FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 1999 - First lawn mowing day of the season!
We've tried putting off the Friday lawn mowing as long as we could (to save money), but now with spring here and summer approaching the grass in the dogs' kennels and play areas is just getting too tall to wait any longer. It's time to call Mike the Mower.
The dogs love Mike and all of his noisy lawn mowing equiptment, which causes riotous barking as Mike moves from kennel to kennel and area to area, which makes it all the more noisy around here. These guys love mowing day!
Bill and I used to do the mowing ourselves when we had only eight kennel lawns and the small surrounding doggie areas to mow. But now with 22 kennel lawns and the huge doggie play yard and more and more surrounding doggie areas to be mowed, we can't keep up with it any longer. Thank Heaven for Mike the Mower, and THANK YOU, MIKE!
[#23 and #24]
SUNDAY, APRIL 4, 1999 - A young man drives up our hill with puppies for us in his truck
A young man came to see us today with six young puppies in the back of his pickup truck. He said he'd found the puppies along the roadside as he was nearing the house of his grandparents (who happen to be our neighbors further on down the road). Since he was not sure what to do with the pups, his grandparents suggested he bring them to us.
This young man seemed to be very caring and kindhearted so, as I always do, I asked him if there were anything that he could do to take care of the puppies, which were about eight weeks old. (I guess the little puppies' "owner" had figured that the pups were now old enough to "dump.") The young man thought about it for a minute and then said that his friend could help him out while he tried to find the pups good homes. Thank Goodness! If he hadn't been able to help the puppies, we would have taken them in, just as we would have if Bill or I had found the pups along the roadside.
SATURDAY, APRIL 10 - Sorry, but this doggie stays here
Many people have asked us why it's so difficult for us to adopt out more of the dogs living at our shelter. The answer is really very simple: First, homeless dogs are not exactly in short supply in a nation that euthanizes more than 5,000,000 per year, and secondly, the doggies we have rescued are available for adoption only to loving, caring people, who will give the dogs a good, secure home with a securely fenced yard, preferably making them housedogs. I ask perspective adoptive owners a lot of questions, and we make house checks. We also charge an adoption fee of at least $65, which doesn't begin to cover the expenses we've already incurred caring for the dog, but which adoption fee helps to assure us that the adoptive owners have taken seriously the responsibilities of owning a pet.
The following example is very typical of the majority of the people who make inquiries about adopting one or more of the dogs now living at our shelter: Just tonight a couple drove up our hill in their small pickup truck "to take a dog." The man had made a delivery of fence sections to us many months ago, and at that time he had seen Johnny Blue, the Blue Heeler mix, and had casually mentioned that he really liked Johnny. This evening the man and his wife were ready to simply "take Johnny home" with them.
We stood by Johnny and April's kennel while we talked, and through our conversation I discovered that they wanted a dog to take the place of their last dog, a Heeler, who had been killed on the highway in front of their house. They didn't have a fenced yard, lived close to the highway, and they had actually lost two dogs killed on the busy road. Now they wanted another but weren't going to make any changes in their way of caring for the dog. They felt that dogs should be free to roam and shouldn't have to be fenced in. I had heard enough. In my opinion this would not be a good home for any dog. "I'm sorry" I said. "This doggie stays here." And I explained our requirements for adoption, which I could tell they totally disagreed with.
So, Johnny will remain here, at his Happy Home for Strays, where his life is respected. He is happy, and will remain safe, well cared for, loved, and protected until the right people come along.
[#25 and #26]
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14, 1999 - Emily is "gumming grubs!"
While I was out with the dogs this beautiful afternoon, I saw little Emily acting really nutty in her kennel. She would run around her yard, flop in a certain spot on the ground, then roll onto her back and do a little squirmy-wiggley backdance, roll over again and pick something up in her mouth (which seemed to be very bad tasting from the way she crinkled her lips). Then she'd spit it out, and begin the ritual all over again. What was she doing? I went in her kennel to check it out and saw that little Emmy was "gumming" a big, fat, slimy, goopy grub! I went over to her to take the thing away from her, but she saw me coming and immediately swallowed it! Yuck!
[#27]
TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 1999 - Sandy has a sore leg
Sandy, our Shepherd/Bull Terrior mix (I call all the dogs ours until they are adopted), had been favoring his right back leg and limping for the last few days, so I took him to our vet to have his leg looked at. The doctor thought that Sandy probably had a tear in the cruciate ligament of his knee (like Puppy had had) and that Sandy really needed to be seen by the specialists at the Dallas Veterinary Surgical Center. I agreed, so our vet made an appointment for Sandy for this coming Monday.
I asked our vet if instead of a cruciate ligament tear Sandy's sore leg could possibly have been caused by his kennel companion, Little Lassie, who might have accidently whomped into him during one of their playful tusseling games, which in turn might have bruised his knee temporarily and that maybe it would soon be better, because this is just what had happened to me, and I've been hobbling around recently just as gimpy as Sandy with a really sore right knee, and my doctor said it was most likely because one of these big fellows (probably Stevie) had plowed into me, which is very possible! These guys are always plowing into us, unintentionally, when they are running around playing, so couldn't the same thing have happened to Sandy?
The good doctor just gave me a rather perplexed look. Then he smiled and very politely said, no, he did not think so. And the appointment was made for Sandy to go to Dallas this coming Monday. I sure hope the doctor is wrong and that Sandy's knee is just bruised.
[#28 and #29]
SATURDAY, APRIL 24 - COWS in the yard--a Whole bunch of them!
Early this morning (about 7:00) as Pete and I were out tending to the dogs, he called to me from several kennels away, announcing that we had company as he pointed toward the driveway. COWS! A whole bunch of them, and we could just barely see the tops of their big, black heads bobbing as they slowly came up our hill, grazing their way through the tall grass as they headed toward the kennels. Naturally, right after Pete saw the cows, so did the dogs, and they immediately let out their "UNAUTHORIZED ANIMALS IN THE YARD - AND GETTING CLOSER!" alarm.
Then suddenly we could see them all. There were about twelve huge cows and two babies slowly heading our way. I hurried to get the camera since Bill is always telling me to take pictures of things like this for the newsletter, and then, so as not to scare these big, beautiful animals, I took my time walking very slowly toward the cows to take their picture. I don't know much about cows (or horses), and I really didn't know if these fellas would become frightened of me--in which case they might (for all I knew) stampede in my direction, and most likely flatten me.
Figuring I was finally close enough (yet not too close), I raised the camera, and just as I saw them in the viewfinder, all of those cows suddenly became spooked and started to RUN, and needless to say so did I--hopefully in the opposite direction! I didn't even look back to see! But at least I'd snapped the picture! Bill will be very proud of my bravery.
Well, the cows didn't run over me. In fact, when I did get back to "safety" (near the big doggie play yard) and looked around, the cows were quietly grazing again just a few feet from where they had been before. Geesh! And the picture turned out fuzzy, but I am putting it in the newsletter anyway, since I about "risked my life" to take it. If you look very closely you will see the 12 big, black cows and two babies "stampeding."
[#30 and #30A?]
I called our rancher neighbors to see if they were missing "a herd of cattle," and sure enough the cows belonged to them. Shortly the rancher drove up our hill in a cute little roofless cart-type vehicle, sort of like a golf cart with a lot of wheels. The rancher called to the cows in cow-talk, something like "cow-ie, cow-ie, cow-ie," and they all came over to him. He continued his cow-talking to the cows as he clanked a big bucket full of cow food, which brought the cows even closer to his "cow-mobile," and then he slowly drove back down our hill and onto the main road and on back to his ranch, with all those cows following close behind him. There is never a dull moment around here!
SUNDAY, APRIL 25, 1999 - New "Friends of Straydog" come to visit from Dallas!
This was such an exciting day for our Happy Home for Strays. We had a visit from some wonderful people, Doctor Joel Woodburn and his wife Shelley, and Doctor John Pippin and Susan Devers.
We were looking forward to meeting them all. We had had several nice conversations with Dr. Woodburn and Shelley and now they and their friends, Dr. Pippin and Susan, wanted to come and see our Happy Home for Strays and to talk about what they might possibly be able to do to help us with some of the growing needs of our growing animal shelter.
The weather was beautiful and all the doggies were on their very best (though noisy) behavior as they always are when people come to visit. The dogs love visitors. I had even tried to brush the fellas pretty for this special occasion, but, of course, that is next to impossible, as the ones who need it the most will never let me near them with a brush in my hand. Cute little ragamuffin Susie, who did let me brush her, went for a "swim" right after her brushing and then rolled in the sand and was back to her cute little ragamuffin-looking self in a matter of minutes!
Our visitors arrived and we walked around to the many kennels introducing them to all of the 44 happy dogs. (Dr. Pippin, who has seven dogs himself, was immediately drawn to Sir Anthony, the beautiful, big shiny black Coonhound/Lab mix and to Michael, the Doberman/Rottweiler mix.) After meeting all the dogs our guests came inside to sit down and discuss the future of Straydog Inc. It soon became apparent to our visitors that we (Bill and I) are currently overwhelmed with chores and duties and fund-raising and other obligations here at our shelter, and they had many great ideas of ways to hopefully transfer some of the burden from us to an organization they plan to form called "Friends of Straydog." Bill and I can't get over how nice it was for these busy people to take time away from their schedules to come visit with us and offer their help to our Happy Home for Strays.
.
.
MONDAY, APRIL 26 - Sandy goes to the Dallas Veterinary Surgical Center for a second opinion
At 8:00 this morning Bill and I lifted Sandy into the back of the station wagon and headed for the Dallas Veterinary Surgical Center (DVSC) in Dallas. Our appointment was for 9:30 with Dr. McDonald. I was hoping that after examining Sandy the doctor would say that Sandy's limp had been caused by a bruise and was nothing serious. After Dr. McDonald gently examined Sandy's leg, however, he said the same thing that our vet had said, that Sandy's problem was a tear in the cruciate ligament of his right knee. "How can this be?" we asked, now having had two big fellows with this problem. The veterinary surgeon explained that because Sandy is a very active dog, the problem was most likely caused by constant over use--hard play and lots of running. He could have twisted his knee somehow while playing, just like a football player. (Our vet had said the same thing and that "these things just happen.")
We are very familiar with this type of surgery, and the subsequent recovery period, because we had to go through it twice with Puppy last year. (See previous newsletters.) We knew all about the upcoming nine long weeks of quiet confinement for Sandy. These two days that Sandy was going to spend at the DVSC would give us time to prepare things at home for him. Randy would have to put up the big recovery kennel in the office again and build another ramp by the porch steps. (The wood pieces of Puppy's ramp had long since been used for other doggie related projects.)
[#31 and #32]
TUESDAY, APRIL 27 1999 - Sandy has surgery
Sandy had his surgery this morning and the doctor called to say that everything went beautifully. We'll be able to bring Sandy home tomorrow.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28 - Sandy comes home from the Dallas clinic
Bill and I arrived at the DVSC early this morning to pick up Sandy, and after Dr. Cynthia Floreck explained everything to us about Sandy's care for these next nine weeks, she brought Sandy to us. He had a big, thick, green bandage covering his entire leg, but he could walk pretty well (and looks good in green).
[#33 and #34]
7:00 p.m. - It's been a busy day and things are finally quieting down. Sandy has settled in nicely in the office recovery kennel and is now sleeping soundly on his soft mat. It took him a while to get used to being inside a building, so I've taken him outside quite often on short "potty" walks during which he could also have sniffy "conversations" with Little Lassie (his former and future kennel companion) through their fence. Now he is tired out, both from his surgery and from the excitement of the newness of suddenly becoming a house doggie. He has been an outside fellow since we first brought him to our Happy Home for Strays several years ago.
[#35 and #36]
[#37 and #38]
SANDY'S STORY BEGINS WITH LITTLE LASSIE
The story of Sandy's arrival to our shelter really begins with the rescue of Little Lassie: An elderly woman had called saying that a young dog had been abandoned and left to fend for herself after the owner had moved away leaving the dog with no food or water in a fenced yard of a now vacant rental property. Over a week had gone by during which time the woman had thrown food over the fence to the dog. The owners never returned. The woman could get no help from the local animal shelters because they said the location of that neighborhood was out of their district, so the elderly woman called me. It took us most of the day to track down the owner of the rental property to come and unlock the gate before I could rescue the bedraggled little Collie mix.
This little dog presented a big problem: We had no room for any more dogs at that time, no money for another kennel and no kennel helpers. (For the first three years of the existence of our shelter we paid for everything out of our personal income and did all of the kennel work ourselves, all of which was becoming more and more difficult for us.) It seemed that the only thing we could do would be to take the young Collie to our local county animal shelter with the hope that she would be adopted before her time ran out.
Wanting Little Lassie to have every chance possible to be adopted, I brought her home, gave her a bath and then took her to our vet to have a check up, necessary vaccinations and to be spayed. Then, days later, still dreading the thought of having to leave her at the county shelter, I decided to go check it out before taking Lassie there.
[#39 and no #40, as #40 doesn't exist. Text goes beside it.]
When I arrived at the county shelter, the woman in charge thought I had come to adopt a dog and told me to look around while she went about her business. The main room held many barking dogs in small cages. I came to a half open door in the back of the main room and opened it wider to look inside, and there in very dim light sat a big Shepherd/Bull Terrior mix (Sandy) in a cage all by himself. He was holding up his right front leg which appeared to be broken, and he had several big cuts on his body. He had to be suffering and he looked extremely frightened.
When I knelt down close to his cage and began talking to him, he looked up at me and I could see the pain and fear in his sad brown eyes. The woman hurried to catch up with me--I guess I wasn't supposed to be in that room. I asked her what was going to happen to this dog. Were they going to take him to a veterinarian soon? The woman said he was going to be "put down" because his leg looked as if it had been broken. I immediately said, "Could I please take this dog?" She gave me a surprised look and said, "Do you want him?"
By this time I was in tears. This was so heartbreaking--to kill an animal because he was hurt. The woman opened the cage door and Sandy hobbled out, and I picked him up and carried him to the car. I carefully laid him on the back seat and drove straight to Lakeside Animal Clinic. On the way I suddenly realized that instead of finding a place for Little Lassie, the one new dog we had no room for, I now had two dogs whom we had no place for. Oh, dear!
To sum up: We solved this double problem by going into a bit of debt to put up another kennel for both dogs. Sandy's fractured front leg healed beautifully, along with his other cuts and bruises, and he and Little Lassie became kennel companions and instant best friends and have been almost inseparable ever since. (Even now that Sandy's in confinement after this recent operation, whenever I walk Sandy, I have to take him up to Lassie's fence so they can touch noses.)
[#41 and #42]
[#43 and #44]
[#45 and #46]
THURSDAY, APRIL 29 - The dog food goes flying!
Some days just don't start out so good. It was early morning feeding time, and I was heading to "the family kennel" of Mommy Dog and her feral pups, Bobby and Briar. I had their three bowls of food in my hands and as usual happy, timid little Bobby was sitting in front of the gate waiting for me to come in and place his food down there for him where he always eats. I opened their gate but I didn't see the little doggie hole that these fellas had dug right in front of the entrance. I stepped in the hole and tripped! As I started to fall, the bowls of food went flying and scared little Bobby, who went running for the safety of his dog house, certain that I was about to smush him as I landed!
It took weeks of lots of extra loving and doggie treats before this little fellow gained his trust in me again, during which time he always stayed a safe distance away from the entrance gate whenever I came in.
[A and B]
FRIDAY, APRIL 30 - Sandy is doing Great!
It's been four days now since Sandy began his stay in the office recovery kennel, and things are going surprisingly smoothly. He is such a good doggie and doesn't even need "potty" papers in this house kennel. He waits until his potty-walking times and does his business outside.
I'm "camping out" in the office too, with my little cot right beside Sandy's big kennel, so I can keep an eye on the fellow at night to make sure he stays calm. He likes this arrangement just fine. And every afternoon Sandy goes outside for nice, quiet, short visits with his best buddy, Little Lassie, so they can spend some time together. This keeps them both happy.
[C and D]
[E and F]
FREQUENT QUESTIONS FROM CONTRIBUTORS
Q: Doesn't caring for 44 dogs keep you awfully busy?
A: Yes, indeed! My days have literally "gone to the dogs." I'm busy doing something to, with and/or for these fellas all the time. My days begin at 3:30 A.M., when all is peaceful and quiet, and I can manage to squeeze in a couple of hours of quiet correspondance time to write to the wonderful people who write to us.
Then at 6:00 A.M. the real "action" begins with feeding the fellas and cleaning their kennels, along with lots of petting. (Randy, Pete and I each take a third of the dogs at mealtime.) After that the rest of the morning is filled with doggie stuff too--like trips to the vets with whoever happens to need to go for the various little problems that pop up: Spunky's minor operation to have his dewclaws removed, Tipper for her ear infection, Julie for another blood test to check on her elevated liver enzymes, Sunny's rush visit to the clinic with her rapidly swelling face from some sort of an insect bite, Teddy Bear's sore paw, or Michael because of his "loose poopers" problem. (As Bill would say, "The word for poopers is stools.) I never know what emergencies the day might bring.
And now we have Sandy in our special care kennel needing constant attention all day long (and nights too). It's just always something. And along with caring for the doggies, I try to work on this newsletter, which never gets my full attention until right before it's time to go to press! And I've totally forgotten what the word housework means. (I hope my sisters give me a lot of notice if they ever decide to come for an "unexpected" visit!)
Q: What do you mean by "tucking all the dogs in for the night?"
A: During the days, Randy and Pete give the dogs a lot of wonderful attention, whether it's lots of "action" while playing with the dogs in the big play yard or special attention while they're in the kennels with the fellas, cleaning, refilling water buckets and pools and filling doggie holes. The afternoon/early evening is when I make the rounds one last time, and I call this "tucking them in for the night."
[G and H]
[I and J]
Final Rounds (or "tucking the dogs in for the night") is when I go into each kennel to play with each set and give them individual attention. This routine begins mid afternoon right after their early second meal of the day and lasts till almost dusk. I play ball with the ball-playing doggies and brush the fellas that will let me, which is actually more like a big game of "Catch Me If You Can!" with the dogs ending up the winners, and this game can sure wear this person out--fast!
[K and L]
[M and N]
[O and P]
Some of the dogs love to play an active game of "let's tug-the-toy." Max, for example, grabs one end of his toy, and I take the other end, and he has a grand time pulling me around his kennel yard. Michael loves this game too. Other doggies prefer to have their tummies rubbed, while some just like to lie beside me and chew on the new toys that are shared from kennel to kennel at this time every day. (The new or different toys give the fellas something fun to look forward to every evening.)
[Q1 and Q2]
[R and S]
[T and U]
[SKETCH #2]
SLEEPING PROBLEMS? For anyone who has a problem sleeping, I highly recommend the above daily doggie schedule. It is guaranteed to put you instantly and soundly to sleep early--every single night!
[maybe put in sketch of danny, abby and me]
SUMMING UP THE MONTH OF APRIL
April has been a busy month -- seems like every month is.
All the "pleasantly plump" doggies are still on their doggie diets, and little Fluffy at least is finally loosing some weight.
Sandy is fine and his leg is healing nicely. He has (WE have) another eight long weeks of quiet confinement ahead of us in his office kennel. This precious, big fellow would make a wonderful housedog (he's not had a "potty accident" inside yet!) along with his companion, and best friend, Little Lassie.
Abby is so happy! She still spends most of her time in their swimming pool which now has zillions of little teeth mark holes all around the top edge of it from where she tugs at it to make the big waves.
Danny Boy is extra happy now too, with his best friend, Abby.
WE THANK YOU, so very much, for helping these precious dogs.
Sorry, we're out of room, which is determined by the weight of this mailer, which, of course, determines the postage required to mail it to you. If you check the first box on the back of the enclosed return envelope, we'll send along the excerpts from my May Dog Log. Thanks again for your moral and financial support, without which we could not survive.