www.Straydog.org UPDATE posted MONDAY 12/29/03 at ~8:14 p.m. ct usa

Bill Arnold's Daily Straydog Log

MONDAY DECEMBER 29 2003

Email from Sasha's volunteer trainer, who's keeping Sasha at her home for the week

Erin,

Today we worked on "Sit-Stay" and "Down-Stay." I feel Sasha understands "Sit-Stay" but has not learned the word "Down." She will give me the position only by means of luring her into it. She does great in a large wire cage. She understands that when I say, "Bed," she will go in. No problem with that or the amount of time she spends in the cage. Now coming out of the cage in an acceptable manner, well, let's say we are working on that. She goes nuts and is hard to control; she wants to jump and paw at you. I want to teach her how to redirect her excitement in order to get attention. We are working with our jumping problem, but I'm not sure if she'll be ready in a week to be honest with you, since during the week I will only be able to work her in the evenings. My husband is off this week so he will be playing with her. She does great with other dogs even little aggressive Maltese like my Tara who tries to bite Sasha when Sasha comes inside. Sasha hasn't jumped in the pool yet, but loves to play in the water buckets. She's doing great with walking, as she stays right with either of us.

Talk to you later!

Kristi

Erin's report on the dog with the broken jaw ...

Marsha's dog does need jaw surgery, and Gayle and her husband, Jim, who are donating the funds to cover Ojay's ear surgeries, have offered to cover the cost of this operation, and we all thank them very, very much!

     Marsha, the rescuer/animal lover who picked up the brindle pup, an Australian Shepherd who had been hit by a car, called me today saying that the pup was at her friends' house now and seemingly not in distress. Marsha said that the dog (whom she's named Molly) was able to eat canned food and drink water, so maybe we didn't need to spend the money to get the dog's mouth fixed. She gave me her vet's number so I could get more information.

     Dr. Hernandez said he'd be happy to refer the case to Dallas Veterinary Surgical Center and that the 'fractured maxilla' could possibly heal on it's own but that without the surgery and proper correction, Molly's bite would always be uneven. Right now it only hurts Molly when she tries to chew, Dr. Hernandez said.

     We have an appointment with Dr. Wilkins at the Dallas Veterinary Surgical Clinic at 9:45 a.m. on Wednesday. Marsha, the rescuer/foster caregiver, and our wonderful contributors, Gayle and Jim, will meet with the doctors and Molly.