Bill Arnold's Daily Straydog Log

SUNDAY MAY 9 2004

NOON UPDATE

Erin's report on yesterday's Adoption Day ...

Macy was adopted into a wonderful home!

      It was a busy day again at Petsmart. Brad Zink and his Dad came in for us to take Macy to their place for the home visit and potential adoption of Macy. We loaded Macy back into the van and went over to the Zinks' home and walked through their very nice fenced back yard with many newly planted flowers. I was wondering what Macy would do to their beautiful landscaping.

      "I had an apple tree that I planted from a seedling," said the dad, who is semi-retired. "When it was a foot tall, I replanted it, and my girl, Gypsy," he said, pointing to an oil painting of a spaniel on their wall, "tore it up. Dog's dig, but Macy will never be out here without supervision anyway."

      Brad and his Dad had two oil paintings on the wall of their two previous dogs, who had lived well into old age.

      After approving the fenced yard, and seeing how much the fellows loved Macy already, we went over her current diet and heartworm prevention medication. We talked about some of the vets in the area, whom I know from living in Plano myself. We talked about the trainers, Kristi and Wanda, who work at Petsmart, and a very nice inside/outside boarding facility where a lady trains German Shepherds to be therapy dogs.

      The Zinks gave us a an extra donation (in addition to the adoption donation) and the dad signed the adoption papers. Next we drove the couple of miles back to the store to get a crate and food and toys for Macy. "You will have to have a crate for Macy," Tina told the men. (Tina had rescued Macy from wondering on the road and had tried to keep her for two months at her parents' home until they finally said they couldn't keep Macy.) "She will absolutely destroy your house--curtains, blinds, everything--when you leave her. Even if you just go to the store for an hour, you'll need to crate her." So, Macy's new guardians picked out a very big, see-through kennel, and Macy picked out one of her favorite kinds of squeaky stuffy toys with arms and legs and a tail. They also bought her a gentle-lead, the kind Trainer Kristi had used working with the dogs at our shelter a few Sundays ago. When they had their cart filled with all dog food supplies they would need for a while, we said goodbye to lucky Macy and her happy new guardians.

      Yea, Macy! And "Thank you!" to the Zinks for providing such a nice home and plenty of love for Macy!

Thelma and Louise are returned after a week at their new home

      The Darks, a very nice couple with a 13-year-old daughter adopted both Thelma and Louise a week ago Friday. We were very hopeful and pleased because the couple had had Chows and Akitas before, and it seemed that the whole family was very interested in doing the right thing for the pups, including training them and being very involved in bonding with the puppies, etc.

      But a very sad mom and dad returned the puppies today because they weren't able to spend the time that they now realized the puppies really needed. "We can't crate them for 10 or 11 hours a day while we're at work and then another eight hours at night. That's 19 hours in a crate!"

      I don't know why we didn't ask about the crating time when we adopted out the pups. I guess I just imagined that the family would work it out somehow, coming home for lunch or something. I don't know why it slipped our minds to ask about that. That's usually one of our standard questions to potential adopters: "How much time every day will the dog(s) be alone?"

      Trainer Kristi came over and talked to the couple and asked if they possibly wanted just one of the pups. She said that it was much, much harder to deal with two puppies (of any breed) than just one. Kristi suggested that in the future we adopt out one puppy at a time to a family. When the puppy is house-broken and the family has made the adjustment to having one puppy, then they could consider the second. But none of this would have solved the 19-hours-in-a-crate problem with Thelma and Louise.

      The couple tearfully donated the puppies' large crate, and toys and collars. They told us to please keep the adoption donation and told us that they wished so much that the pups would find a good home.

      We asked them to tell us what they learned about Thelma and Louise this week. The puppies are smart, they said. Louise had gotten into the father's lap for the first time last night too, so she was becoming less afraid. The puppies didn't want to go to the bathroom in their crate. There were almost no accidents during the week. The family had also gotten enough toys and balls that the pups didn't chew anything that they weren't supposed to. Louise, the more aloof puppy, had really taken to the 13-year-old too.

      There was, of course, no digging in their yard during the week, as the couple never left Thelma and Louise outside during the day unsupervised, so that may be the reason they didn't get any holes dug in their yard!

      Lots of people admired the gorgeous puppies during the last hour we were at Petsmart Saturday, so hopefully we'll get another home for them soon.

      We thank the Dark family for their kindness and for trying with the puppies, and we apologize that we hadn't foreseen the crating problem.

The tiny kitten with the bad eye has found a foster home!

      Sheri, one of our regular volunteers (who over a year ago adopted a dog from Straydog), said she would foster the little kitten who's being cared for right now by Dr. Reeves. We'll report more on this later.

Jackie moves in with Russell, and Jasmine and her returned pups move into Jackie's kennel

      This leaves open the small puppy kennel where Thelma and Louise had been living with their mother, but I'm sure that very shortly the kennel will be occupied as there's a list 20 miles long of rescued dogs and pups waiting for a call from us. Macy's kennel is also vacant now, but I'm sure it won't be vacant for long.