Pat Arnold's Daily Dog Log ...

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1999 - Little puppy Annie has second puppy vaccination

Ten-week-old Puppy Annie loves to ride in the car in her doggie traveling kennel. She fusses for just a minute, then curls up on her fluffy towel and snoozes for the half-hour ride till we reach the clinic. Oh Boy! Then come the treats, along with the vaccination, and then another snoozy ride home. Annie weighs 11 pounds now and is growing fast.

Annie is available for adoption. This adorable little black puppy (with a white chest and tips of white on her paws) looks now as tho she may be part Australian Shepherd and is a sweet, very playful, little puppy.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15 - Stevie and his buddy Pete go to the clinic

This morning Stevie and his kennel companion, little Pete, had an appointment at the clinic for vaccinations. I could have managed taking Stevie, the Retriever mix who is totally blind, by myself, but since little Pete was making the trip for his shots too, Randy and I figured it would be best for Randy to come along to help, especially since Pete usually gets very carsick and because Stevie hasn't been anywhere outside his kennel for the year and a half he's been with us except for his daily play period in the big play yard, so I was sure the trip would be a bit scary for him.

At 8:30 A.M. we were ready to roll. Little Pete was in the back of our doggie-car mid-size station wagon on the tarped flooring, and Stevie was settled in next to Randy in the back seat, while I chauffeured the bunch of us to the clinic. This was a good set-up in order that Randy could comfort Steve and keep talking to Pete to hopefully keep his mind off carsickness. The ride went very well. Pete, of course, went "potty" but that's why we have the tarp!

While we were in the main waiting room at the clinic, Stevie sat on the floor very close to Randy, and was doing just fine until a little girl came around the corner, surprising us all. Not knowing Stevie was blind she went right up to Stevie before we could stop her, which startled him, and he began to bark and growl, which startled the little girl, and she moved back away from Stevie quickly.

As long as Stevie hears the voice of the people who are about to approach him (long before they even get near to him), he usually feels comfortable and doesn't react out of fear when meeting new people. At home we always ask everyone who will be passing near or close by his kennel to please speak to him as they approach, and we're always chatting things like, "Hi Stevie, we're going to water your lawn now," or "It's me, Stevie, I'm going to clean up your poopers now," and "Oh Boy, Steve, it's meal time!"

Dr. Stephen gave Stevie his vaccination (which Stevie did not especially like) and then Pete got his his and it was back home again. Stevie liked this ride and was having a fun time nuzzling up next to Randy in the back seat. Pete, of course, threw up, but again that's why we have the tarp.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 - Another trip to the Clinic with Bobby and Briar

I knew without a doubt that this trip would really be something! Now it was the feral pups' turn to go to the clinic for their vaccinations. These fellas are still so fearful of everything that I knew this would be a frightening experience for them. We had thought that by showering these wild pups with love and affection since the day we first brought them to our shelter at 10 weeks of age (which was eight months ago) Bobby and his sister, Briar, would have become more accepting of people and new situations long before now. These sweet fellas have accepted all four of us who are with them on a daily basis but that's as far as it goes. And even if we make a sudden move or an unusual noise such as me accidentally banging my head on their porch shade-top, they become very frightened, and they are still so fearful of just the slightest new thing and especially of strangers.

Needless to say, I had to carry these big pups to the car one at a time. They let me know right away that there was no way they were going to walk! Bobby now weighs 65 pounds and when he does NOT want to be moved, he makes himself feel as though he weighs a good ton! After Bob was in the car, I carried Briar and plopped her in beside her brother. They both hurried to the back of the car and huddled in the corner next to each other. The sweet doggies just don't realize they have nothing to fear.

Once at the clinic I again had to carry these darling doggies one at a time from the car into the clinic waiting room. They were so scared. After their vaccinations it was another carry job back to the car. Whew! When we arrived home and parked close beside their kennel, I was pleasantly surprised when these fellas gladly jumped out of the car, totally on their own, and went running the short distance to their kennel. They went right up to their waiting Mommy Dog to tell her the whole "scary" experience of their visit to the clinic. She sniffed them all over to be sure they were alright.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 17 - TOADS, a worse problem than the Grasshoppers!

Now it's Toad City around here. These critters cause much more of an uproar from the dogs than the zillions of grasshoppers ever caused! Grasshoppers provide a long day of quiet entertainment for the dogs. TOADS cause a noisy uproar in the wee hours of the dark morning as they go hopping across the lawn usually just right outside the fences of the kennels, and the dogs go nuts seeing these little fat toads as they go hoppity-hoppin' merrily on their way irritating the next set of dogs as they pass by their kennel.

It takes me a good 20 minutes to inspect (with flashlight) our house yard first thing every morning to remove the toads hopping around there before I let Blackie outside. He goes nuts trying to reach them with his paw when they're just outside his fence.

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 18 - The Rescue of two pups, with help of a friend in Dallas

What a busy morning on the phone trying to plan and coordinate the rescue of two pups who had been spotted by one of our regular contributors in a drainage ditch along side the highway about an hour's drive from us.

She was hoping that we had room for the puppies at our shelter. She was certain that if they weren't rescued quickly, they would surely not survive long where they had obviously been dumped. They still had on their collars--with no tags.

What a problem this presented to us! We have no available kennel. Even our "two-week" quarantine kennel is (until she's adopted out) permanently occupied now by little Baby Annie, since we have no puppy kennel available for her. And now there are two more pups who need a home!

The woman had already asked everyone she knew if they could take care of these two pups but had no luck in finding a home for them. We have no available kennel right now and no funds to put up another kennel, which made for a major problem that needed to be solved--quick!

The only thing that we could do was to have the woman rescue the pups and take them to our clinic. At least there they would be safe for a day or two while getting their checkups and vaccinations. But we really had to find a secure temporary place for them while we tried to find these fellas a permanent home.

I called an animal-loving friend in Dallas who occasionally keeps rescued dogs in her back yard on a temporary basis until she can find them homes. I explained the situation and luckily her back yard was vacant at the moment and she agreed to take them.

I called the spotter of the pups and the rescue was hurriedly set in motion. Several hours later she told me that she right away jumped into her truck and headed down the road toward the location of the abandoned pups. As she passed a friendly neighbor, she pulled over and called to him to hurry to come with her, figuring she would surely need help. He joined her and off they went to the drainage ditch alongside the highway not too far away.

When they got out of the truck, the little girl puppy came running up to them, but her little brother took off in the opposite direction and scurried back into the drain pipe, trying to hide right in the middle of it. They finally managed to get the little fellow out, and when she picked him up, the frightened little puppy clung close to her. She said it was so heartbreaking seeing how scared the pup was.

The initial rescue having been successful, they now had to get the pups to our clinic in a hurry before it closed at noon.

"Mission accomplished!" was the report at 12:45 P.M. The pups were safe at the clinic! This news was such a relief to hear. I called my Dallas friend, and she was thrilled that all had gone so well, and offered to drive down Monday to pick up the pups at our clinic and take them back to her house.

Hopefully the next time someone calls with such an emergency, our Happy Home for Strays will have the kennel room to take the little stray(s) in.

Sorry no photos with the above stories--yet. Bill's still working on adding more photos to last week's "Kennel Helpers" story. (Click here for last week's story and pictures of kennel helpers and why we need at least two every day.)