Bill Arnold's Daily Straydog Log

SUNDAY JULY 4 2004

NOON UPDATE

For some reason there weren't as many fireworks shooters Saturday night

     Randy (our overnight man) reported at 7:00 a.m. that there had been far less fireworks Saturday night compared with Friday night. "They're probably saving it all up for tonight," I said, not looking forward to what the coming night might bring.

     We had brought several extra crates into our hospital trailer in anticipation of a bad night, but Randy said he was able to keep everybody calm by continually walking around the entire shelter campus, talking softly to the dogs, reassuring them that everything was all right. There were only sporadic explosions in the distance and by eleven o'clock everything quieted down, and there were no more problems. Even the dogs most terrified of loud noises managed to get through the evening remaining in their kennels outside.

     Let's hope tomorrow's fireworks report is as positive as this one. Tonight could be bad.

Stray Labrador Retriever rescued from road near Straydog

     As Michael was arriving at our shelter to begin a long day of work today (on this 4th of July), he saw two dogs walking slowly along the side of the road just a short distance from our driveway entrance. Knowing we are full (bursting at the seams really) Michael drove on up the drive and asked Juana what he should do. "Go back and try to rescue them before someone shoots them," Juana told Michael.

     Michael got Tina (who was already at work, being an early morning feeder), and the two of them, with leashes and some dog biscuits, went back down the hill to see if they could rescue the dogs.

     One of the dogs ran off into the woods, but the Lab went into the yard of our neighbor across the street, so Michael and Tina went there first to see if our neighbors knew who the dog(s) might belong to. The neighbors didn't know anything about the strays, so Michael and Tina brought the Lab back to Straydog. The other dog, who looked to be in good shape, was long gone, hopefully heading for its home.

     We had to switch some dogs around (at least temporarily) to make a spot for the new fella, who doesn't appear too malnourished but does have goopy eyes, indicating a probable infection of some sort. We will, of course, be taking him to the vet first thing tomorrow (or Tuesday if the clinic's closed tomorrow) for his new arrivals checkup and to have him neutered.

For the first year since we've been at our current Straydog location (October 1994 to the present), ticks are becoming a big challenge

     During our first nine years here we saw almost no ticks whatsoever. Neighbors told us we had no ticks due to the huge fire ant population in our area. Ticks, it seems, are a real delicacy to the fire ants. And the fire ants never really bothered us or the dogs, so we allowed them to coexist with us. But this year the fire ants are mysteriously gone, and the ticks are here, and we're having to bathe various dogs almost every day and spray their kennels, and we're having quite a struggle staying ahead of the ticks. Not ever having had this problem before, we're not quite sure we're doing everything we might be able to do. Does anyone have any suggestions?