*Newly Posted:More photos from last week:
*Heather on her first morning with us (March 13, 2003)
*More of Heather on her 1st morning at Straydog
*Snow remaining on the ground from Sunday 1/12/03, taken 1/13/03
*January 2003 Newsletter is continuing to be mailed as I type! Anyone who's not on our mailing list who would like to receive a printed copy of our January 2003 newsletter please email (or mail) us your address, and we'll send you a free copy. (Almost half of them were in the mail by Saturday evening, 1/18/03.)
Pat Arnold's Daily Dog Log
SUNDAY JANUARY 19 2003
Heather chews her stitches out, and I take her to the clinic to have her restitched
What a Sunday morning this has been! While I was preparing food for little Puppies Chubs and Cassie at 8:00 this morning, Randy called me over the walkie-talkie saying I'd better come outside and look at Heather's stitches. She had "chewed them out!" (Heather had just been spayed less than a week ago.)
I put Chubs and Cassie's food in their kennel for them and rushed outside to look at Heather. Randy was waiting for me in her kennel, and we looked at the open incision. Heather had chewed all but one stitch out, and the incision was open. Geesh! Yesterday afternoon when we checked it, we could tell she had been licking the stitches, and we put a bad tasting spray on the incision hoping she'd leave it alone. Obviously this did work.
I called Dr. Morton at home (as his clinic is closed on Saturdays and Sundays), and I was hoping he would be there. Luckily he answered the phone, and he told me he needed to close the incision and for me to meet me at his clinic at 10:00.
Dr. Morton's morning hadn't begun so well either
Heather and I waited in the van at the clinic until Dr. Morton arrived at 10:15. He pulled in the parking lot and parked beside our van, and when he got out of his car, I saw that he was dressed for Church, and I really felt bad for having interrupted his morning.
When he came to greet me with his usual happy hello, I apologized to him for messing up his Sunday morning plans because of our emergency situation with Heather, and he laughed and said his morning hadn't begun well at all. He had just dressed for church when he got my call, and he also had another emergency call, and that dog would be arriving soon too. Then just as he was leaving to come to the clinic to take care of his two patient emergencies, he noticed his cows had gotten out of the pasture, and he had to go and round them up before coming to meet us, which was why he was late getting to the clinic.
Once inside the clinic Dr. Morton gave Heather a mild sedative, and I held her while the doctor closed the incision again with a few more stitches. Then on went an E-Collar, and Dr. Morton carried the sleepy German Shepherd to a kennel, where she will stay until the incision heals and the stitches can be removed. Then I'll bring Heather back to our shelter again. As I was leaving the clinic, the second emergency case was waiting in the waiting room.
While I was at the clinic, Randy had "one heck of a time" tending to the dogs in recovery in the inside kennels!
When I arrived home, Randy came to meet me and told me about the hectic morning he had had while I was gone. He said that while he was walking the dogs (to and from the park), it came to Max's turn in the play yard and also Molly's turn to go outside to be with her kennel mate, Max. Molly is in our house in a recovery kennel, convalescing from surgery to remove a benign tumor from her thigh, so Randy came in the house to get her. Molly's kennel is in the living room, and to get to her kennel, Randy had to pass between Snow's kennel and Chubs and Cassie's kennel in the kitchen. Randy said he tiptoed very quietly out of the house with Molly since Snow and the pups were sleeping and he did not want to wake them up.
All heck breaks loose
When it was time for Molly to come back in to her house kennel, Randy again made it into the house (very quietly) with Molly and passed between Snow's kennel and the puppies' kennel without waking them. He got the E-Collar back on Molly and was about to tiptoe back outside again when he heard the sound of someone throwing up. It was Snowflake, Randy said, and just as he started to clean up her mess, Chubs and Cassie woke up and "began peeing and pooping all over their kennel floor" (which is what puppies do, of course, when they wake up).
"Everything happened at once!" Randy exclaimed, so he radioed to Joel to stop cleaning the kennel Joel was on and go stay with Max, who was still in the play yard, because Randy would be tied up for a while with messes in the house. Then, not wanting the pups to step in the poop, Randy quickly finished cleaning Snow's mess and then went to Chubs and Cassie's kennel and began rolling up the messed upon potty papers just as the two playful pups "attacked" the moving papers, which made the poop fall out of them at the very same time as Randy reached to pick up the papers, causing Randy to end up with a handful of the warm mushy stuff instead of the rolled up puppy papers.
He was laughing as he told the story of everything happening at once, and of trying to radio for someone to come help him hold back the pups so he could lay down more clean potty papers as the pups chewed on his pant legs, but his one hand was too poopy to get to his radio, and he was trying to scooch the pups out of the way with his clean hand so he could get out of the kennel. (I'm sure Randy didn't think it was quite so funny at the time.)
Randy said he finally managed to get out of the puppy kennel and went to the sink to wash his hands. Then Snowflake looked as if she was about to get sick to her stomach again, so Randy quickly picked Snowflake up and took her outside for a little fresh air.
"I never did have time to get more clean potty papers down," Randy added, "Everything just happened all at once." I know exactly what he is talking about!
Yesterday
...
Straydog UPDATE posted SATURDAY 1/18/03 at ~8:17 p.m. CT
Pat Arnold's Daily Dog Log
SATURDAY JANUARY 18 2003
Adoption Day went smoothly at two different locations, but no adoptions
No
dogs were adopted today. Not even any of the cute puppies, Melinda,
Bonnie
or Blake (who had two people interested in her last week). We'll
try again next Saturday.
Chubs is much better today
Chubs seems to be back to normal today, thank goodness, and the weather was nice enough (bright sun and temperature in the 50s) for the two siblings to play outside for a little while this afternoon. They love to be outside in their little puppy kennel on nice days, and they had a fun time running all around in the sand and in the hay that they scuffed out of the little dog house in that small kennel. These pups are still much too young to stay outside all of the time, especially on cold days, but the pups tend to get a little bored having to stay in their big kitchen kennel most all of the time, so we all look forward to sunny, warmer weather whenever it comes.
Chubs plays as if he could see
We've probably mentioned that Chubs gets around beautifully. Not being able to see doesn't bother him a bit. He and his sister chase each other around like two sighted pups would, and believe it or not, these two puppies even do the "stare down and pounce" game. It's as if Chubs "feels" Cassie staring at him in the midst of their play sessions, and he stands and "stares" right back at her, and then either Chubs or Cassie will charge and pounce on the other.
*Pat Arnold's Daily Dog Log
LAST WEEK:
*Photo Pages and Videos
LAST WEEK:
*MPEG Video: Snowflake walks in the snow in the park.
*MPEG Video: Chubs and Cassie play on the kitchen floor.
*MPEG Video: Davey and Pat in Davey's kennel
*MPEG Video: Bill talks of coming cold night
*MPEG Video: "It's going down into the 20s."
(2) Photos of our "big" snow of Sunday, January 12, 2003.
(3) More snow photos: Pups Melinda, Bonnie and Blake PLUS Toby.
(4) More snow photos of our shelter
(5) Snowflake suites up and goes for a walk in the snow
(6) Back inside Snowflake looks out her window at the snow.
(7) Heather on her first morning with us (March 13, 2003)
(8) More of Heather on her 1st morning at Straydog
(9) Photos of snow remaining on the ground from yesterday, 1/12,03
WEEK BEFORE LAST:
(1) Blind Pup Chubs and Sister Cassie asleep + Krissy and Doodles in the park
*MPEG Video of Krissy and Doodle Bug's first outing in the park.
*MPEG Video of Krissy and Doodles stopping for a drink
(2) Randy and Tina construct Molly's living room kennel
*MPEG Video: Constructing a kennel in the house for Molly
(3) Molly (back from surgery) gets an outing in the park.
(4) Molly goes to her inside kennel for the first time.
*MPEG Video: Frosty, off leash, runs in the Big Play Yard - #1
*MPEG Video: Frosty runs and plays in the park off leash - #2
(5) Chubs and Cassie enjoy an outing on a warm afternoon (1/9/03)
*Adoption Day Saturday, January 25, 2003 - LOCATION(S) TO BE ANNOUNCED.
*Our Dogs for Adoption - Volunteer Shannon's page
*Our Dogs for Adoption listed on Petfinder.org
*Our Mission & How We Got Started
*"Goodbye, Danny Boy." - An example of the only acceptable use of euthanasia
Special-needs
dogs (including puppies) raise vet bill!
If you would like to help with the vet expenses, you may send your tax deductible donations directly to:
Morton Small Animal Clinic
1404 E. Tyler Street
Athens, Tx. 75751
and please make a note on your check that the donation is for Straydog Inc. so they'll be sure to apply your donation to our Straydog account. (Or you may send a donation directly to Straydog Inc., P.O. Box 1465, Gun Barrel City, Texas 75147.)
As always we thank you, very, very much, for your help.
List of some of the items we're in need of:
One of our supporters emailed us recently suggesting that we post a "wish list" on our website, and here it is:
Right now we need:
Bunches of Puppy House Breaking pads for the tiny puppies
We Always Need:
Postage Stamps, paper towels, bleach, dish soap, X-large Rubber Gloves, a few Pointed Shovels and Garden Rakes, Dog Leashes, various sizes of Snap-On Dog Collars (not the buckle collars) and various sizes of Dog Harnesses.