Bill Arnold's Daily Straydog Log

MONDAY APRIL 5 2004

Billy Lawson, a long-time friend and supporter of Straydog, calls with another rescue

      Billy rescued Big Boy several years ago from an abandoned warehouse, and we took the semi-feral dog in, and he'll probably be here the rest of his life. Billy volunteered to drive the Adoption Day Van several times after rescuing Big Boy, and early one Saturday morning on his way to Straydog to drive for us, Billy came across Snowflake running in circles in the middle of Highway 175. As you can see by going to our TABLE OF CONTENTS, there were many, many stories about old Snowflake's wonderful life here at Straydog until she died in 2003.

      Last evening a little after seven o'clock Billy called saying he'd found another dog in dire need of help. Billy said he knew we were full--bursting at the seams--, but he was hoping there was something we could suggest. I asked Billy to email me the entire story with photos (which he told me he had already taken) and we would publish the story and photos here and hopefully get some help from some of our supporters.

Here's Billy Lawson's email:

On my way to work Saturday morning, I noticed a dog lying in a field. When I returned later that morning, I saw the dog was still lying in the same place, so I decided to go over to see if the dog was hurt. When I stopped and got out of the car, a second dog came running up to me. I walked over to the other dog (who was still lying in the same spot) and noticed that she was skin and bones, her ears had been partially torn off, and she was covered with ticks. She was so weak she was unable to lift her head. I went to the store close by and bought several cans of dog food. Upon returning I found that the weaker dog was unable to get up and eat.

There was a vet clinic nearby that was not open, but there were some vet techs there, and I asked them if they could help. They said they would get the dog. I went by the field where the dogs had been again in the afternoon and no longer saw the dogs, so I assumed the vet techs had gotten them. However, on Sunday morning, the dogs were still there. I fed them and noticed they seemed friendly but wouldn't get too close. They may be siblings (both are females), as they both are about the same size and look similar.

Due to the condition of the weaker dog, I think she may need immediate help to survive. Sunday evening I fed them again, and they both began to come to me and let me pet them. (The weaker dog had regained some strength from the food I'd given them.) I called a friend of mine, Jennifer Lucas, who also rescues dogs to see if she could help. She spent most of the day trying to assist with their rescue. Any help would be appreciated.

Please contact (1) Billy Lawson at Clawson04@aol.com or (214) 676-7244 or (2) Jennifer Lucas at cdlucas@comcast.net or (972) 222-8829.

Let's get these dogs medical attention at a vet clinic and board them till we can find a spot for them

      I can remember Pat giving (it seems like) hundreds of people this advice when they called with a rescue in urgent need of help. If some of our supporters could please finance this first step in the rescue of these dogs, I'm sure that Billy (along with possible help from us) will be able to get these two precious animals to permanent safe haven.

Prince is at the clinic for his surgery

      At 7:00 this morning I called Morton's Small Animal Clinic, and the receptionist said they could do the surgery today, so Tina drove Prince to the clinic. Dr. Morton will call us later. Hoping we'd be able to get Prince in for his surgery this morning, Jason, our overnight man, had wisely skipped Prince's breakfast so the dog would be ready for anesthesia.