here for continuation of our homepage with no changes to the continuation in several weeks