Straydog UPDATE posted FRIDAY 1/31/03 at ~8:37 p.m. CT

Pat Arnold's Daily Dog Log

FRIDAY JANUARY 31 2003

A busy day for mixing and matching dogs

      This has been a really busy day trying to find friendly companions for several of our most recent arrivals.

      Since Old Davey is a single fellow (meaning he is the only dog in his kennel) we wanted him to have a kennel companion, so today we tried him with Krissy (after his introduction to Heather didn't work day before yesterday). Krissy is the mom of Pepsi and Pepper. Pepper has been adopted, and Pepsi has moved in with "single" girl, Tipper, and they are getting along just wonderfully!

Krissy and Davey liked each other, but . . .

      There was no problem with the two dogs liking each other, and they got along fine. Old Davey, however, who is not neutered yet (because we've had to wait until his health problems improved) became too interested in Krissy--same problem we had with Davey and Heather. Krissy has been spayed (All the dogs here are either spayed or neutered when healthy enough, and all puppies here are either spayed or neutered when they are old enough), and Krissy did not like Old Davey's "advances" toward her one bit! [A Note from Bill: Someone emailed us yesterday saying that we "take this [spaying and neutering] way too seriously." What we take very seriously is that 15,000 dogs and cats are killed (via euthanasia alone) each and every day in the United States because their mothers and fathers weren't spayed and neutered before their offspring could be conceived.]

      Davey was beginning to become a real pest to Krissy, and he was running around their kennel too much (which is not good for him because of the heartworm disease he has), so we had to put Davey back in his previous kennel, where he will remain a "single fellow" until well after his neuter operation this coming Monday. Hopefully a few weeks after this operation, he will have calmed down enough to accept Krissy (or another spayed female) as a nice friendly companion.

Billy the Border Collie meets Lab/Border Collie mix, Doodles

      Billy needs a friend too. Candy was his previous companion and since Candy has been staying these last six days on a trial basis with the Dalys, who will hopefully adopt her, Billy has been by himself. So today we introduced beautiful, eight-month-old, Black Lab/Border Collie mix, Doodles, with two-year-old, Billy. They got along beautifully and became instant best friends. Both dogs love to play ball!

Krissy meets Justin

      Now Krissy (who had been in a kennel with Doodles) was by herself, and she still needed a friend, so we introduced six-month-old Justin to Krissy. They also got along just fine, so everyone is happy--except for Old Davey. He needs a friend too, but until he calms down after his neuter operation, we'll just give him lots of extra attention every day.

New arrival, Heather, comes home following heartworm treatment

      Heather has completed her two treatments for heartworm disease at our clinic, and we picked her up this morning and brought her back to Straydog. Heather doesn't feel very good today, which is normal for dogs following heartworm treatments, but by tomorrow or the next day, she will begin to feel better. She needs to stay very calm and quiet for the next few weeks, or longer, so we won't be introducing her to any new dog friends for quite a while.