Bill Arnold's Daily Straydog Log

SUNDAY MAY 30 2004

NOON UPDATE

Erin's Adoption Day Report ...

No Straydoggers adopted, but two of Angie's pups were adopted

      There wasn't much traffic on the Saturday of this Memorial Day Weekend in the PetsMart where we hold our Adoption Day in Plano (Texas) . We still helped place two small Lab puppies that Angie (the 63-year-old rescuer of dog fight losers among other dogs) had taken in. The families were wonderful.

      One couple, Chris and Miranda, have four Shi Tzus and were just waiting to see a Lab puppy on the Straydog website. They didn't want to go to a breeder. When they read about Angie's story, they called us wanting one of the puppies we had talked about in our Daily Straydog Updates. Chris and Miranda will take great care of the puppy. We're sure of this because they've already made a vet appointment for next Tuesday. After they got the pup home, they noticed tapeworms in the puppy's stools and called us. Angie had wormed the pups for roundworms and hookworms with Strongid-T, but had mentioned that she didn't have the money for tapeworm medicines a week ago. We didn't know that the Lab puppies had tapeworms. Just a little medicine from the vet will clear this up soon!

      Another family adopted Angie's second Lab pup. There are two children, ages 10 and 11, who are honor students. The youngest boy wants to be a doctor. He has about ten books on "Adopting a Puppy" and has been talking about this for three years, his mother said! He asked me about 75 questions over the course of the afternoon, as we were getting supplies, etc., and he also asked Trainer Wanda about 25 questions! The young boy asked things like:

(1) Would it be good to feed the puppy at the same time every day? (2) How much will I feed her? Three times a day? (3) Is it up to me to decide when her toenails should be clipped? (4) How will I know if the puppy is sick? (5) What if the puppy gets hip dysplasia? (6) Are Labs prone to eye disease? (7) Have you heard of gum-bones? (8) Should I get a toothbrush today? (9) Should I give the puppy a bath? How often? What type of shampoo? (10) When can I take her to puppy training classes? (11) How long will it take for her to be house-trained?

      The ten-year-old also told his mom that he thinks he should put off his karate lessons for another month as he will need to spend time with the puppy!

      Chris and Miranda (who were adopting the first of the two pups) helped us pick out toys for the other family's Lab pup, good toys for a little puppy. They know about little dogs, and how they can tear up squeaker toys and flimsy plastic rubber toys.

      I think everyone was very happy and excited with their new pets!

Two skinny pups were found living under a bus stop bench in West Dallas

      On the way back home Tina and I stopped by a poor woman's one-room place in West Dallas. This woman had called Straydog asking if we could take in these two skinny puppies she had found by the bus stop. A neighbor had seen someone throw them out of a car, and had begun feeding the puppies. The puppies remained under the bus stop bench, and this woman gathered them up to try to keep them alive and find a home for them other. (Can you imagine the fear these two little fellas must have felt huddling under a bus stop bench with no one to care for them?)

      The woman called both Angie and us (at Straydog). Angie sent us some Strongid-T to worm the pups as the woman said that the female was just bones. We found the woman's residence and met the two pups and began pulling ticks off the puppies. We gave the woman some cans of good dog food and a couple of leashes. We also gave each of the pups two cc's of Strongid-T for worms. This woman can only keep the puppies until the middle of next week. She will have a friend take the pups to Angie's vet, City Vet Uptown on McKinney Avenue (in Dallas). If the puppies don't show signs of a virus, Angie said she would take them in. "But these are the last ones," Angie said. "No more pups after these two. But I can't be worrying about these pups! I can't ignore them."

      "Are these wolf puppies?" a neighbor asked. They look like coyote/Shepherd mixes! Hopefully they will be all right!

Nico

      A black and white Australian Cattle Dog (aka Blue Heeler) will be without a home sometime in the next week. The family rescued the dumped dog less than a year ago and had him treated for heartworms. Now this young family is moving to Pennsylvania and cannot take along the rambunctious dog. Nico needs to be neutered and needs training because he has a lot of energy and is very smart! Trainer Wanda (at PetsMart) gave the couple some agility training places to contact, hoping that someone in these groups will know of a foster or permanent home for Nico. "I've called 40 or 50 rescues and none have room," the sad woman told us. "We don't have a fenced yard at the new house and don't have room in the car to take Nico. I don't know what we'll do!"

      Here are photos of Nico the woman emailed to us:

Another email from Lana Isom concerning 73-year-old rescuer, Jesse Evans

Subject: Ideas for Jessie
Date: Sat, 29 May 2004 16:29:33 +0000
From: Lana Isom
To: straydog@straydog.org

Hi Bill/Erin,

As I lay awake last night trying to think of a way to help Jessie, I thought of possibly setting up a web page with her animals and story on it, but, alas, I am not computer literate and hoped you could give me some ideas. I am pretty much floundering in this area.

A side note from my last e-mail. Your exasperation, Bill, over the shelter not honoring Jesse's spay/neuter vouchers pretty much was my reaction. I had a long conversation with the clinic director and got her to agree to accept one of Jessie's vouchers for June. (I set up Mama cat for June 1st.) The director said she would set up another for me in July, which will exhaust Jessie's vouchers. The director explained to me that the MAC organization that puts these vouchers out will honor only 12 per month, and they stay backed up with scheduled appointments. I understand that, I argued, but what do these elderly/indigent people do in the meantime? When I volunteered at that shelter, we had several programs in place. No more, she told me. Same old song: no funds left. They are, however, running a special from June 6-11 for $10.00 off any cat spay/neuter. I called Jessie to let her know I would be by her place next Tuesday morning, and in the conversation I find out that not only does Jesse have the new weaned litter but yet another older litter around three months old that she had taken in. Yikes, Jessie, are there any more?! "No," she tells me. "After I get mama cat in next Tuesday, all adult females will be taken care of."

I immediately called the shelter back and booked a spot for two females while the special is running. Maybe if I can get in one or two every payday, all females will be taken care of before puberty hits. I had planned on helping Jesse start on her male dogs who aren't neutered. (Jesse explained that she had had to focus on the females and had no money left to get all the males fixed.) We agreed that the ladies are going to have to come first unless we can get the younger ones adopted out.

Thanks so much, Erin and Bill, for your help. I know you have more than you can take care of and little time, but I would appreciate any information or ideas you can give me on this website suggestion. If you ever meet this little lady (Jesse Evans), you will understand why my heart goes out to her. Her gratitude just puts me in tears every time I talk to her.

[Response from Bill: If you'll email me the stories and photos, Lana, I'll put a special link to a file on our website we could call something like "Jesse's Page." ... Also a note to everyone: Please don't be afraid that we at Straydog are spreading ourselves too thin by helping other rescuers. We must never forget that we are all in this together. No dog (or cat) is less important than any other dog (or cat). They and we are all one.]

It's almost noon Sunday (POST TIME), and I haven't gotten to the photos yet

      I just opened the camera case, which Erin delivered to me last night after she and Tina got back late from Adoption Day, and there are nine floppy disks full of photos waiting for me to process and post on this website. I'll be lucky if I get them all done by sundown.

      I also need to get the next newsletter composed, printed and mailed by June 1st, and I haven't even started on it yet. (Remember back in school how tremendously busy and hectic things were at final exam time with final papers due along with all the exams to study for?)

Patch and Whiskers are doing fine

      We're keeping them as quiet as possible so they won't undo the work the vets did to repair their legs.

Both Lucy and Gordo (two of General Manager Juana's kids) came to help their mom today

      And here they are helping Caregiver Tina with Penny and Scooter during this pair of dogs' afternoon turn in the park: