Bill Arnold's Daily Straydog Log

SUNDAY MAY 16 2004

7:14 A.M. UPDATE

No new updates on Rocky yet

      We'll be talking with Dr. Reeves sometime today, hopefully before noon, and we'll update Rocky's condition after we hear from the doctor.

NOON UPDATE

Erin hasn't been able to get Straydog emails for three days

      Erin's Internet service at her home has been down for the last three days, but she was able to quickly glance through the many emails that were at Straydog waiting for her last night when she stopped by on her way home from Adoption Day. Erin will be able to write back to folks when she gets here on Monday! Here is Erin's update on Angie, Jessie, and our Straydog friends who have come to the aid of these two rescuers so far, plus a brief Adoption Day update:

Update on Angie (the 63-year-old rescuer of dogfight losers) and Jessie (the 73-year-old rescuer) and friends who are helping them

      Angie has found a foster home for the white Pit Bull named Patch. A few people wrote in to us and would like to contribute towards Angie's vet bills, which is wonderful, as in the last conversation I had with Angie (on Thursday), she said she was at a zero balance in her bank account and would have to use a credit card to get one of her dogs out of the vet clinic that day!

      We will get the phone number and address of Angie's vet along with another update on the time-frame we have to get Tiger out of West Dallas. (Tiger is the Pit whose "owner" is slated to get out of prison soon, which will allow him to begin entering Tiger in dogfights.) Tiger is spayed (Angie took care of that awhile back) and is sweet with Angie's cat, who goes over to Tiger's place and lies down with the beautiful Pit Bull. I told Angie that Straydog would somehow make sure that Tiger gets taken out of there in time.

      Angie still needs help with the puppies. If someone has a large see-through kennel you could donate, the puppies would be much happier than having to stay in the darker crate Angie has them in now. Angie lets the pups out in a room every day for part of the day, and then spends the rest of the time cleaning up after the rambunctious little babies!

      Also, we'll have a generous donation from a long-time Straydog friend, Sara Jamison, going towards Jessie's vet bills soon.

      Friends knowing about the SPCA and Kittico mobile spay-neuter clinics also wrote in saying they would send more specific information soon. Kittico's mobile clinic may be working in Jessie's area starting at the beginning of June.

      Lana Isom, a long-time Straydog friend who lives in Jessie's area, would like to help Jesse with transportation if this becomes necessary. So, one way or another, Jessie will be able to have all her cats fixed soon! Thank you, dear friends!

Update on Puppy Grace

      Puppy Grace (renamed Brittany because of the two-year old in their family named Grace) will be having her spay surgery on Tuesday. Puppy Brittany's new mom brought back a crate to us on Saturday while we were at PetsMart, and she told us a sweet story about the puppy: She said that when her two-year old twins cry, Puppy Brittany goes over and licks their faces. Also, one of her twins has a rag doll that she carries around with her all the time. Once recently when the twin was crying, Puppy Brittany found the rag doll and took it over and laid it down in front of the upset child. How sweet!

One potential adoption yesterday at Adoption Day

      One family is very interested in adopting Baby Girl, and they'll be back next week to visit with Baby Girl again and hopefully ask us to do the home visit.

EVENING UPDATE

Rocky should be ready to come home tomorrow or the next day

      Dr. Reeves called this evening and said that Rocky seems to have bounced back completely from the vomiting of his breakfast yesterday. His relapse might have been from some inappropriate food, the doctor thought.

Previous Daily Updates

Bill Arnold's Daily Straydog Log

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS OF PREVIOUS UPDATES

(Click on any day below to see the update of that day)

LAST WEEK

SUNDAY May 9 2004:

* Erin's report on Saturday's Adoption Day:

* Macy was adopted into a wonderful home!

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

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

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

MONDAY May 10 2004:

* Rocky update: Dr. Reeves called last night, and I called the doctor this morning: Rocky's making his own blood now, but blood test shows liver not doing well [PHOTO].

TUESDAY May 11 2004:

* Joe visited Rocky late yesterday afternoon, and Rocky ate for Joe;

* Rocky ate even better this morning, but he's still not a "happy camper";

* WOMAN RESCUES DOGFIGHT LOSERS: Erin received a call from a 63-year-old rescuer of dogfight losers (among other dogs) who's in dire straights [PHOTOS];

* Number of calls increasing asking us to take puppies.

WEDNESDAY May 12 2004:

* Erin's report on Tuesday's vet visit to Dr. Reeves' clinic in Tyler (including an update on Rocky) [LOTS OF PHOTOS TO COME];

* Rocky ate this morning (Wednesday) and seems perkier per phone call from Dr. Reeves;

* The 73-year-old rescuer needs help with spay/neuter transportation and with adoptions;

* Erin rescued another dog last night on the highway. (Story with photos to come tomorrow.)

THURSDAY May 13 2004:

* Erin rescues stray from highway [PHOTO];

* Pat Arnold's notes on Angel, written and left in Angel's medical file starting on March 2, 1994, six months before we moved to our current location;

* Pat continued doing the kind of things she did above with ever greater and greater intensity for the next nine years.

* An email regarding spay/neuter help for the 73-year-old rescuer we've been writing about.

FRIDAY May 14 2004:

* HAPPY 47TH BIRTHDAY, ERIN!

* On this date in 1957 Pat and I became parents for the first time [PHOTOS];

* Report on Rocky, who had a good day yesterday and is doing super today!

SATURDAY May 15 2004:

* Rocky is scheduled to come home today!

* A lot of extra medical care and tender, loving care bring Rocky back;

* Late morning call from Dr. Reeves: Rocky's sick again this morning and won't be coming home today;

* Caregiving;

* Dallas Morning News piece about pairing senior citizens with mature pets.

 

WEEK BEFORE LAST

SUNDAY May 2 2004:

* Special Sunday Edition of our "Saturday Adoption Day";

* Dr. Reeves called about two p.m. with an update on Rocky [PHOTO];

MONDAY May 3 2004:

* Rocky's going into surgery this afternoon;

* SPECIAL 6:20 P.M. UPDATE: Rocky survived the surgery!

* No adoptions at our Special Sunday Edition of "Saturday Adoption Day";

* Email regarding Rocky's visit to Dr. Maris at Shelley Drive Animal Clinic;

* Another email regarding Rocky from our wonderful volunteer, Dr. Murray;

* Another email regarding Rocky;

* An email from Candy and Tommy Tootles regarding the Kroger Share Cards;

* An email from Renate updating us on Sam and Baxter, Ann Story's dogs;

* Email from last week from Adoption Day volunteer, Pat Seward, regarding Jordan;

* Email from Larry Powel (of The Dallas Morning News) to Pat Seward.

TUESDAY May 4 2004:

* Report from Dr. Reeves is that Rocky is holding his own so far;

*Gretchen and others to see Dr. Reeves this afternoon;

* Puppy Scooby and Big Copper visited Dr. Morton (our local vet) this morning [PHOTOS];

* Jasmine and Puppy Holly are back home after yesterday's spay surgery [PHOTOS].

WEDNESDAY May 5 2004:

EARLY MORNING UPDATE:

* Update on Rocky-Boy (as Dr. Reeves calls him): Rocky's very sore and on IVs;

* Dr. Reeves asked about Gretchen, who had been scheduled for a new arrivals checkup; we check for worms with our donated microscope;

* Dr. Reeves also asked about Old Sassy Katie (who missed her acupuncture treatment Tuesday);

NOON UPDATE:

* "Hopefully this is Rocky's day to turn around," said Dr. Reeves;

* A mother dog and pup need a home.

THURSDAY May 6 2004:

* Last evening's call from Dr. Reeves' wife gives us a very positive message;

* Erin talked with Dr. Reeves about Rocky late this morning;

* Email from Jana, Blind Chubs' mom, regarding Chubs' new accomplishment.

FRIDAY May 7 2004:

* Rocky's not doing so well: He'll eat only when hand-fed by Mrs. Reeves;

* Two four-year-old Chihuahuas are rescued and adopted into a good home;

* Abby and Willow update: An email from Claudia forwarded by Billy Lawson.

SATURDAY May 8 2004:

* Rocky was sure glad to see Joe yesterday afternoon [PHOTOS];

* An email from a reader concerned with the possibility that Rocky might be suffering;

* Please be assured that we are ever conscious of the possibility that a dog might be in pain and/or might be suffering;

* A tiny kitten with a very sick eye (that must be removed) needs a home;

* A 73-year-old woman with 20 dogs calls;

* Today's Adoption Day Roster.

 

PREVIOUS WEEKS (TABLE OF CONTENTS of Previous Updates)

     Thanks very much to those who have printed out even just one copy of the above three pieces of our newsletter and have passed the newsletter on to (or mailed it to) a potential Straydog supporter. If you can, please print out two or three copies (or five or 10 copies) and distribute them to potential supporters. If all 300 of our daily readers printed out and distributed just one copy, Straydog would be exposed to 300 new people. If all 300 of you printed out and distributed 10 copies, we would reach 3,000 new people!

First email from a reader who printed out and mailed out copies of our newsletter

     Thanks a lot to longtime supporters Deana and Jim Hanson, who followed my suggestion to make copies of and mail out to friends the PDF files of our newsletter--with color photos too!

     It probably won't happen anytime soon, but the technology is here to do away with mass printing and mass mailing altogether. It's already possible to read and print out entire books on the Internet.

     We encourage others to do what Deana and Jim have done:

Bill,

We printed newsletters, and Jim put them in the mail today. Good luck! Please let us hear from you if your shelter runs short on anything. We'll try and help.

Happy Easter,

Deana and Jim

     If you have a big enough list of people to pass out (or mail out) our newsletter to, you can simply call your local copy center (a Kinko's, for example) and tell them to go to this website (www.Straydog.org) and print out as many copies as you want of the three PDF files via the above three links. Then you can have the copy shop deliver the copies to you or you can go pick them up and do your own mailing of our three-piece newsletter. (And please never worry about the copyrights to our website materials. We want as many people as possible to make copies and distribute them!)

Expanding (or growing) our list of contributors will be our salvation

     If a mailing list of 2,500 people can sustain our operation as it has, just think what a mailing list of 3,000 or 3,500 contributors could do.

     Before the first article about Straydog was published in The Dallas Morning News (on March 13, 1997) we didn't know there was anyone else in the world who felt the way Pat and I felt about homeless dogs, and we had never asked anyone to help us. We believed that most people thought we were crazy. (And indeed many humans did and still do.) During 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 and the first quarter of 1997, we (with no donations from anyone) paid all the expenses of taking care of all our rescues--a total population of eight rescued dogs in 1992 which had increased to 24 dogs at the time of the publication of The Dallas Morning News article in 1997. Pat and I always felt tremendous appreciation for the financial and moral support we began receiving from our supporters after that first article appeared in the newspaper. Six hundred people contributed more than $40,000 to Straydog (or the original "Arnold Stray Dog Fund") in March 1997, and from that point we continued to grow and grow and grow until we finally (two years ago) put a limit on ourselves of 65 dogs, which population has since swelled to 80+ dogs.

     Thanks so much to all of our contributors! We couldn't keep this operation going without you. Pat always said you all would continue to support us, and you have. And we at Straydog continue to rescue, care for and adopt out homeless dogs exactly the way Pat would have wanted. Thank you so much for your continuing support! ... Bill Arnold