Excerpts from

Pat Arnold's Daily Dog Log

To adopt one or more of these wonderful dogs, please call us at 903-479-3497.

Thank you so much, contributors, for your help! It is because of you that we are able to continue to care for the many strays we have rescued. And it is because of your continued support that we have been able to save the lives of the three newest little strays, Johnny, April and Stevie, a little blind fellow who just arrived. Thank you all so very, very much!

Thank you, Julie, for your tireless dedication to the care of all 36 of these furry fellas. Thank you for giving them so much love and attention.

JANUARY 1998

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7, 1998 - A very nice fellow wants to meet us

Several weeks ago Cindy, from Lakeside Animal Clinic, called me saying there was someone there who wanted to meet me. When I asked who, Cindy replied, "A very nice fellow, about a year and a half old--a beautiful English Setter/Pointer/Mix." It turned out that the dog had been found walking along the highway right in front of Lakeside Animal Clinic.

This pretty dog (who is mostly white with some brown spots on him and has freckles on his nose) appeared to be in such good health we all thought he surely must belong to someone and decided it best to board him at the clinic while we checked the newspapers, and the other animal shelters in our area to see if anyone had reported this fellow missing. Since he was not neutered, he may have gotten lost while visiting friends.

Two weeks went by with no owner of the dog to be found. We all had checked every place possible. Now this beautiful fellow needed a home.

In order to bring this new dog (now named Scottie) to our Happy Home for Strays we needed to build another kennel with shelter and dog house. We went to work on the project right away. Our daughter, Erin, and her husband, Dana, came to help put the Kennel up that next Sunday, a near-freezing, rainy day. Thanks Kids! Bill built Scottie's shelter, and now Scottie's new dog house is inside the shelter and is filled with fresh hay. We're ready for the fellow.

(Because of recent donations we were financially able to build Scottie's new kennel, build a new shelter and buy a dog house. There have been times, however, when people have called asking us to take in a stray they have found, and we have had to say that we could not take the dog due to lack of kennel space and funds. And the vet bill (which rests entirely on us) for each new stray taken in runs anywhere from $65.00 to $150.00, for spaying or neutering, vaccinations, medicine for minor health problems such as worms, ear mites, boarding if there is a problem, etc. The initial expense can run as high as between $300.00 and $600.00 when we encounter problems (or challenges) such as treatment for parvo virus, heartworm treatment, etc., or possible necessary surgery. Then there is the cost of a new portable kennel (if needed), which is approximately $600.00, a separate dog house for each dog, $100.00 per house, plus about $150 for lumber to construct a shelter, into which we place the two dog houses. The shelters give the dogs extra protection against the cold, windy weather in winter. As you can see, the initial expense for each newly rescued stray dog can put a tremendous unexpected strain on our budget.)

To get back to Scottie, he is a wonderful dog and available for adoption to a loving home. He is one and a half years old, weighs approximately 55 pounds and is now neutered and vaccinated. He is very loving and affectionate.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 1998 - Stray GIANT BIRD, an emu, causes a tremendous ruckus!

The "incident" with the stray emu started at 3:00 P.M. I had just put little Emily and Muffin in the big play yard for their afternoon get together and had gone back to the house/office to keep my eye on them from the kitchen window while I washed the dog dishes.

Suddenly Emily ran to the far end of the play yard barking frantically at something she saw in the distance. It was a HUGH emu strutting across our hay field, heading straight toward the fence of the big play yard! Immediately upon hearing Emily's bark all the other dogs began sounding their "UNAUTHORIZED ANIMAL IN THE YARD!" alarm--except for shy little Muffin who turned and went running in the opposite direction to get away from the big bird. I rushed out to the play yard and quickly got Emily and Muffin back to their kennels.

This was the beginning of three long hours of disaster. What made the situation so bad was that this huge bird, who must have been at least seven feet tall, would not stay away from the kennels, and it drove all our fellas NUTS!

As the giant bird strutted around the backs of each kennel, poking his long beak through the fencing, I had to hurry into that kennel to try (without success) to calm down the pair of dogs that this uninvited guest was trying to visit.

Seeing that the dogs could not be calmed, I quickly left the kennels thinking that turning the hose on this huge bird might just be the thing to get him to go home. No luck! This guy seemed to love the water coming his way and started coming towards me all the faster! Big Bird and I moved at a rather rapid pace around the outside of the kennels, me walking backwards keeping an eye on Big Bird as he kept coming forward toward me. I dropped the hose and picked up a big potted plant and chunked it at him, thinking this would surely scare the fellow away. Nope! The emu stopped for a moment, looked at the plant, which now lay broken beside him, looked at me again and resumed his march in my direction.

We were now heading toward Rocky and Ginger's kennel, and these two dogs were lunging at their fence barking furiously. Rocky and Ginger's basket ball was lying on the ground just outside their kennel. Goodie! I picked it up and tossed it at Big Bird. He watched it whiz by him and then continued toward me, both of us picking up speed as we moved along, his beady little eyes staring straight at me. I looked around for something else to possibly toss his way. There was nothing.

Then suddenly Rocky and Ginger's loud barking got Big Bird's attention, and when he moved over close to their kennel to investigate, I got behind him, took off my apron and began swinging it at him. He felt the flapping cloth on his big behind and began slowly strutting away from the kennels, moving toward the edge of the field, with me following him, flapping my apron all the while. He strutted over to the cattle fencing along our property line, slipped his huge body between the slightly loose barbed wires and was gone. Thank goodness! Suddenly, all was quiet. With nothing more to bark about all our fellas went back to whatever they had been doing three long hours earlier. I couldn't remember what it was that I was supposed to be doing--I was just plain thankful that this huge intruder was gone. (I was sure that this bird belonged our neighbor across the road, so I called and left them a voice mail message that their emu was loose.)

FEBRUARY 1998

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1998 - Little fuzzy puppy "Fuzzy" joins us

This morning I made the weekly trip to Wal-Mart for doggie milkbones and other supplies. As I left the store and was wheeling the shopping cart through the parking lot toward the car, I noticed a woman in the distance walking my way with a wiggley bundle of black fuzz sticking out of the towel she was carrying in her arms. She was going from person to person, talking for a moment while the people looked at the bundle wrapped up in her arms, and then she moved on to someone else, continuing to carry the fuzzy bundle.

I had a very good idea what was going on, so I hurried toward my car hoping to make my getaway before the bundle-carrying lady got to me. I was too slow.

So, there I stood in the Wal-Mart parking lot, listening to the teary-eyed woman's sad story of having to find a home--that morning--for the little stray puppy that she had found and could not keep. She had called the Humane Society but they would not guarantee her that they would keep the puppy for longer than three days. The woman had walked the parking lot for hours, she said, and no one wanted the pup. Then she held the wiggley bundle of fuzz out to me.

This fuzzy puppy, whom we named Fuzzy, has also joined our Happy Home for Strays. She is about nine weeks old the doctor said, weighs 11 pounds and is a fuzzy, black, chow/mix. She had hookworms and roundworms but other than that seems to be OK. We'll keep Fuzzy in the quarantine kennel for the usual two weeks and then place her with two year old Fluffy and Buffy since these two are so gentle and make a wonderful mommy and daddy for new little puppies.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1998 - "Kitty" goes to Kitty Heaven

This was a very sad day for all of us. Our family's 19-year-old cat named Kitty, who had been found by our son, Joey, when she was a kitten, went to Kitty Heaven this afternoon. Kitty had been slowly and steadily failing in health. We had done everything possible for her these last few years to make her life easier in her old age, and we knew she had been a very happy old cat. We will miss her.

MARCH 1998

MONDAY, MARCH 30, 1998 - Our old Doggie Rescue Car breaks down ... again!

This morning Julie had to take Teddy Bear and Sunny to the clinic for their yearly vaccinations in her car since our old Doggie Rescue Car (our '86 Oldsmobile station wagon) has broken down again. Geesh! I hope our wonderful Rescue Car will at least make it to the repair shop to see what needs to be fixed this time.

APRIL 1998

SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 1998 - Julie's husband, John, offers to put up a new, much needed, kennel

Julie's husband, John, came to put up a new, much needed, dog kennel today. The many necessary 6' x 12' chain link fence sections had been delivered the day before and were stacked in a neat pile, and all that was needed was the "someone" to put the kennel together. John did a wonderful job putting the kennel together, and when it was finished, he somehow also ended up doing bunches of other kennel jobs for us too. THANKS, JOHN!

FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 1998 - Another new little stray will be joining us

It seems to Julie and me, that whenever things begin running smoothly around our Happy Home for Strays, very shortly thereafter we hear about another little stray dog in desperate need of a home, or we ourselves find another stray. For the last few days things had been going so well that I had a feeling something was about to happen, and it did:

After I had finished tucking all the fellas in for the night, telling them what good doggies they were, I was glad to finally be able to head for the shower. But first I checked our voice mail, and there was a message from a woman who had found a small dog on the highway. I returned her call right away and discovered that the woman couldn't keep the dog and was very concerned because the small dog appeared to have a wounded leg. She had given the dog a bath because it was covered with ticks, mats and burrs, and said she had called everyone she knew but couldn't find the dog a home. A friend had told her about us, and the woman was hoping that we would please be able to take the dog. Since we happen to have the kennel space right now, I told her OK. She's going to take the dog to Lakeside Animal Clinic for us, and I'll call the clinic to let them know about the newly rescued stray coming in and that I will pick her up tomorrow.

SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 1998 - The new little stray is being treated for heartworms

Doctor Collinsworth called this morning to let us know he had examined the new little stray and found that she has heartworms and that they will begin the heartworm treatment this coming Monday morning. The wound on her leg was a bite wound, which the doctor is treating already. We should be able to bring her home on Wednesday, and she will need to stay very quiet for a while. He said that the little dog is a white Spitz/Mix, about one and a half years old, 36 pounds, and is very sweet and gentle. We will do our usual checking of the newspapers, etc., to see if anyone has reported her missing. (The nice nurses at the clinic have named her April.) This is the fifth dog so far that has had heartworms and has been treated for them.

MONDAY, APRIL 20, 1998 - Puppy goes to Dallas for knee surgery

Puppy, whom we found crossing a highway bridge when he was just a puppy, is now four years old. This lovable, 70 pound, mix breed fellow has three major health problems: He has an arthritic back, severe hip dysplasia in his right hip, and a very bad left knee with torn ligaments and an out-of-place knee cap. All these problems are very unusual for a dog this young the vets say, and Dr. Stephen has told us that we would just have to deal with these problems as they got worse.

Because Puppy's left knee had recently been giving him quite a bit of pain causing him to limp, we talked the problem over with Dr. Stephen again, and he got in touch with a specialist at the Dallas Veterinary Surgical Center. An appointment was set for us to take Puppy there so those doctors could also examine him. We took Pup for a visit to the DVSC last week, and the two vets who conferred on his case agreed that he does indeed need the knee surgery.

This morning at 5:30 we had everything ready for Puppy's trip to the animal hospital in Dallas, and we went by flashlight in early morning darkness to Puppy and Angel's kennel (causing quite a stir among all the "sleeping" doggies) to get Puppy and take him to the car. He curled up on his soft mat in the back seat, and off we went for the hour-and-a-half-long drive to Dallas.

Later in the day the doctor from DVSC called to say that Puppy had had his operation and was doing just fine and that we could pick him up tomorrow. What a relief!

TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 1998 - Puppy comes home, and we've got major problems!

The doctors said that Puppy needed to stay in a small area in order for him not to be able to run around while his leg healed during the next eight weeks, so we decided that the best place for Puppy to stay would be in the 8' x 6' shelter, which is in the middle of his and Angel's kennel. Even thou the shelters stay dry on rainy days, we put concrete pads down for flooring in Pup's shelter just to make sure that the ground there would remain dry, since he was not supposed to get his bandage (which covers his entire leg) wet for the next 10 days, after which time the doctor would remove the bandage. We put a chain link fence-gate section across the open front of the shelter thinking this would now be a very nice, airy, dry and small area for Pup to stay in while his leg healed. Frequently throughout the day we would be taking Pup on short, bathroom walks in the bigger kennel yard. We thought this would be a perfect setup for Puppy.

Puppy, however, caused a few major problems upon arriving home! He did not want to stay in the newly "redecorated" shelter, and he barged right through the "secured" gate just minutes after his arrival!

To make the rest of this long, very involved story, short, we ended up having to board Puppy at the clinic for two days while Julie and I made more improvements on the shelter for him. Finally, with the delivery of more fence sections we solved the problem. (The fence company really loves us!) Puppy now has a 6' x 6' chain link fenced area added onto the front of his shelter so he can spend time (whenever he wants) out of the shelter, lying in the shade, able to see all that's going on around him, which now makes him very happy.

Worried that he might still try to get out at night, we put together a small, 6' x 6' kennel inside the front room of our house/office for this sweet fellow to stay in at night--with me sleeping on a mat on the floor right beside his in-house kennel, so that I can make sure he doesn't chew off his pretty red bandage, or try to get out during the night. (Seventy-pound Puppy is one mighty strong fellow when he wants to be.) We also built a ramp up to the house to make it easier for Pup to get inside without having to use the steps. Whew!

THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 1998 - Poor old Doggie Rescue Car looses most of its muffler

During the trip to Lakeside Animal Clinic to get Puppy, after his short boarding stay there, I was driving through Gun Barrel City when I began hearing a clunky, wacky sound coming from beneath our Doggie Rescue Car. I thought it was probably the smashed milk carton that I had tried to dodge in the road a short ways back, that had somehow gotten stuck beneath the car and was the cause of the noise, so I just kept on driving. As I passed Wal-Mart (which is close to the clinic) I had no idea that Bill was just about to leave the Wal-Mart parking lot and that he had seen me drive by--with the muffler hanging loose, clanging and banging as it bounced along the road beneath the car.

I pulled into the clinic parking lot and was looking under the car when I heard a familiar voice say, "Ok, what happened this time?" It was Bill, thank goodness! We both looked at the half attached muffler hanging loose from the car. Geesh! Boy was I glad Bill had seen (or heard) me go clanging down the road! Bill got Puppy from the Clinic and took him home, and I very slowly drove to the nearest car repair shop to have the muffler fixed. There was no way I could drive all the way back home with it half off. (All the repair man could do was to wire the loose end back on and advise me to get a new muffler as soon as possible.)

TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 1998 - Extraordinary, sad howling in the distance gets our attention

For the last two days I had a feeling there was another stray dog in the area. I had been hearing a faint, sad-sounding howl in the evening when I was out with the dogs, but I could never see any stray dog when I looked around. Then last night, as I finished tucking our fellas in for the evening, I heard the sad howling again and this time I noticed a little black head peering at us from the tall grass several hundred feet up our hill. By the time I was able to go search for the dog, he was gone.

Yesterday morning while Julie and I were out with the dogs, we heard the faint, howling cry again, this time coming from the highway at the bottom of our hill. We looked down the hill and could see a small dog, howling sadly as he sat right in the middle of the road. He would move to the side of the road when he heard cars coming, then would go back to the middle to begin his howling again once the cars had passed.

I went and got this little fellow right away and took him to Lakeside Animal Clinic. He appeared to have a broken leg. Dr. Stephen took x-rays which showed that the little dog had suffered a broken pelvis and a fractured left leg some time ago, and that with no medical attention both of these injuries had healed on their own, though somewhat incorrectly, leaving the poor dog with a degenerated right hip which needed medical attention now.

So little Johnny is now at the clinic. He has had his check up and his vaccinations and will be neutered and have the operation on his hip today, or tomorrow morning. He is sort of a Heeler/mix, about one year old, a sweet, lovable little fellow and so happy to be found. (I hope he feels this way after his operations.)

We will divide new little April's big kennel in two using portable fence sections, so Johnny can have half for his kennel, and this way they will be company for each other since they can't be together yet. Seems like this is going to be our new "recovery kennel" for these two doggies, since both of them will need to be stay quiet for the next month. They are both such sweet little dogs. Hopefully we will find them good homes.

MAY 1998

FRIDAY, MAY 22, 1998 - Stevie, a blind pup, arrives, and so does little Puppy Michael

Joining our Happy Home for Strays is little, happy-go-lucky, three-month-old Puppy Michael, who has become Mary's new kennel companion and best buddy!

The biggest news this month is the arrival of a big, eight-month-old puppy, who is blind. He's a Golden Retriever/Mix who had been found by an elderly gentleman who simply wasn't able to take care of a blind dog.

When I went to see this special fellow and walked up to the cage in which he was being kept, the sight of his precious little face took my breath away for a moment. One of his eyes was closed and the other was so visibly deformed it was heartbreaking to look at. I knelt down and put my fingers through the cage door to pet him. He sensed that I was there and began swaying his head from side to side until his face touched my fingers. Then he nuzzled my hand with his furry little head. ... I brought him home to take care of forever.

We named this precious blind puppy Stevie. The eyelid of his right eye is almost entirely closed, and the doctors agreed that he needed surgery to remove his deformed left eye. A few days later when they were performing the eye surgery, the doctors also neutered Stevie.

SUMMING UP

Johnny's hip operation was successful and he came to join the others at our Happy Home for Strays. He and Angel have fully recovered and are kennel companions now and best buddies.

Puppy is recovering nicely from his leg operation, and he is behaving himself.

In addition to taking in new strays and scheduling dog surgeries and preparing dog kennels, we also made zillions of trips to the clinic with the regulars to get their yearly vaccinations.

The spring cleaning of the dog kennels (shelters and houses) is done, and the doggie swimming pools are out of the storage area now and ready for the summer splashing around fun.

Little fuzzy, Fuzzy, finally grew big enough to move in with Scottie and became his kennel companion. The two of them have become best buddies and have a grand time playing together.

Nothing more has fallen off the Doggie Rescue Car.

We interviewed several more part-time kennel helpers, hired one who quit after four days. Perhaps there was one too many big doggie holes to fill, or one too many little doggie swimming pools to dump and refill. Then we hired another woman who lasted just two days and quit admitting that the work in caring for the dogs is just too hard. (Julie and I will be the first to agree, that it is hard work.)

Advertising to find good homes for the dogs continues to be a futile effort.

Stevie the blind puppy dog is happy and feels at home and very secure, and we WILL take care of him forever.