Bill Arnold's Daily Straydog Log
SUNDAY MARCH 14 2004
NOON UPDATE:
An emailed response to my comments on Steve Blow's column in Friday's Dallas Morning News
From noon till about 2:30 p.m. yesterday there was a short paragraph in the Saturday noon update I had written regarding the probable comments by some people who may have criticized Suzanne Darsey for having stopped to help a dog who had been hit by a car, which attempted rescue resulted in Suzanne Darsey's death after she, herself, was hit by another car. I removed the short paragraph after being advised by an early reader that my comments were possibly too harsh. Later I received the following email from a woman (named Michelle) who may have read the deleted paragraph:
Dear Bill,
After reading your post today I just had to respond. Several years ago I was driving in a horrible storm, and there on the highway ahead of me was a large white dog, running down the center line. I slowed and then stopped, opened my door and the dog jumped in. But about six cars back, they didn't stop, and it caused an accident. No one was injured, but two cars were smashed up. The ones in the accident quickly ran up to my car (again, in this horrid storm of lightning, thunder and rain) and began screaming at me. They asked if this was my dog and I said no. I told them it was in the middle of the road, though. Then they screamed that I should have just hit the dog. I was afraid the situation was going to escalate, so I drove off.
This poor white dog would have been killed if someone had not stopped. But all these people cared about was finding blame for their lack of slowing down.
I would rescue any dog, any time, any place - regardless of the situation. My husband says I'm going to get killed one of these days because I'm always pulling over for turtles, dogs, whatever. But I couldn't live with myself if I knew I could have helped and didn't. I know just how that lady must have felt who wanted to help that dog. I'm so sorry for her, but I know she will have a special place in heaven.
I found my third dog after he had been hit by a car, and the van that hit him just drove off. I swooped him up and took him straight to the vet, where they said the dog was fine - except he had double ear infections and would have soon gone deaf if he had not been brought in for treatment. He's now a happy cocker who romps around joyfully in my home. I often think about where I would be without these gems. People say, "Oh, you never go on vacation," or "Dogs are too much trouble." What these three dogs add to my life far outweighs the minimal trouble.
Bless you and all at Straydog
for all you do!
Take care,
Michelle
FIVE P.M. UPDATE:
Dog Training Event lasted till almost 4:00 p.m., food prep time for the dogs' second and last meal of the day
Our Straydog caregivers and dog handlers learned a lot today from the four professional dog trainers who volunteered their Sunday to work with our dogs and teach us how to do a lot of the dog training techniques that will help us during our daily routine with the dogs. THANKS SO MUCH TO ALL FOUR OF YOU! We snapped about 100 photos and took some video and will be working on processing the "film" this evening and tomorrow morning (if we ever get to it).
