w w w . S t r a y d o g. o r g U p d a t e
POSTED EVERY DAY AT NOON CENTRAL TIME U.S.A.
Straydog Inc., The Late Pat Arnold's Happy Home for Strays, a No-Kill Dog Shelter
P.O. Box 1465, Gun Barrel City, Texas 75147 * (903) 479-3497 * EMAIL: straydog@straydog.org

Bill Arnold's Daily Straydog Log

THURSDAY JUNE 10 2004

NOON UPDATE

Email from Jana, mom of Blind Chubs and Sister Cassie

Chubs and Cassie being walked across our park by Charlie, with Jana walking along beside them (September 2003)

From: Jana (Blind Chubs and Sister Cassie's mom)
To: Erin at Straydog
Subject: Chubs & Cassie and our other three Labs
Date: Wed, 9 Jun 2004 10:12:32 -0500

Erin,

How are you and Dana (Erin's husband)? I know that you have passed a milestone with the anniversary of your mom's death. Time does heal the raw grief and allows you to smile instead of cry at some of the memories. So I hope that you are smiling!

So sorry about Rocky, bless his heart.

I thought I would bring you up to date on our family of five Labs:

Nick

Nick has done wonderfully on the SynFlex. It has helped him so much. Charlie and I take it also along with other friends and relatives, including my 95-year-old Grandmother, with equal success.

Summer

Summer has been seizure free since the one and only seizure she had last October. Also since Chubs and Cassie came, Summer has been a different dog. She is not nearly the alpha girl she once was. It's almost like she has given some of that responsibility to Cassie and is much more laid back, even with Chubs. Summer growls at Chubs only if he accidentally steps on her (not being able to see her). Summer also seems to like children more now than she did before.

Milo

Milo is Milo. He likes everyone and everybody and doesn't seem to be any different from the way he was when he was a baby. He and Chubs and Cassie play a lot and sleep together and love each other probably more because of their closeness in age.

Cassie

Cassie is a perfect girl. Charlie still says that Cassie Lynn told him that if Charlie would take her home with him, she would be a good girl, and, "By the way, can my brother come too?" Well, she has kept her word. She minds better than all of the others. When you call her she runs to you with no hesitation. In the last few months she has stopped having to touch (or be extremely close to) Charlie and me at all times, and sometimes now she stays in the room she is in when we walk out. That was unheard of in the beginning, so she is much more secure and comfortable. She can hardly contain herself when children come over and at first she was scared of them. Lately she has been putting on some weight and has a dimple right above her tail.

Chubs

What can I tell you about Chubs? He is still very stubborn, and if he doesn't want to do something, you cannot make him do it. He has probably taught Charlie and me more in the last eight months then any animal ever. Being blind he understandably doesn't like loud noises, and it doesn't bother him at all to stay in the house by himself if noisy things are going on outside. Tractors, hay baling, weed eating--he would just as soon lie on his bed in the bedroom. It really used to bother Charlie and me, but we have since decided that Chubs is okay. We are still walking two miles on leashes every morning, but a few weeks ago when our neighbors' house was starting to be built, and they were using nail guns, we were walking along about a half mile from the new house, and the sound of the nail guns scared Chubs, and we couldn't walk him past the new house or back to our house. Chubs wouldn't budge. I waited at the side of the road while Charlie went back and got the PT Cruiser to pick us up. For the next two days Chubs wouldn't walk out of our driveway, so for the next two days after that we didn't even ask him to go and left him in the house by himself. On the third morning Chubs decided that he was ready to walk again and has been fine ever since.

We have had a busy month with a garage sale and a 50th birthday party with a hundred people at our house. Of course, this meant that the dogs were contained in the breezeway, but all five of them sat for hours with their heads resting on the window sills looking out at all the people--even Chubs. They looked so sad and mistreated, but good grief they had air conditioning and a pet door to a fenced yard! At least 10 people spent the night on air mattress's on the floor, so the dogs did get some socialization.

Five big active dogs are a lot of work, but already it's a lot easier than it was at first, and as we all age and settle in, it will continue to be better with time.

Cassie and Chubs still have a special relationship with each other, but it seems that Chubs doesn't rely on Cassie as much as he once did, and Cassie doesn't feel as responsible for Chubs as she did. It's more shared among all of the dogs. Chubs also has been playing with Simon (the cat), whom he totally ignored for months. Every once in a while Chubs will get excited enough to mouth the cat a little bit but no nipping, and he gets over it fairly quickly.

The squirting water bottle trick we learned at Straydog has been a life saver. We keep squirter bottles at every door, and when someone comes to the door, it sure nips that barking problem in the bud. All I have to say is, "I'm getting the water bottle," and everyone stops barking immediately. Funny that they will dive off the pier into the pond but don't want to be sprayed.

Anyway, Erin, thought I would share some good things with you. I also think that your adoption process is fine the way it is, and I think that sometimes when people adopt a pet, they really don't realize the work adopting a dog entails, and so they return the dog. It's sad but a fact of life. I don't think that getting any stricter on the adoption policies will help. My opinion anyway. Have a good week, and I will continue to pray for everyone at Straydog.

Jana
(Mom of Nick, Summer, Milo, Cassie & Chubs)

 

Old, Sassy Katie may be nearing the end

     Maybe we've waited too long. It's so difficult to tell sometimes. With Danny Boy it was clearly apparent that to wait another day would have been waiting another day too long. Same with Snowflake and Old Davey. If Katie could only tell us how she feels. She still has a good appetite, does her potty functions when she gets to the park, and walks around and around in the park, stopping to lie down for a while from time to time. But is she in pain? Is she suffering at all? Does she continue to walk around and around in the park because she can't get comfortable? Some of our caregivers suspect that this is the reason for her constant walking.

     After I post this update today, I will go observe Katie for a long period of time this afternoon. No one else wants to make the definitive decision. Where's Pat when I need her most? I guess I'll just have to evaluate Katie the way I would imagine Pat would. This part of running a no-kill shelter is so difficult--deciding when it's finally time to let one of them go.