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Rocky -- he hid behind the officer...

2009-11-11T12:28:20-06:00

We’re going to do a brief afternoon edition today about one dog who is in the Collin County Animal Services shelter in McKinney.

The story may just make you angry.

The initial plea to help Rocky was sent out to rescue groups because Collin County’s looking for someone to pull the pup and give him a good and decent place to live out his life. (Individuals can't adopt from the county shelter, but rescue groups can step up and help the animals.)

Our first contact was with DeDe Whitcombe who is with the Collin County Humane Society and has tipped us to many stories about animals in need. But this one got to her, too, and she said, “I am sure we will never know the extent of what this poor dog has been through.”

She put us in touch with CCAS’s Lisa Drummond who said that Rocky is a really sweet dog. He was living in Frisco. She says the address in the cruelty complaint had a note for animal control officers that warns them not to go there alone.

It was into this sort of inhospitable situation that animal control officers went to rescue Rocky.

Lisa wrote, “The owner has a lot of issues with the police so when animal control was called out there they had to take the police with them. ... When they opened the door the dog ran out and hid behind the animal control officer refusing to even look at the owner, cowering.”

Lisa says the man’s wife was standing in the doorway and holding a baby. And the dog dashed out and actually used the animal control officer as a shield.

She says, “The man is a wife-beater among other things. So I am sure he was horrible to poor Rocky.

“They were not feeding him food, just bacon grease. How bizarre. They said they were trying to put weight on him.

“When the ACO threatened to take the dog and have him tested to see if they were feeding him gunpowder if they did not surrender him, the owner said he would sign him over.”

As veterans of dog cruelty situations know, some people believe feeding gunpowder to a dog will make the dog more aggressive, meaner, more likely to fight. It really just tears up the dog's insides.

“I can only imagine the horror this poor guy has gone through,” says Lisa. “He is a very loving boy despite his previous conditions.

“If someone could take this poor baby in to a rescue I am sure he would be an amazing and loyal companion for his new owners. He deserves a second chance at a real family after all he has gone through. If you have room or know of someone who does please let me know. I would love for this dog to have the chance to know real love and caring. Thanks to all of the rescuers who save these babies daily, you are true heroes!”

To offer the shelter of a rescue group, e-mail ldrummonds@co.collin.tx.us or call 972-547-7298 or 972-249-7327.

I thought it was important for people who aren’t involved in rescue to see one more way people abuse animals – feeding only bacon grease, or maybe adding gunpowder to the mix. Geez.

(Soapbox aside: We could probably raise enough money to care for Rocky for the rest of his life we if could just auction off an opportunity to take a homerun swing at the grease-feeding, gunpowder jerk with a two-by-four. But that would be wrong. Probably would feel good, but it would be wrong. And, we should honor Rocky with peace and tenderness, I guess. Dangit.)

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Veterans Day

2009-11-11T10:01:46-06:00

It's Veterans Day – a day we honor people who served the United States in the military. It’s kind of a day of thanksgiving if you’re a newshound.

Without the stand-up actions of these people, journalists wouldn’t be able to freely report and write, whether we’re broadcast, print or internet media. Heck, and normal citizens would probably have to buy a license to shoot off their mouths.

There’ll be parades around the country and flyovers with that missing man formation and if you’ve got a dry eye when you see that, then you’re either out of tears or out of soul.

We’ll get back to veterans shortly. Now, our daily report:

FLAT OUT HUSKY: Well, who knows that this dog is dreaming of, but you can bet, based on the look on the face, that it’s a relaxing topic.

We get the story on this dog from our rescue pal Diana Phillips (her hubby Ron is the guy who kept a man from throwing a load of puppies into the Trinity River last year, as some of you may recall).

Diana is trying to help a co-worker find a home for this dog whose name is currently Se-Ath.

The co-worker adopted the girl from the SPCA of Texas in June and, says Diana, “now says she does not have the time to spend with her and does not like the hair in the house! ... The dog is almost two, spayed, current on shots and HW prevention."

The pup is house- and crate-trained and has a home until Nov. 26 when the co-worker leaves for the Philippines on a mission trip. So, there's a little pressure to find a home by Thanksgiving.

To offer a place for the dog e-mail Diana at phillips0719@gmail.com or call 214-686-0832.

THE GANG: At the Little Elm Animal Shelter just north of Dallas, they call this batch of kittens “Our Gang.” They look like they’re posing for a class photo. What they have in common is they have never been out on the streets. They were born in the shelter on Sept. 13. And they are among many cats and many dogs who are needing homes and are on the clock at the shelter.

Little Elm has this HUGE adoption fee – ten bucks. Yep. For $10 you can adopt an animal – dog or cat – at the Little Elm shelter. E-mail cmedrano@littleelm.org to ask about any of the animals there. The shelter is at 1104 W. Eldorado Parkway, Suite 103, in Little Elm. To see photos of the animals, clickHERE.

PUPPY MILLS IN TEXAS: The Texas Humane Legislation Network, which lobbies legislators on animal matters, is gearing up for a puppy mill battle in the next session. See the details at www.thln.org. It’ll take money and voices to stamp out puppy mills in Texas.

A BOXER NOTE: We got a copy of the most recent newsletter from Legacy Boxer Rescue. In it LBR President Sharon Sleighter says that the organization has saved about 280 boxers this year and spent $110,951.13 on veterinary care for the dogs while bringing in only $53,587 in adoption fees. Sharon introduced these facts to demonstrate how appreciative the non-profit is for the “continued support” from people who love boxers and people who love helping people who are doing good deeds. Cash helps -- blunt but accurate.

HIGHLAND PARK DOGWALK: Gail Whelan of Companion Animal Network sends word that dogs from CAN will be available for adoption during Saturdays’ second annual Highland Park Dog Walk in Highland Park Shopping Village. There’ll be many rescue groups and lots of pet-related activities and interests.

Click on www.hpvillage.com and look at the events.

NEEDING SOME FENCE: Tina Hamilton of Happy Tails of Gun Barrel City says the rescue group “is in desperate need of a panel chain link dog run for quarantine.” The run would “keep sick dogs separate from others until they are well,” she says, then cautions that if there’s no way to quarantine the dogs, “they will have to be put to sleep when they could have been saved.”

This is both an urgent and a continuing need, Tina says. To offer to help, e-mail txtina1201@yahoo.com or call 903-880-4124 or 903-275-5990.

A DAY IN CORSICANA: Now, we all know that Corsicana is the home of the legendary year-round but beloved seasonal fruitcake from the Collin Street Bakery, but it is also home to a thing called “Day In November Adoption Event.” It’s sponsored by the Corsicana Animal Shelter and the Humane Society of Navarro County and it runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at College Park Mall. This adoption event is part of an overall Day In November festival with arts and crafts and other attractions.

These two pups are Bear (right) and Max, a couple of Chihuahua-terrier siblings who were owner-surrenders to the Corsicana shelter and they are among the many animals available for adoption -- they’ll be ready for the Day in November on Saturday if someone doesn’t go to the shelter and get them before you can.

See the Corsicana animals HERE.

CONTEMPLATION: I’m the son of a World War II infantryman, grew up in the Vietnam era and I’ve watched people in assorted branches of the service go off to duty my entire life. And as a reporter I spent a lot of ink on some folks who seem to always get slighted, our Korean War veterans.

Maybe that’s why, yesterday as I listened to President Obama’s speech at the Fort Hood memorial service, I noticed a glaring omission. You can read the text HERE so you’ll see the accuracy of my reporting.

And, with the current testy diplomatic situation with North Korea, I wondered if the omission was intentional. Here’s what the President said: “Tomorrow is Veterans Day. It's a chance to pause, and to pay tribute -- for students to learn the struggles that preceded them; for families to honor the service of parents and grandparents; for citizens to reflect upon the sacrifices that have been made in pursuit of a more perfect union.

“For history is filled with heroes. You may remember the stories of a grandfather who marched across Europe; an uncle who fought in Vietnam; a sister who served in the Gulf. But as we honor the many generations who have served, all of us -- every single American -- must acknowledge that this generation has more than proved itself the equal of those who've come before.”

So, today, embrace them all and honor them. You want to read about how tough war can be – war anywhere, David Wood has a touching look on Politics Daily HERE, It's set against the backdrop of the haunting Korean War Memorial in Washington.

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PM edition: Stories touching hearts

2009-11-10T14:18:53-06:00

Here we go with our PM Edition of Readlarrypowell.com for Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009.

We’ll remind you to read this morning’s edition, and also, if you are in charge of public relations and publicity for your shelter or rescue group, deadline for getting into the winter edition of Urban Animal Magazine is Thursday at noon. Check out the how-to –get-publicity instructions by scrolling down. Thanks. Now, please, read on. Maybe you can help.

DUMPED: This is not an unusual thing around here – maybe anywhere. Someone gets tired of a dog and dumps it. Now and then they’ll dump their family dog in a neighborhood that “looks like it has kids” or “looks like it has responsible people.”

That seems to be the way our pal Gail Whelan of Companion Animal Network wound up with this big ol’ Akita sweetheart.

The dog was “dumped in our neighborhood three weeks ago,” Gail says. “No tags. No microchip. Efforts to find owner failed.”

So, she’s been named “Kai,” which, Gail says, means “Forgiveness.”

That’s a much nicer thought than I have for the dumping creep.

Back to the dog: She’s about a year old and weighs 64 pounds. Gail says, “She was wonderful at the vet’s office and caused them no problems.”

Naturally, being a stray in North Texas, she is heartworm positive, so she has some careful treatment and cage rest in her immediate future.

To help with this dog by volunteering to foster or by adopting or by just donating some cash to the cause, e-mail can_rescue@yahoo.com or call 214-663-4710.

REGARDING LITERATURE: In our first edition today we mentioned some dog stories that we loved (scroll down to see) and we have received some responses that should be shared.

--Rescuer Cathy Burk is about to head off to Best Friends in Utah for a spell of working with the sanctuary and the dogs. (She suggests linking up to these sites HERE and HERE to read about this obvious Earhound named Batgirl.)

She writes, “I just wanted to say thanks for listing some of your favorite animal stories. I leave for Best Friends this Saturday (11/14) and wanted to take some books to read to the 'red collar' dogs. These are the dogs that can't physically interact with volunteers (like the Vicktory Dogs confiscated from Michael Vick). The volunteers have been sitting outside their runs and reading to them - which they apparently love! They said one day someone was reading love poems to Georgia (who has been the spokesdog for the Vicktory dogs) and she fell asleep! I checked out the Beverly Cleary books and plan on picking some up to take with me and leave out there. They sound like the perfect stories to read to dogs.”

--Patricia Nethery, one of our veteran dog adoptors from rural Kerrville, sent a note that reads, “If Snoopy cartoon collections count, then don't leave out the ‘Mutts’ books. Who cannot love Earl, Mooch, Woofie, and all the gang?

“When I was a girl I cried over Beautiful Joe but still didn't want to
stop reading.

“As a younger child I loved the Windy Foot books (they were about a pony
but there must have been a dog in there somewhere). Do you remember
Windy Foot? I can't find anyone else who does.”

So, readers, there’s your challenge. Do you remember Windy Foot?

Thanks to the modern era of computer research, I was able to track down the author as Frances Foster and determine that she wrote several Windy Foot books: Windy Foot at the County Fair ; Fireworks for Windy Foot; Maple Sugar For Windy Foot and Sleighbells For Windy Foot..

Yep, at least one of those is for sale on eBay.

When I suggested that maybe I was too old to have run into the Windy Foot books, Pat said I probably wasn’t because ... well, let’s just say we know about how old we are and I probably could have found them if I’d been looking.

She says, “My grandchildren are all too old for such books, but maybe I should stockpile some for great-grandchildren some day, (along with The Pokey Little Puppy, of course).
“Re: Michael Vick. As much as I like to watch the Cowboys with my husband Ron ( I have to watch Stars hockey alone because he is not interested), I kept to my vow on Sunday when they played the Eagles of not watching any team that signed him to play. I know that doesn't really do anything, but I had to take a stand.”

Oh, it does something for the heart, I suspect.

Regarding the stories: It has to be great for those authors’ souls to know that their work has lived on in the hearts of good people --- that maybe, at some point, a paragraph they wrote touched someone in such a way that they dedicated their lives to watching out for the animals. Tell a story, touch a heart. Bless them all.

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Considerations for Tuesday

2009-11-10T07:24:31-06:00

Ah, on Tuesday we consider the happy side of the world.

My funspouse Martha’s visit to her physician yielded this report: Not the flu, neither seasonal nor swine, but a sinus infection.

We all breathed a sigh of relief – because we could.

And, as we reach Tuesday morning, you should know that I’m not home writing this morning, I am elsewhere, but will be writing this afternoon.

In the meantime, we will offer some contemplations to start the day:

--My ironyspouse Martha mentioned that she found it interesting that the NFL would not allow Rush Limbaugh to participate but would allow a dog-killing thug to suit up and play for Philadelphia. She is not the only anti-Michael Vick person I encountered this week. One of our dear tipsters, just before kickoff of the Sunday night Cowboys game, wondered if it was OK to wish that someone would break the aforementioned Vick’s neck during the game.

-- Has there ever been a worse year around here for cruelty investigations? Hundreds of confiscated animals have flooded an already overwhelmed shelter/adoption system.

-- We get a zillion notices per week – maybe a kabillion notices – about city shelters and county shelters having too many animals. Does someone have a plan for a system that’ll remind just plain folks to go to the shelters and save some lives? What will touch the hearts? Or will it forever be easier for taxpayers just to pay someone else to kill the animals and keep the problem out of their yards?

-- Favorite animal story? Can’t pick Old Yeller because of the ending. Not Call of The Wild because of the mean parts, though I do adore Beautiful Joe, the story of a dog forced to fight who prevails and finds love. Do Snoopy cartoon collections count? How about some of Beverly Cleary’s tales of Henry Huggins and Freckles?

-- Saw a story on the KTVT Channel 11 site HERE about someone in the Keller ISD trying to take Christmas out of the song “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” and making it “I’ll Be Home For Winter.” Good grief. Taking the Christmas out of Christmas? This really looks like one of those situations where some kid-prone-to-hijinx got hold of the district typewriter and wrote a trick memo. Surely a clear-thinking adult wouldn’t try to pull off that idiocy. Not everybody embraces Christmas, but, seriously, the way to “inclusion” is not “exclusion.” Embrace the world, don’t redact it, though near as I can tell the only lawyer involved was the guy who noted that the district would be in violation of copyright laws if it changed the song.

--Now, help me down off this soapbox before it caves in and I find myself singing "I'll be home for winter..." or "It's beginning to look a lot like winter" or "Up on the rooftop, reindeer pause, out jumps good ol' stranger in a red suit." And if Grandma can't get run over by a reindeer coming home from our house Christmas Eve, then that just takes all the poignancy out of the tale. Ah, but (and apologies to Little Miss Dynamite Brenda Lee) we might get away with "Rockheads Around The Christmas Tree (at the Keller winter hop)..."

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To get free publicity...

2009-11-09T13:29:34-06:00

REMINDER: This is to the people who handle public relations and announcements for shelters and rescue groups and anybody else that wants to do things for animals. Wake up. Get busy. Snap to it.

We are assembling the Dec.-Jan.-Feb. and beyond list of events for the winter issue of Urban Animal Magazine.

If you want FREE publicity for your event, send a SIMPLE paragraph or SIMPLE list to lrpmail@aol.com and put EVENTS in the subject line. Do it now. Today.

Keep it SIMPLE. Just who, what, where, when, why, how much and how to contact you. (That is a photo of Professor Inky, the Cocker Laureate of Texas, who is very serious about encouraging people to submit the details correctly. He reminds us that a poorly constructed news release is no help to and might, indeed harm animals who depend on humans to get things right.)

We get a great number of announcements, and well-meaning souls have been known to

(a) leave off the name of the group,

(b) leave off contact information so we can call and get answers to questions that the announcement didn’t answer and

(c) write the announcement as if a dog or cat wrote it and that is time-consuming to translate and figure out all the details. Seriously, write human. I’m begging you. I don’t count off for grammar or spelling, but you’ll get an F if you send me a cross-species announcement.

Here is a loose form you can cut-and-paste and send to lrpmail@aol.com:

+++

URBAN ANIMAL EVENTS LIST

Who (name of the sponsoring organization and its website):

What (name of the event):

Where (place of the event):

When (time, date, year):

Why (i.e., fundraiser for lop-eared dogs):

How much (i.e., ticket prices, suggested donations...)

Contacts (i.e., RSVP numbers and e-mails or contact points to help or volunteer or donate)

+++

Thank you for your cooperation. I'm begging you like a Cocker Spaniel begs for a shrimp cocktail on a stormy night in Paris, but that's another story for another day.

Monday, charity and things...

2009-11-09T11:10:05-06:00

Hello, Monday. Everybody say “Healllll-theee.”

And that concludes our start-of-the-week anti-flu cheer.

My funspouse Martha fought symptoms all weekend and last night, as things were still up in the air in the Cowboys game, red-faced Martha took her temperature and announced, “101.7. I’m a radio station.”

Now, as we dodge the germs of matrimony, here’s our daily report.

LAKE THOUGHTS: Before we get to helping a few critters, here’s a note we spotted in the invitation to the upcoming Friends of the Animals at Cedar Creek Lake Christmas party. Partiers can bring an unwrapped new toy to the party. Why? “The Red Cross will give these toys to the children of deployed servicemen and women.”

Thought I’d mention that in case some of you wanted to add that aspect to your own parties.

Now, in the meantime, we’ve gotten some animal tales from our reliable tipster Sydney Busch of the Friends of the Animals at Cedar Creek Lake.

This little guy is Nemo and he’s not only fixed, he’s in a fix. He’s a registered Maltese, and he was caught in the middle of a divorce. The custodial human let him go to seed, so to speak. When foster mom Sheree Hallum picked up the little guy, he was flea-ridden, he’d chewed off the hair on his legs and backside and he was starving. Now, he’s up to six pounds, his hair is returning to its natural Maltese luster and he’s ready for a permanent home. To ask about auditioning to adopt Nemo, e-mail sheree_h@sbcglobal.net.

Then, there’s the case of these two 4-year-old spayed/neutered and front-end declawed cats, Chief and Emmy. Adopt them and you also get their food, dishes, litter, litter box, toys, carrier and a cat tree.

Mary Render has had them for a few months after claiming them from a couple who unloaded them when their second baby was due and their first began having allergy problems. Mary says the cats are loving, but need more attention than she can give them with her new work-related travel schedule. To ask about adopting these cats, e-mail mrender@me.com or call 214-695-8343.

DOGHOUSES NEEDED: Bad weather means bad situations for dogs in West Dallas, where “chain” is a way of life. For years, Angie Manriquez, who earned the nickname “Fairy Dogmother of West Dallas,” has made it a personal mission to protect these dogs when their rotten owners won’t. Angie is looking for doghouses now to distribute to these dogs. To donate, call Angie at 214-688-5585 or her fellow-angelic rescuer Beverly Fyfe at 972-690-9260. See www.angiesfriends.org.

And, if you’ve got any cat carriers, veteran rescuer Celia Orr can use them. E-mail doprods@airmail.net.

A CHARITABLE WORKOUT: Full Throttle Athletics, 1522 King Road, Suite 601, in Frisco, and Animal Guardians of America are teaming to raise some cash for dogs. Show up for the 9:30 a.m. registration at the facility on Saturday and you can, for a $10 donation to Animal Guardians, get a one-hour workout (10 a.m.-11 a.m.) in one of Full Throttle’s Boot Camp sessions. To RSVP, e-mail stevehurst@animalguardians.com or call Full Throttle at 214-469-9717.

MONDAY’S ASSORTED NOTES: Remember Jumbo, the big hound with the great face in the Arlington Animal Services shelter? Our tipster Dianne Watson reports that Tricia Todd and Metroplex Mutts have agreed to take him. Click HERE www.metroplexmutts.org to see how to adopt Jumbo or help Metroplex Mutts help him....

--In Burns Flat, Okla., our reliable tipster and hardworking rescuer Terry Lynn Fisher reports that the quivering, terrified dog Thor is “doing a little better...He actually wagged his tail at me when I went to feed him. ...I still cannot just reach out and pet him without him shying away and he still has that sad, lost look in his eyes. But I see a glimmer of hope in there now, too.” To offer to help Thor regain his trust of humans, e-mail Terry Lynn at remembering_oddball@yahoo.com or call 580-330-1459.

--Remember Buddy? He was the big dog with the mouth tumor. Rescued from a cruelty seizure in Collin County, he was the last dog left and nobody knew what to do with him other than fix his mouth and give him some love. Mary Ann Nastro, who has been involved in Buddy’s story from the beginning, e-mailed us over the weekend that “he has been adopted and flew on an Angel flight with a cancer patient on Tuesday to Waukegan, Ill., to his new family.”

DONATIONS TAKEN TODAY: We got this great note from longtime tipster Cheryl Urban about a very special annual food drive. Her parents, Pat and Nancie Przada, who work in real estate in Plano, are conducting their annual food drive today on behalf of the Plano Food Pantry and the Second Chance SPCA (one of our favorite groups, too). FYI, they call themselves "Team Przada."

If you have things to donate, call 469-387-8111 or e-mail nprzada@kw.com.

The food pantry needs canned fruit, canned tomato products, tuna, canned dinners, jelly, pasta, macaroni and cheese and disposable diapers sizes 3 through 6.

Second Chance SPCA needs Frontline and Advantage flea preventative, clay cat litter, dog treats (soft treats for filling toys), Science Diet Adult small bites dry dog foot, Greenies pill pockets, Pedigree canned dog food, canned chicken, canned cat food, rawhides, towels ... oh, and don’t forget office and cleaning supplies: Bleach, bottled water, dishwashing liquid, laundry detergent, 60-wat light bulbs, paper towels, stamps, HP74 & 75 printer cartridges, printer paper, trash bags (heavy duty) and pocket folders.

Probably other shelters and rescue groups need help, too, if you want to start your own personal drive.

CONTEMPLATIONS: Over the weekend, I did some minor celebrating for having reached a certain level of life and I did it by eating things I shouldn’t eat – pastries, ice cream, cheeses. I mention this to encourage people who are dieting to stick to your plan – don’t succumb to the sins of the plate. The morning after feeling is one of, for lack of a better term, “supreme waddleness.” ... You’d think a game like last night, Dallas beating the dreaded Philadelphia Eagles, would make a fellow forget about the local big league baseball team, but, no, Texas Rangers fans are still waiting for next year, again. ... Falling leaves. Not so many in our yard this year because we had a bunch of dangerous old trees cut down. But there are still enough fluttering leaves to catch the interested of young Wendy, the lively mutt, who is living through her first autumn and tries to catch each one before it hits the ground. Quite the sight to see and, indeed, one becomes envious at the simple joy this dog exhibits. We can learn from puppies, I guess.

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The big and small of sleeping...

2009-11-06T21:22:02-06:00

Sometimes life with dogs just cracks me up.

And this is one of those times, thus we have designated these splendid dogs for spotlighting in our weekly feature, Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap.

They were nominated by our tipster/rescuer Timi Hazle who knows them because they are the treasured friends of her sister, Elise Flanders.

Elise and hubby Cody live in Simonton, west of Houston, near Katy. And they have a houseful of dogs.

You’ll notice that the big dog’s accessories are tiny dogs. Or maybe the tiny dogs’ accessory is a big dog.

That poodle on the back of the couch is Ziva (“like the Massad agent on NCIS.”)

The little dog who thinks a big dog is a great mattress is Pebbles, who weighs in at about 4 pounds and the big dog is Reno, a puppy at 115 pounds.

Reno is a Boerboel Mastiff –not that you could tell from these photos, but some refer to the South African Boerboel as “King of the Guard Dogs.”

And, Elise says, “Reno has grown up with toy poodles so he is very gentle with the little ones.”

One of those little ones is – get ready to snicker – Thor. Timi can explain that. She writes, “I think that Elise and her husband thought that a little bitty boy poodle needed a big strong name, thus Thor. Reno was named after the sculptor, Jim Reno, who was a great friend to Elise and her husband ... They now have 4 Boerboels and 3 toy poodles. Pebbles has become a mascot at her own mother's grooming shop in Fulshear, Texas.”

It looks like Pebbles has an idea of how to properly use a Boerboel as a sleeping aid. She sort of starts in a crisp top-of-the-back balance, then melts down into the comfort of Reno’s big ol’ soft shoulder. And Reno’s face – isn’t that a great ol’ mug on the boy?
And, as you can see, they all have a handle on the rules of unagitated sleep: Find a comfy place and sack out. Could be the back of a couch, could be the couch, could be the back of a dog on the couch.

Big dog, little dog, they all have to get their Zzzzzzz.

(To nominate a sleeper, napper, snoozer or dozer for spotlighting in Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap, send photos and info to dallrp@aol.com. We’re proud to publish these amusing pictures and, as insomniacs, we are envious of the ability to sleep. We would dream of sleeping if only we could sleep and dream.)

A NOTE ABOUT MARS: Big weekend for MARS – it’s “Home For The Holidays” time.

MARS is Grapevine-based Mobile Animal Rescue Service and it’s a group that works to find homes for animals such as this pup, Annie. MARS Rescue will be in Keller on Sunday for “our first adoption event that we are coordinating,” says MARS Rescue Director Nancy Snyder.

The event – from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with more than 20 rescue and welfare groups, demonstrations, food, a raffle and a bounce house (sorry, big fella, it’s for the kids) -- will be at Creekside Pet Care, 8820 Davis Boulevard, in Keller (though websites show that it is in both Keller and North Richland Hills – perhaps a gerrymandered pet facility).

Read about MARS at www.marsrescue.org.

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Missing

2009-11-06T19:52:07-06:00

BE ON THE LOOKOUT IN ARLINGTON: This dog is Daley – a 12-year-old terrier mix who not only can’t see, but she can’t hear and, her human says, “her smeller” doesn’t work, either.

Still, she is loved and she is missing near the East Side of Randol Mill Park in Arlington – Lorraine Dodge-Swanz, whose known mostly as “Kim,” says her beloved little 20-pounder has been missing since around 8 p.m. Wednesday.

Since then, signs have been posted, Kim has made repeated visits to the Arlington Animal Services Shelter and “we have walked this entire neighborhood” without a sign of the dog. The dog was last seen on Ross Trail in the general vicinity of Randol Mill at Fielder.

Kim has had her for a few years – Daley is a puppy mill breeding survivor.

If you know Daley’s whereabouts, call 817-455-8439.

To show you what a small world this is, we got word of this missing dog from one of our Arkansas tipsters, Molli Corbin of near Dardanelle. Perhaps we’ll learn that while it is a small world, it has many eyes on the lookout for a little dog named Daley.

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Sometimes, the spots are stars...

2009-11-06T10:01:52-06:00

It is Friday, so let’s get busy and keep in mind that one of the positives about my life is I get to meet a lot of great dogs. Some of them are in show business. Here goes:
THE STARS ARE SPOTTED: Now, there’s a sentence you can read in a couple of ways – either you spotted some stars or, as in this case, the canine stars of 101 Dalmatians actually are spotted.

Alas, yesterday when we went to a media briefing for the musical (opens Dec. 1) at Fair Park Music Hall, we did not see the human star, Rachel York.

We did, however, see Jada and Bella who did their best to play for the cameras.

That’s Bella giving a big leaping spin at the behest of trainer Shannon Dennison. Trainer Jessica Schiffhauer accompanied Jada. More than 300 Dalmatians were auditioned for roles in the production. (While real dogs appear in the show, humans dressed as dogs also perform – probably a union deal, you think?)

You know, a dog actor is like a human actor (and I say this having spent time with dogs and actors): On stage, you hit your marks, you bark your lines.

Just FYI: There’ll be 15 Dalmatians – actual dogs, many of them rescued dogs, as are Bella (left) and Jada – on stage during the production. (Those mug shots are courtesy of the show.) The dogs are trained to do specific bits of business that kick off action on stage. The trainers take advantage of a dog’s tendencies – if the dog likes to jump up and pull on things, they’ll teach to the dog to jump up and yank a door open or pull a book off a shelf, etc. Heck, I guess one of them could even be trained to yank the wig off Cruella DeVille – don’t know if that happens in the play.

These trainers adore working with the dogs – and they also travel with them on a big custom-made 101 Dalmatians bus. The humans get about a quarter of the bus and the dogs travel in the rest. They also eat on the bus and their carefully monitored food is prepared on the bus.

And, each of these trainers has dogs at home, so they stay in touch with them while on the road. Shannon says she and her hubby even hook up the computer cam and she gets to talk to her dogs via the streaming camera.

Now, old hands at rescue know there is this 101 Dalmatian Syndrome -– for lack of a better term. The movie got popular, people wanted Dalmatians. People discovered Dalmatians are not for everyone, shelters got a bunch of dumped Dalmatians. Happened to Italian Greyhounds. Happened to Chihuahuas. (Aside: You wonder what’ll happen if they ever make a cute film about Gaboon Vipers.)

Each of these trainers cautions that though Dalmatians are adorable, they are not for everyone but are for people who have time and energy to devote to the dogs.

For this production, Dallas Summer Musicals is working on animal education projects with both the Kaufman County Animal Awareness Project and Dalmatian Rescue of North Texas.

And at 5 p.m. Friday, says the DSM’s Christine Whiteley, the Dalmatians will lead a parade inside the Shops at Willow Bend near the food court. (You can probably trust Dalmatians at a food court -- one more reason the show isn't 101 Cocker Spaniels. No offense to my cocker pal Inky.)

You can see clips from the stage production by clicking HERE and you can read the dogs’ biographies by clicking HERE.

Jada and Bella were perfect for the PR effort Thursday. Though politicians may be tempted, the dogs did not bite any of the reporters.

URGENT IN DALLAS: This morning I got an e-mail with a bunch of dogs’ photos, including this collie mix Brayden. In bright red letters was this sentence: “These dogs will be put down SUNDAY, NOV. 8, if they are not rescued or adopted.”

Can’t get much plainer than that. Adopt or rescue these animals or they die. Brayden and others are on the clock at the Dallas Animal Services Shelter. Thought you might want to see the face of a dog that is likely doomed. Maybe people who sit on the sidelines and go “Tsk, tsk” will take action. To ask about these animals stop by the Dallas Animal Services Adoption Center at I-30 and Westmoreland. Email teresa.cleek@dallascityhall.com or call 214-671-0249. To pull animals for rescue, contact mark.cooper@dallascityhall.com or 214-670-8298.

THE FACE OF A DOG: Is that not a great face? Somebody call Hollywood.

We learned of Jumbo, as he’s known, from our Arlington tipster Dianne Watson who moved to Amarillo earlier in the year but maintains her concern for animals everywhere, especially in her ol’ hometown. Dianne says that apparently due to crowding at the shelter, the euthanasia dates have been shuffled and Jumbo has been moved from Nov. 10 to Nov. 9. One day less – no fault of his own.

Dianne says that Jumbo came into the shelter on Oct. 19 and “Jumbo's eyes sparkle when anyone shares a few minutes of their time with him and you know how hard it is for the big boys and girls to keep their spirits up in such a confined area for long periods of time. But, Jumbo is still the same sweet and affectionate guy that was he was when he arrived!”

The rescue contact Friday and Saturday, Dianne says, is Debra Delaney, the Community Services Supervisor for Animal Services. The shelter is at 100 S.E. Green Oaks Blvd. and can be reached at 817-459-5898.

Jumbo weighs in at 74 pounds and is said to be “handsome, loveable and appreciative.”

And he’s on the clock.

FORMER FREE-ROAMER; This Chocolate Lab, Tessa, formerly ran free in a neighborhood. It folks a while to catch her, says Companion Animal Network’s Gail Whelan, but now the dog is “fully vetted and healthy” and needs a home. She’s under 2 and “has a great personality.” And, of course, she is safe, but has been living at a vet clinic and really needs to go into either a foster home or a permanent home, Gail says. Boarding eats up a rescue group’s budget. To offer to give Tessa a place to live, call 214-663-4710 or e-mail can_rescue@yahoo.com.

THE ANIMALS’ DAY IN COURT: In a hearing in Kaufman yesterday, Peace Justice Johnny Perry awarded custody of four cats, four horses and a dog seized Nov. 3 from property in Crandall to the SPCA of Texas. He also ordered the people who had the animals to pay the SPCA $2,179 in restitution. The family got to keep two dogs, two sugar gliders and a cat but the judge ordered that law enforcement “must visit and observe the property on a regular basis” and if any improper care is detected the animals will be seized again.

One of the horses was found on the floor of its stall and unable to rise. A veterinarian was immediately called to the scene and, SPCA spokeswoman Maura Davies says, thanks to that quick work, the horse is improving.

To report animal cruelty, go to www.spca.org.

TRAGEDY AT SECOND CHANCE SHELTER: We can't get the Fort Hood tragedy out of our thoughts -- just a kick in the gut. It hasn't been such a good week in Killeen for man or animals. The Second Chance no-kill animal shelter in Killeen suffered from a devastating fire earlier this week and the management and volunteers, no doubt reeling from news at Fort Hood, too, are struggling to put things back together for these animals. Go to www.centexhumansociety.com to see what they need.

PRAYERS & PASSAGES: Sometimes it doesn’t take long for a dog to find a place in a human’s heart. Read the story of this rescued dog by clicking on our Prayers & Passages Page.

THE BURNS FLAT CHIHUAHUA PAIR: Our tipster, the tireless rescuer Terry Lynn Fisher of Burns Flat, Okla., reports that two surrendered Chihuahuas on the clock at the city pound have been saved and will be going into rescue on Saturday. There are plenty of other animals in Burns Flat that need help. E-mail remembering_oddball@yahoo.com and ask Terry Lynn what she needs.

FREE PUBLICITY: Remember, Urban Animal Magazine wants to help you publicize your events for December, January and February (and beyond!). Send the simple notices – who, what, where, when, how much, and how to contact you or your group – to OUR SPECIAL MAGAZINE EVENTS ADDRESS (can i make that any plainer?) lrpmail@aol.com and put EVENTS in the subject line. Deadline approaches rapidly. Remember, you’ve got Santa photos, fundraisers, sweetheart photos in February, etc.

CONTEMPLATIONS: This is for my fellow cat lovers. Which makes you spring up quicker in the middle of the night: a knock at the front door or someone trying to hurl a hairball at the foot of the bed? Both are wrenching. ... The weekend looks promising – feels like my lucky Lotto numbers may finally be lucky. ... And, in case you wondered, today is National Nachos Day. I’m not kidding. Look it up HERE

and I think it’s a public holiday we can all agree to celebrate. American's can unite when the chips are down.

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In a digital world, some critters...

2009-11-05T11:32:34-06:00

Here we go with our report for Thursday. Please adjust your screens to “digital supreme” and continue.

To help with the adjustment, here is our test pattern – yes, it is a merely a simulation of a test pattern performed by our staff impersonator, Inky The Cocker Laureate of the State of Texas who is favoring us with his impression of a post-election political spinmeister dashing into a TV network’s green room and spotting a buffet table with a big steaming platter of Mom’s Make-It Up As You Go Meatloaf with a ladle of “This Can’t Be Factual Gravy.” If you can see Inky’s tongue, your monitor does not need adjustment to the digital supreme format.

WHEN PUGS RULE: Well, I guess the sub-title of this cookbook just about says it all: "Recipes For Pugs and Their Servants."

We get the story of Potluck Pugs from Teresa Santos of DFW Pug Recue who reports that “just in time for Christmas” the group has created a cookbook “for you and your pets.”

The books are $15 each and you can get them by calling 817-975-8578 or e-mailing iluvpugs3@yahoo.com.

According to Teresa, the rescue club takes in “all pugs no matter what medical condition they are in. Currently we have over 90 pugs in foster care and hospice care. All monies from the sale of this book will go towards our vet bills.”

How much is that? She writes, “$125,000 so far this year.”

To learn more about the rescue group, available pugs and pug gifts, visit www.dfwpugs.com.

ANNUALLY IN RICHARDSON: Coming up Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., the annual Richardson City-Wide Pet Day at Owens Spring Creek /farm, 1401 E. Lookout /Drive. There’ll be $15 microchips, “pet pampering,” rescue groups, things for kids, things for critters, a pet parade, Blessing of the Animals, etc. There should be more information at www.richardsonanimaluv.org but I couldn’t get it to open – may be my problem. Give it your best shot.

NEEDING HELP WITH A RESCUE: Buddy Loynd e-mailed us with a dog problem. Some of us have been in this situation before and understand the challenges. Possibly you may have a better solution than I had which is “lure the dog with hot dogs and patience, then slip a loop over the dog’s head and hang on.”

Buddy writes, “I have been feeding and trying to rescue a female (breed unknown), two feet high and approximately 40 lbs for the last 3 weeks. She is extremely human-shy. She will approach within 2-3 feet and that’s it. I have no earthly idea on how to progress. I feel very fearful for her because she crosses a very busy street without much heed to traffic. I see her at my work site which is Siemens in Grand Prairie. I would appreciate any advice or anyone that I could contact that could help me.” E-mail advice to bloynd@gmail.com.

AN ARLINGTON DOG: Some people are hoping to work some magic for Magic. He’s officially #9042289 in the Arlington Animal Services shelter and his “EU” date is “11/7.”

Not a lot of time to hustle up a place for a dog who is missing some fur and is very thin with skin issues.

But, from way out in the Panhandle, our Arlington tipster Dianne Watson reports that this guy has charmed people with his “inner beauty and soul” and that someone has offered to sponsor his medical work.

All that is needed is for someone to step up and say “He can stay with us.”

Magic is thin because he had been surviving on what he could find in trash during his roaming. HIs hair isn’t thin because of mange, but because of an easily defeatable skin condition, the vet says.

His demeanor is good in spite of his treatment by humans prior to being put in a shelter where he gets regular food and visits.

To see how to get Magic out of the shelter, click HERE. The shelter is at 1000 SE Green Oaks in Arlington. Call 817-459-5898.

TWO IN COLLIN COUNTY: Yesterday we got e-mails from Mary Ann Nastro, our Husky contact, and DeDe Whitcombe, our Collin County contact, about these two huskies currently in the Collin County Animal Services Shelter. They are available to rescue groups.

DeDe sent the note about the younger one with a description of a “lost/found” dog brought to the shelter and is on the clock.

The other is described by Paige as “this precious shelter favorite – her time is up.”

To arrange a rescue claim on the pups or any animal in the Collin County shelter, click HERE.

Remember, the shelter’s adoptions are handled through the SPCA of Texas in McKinney and if the SPCA doesn’t claim them for adoption, their only way out is through a rescue group.

MEANWHILE IN THE COLONY: Well, there is a ton of available dogs and cats at The Colony Animal Control Shelter and helping to add to that tonnage is this big, year-old lad, Tink.

Tink is described as “a mountain of a dog. He is about a year old and when he’s well-nourished, he will be around 140ish pounds,” according to a note from our reliable tipster Patricia Barrington, The Colony’s Animal Control Division Manager.

To ask about Tink or any animal in The Colony’s shelter, call 972-370-9250 or e-mail pbarrington@thecolonytx.gov.

The shelter adds new animals all the time – dogs, cats, purebreds, mutts, mixes. If it’s out there, someone is dumping it or letting it roam free.

TWO CATS IN A FIX: We get the tip on these two adult cats from Sydney Busch of Friends of the Animals at Cedar Creek Lake. Two “gorgeous gray tabby brothers – declawed and neutered – are victims of this recession. Their family is being forced from their home and they can’t take these boys with them.”

Felix is a 19-pound gray and white tabby and Oscar is a 20-pound gray tabby. Both are good with dogs and “warm up to kids,” according to the scouting report. They are 5 years old and need a home by Thanksgiving (that’s Nov. 26). To ask about helping them, e-mail frandenton@embarqmail.com or call 903-286-3222 or 903-677-6022.

CONTEMPLATIONS: How about those New York Yankees – if it hadn’t been for the Texas Rangers, they wouldn’t have won the World Series. My fellow Rangers fans know what I bitterly mean. ... The days have been so beautiful lately – and the evenings, too. One is hard-pressed not to stop and admire them. But, being human, we press on like idiots. ... Adopt a turkey? OK, we’re approaching a big time of the year for turkeys. And, as someone who became a vegetarian for moral reasons, I’ve often declared that if I ever backslide it’ll be for either a double-meat with cheese Whataburger with fries and a jalapeno or for a dramatic serving of Thanksgiving turkey and dressing. I’m not going to backslide and yesterday I spotted this site which I’ll mention today on behalf of the Great American Bird: www.adoptaturkey.org.

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Shelter week, bolting dogs, etc.

2009-11-04T11:04:46-06:00

We’re smack-dab in the middle of National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week and I don’t know if “smackdab” is one word, hyphenated or two words. We’ll have a contemplation on the week later in this presentation.

So, as you ponder the smackdabedness of life, let’s get on with the day’s business.

BE ON THE LOOKOUT FORT WORTH: We got the first note about this running rescue pup Tiffany from Kate Watts of August Dog Rescue.

Tiffany is a dog who was at an adoption on Saturday, but during a skittish moment at an apartment complex in far north Fort Worth, she took off, completely bolted right out of custody, according to volunteer Lauren Dereta.

****

Around 2 p.m., we got a note from Lauren saying Tiffany has been found and she included the photo of Tiffany with a new neckerchief taking it easy at the home of the woman who found her on Fossil Creek Golf Course. Lauren wants people to know she is very appreciative of their help in looking for Tiffany and volunteering to look for her. More to come later on the Adventures of Tiffany.)

****

The dog was last seen at an apartment complex, The Club at Fossil Creek Apartments, di_35 and Western Center Boulevard, next to the Fossil Creek Golf Course.

Lauren says the dogs weighs under 8 pounds, has short legs and “big beautiful ears.” She’s “white with some blonde highlights on her back,” Lauren says. “The right side of her mouth kind of gets stuck on her tooth ... I have never heard her bark and only barely whimper, but that was it. She is very timid but once she feels comfortable, she just wants to cuddle.”

As you can imagine, there some angst in this story. Lauren says, “Her background we don't know a whole lot about but we are to assume she may have been abused/mistreated by a man. My husband was working on gaining her trust and the day she went missing it seemed that she was warming up to him. He said she allowed him to love on her and she relaxed enough to go for a walk. Later in the evening they went again and he said all was well until they approached our stairs and some kids kind of spooked her and she isn't fond of our stairs completely yet, either. So she started to panic, yanking around, trying to run off and her collar came loose. My husband tried to chase her and lost her, He came back home to change his shoes and when he came outside to go looking again she was standing at the base of the stairs but again as he approached her she darted off and another chase began. We have been searching ever since.

If you know the whereabouts of Tiffany the Skittish Chihuahua, e-mail katemwatts@gmail.com or ldereta@firstam.com or call 817-699-3782 or 817-808-7368.

CONTINUING TO BE ON THE LOOKOUT: On Oct. 29 we told the story of Cindy Lou Who, this dog who slipped her collar at her Lewisville vet’s office and vanished into the neighborhood near Main at Civic, close to Lewisville High School.

We checked in with Kandace Foley to see if there had been any luck finding Cindy Lou Who, an indoor dog completely unaccustomed to outdoor survival and strangers. “Haven’t found her yet,” says Kandace. “Still calling and visiting the shelters. We put out over 300 flyers.”

She says the Cindy Lou Search Team continues to visit shelters, vet offices, boarding places and “anyone who might care. We went all the way out to Denton.”

If you’ve seen this 5-year-old, 65-pound red-nosed dog, call 972-800-1348 or 214-675-6634 or e-mail westkandace@yahoo.com.

AND SOME ARE FOUND, THEN LOST: In this case, Courtenay Bass reports that she “found this sweetie” on Sunday in the park at Shorecrest at Lemmon in Dallas’ Bluffview area.

The youngish dog appears to be in good health and “may be part pit bull, but like so many of them is as sweet as she can be,” Courtenay reports. “She was wearing a black collar with no tags and trailing a red leash, like the kind you get at the vet. One of the neighbors in the area told me she had been there for at least the weekend.”

Then there is this complication. A couple of neighbors were keeping the dog and Courtenay was handling communications regarding the lost and found dog. Then, the neighbors reported that the dog dug out of their yard. Where is she now? Who knows? Found, then lost. Maybe found again.

So, if you know where this dog belongs or know where she is, you could set some minds at east by e-mailing the info to CLBmediate@aol.com or call by calling 214-303-4513.

She is exactly the kind of big ol’ dog who has virtually no shot at getting a happy home if she gets into a shelter

THE FUTURE: Perhaps that is too ominous a word, but it does catch the tone of this latest note from Stacy Smith, president of the North Texas Chapter of the Texas Humane Legislation Network. Rejuvenation is in the future for this particular chapter of the group that describes itself as a “mainstream voice for the animals of Texas.”

Specifically, THLN lobbies the state’s legislators in such matters as improving animal cruelty laws.

The North Texas Chapter’s meeting is set for 1 p.m. Sunday at the ACCA office at 2008 E. Randol Mill Road, No. 106, in Arlington.

Stacy says the chapter is “regrouping after several months without a meeting – we all needed a break after that legislative session!”

She says this meeting will “introduce the new leadership committee and go through our goals for 2010.” (Aside from Larry: I nearly had a typo there but I caught it. I wrote “go through out goats for 2010" then I caught it – but that’s fine, because farm animals are animals, too.)

The meeting is supposed to last for an hour and the Dallas Cowboys game isn’t until 7 p.m. Sunday, so your conflicts are few. And you’re probably not going Christmas shopping this early, anyway. Stacy says the meeting will last an hour.

Other items on the agenda include discussion of the new “new volunteer director position that I’m excited about,” fundraising activities and other things.

To RSVP to Sunday’s meeting or to ask questions about getting involved with the North Texas Chapter, e-mail dogsave@earthlink.net.

A RINGER FOR OL’ YELLER: Oh, goodness, is it my eyes or could Hank really star in a re-make of Ol’ Yeller? Well, here’s the skinny on Hank. He’s one of Pound Pals’ pups and, as regular readers know, health and life’s upheavals are forcing Kerri Hass to close Pound Pals rescue.

For a month or so now, she has been desperately trying to find homes for the dogs in her care. Hank happens to be staying at Waggin’ Tails in Plano but his funds are vanishing and he needs a home or foster now.

He was placed at Waggin' Tails, we’re told, because it was a good place to socialize him – he was such a terrified dog that he visibly quaked around people. Brings tears to your eyes, doesn’t it, to think about this big ol’ yeller dawg being so caught up in fear that you could see him shaking and cringing.

Too bad we can’t find the person who did that to him and deliver some ...hang on. Nearly got caught up in emotions when the real reason we’re here is to find a home for Hank.

Hank has enough money in his account to stay at Waggin’ Tails until Nov. 9. Call the facility at 972-398-6008 – they’re e happy to help Hank if you want to donate extra time for him. And to ask about adopting or fostering him, e-mail pound_pals@yahoo.com.

IN THE CATEGORY OF ‘BE CAREFUL WHO YOU GO HOME WITH’: We get this dog Raven’s story from our tipster, the tireless rescuer of Burns Flat, Okla., Terry Lynn Fisher, who succinctly tells the story of how Raven wound up in the city pound.

“Sweet Raven followed the wrong man home. Yes, the same idiot that has turned MANY dogs in to the shelter.

“She is a sweet and very pretty girl, probably under a year. She just wants to be loved. She is very gentle and well behaved. Her time here is short, so please, if you think you have a place for this black beauty, let me know.”

E-mail remembering_oddball@yahoo.com or call 580-330-1459.

Yes, the aforementioned Texas theory of handling animal problems has a foothold in Oklahoma, too: “Got an animal problem? Let’s kill it.”
A CONTEMPLATION ABOUT NATIONAL ANIMAL SHELTER APPRECIATION WEEK: Wednesday is put-to-sleep day for some shelters. Around here, the shelters are crowded. May be the same way in other parts of the country, too. If there’s one unwanted animal in a shelter, that’s too many.

Yesterday I got e-mails with loads of photographs of adorable dogs and cats from Denton, Carrollton, Dallas Animal Services....the list goes on. These animals are all marked “urgent.” They have been in the shelters for a while or they’ve been there long enough that they need to be moved out to make room for the next load that will arrive. Yes, shelters become like factories – bring ‘em in and process ‘em.

This is National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week. How those people handle the emotion is beyond me. I’ve talked to them – their hearts soar when a favorite animal is adopted, but, good grief, don’t they sink when one goes unclaimed or one is brought back and never claimed again.

I get torn up just looking at the photographs marked “urgent.” They walk with these animals every day.

When no just plain ol’ non-rescuing citizens don’t adopt animals and when rescue groups are already bursting at the seams, there is only one way for taxpayer-supported shelters to avoid being overloaded to the point of inhumane treatment. Yep, the ol’ Texas rule: Got an animal problem? Let’s kill it.

There has to be a better way. Let’s see, “Spay and Neuter” has been around a while. People know they’re supposed to restrain their animals and keep them from wandering. Everything should be just ducky, right?

So, where is the flaw in the system? Ah, free-roaming nitwits allowed to operate as if there is no consequence for their actions. That’s how many of us got full houses of dogs and cats – the free-roaming nitwits embrace irresponsibility.

Hang on. It’s only Nov. 4 and I’m already in a bad mood for the month about this animal thing.

It isn’t animal overpopulation that’s the problem, it’s the nitwit overpopulation. So, following this logic, the thing to do is spay-and-neuter nitwits. Hang on. I’ve stepped over the line. Please forgive me and help me down off this soapbox before the boards snap and I break a leg and they have to shoot me.

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Mysteries and things...

2009-11-03T10:47:16-06:00

Welcome to Tuesday. Please adjust your helmets and continue with the day.

Thanks to all who will participate and we hope you enjoy reading about the Unknown Rescuer later in this presentation. Here goes:

A TEXAS CAT NO DOUBT: You can’t get much more Texas than this: the cat’s name is Judge Bean, and, as students of Texas know, Judge Roy Bean was the “Law West of the Pecos.”

This Judge Bean, however, is a stray who happened to find his way into the Carrollton Animal Services Shelter.

Here’s the official shelter report: “This handsome boy was found a the local school bus barn waiting to find himself a ride into someone's heart. He is a fun-loving but quiet cat who would probably do best in a quiet home. Don’t let his picture fool you, he isn’t upset. We have learned that instead of purring, this kitty tends to flatten his ears when someone reaches out to him.”
Judge Bean may prefer order in the court.

To ask about him or any of the many, many animals at the Carrollton Animal Services shelter (the clock is ticking on Judge Bean and others), call 972-466-3420 or e-mail joe.skenesky@cityofcarrollton.com.

THE MYSTERY OF ANGEL: Oh, the mystery isn’t where she came from or how she got there, it appears to be why she hasn’t gone anywhere. And, yes, she's today's Earhound.

Our reliable tipster, Gail Whelan with Companion Animal Network (CAN) says 3-year-old Angel is a patient dog. “We took her to Starbacks lastd Sunday morning where she calmly watched the other dogs and people and enjoyed the sun.”

No takers on an adoption, however.

She’s “housetrained, does not bark, dig or chew. She is so full of love, it breaks you heart.”

There you have it, Gail’s pitch on behalf of Angel. To ask about adopting Angel, call 214-663-4710 or e-mail can_rescue@yahoo.com.

AN UPDATE ON STARVING HOPE: We get notes about a lot of dogs named Hope. Here’s the latest on a starving dog named Hope who was in the Longview animal shelter – this “starvation photo” is the one we ran back on Sept. 18.

You can read all about Hope’s fate by clicking HERE. And there, thanks to our tipster Darcelle Cowles of Got Paws, you’ll see the latest on Hope, including photos of her on her way to her new home in Ohio. Obviously, as you can tell from this mugshot, Hope’s a happy traveler.

A COUPLE OF CHIHUAHUAS: From Alba in East Texas we get word via Judy Griggs of the Rescued Pet Adoption League that there are a couple of male Chihuiahuas (vetted, vaccinated, neutered and microchipped) who “have to be out by the end of the week” due to a husband’s insistence. Judy says R-PAL will help arrange transit to save the little guys. (We may have photos by Thursday). To offer to help, e-mail jdgriggs@preferredmachine.com.

SOME BURNS FLAT NEARLY TURN-INS: We get the story of the two white dogs – Chihuahuas – from our reliable tipster in Burns Flat, Okla., the tireless rescuer Terry Lynn Fisher. A family with a number of pits was hemming and hawing about surrendering the Chihuahuas, she says. “They were never sure if they wanted them gone, but finally decided they didn’t want them after all. So now I need to find a rescue for them ASAP. they are under a year (born Dec. 2008), cute and very friendly little things.”

They will be sent to the Burns Flat pound at the end of the week unless Terry Lynn can get them into rescue first.

To offer to help, e-mail remembering_oddball@yahoo.com or call 580-330-1459.

A RESCUE-ONLY DOG IN GARLAND: Yep, purebreds wind up in shelters and that is the case for A130801 who, probably, at some point had a name but is known by her number now in the Garland Animal services Shelter.

She is available to a rescue group only – someone who can properly socialize her so she can be adopted into a good home.

She’s about 3 years old and a Doberman Pinscher and in need of a kind gesture from strangers.

To ask about rescuing her, contact Garland Animal Services at 972-205-3570.

Garland, as you may recall, has been in the news lately because of its controversial practice of gassing unwanted animal rather than applying the fatal needle. Yep. we’re down to arguing about how to kill animals, not about the more important point: whether to kill them. But, heck, that’s just my beloved native state of Texas where the continuing theme is “Got an animal problem? Let’s kill it.”

HELLO KITTY’S SITUATION: We got this request from the neighbor of someone who works with soeone who is looking for a home for this cat. That’s either networking or an admission that “I’ve got too many cats to take one more.”

Whatever the case, we’re speaking of the need to find a home fro this cat, Hello Kitty. (Coincidence: This quest for help arrived yesterday which was the 35th birthday of the famous Japanese cartoon character Hello Kitty.)

Here’s the note about the local Hello Kitty, the flesh-and-blood one: “I am looking for someone who could give a good home to Hello Kitty. She is 7 years old and very mild-mannered. She is pretty shy but loving once she gets to know you. She likes to play occasionally but mostly likes to lay around. She still has her claws but has never scratched anyone and is a very peaceful kitty. She is mostly white with blue eyes and peach stripes around her tail. She also has peach ears and a little peach nose. Unfortunately, she is not hypoallergenic and I am at the point that I can’t breathe around her and must find her a new home.”

To ask about adopting Hello Kitty, e-mail Katherine Gaston at 214-240-5034 or kgaston@tregan.com.

HUSTLING FOR A HOME AFTER A DIVORCE: A number of people are trying to find a home for Phoebe, described as a “beautiful 12-year-old medium-sized Lab/Shar Pei Pix in good health.”

She’s said to be gentle, loving, “perfectly house and leash trained,” dog and child friendly and “obedience trained with hand signals.”

She’s a little hard of hearing because of her age and that’s why she’s learned hand signals.

Here’s the rub: The 35-pound dog was dumped (at 12 years old) into a shelter because her humans were divorcing and “Phoebne is alone for the first time in her life through no fault of her own,” the note about this dog reads.

Veteran rescuer S.J. Greenwood has met Phoebe. “She watches your face and it is obvious that she tries hard to please. I spent time holding and wlaking her on Saturday and she is a dream dog who would make a wonderful companion.”
To offer to help Phoebe, call S.J. at 469-363-6127.

QUICK NOTES:

--Chocolate Chip, the pit sweetheart who was in the Euless Animal Shelter, has been adopted (for the second time – landlord put the kibosh on the first adoption). Our tipster Steffenie Vela, the sponsor of Euless Trinity High School’s Girls Awareness Program, says “Chipper” went to a “girl from Trinity High School.” So, to recap: the girls from GAP, who have a service project with the Euless shelter, fell for Chocolate Chip, worked hard to find a home and now the sweet dog has one.

--Friends of the Animals at Cedar Creek Lake’s raffle for a “most fabulous cat basket” continues – the drawing is on December 1. Tickets are $1 each, six for $5 and 14 for $10. You can guy them at the Friends Spay/Neuter Clinic in Gun Barrel City on Tuesdays or you can make arrangements to pay for them via our Friends tipster Sydney Busch at sydney@friendsoftheanimals.org.

The basket is valued at $80 and is designed to excite not just the cat but the cat lover, too. Contents include a 3-mont box of feline Frontline Plus, litter box, ltiter, sratching post, toys, treats, 2 cat books, bowl, cat magnet and what Sydney calls “our very cool, new cat shirts.” The slogan on the shirt: “Life Is Good, Cats Make It Better."

--Here are two Irving links. Click HERE to see dogs and HERE to see cats in the City of Irving Animal Services shelter. They’re all on the clock.

A CONTEMPLATION OF MIRACLES, OR “FINDING PEPPER”: Yesterday we posted a “Be on the lookout” item about Pepper, the former Ferris shelter dog who bolted and vanished along the Katy Trail in Dallas on Sunday. We were able to update that Pepper had been found, but now we’ll offer for your reading pleasure the story of that recovery from Pepper’s human Deborah Lamkin. She writes:

“Miracles abound.

“Pepper is a sweet 2-year-old Golden Retriever mix that recently needed to be saved from being euthanized in Ferris. She had had a life full of dogs, but little to no human contact. Thus, Ferris deemed her unadoptable. In swept Nancy Underwood, placing Pepper in the loving foster home of Cindy Hathcock. Miracle #1.

“Though not on the original e-mail plea for a permanent home for Pepper, my sister-in-law forwarded me the second one. And the timing couldn’t have been better. Our other rescue, Sam, was lonely and needed a friend. Miracle #2"

(FYI: That's a photo of Pepper and Sam reunited.)

“We met Pepper at Cindy’s house and knew she would be going home with us immediately.

“We had had her for 4 months when we decided it was time to get her out around more people to socialize her some more. We planned an outing to the Katy Trail with her foster mom, Cindy, and Cindy’s dog child, Bella.

“ While getting Sam out of the car, Pepper panicked and bolted from the backseat to the front and out the door just north of Knox-Henderson. We followed her for about 15 minutes but then she lost us. We all searched for many hours but never caught site of her again.

“Emails were sent, internet sites updated and flyers posted. A few calls came the next day, reporting Pepper spottings in the general area but they had been the night before. We spent the morning and early afternoon searching the area again. And then the call came from City Vet. A woman had brought in a lost dog to get scanned for a chip. And Pepper had one! Miracle #3/4.

“I am so grateful for the network of people who offered their help as it gave us hope. And to the lovely woman who refused to identify herself.”

Deborah wanted to send a thank-you gift, but the woman was firm, “claiming it was her good deed for the day.”

So, if you’ve got a cup of coffee or a soft drink or a bottle of water or wish you had one, raise a toast to the Unknown Rescuer who was the guardian angel for both Pepper the Dog and Deborah’s heart.

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Cats, dogs, apostrophes & snoring

2009-11-02T09:49:53-06:00

Welcome to the first work week in November and though you still have lingering thoughts of Halloween candy, aren’t you starting to think of Thanksgiving Day, too?

Yes, time to exercise and watch the calories or what you’ll want for Christmas is a whole new wardrobe one or two sizes larger.

Now, we present today’s report

(And keep in mind that we offer the usual daily stipulation here: all shelters need people to adopt dogs and puppies, cats and kittens and other critters. Just Google the shelter of your choice and get ready for a dramatic catalog of available animals. For example, this cat Flair is a Dallas Animal Services Adoption Center Cat – someone dropped her off in one of the facility’s “night kennels.” That may mean she was a stray or a neighbor got tired of a wandering cat and clandestinely captured the cat and dropped it at the shelter. Who knows? Visit www.dallasanimalservices.org to see a ton of unwanted animals – each and every one ready for a good home.)

ASTRO: A STRAY’S FATE: Over the weekend we got a note from Erin Angelico of Carrollton about a stray that wound up in the family’s care. A friend had found the dog and asked Erin and family to take him in.

That was five weeks ago.

The Angelico dogs accepted Astro – against all odds- and the 6-month-old dog was doing fine until about a week ago when he, a puppies will do, began to play rough with the other dogs and, Erin says, “was treating my daughter Ash like she was a littermate.”

Things suddenly weren’t so swell, so the family began looking “for another foster home or rescue group to take him in, but they are all full and since he might have a little pit in him, no one was interested in helping him out.

“With a heavy heart, we had to call the city to take him. They agreed and he is with the City of Carrolton. He is set to be put down on Nov. 10 if he is not adopted. He really is a sweet dog and if he were smaller, we would keep him with us.”

And, she also writes, “I am beside myself that he is in a shelter and not with us. ... We are just not the
best home for a dog bigger than 15 pounds who also happens to be a puppy. Doug and I will pay the adoption fee for whoever agrees to take him and give him a forever home. .... We will drive him to you. We are willing to go across the country if we need to just so he gets a good home. He does need a yard or someone who is very active and likes to play with him.”

To offer to adopt this dog, e-mail angeldlynnE@gmail.com or call 469-879-9714.

DOROTHY’S SITUATION: Oh, boy, we got a great one from veteran rescuer and tipster Pat Rodriguez today. This dog is Dorothy and as Pat writes, “She’s a small dog, who desperately needs a place to be. Her most pressing issue is that she’s pregnant. I’m not sure how far along she is, just know that I have had my eye on her for 4 weeks now. She wasn’t showing 4 weeks ago, but I thought she might be pregnant, just a feeling.

“I don’t have room to keep her, and right now, she has a few days for me to find a place for her to be. I’m looking for a rescue group who can take her in and get her and her pups adopted into responsible, loving homes. If that rescue group needs any help, I will do what I can. I can also make a donation for the expenses for keeping her.

“I was alerted about Dorothy, and her then companion Twister (who is in a shelter now, but who was also pregnant, but caught 2 weeks ago, so we were able to ‘change the future’) by a man I had bought my car from. Dorothy and Twister were living on the streets, but when they realized they were getting a regular food source, they stuck around. When I was in a position to trap, I did and I caught each dog without much trouble.”

Dorothy weighs 20 pounds (with cargo for now) and is a bit scared right now and “getting used to being off the streets,” Pat says.

To offer to help this soon-to-be-momma and her pups, e-mail patrod@sbcglobal.net.

BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR PEPPER: This dog, Pepper, is done of the dogs rescued from the perplexed City of Ferris Animal Shelter last summer, but now she’s one of those lost dogs in Dallas.

(NEWSBURST, NEWS FLASH, NEWSHOUND, ETC.: An afternoon note tells us this dog has been recovered today and has been to the vet's for a checkup. More later.)

Her human, Deborah Lamkin reports that on Sunday while the dogs Pepper and Sam were being taken to Dallas’ Katy Trail for a walk, Pepper “jumped out of the car and after chasing her for about 15 minutes I lost her.”

She was last seen about 11:30 a.m. Sunday near Knox/Henderson and the Katy Trail and this morning, Deborah got a call that “Pepper was spotted at the corner of Cole and Hester at the Gable apartments around 8 p.m. last night.”

Pepper seems to be exploring the general area of the Katy Trail. She is wearing a collar with tags and a harness. If you know her whereabouts, call 214-280-5517. (Team Pepper is on-site looking for her this morning.)

CONTEMPLATIONS: Maybe I’m slow on the uptake, but I’ve been working with words for many, many years and I’ve been aware of Halloween (spelled that way) for six decades and yet over the weekend I saw two different instances in which people wrote the word “Hallowe’en.” You wonder if someone spotted a typo in a newspaper and thought, “That’s nifty. I’ll use it.” Next up, T'hanks’giv’ing. ... Martha’s helping Paws In The City decorate a Christmas tree for display (and donations!) in the annual Deck The Halls celebration at the Old Red Courthouse Museum (of Dallas County History and Culture) in downtown Dallas and we spent Halloween afternoon shopping for Christmas decorations. Inside the stores, it was already Christmas, though in some cases the cashiers were wearing Halloween costumes – at least they appeared to be costumes. We won’t know until we go back and check. ... Spotted on AOL’s newspage over the weekend, this headline: “Simple shot may put end to snoring.” Please, they don’t mean pistol.

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For Halloween, sleep and treats...

2009-10-30T21:20:37-05:00

There was an eerie tree in the yard of the house – somehow, halfway up the tree, visitors were offered a splash of orange, the color of autumn and Halloween.

The tree had seen many trick-or- treaters, ghosts and goblins and spine-tingling specters during its many years in the yard. It had been home to squirrels, safe haven for wandering racoons and landing zones for birds of all types.

The eerie tree set the tone for Halloween.

Meanwhile, in the house, Annie, the Heeler Mix with an attitude, had stretched out on the couch and was awaiting Halloween’s arrival. At first she kept watch through the slats of the venetian blinds behind the couch, then, in traditional dog fashion, she sort of slid down the back of the couch and entered her own zone of snoozing, as is fitting for this, our weekend edition of “Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap.”

As Annie kept a firm grip on stretch-and-snooze, Griffin the Big Orange Cat took some time to rehearse. His role in this Halloween production was to be “Big Porch Pumpkin.” It was a role he was born to fill.

And he could fill several other things, too – a big wash tub, a big laundry basket, the backseat of a modern sedan, the seat in a modern office chair. He was as orange as anything sold by the pound at the farmer’s market.

Hambone Jack, known a Hammy, comes from a family tree with both Great Dane and Labrador Retriever, making him, perhaps, a Labradane or a Greatador (and he is greatly adored). For Halloween, Hammy has chosen to approximate a sleeping bat dangling upside down in a bell tower. Here he droops his head and ears and jowls toward the floor from his big green chair while in the firm grip of a good sleep.

All was well in the Halloween house with the eerie tree and the chilly wind outside...

Then, suddenly, there was an odd sound. Baby Jane Doe, a shepherd mix found as an infant in front of a bus stop in Dallas, sprang to her feet, though, at her age, she moves more like her male human so it is not really a spring to the feet, but more of a lurch to the paws. Still, no matter how she became upright, there was something going on outside.

The missus, known for these purposes as Candyspouse Martha, walked to the front door, wondering if we had enough candy, if there would be trick or treaters or if, indeed, the neighborhood association was sending an emissary to ask us to do something about the failed pumpkin patch in the front yard with its unsightly twisting vines and dying blossoms – it flops there as a monument to bad soil and poor agronomy.

So, she opened the door and found two trick-or-treaters, a couple of neighborhood kids dressed as our foster dogs, Wendy the Beagle-Something Mix and Texas Earl the Rottweiler who was dumped in a city park.

Those kids had the costumes down perfectly, so they were rewarded with extra treats. It seemed the right thing to do. How they got their tails to wag – one long, one stubby – in unison was amazing, but these days computers can do anything.

As soon as Candyspouse Martha shut the door, there came a spine-chilling rapping, tapping.

Martha opened the door and there was the Readlarrypowell.com staff impressionist, Inky, the Cocker Laureate of the State of Texas. He quickly gave us his impression of a dedicated young trick-or-treater dressed as Hairy the Pirate rushing into the galley after a long night of trick-or-treating and spotting a buffet table with a big steaming platter of Mom’s Mystical Spellcaster Meatloaf with a side order of Real Scary Beets.

Inky then favored us with a recitation of a Halloween poem created especially for the 2009 holiday. (Warning: He is currently in what he calls “my Alan Ginsberg period” so this poem begins as an homage to Mr. Ginzberg’s most famous poem because, Inky says, its title speaks to him.)

“Howl! I saw the best costumes

of my generation running free

in city streets and crying out

“Trick or Treat” in a time

when our own government

preached meddled against obesity

and railed against trickery on

Wall Street and yet we all

needed money and though

we gathered candy by the

bagfuls needed to lose weight.

Howl. Howl. Howl.

We trick, we treat,

we eat what’s sweet,

We hope not so much that

we can’t see our feet.

(Author’s note: Inky apologizes and explains that a sugar high distorts his assessment of his poetic gifts.)

(To offer photos of your slumbering animals for Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap, send the photo and the information to dallrp@aol.com . At Readlarrypowell.com, we believe in sleep and when we don’t get enough, we think we can satirize Alan Ginsberg, Robert Frost or anybody who slapped together some couplets and called it art.)

Lola, rescues, ears and things...

2009-10-30T09:37:25-05:00

We’re going to begin our Friday report with a happy ending. You may recall the dog Lola, formerly known as Number 7 in the aftermath of a puppy mill raid in Nacogdoches last summer.

The good folks at The Colony Animal Control Division took Lola in – she came all the way from East Texas to North Texas where she became, as Animal Control Division Manager Patricia Barrington called her, “the best office dog ever.”

We ran a number of photos of Lola, including this cage picture sent to us by rescuers right after the raid. (Remember to click on these photos to make them larger.)

Other photos were snapped by Patricia as Lola sat in office chairs, snoozed in the lap of a staffer, rested in a suitcase/dog bed, etc.

The only other way this dog could have been marketed more intently would have been to stamp “Disney” on her backside and tie cash to her collar.

Still, for a while there were just no takers. Who knows why? Economy, maybe. Or nobody wanted to take on a pit bull – that’s likely.

So, what has happened?

Well, after some quality time charming people at The Colony, Lola has found a home. Vicki Cooper-Springer of Circle Star Pet Resort in East Texas saw one of Lola’s photos that Patricia had distributed and fell for the former puppy mill dog.

She’s been living at the resort (It’s between Tyler and Athens) for a couple of weeks and Vicki says, “Oh, my goodness, I just love her to pieces already. She is so stinking spoiled.”

Even as we did the brief telephone interview, Vicki would turn to talk to Lola because Lola was pretty sure we were talking about her.

What’s the thing that charms Vicki? “I guess it’s the way she approaches all the people. We have a lot of people here. She gets along with dogs that aren’t particularly friendly, with all the people; she gets along with the horses.”

When a pit bull runs up to someone, generally the people shrink back, Vicki says. But with Lola “she’s telegraphing ‘i’m friendly, I’m friendly, I’m friendly.’ Everybody loves Lola.”

As you can see we have several photos of loveable Lola, including the one that first caught our attention – someone involved in the puppy mill rescue sent us the photo of Lola being catalogued as “Number 7.”

Then you see Vicki and Lola in the cab of a Circle Star tractor while other dogs circle around them and, apparently, cheer Lola on. Then there’s the couch photo. Salem is on the left, then Goober, with Junior above him, and Lola snoozing on her end of the sofa. Lola also lives with a Border Collie named Cap who works with the cows and another dog named Beau.

Long way from Number 7 in a cage to “Lola On the Couch." (See other Lola photos HERE.)

A REMINDER: The first week of November is National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week, first declared by the Humane Society of the United States in 1986. So, how do you celebrate it? Start by saying something nice to a shelter worker. And remember to tip big... wait, that’s National Waiters & Waitresses Day on May 21. Go ahead and say something nice to the shelter staff – they see a lot of things most of us couldn’t stomach. They also get to see happy adoptions. And that’s got to be rewarding. Remember, you wouldn’t have seen photos of Lola in her happiness if it hadn’t been for the efforts of shelter workers.

ROCKY’S READY: Sarah Jewell is looking for help for “a dog very dear to my heart,” Rocky – yep, she calls him Rocky Balboa now and he knows how to pose cutely. He and his brother were dumped at White Rock Lake about 5 months ago.

“When we tried to rescue the two boys, Rocky ran right up to us but his brother was scared and ran away. Since then Rocky has bounced from location to location in temporary homes while he waits for his forever family to come along.”

He’s still waiting and now he’s being boarded, which he likes, but it’s not a home, Sarah says. “Rocky deserves a chance! I’ve spent so much of my free time getting to know him and I’ve really fallen for this guy. He knows sit. He knows stay. He’s both house-trained and crate-trained. He loves to play with other dogs, he loves walks and he would be great in a family with or without kids. He is only 1 year old and the perfect medium size of a mini-lab around 40 lbs. Although not confirmed I think he’s a lab/greyhound mix. He has some features of both and he can run like the wind! He’s loving, gentle and asks for only a forever home.”

To ask about adopting Rocky, e-mail sarah@theingersollcompany.com or call 214-526-3800 or 214-927-6233.

PAXTON AND PROJECT PAWZ: Paxton is a little gray cat with black highlights who found himself left behind when his two siblings were adopted this summer after they’d been rescued from the Corsicana Animal Shelter. Veteran rescuer Lynn Gatlin and hubby Tony (Project Pawz) took the trio in to help them. The siblings were adopted on Aug. 1 and Paxton – well, Lynn says, “There was no way I was sending that little guy back to the shelter all by himself.”

Pax is an inside-only cat and is “quite the little entertainer.” He’s well-trained and adorable.

You can see a video of Paxton by clicking HERE. To offer to adopt him, e-mail lynnsoldit@yahoo.com.

OUR ARIZONA OUTPOST SPOTS A TEXAS EARHOUND: For years we’ve been swapping messages and critter stories with Rocky Wingo who lives in the great state of Arizona. Yesterday she sent us a nomination for an “Earhound.”

“I saw this baby on the margin of your web page and wanted to nominate her as your next Earhound. Poor little thing! If I was in Texas, I'd adopt her!”

And, so that is why we have this photo of the great Rosebud who – in an amazing coincidence – actually is an EARS hound – she’s listed on the site for EARS, the Education and Animal Rescue Society in Dallas. (Contact EARS at 214-559-2817 or adoptions@earstexas.org to ask about Rosebud.

The background is this year-old, gentle girl had a rough start and doesn’t really have any ears. According to the EARS folks, the vet “thinks they were cut off with crimping shears. Can you imagine how cruel and inhumane that was for a young puppy?”

She was living on the streets, picked up by animal control and scheduled to be euthanized when her foster mom spotted her. Now, she waits, in safety, for a good home.

She’ll need a little patience – when she is put on a leash, she “stats shaking and gets very frightened.”

One can only imagine the awful places she was dragged when the ear crimper put her on a leash. The only reason these jerks cut off a dog’s ears is to keep them from being torn in a fight. Whew, hand me a sedative.

THE DUMPED DOG: We reported earlier in the week that Irene Nazar has been trying to find some help with a dumped pit bull in a rural area of southern Ellis County. Here’s her report from yesterday: “I heard from a rescue group so I took her to the vet. She is about 2 years old, spayed, in good health except for early heartworm. She was microchipped from the City of Mansfield but it is not a registered number." The rescue group will "dind space for her within a week so the as-yet-unnamed doggie got a rabies shot and bordatello shot and is at the vet’s to get a bath and stay inside for a while.” You can see photos of the dog HERE and if you want to offer to help, e-mail nazar428@airmail.net.

FESTUS AND THE DENTON CROWD: All week we’ve been getting notes about how crowded the Denton Animal Shelter is and how slow adoptions are going. Perhaps this weekend will pick up. And we’ve got some of the Denton animals to discuss – keep in mind that the cat and dog areas are overloaded. Little ol’ college town Denton has big city critter problems.

We heard about this guy Festus from someone who’d seen his pictures, so we checked with our reliable Denton contact Amy Pelzel, the shelter volunteer, to see about his story.

He is an old guy, probably 12, and has enough problems to make you cringe. He also has survived this long apparently on his own. He came into the shelter as a stray, Amy says. And, perhaps in honor of his age and condition, people decided to see if they could help him live out his life in a way other than in a cold cage with a needle at the end.

The guy has persistent ear infections, earlier this week he had a tumor removed from his side, he has hip dysplasia, and he is food aggressive, guarding the dishes and keeping other dogs at bay. HIs saving grace, Amy says, is he’s house-trained. And the astonishing news is this old wanderer is heartworm negative.

“I don’t think the dog had ever been petted before in his life,” she says. He’s “not your affectionate dog who wants to be with you. This will take a special dog person. He really doesn’t care about people.”

Festus has been neutered and is up to date on his shots now and takes thyroid medicine.

“He needs love and someone to care about him,” Amy says. (To ask about adopting or fostering Festus, e-mail amy_pelzel@yahoo.com.

You can also contact Amy about other animals in the shelter. And they are all on the clock.

There’s Matty, a 2-year-old female Black Lab weight heartworms (and a sponsor who’ll help with the treatment); Cleveland, a 2-year-old purebred Yellow Lab; Frick and Frack, a couple of Black Mouth Cur boy pups; Syd, the 2-year-old Great Pyrenees; Cookie a 4-month-old owner-release Black Lab ....oh, the list goes on and on. You can see the animals at www.denton.petfinder.com.

LEFT AT THE DOOR: Oh this is just rich, but, it beats being shoved out of a car on a busy highway. Hank was simply tied up to the door. Here’s the story from Melissa Knott of the 380 West Animal Hospital in McKinney. On Saturday, after attending a charity event with the rest of the crew, one staffer dropped back by the hospital. “On a normal Saturday, we would have left here at noon and not returned until Monday. We were very lucky she returned on this particular day. When she got to the clinic she found a dog tied to our front door. He simply had a note that said ‘We found this dog running loose.’ There was no name, phone number, or other information on the note.”

So, the pit bull mix, probably 10 months old, is now living at the hospital, but needs a home. He isn’t neutered but he is heartworm negative. He’s “sweet and hyper,” so cage-dwelling is a trial for him. To ask about adopting him or helping to place him in a good home, e-mail melissa@380westanimalhospital.com or call 214-544-7881.

GARLAND PROTEST CONTINUES: Garland CRASH (Citizens for Reform of the Animal Shelter) have scheduled a protest Tuesday against the city’s continuing policy of gassing animals rather than killing them by lethal injection. The protesters will gather at 5:30 p.m. at the Garland downtown DART station, then march to city hall by 6:30 p.m. for the 7 p.m. meeting. To contact CRASH, e-mail endthegassing@gmail.com or call 214-563-4069.

BE ON THE LOOKOUT IN MINIATURE DONKEY THEFT: Here is KXAS-TV Channel 5's report on the case in Mesquite of the miniature donkey that was reportedly taken when some bad guys or a bad guy stole a big rig. Click HERE.

DUNCAN/BARKLEY AND JUNO: You may recall that earlier in the week we got a note about a dog named Duncan who turned out to be Barkley and was, indeed, in the Arlington Animal Services Shelter.

We have now heard from the note’s originator, Leslie Engleman of Texas Little Cuties that Barkley/Duncan has been adopted.

So, in an attempt to help Arlington place more animals, Leslie has sent us a report on Juno, a young shepherd mix who is on the clock at Arlington. “He has been there nearly a month and he needs a home,” she says, noting that veteran shelter folks are “all in shock” because they thought Juno “would have been long gone.”

The dog is about a year old, weighs around 55 pounds and has “exceptional” temperament.

Leslie suggests contacting her for information about adopting Juno – e-mail txlittlecuties@yahoo.com.

THE ADB GARAGE SALE: Talk about timing. Last Sunday, the rescue group A Different Breed staged a garage sale at their adoption site in Pepper Square (Beltline at Preston.) Volunteer Coordinator Joni McConnell sent out a note saying, “Well, it was a lot of hard work, but SO WORTH IT! We had a very successful garage sale Sunday, and raised over $4,000! YEAH!!! So hopefully we will have a roof over their heads this winter, and some gravel or cement instead of water and mud under their feet! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!”

Then, she adds that not only did the group adopt out three dogs, but also (and this is where the timing comes in) “took in 7 sickly, dehydrated 3-4 week old puppies that had been left in a box behind someone's garage on Friday. One died within 24 hours, but [foster] Jan Norris bless her heart, took them all home to nurse them until they are older and in good health.”

Timing – some cash comes in, some expenses do, too. It’s just like real life.

CONTEMPLATIONS: I think our dogs are starting to blame me for the rain. That’s the look I get when I snap the lead onto Hammy’s collar, grab the umbrella and say, “OK, let’s go.” He does like to be toweled dry, though. ... All these flu stories remind me that the first great flu outbreak I recall was the “Asiatic Flu” which struck when I was in elementary school, along about 1957. They said it was so bad that it would make the hair fall out of your Davy Crockett coonskin cap. (I made that up.) Through the years we’ve heard of the Asiatic, Bird and Swine Flu – that’s in addition to the regular ol’ Fall Over and Moan Flu. ... Don’t forget to change your clocks this weekend – 2 a.m. Sunday, fall back. And to my fellow multiple-dog households, bless your hearts and good luck.

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Pits, puppies & parties...

2009-10-29T10:49:05-05:00

As this is being written, I’ve just finished breakfast and all I have to say is I don’t see what horses see in oats.

There’s a cloud cover over our town and, though it’s not raining at our house, there’s a thick coating of water on all the sidewalks and porches. We don’t live far from a freeway and we’re on top of a hill so, when there’s a low cloud cover, all the freeway noise is trapped and fills the air. So we have begun a soggy noise day with lousy oatmeal.

Things could be worse. Can I offer something bright at this time? This is the staff impersonator at Readlarrypowell.com, Inky, the Cocker Laureate of Texas. Here he is giving us his impression of a portly writer rushing into an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet and spotting a steam table filled with hot pancakes, syrup, high-cal butter, biscuits, seven kinds of jellies and a big steaming platter of Mom’s Sassy Sun-up Sausage Meatloaf covered with a generous glopping of They Must Serve This In Heaven Gravy. OK, let’s finish washing the breakfast dishes and get on with the day’s items.

BE ON THE LOOKOUT A COMPLICATION: Oh, goodness, this is Cindy Lou Who, a clever girl who slipped out of her collar at her vet’s office on Saturday and disappeared into the neighborhood nearby – that’s in Lewisville near Main and Civic, close to Lewisville High School.

Kandace Foley says the family dog – an indoor dog – is shy and they’re pretty sure they know what general area she’s in. They want to put out a live trap, but there’s a complication: This lousy weather makes that a cruel proposition. You don’t want the dog tripping the get on a trap and being caught in an open-air cage in a cold water deluge.

Cindy Lou is 5 (the Foleys have had her since she was a puppy), weighs 65 pounds and has a red nose and a white chest. She is shy, not aggressive.

If you know Cindy Lou’s whereabouts, call 972-800-1348 or 214-675-6634 or e-mail westkandace@yahoo.com.

Cindy Lou is strictly an indoor dog, so she’s encountering a whole new world – and it’s full of weather.

IN COLLIN COUNTY: Our reliable Collin County tipster DeDe Whitcombe endorses this dog, having met her. And so does the Collin Council Animal Services shelter staffer Lisa Drummonds. And, honestly, those lips were not Photoshopped.

DeDe says the dog, No. 201976, is “one in a million” and, sadly, there probably are about a million unwanted pits in North Texas. Well, thousands, anyway, it seems.

Lisa says this dog is a “large girl, maybe 2 years old. I do not post very many pits for rescue because I know no one can take them and it breaks everyone’s heart to see their sweet faces, knowing what will happen. But this girl is very special. Not only is she gorgeous, she is so sweet and loving.”

And, to quote Lisa, “She is out of time. I just love this girl.”
To help save this dog, rescue groups should call 972-547-7298, 972-547-7292 or 972-249-7327.

To see the animals at the Collin County Animal Services Shelter, click HERE. The shelter does not adopt to the general public – its adoptions are handled by the SPCA of Texas and if the SPCA doesn’t designated a dog or cat to be adoptable, and if a rescue group doesn’t claim the animal, well, you know what happens.

THE BIG FELLOW: Terry Lynn Fisher, our tireless tipster and rescuer in Burns Flat, Okla., is concerned about this guy. She writes, “A dear friend of mine said this boy deserves a ‘mighty’ name.” So, she’s calling him Thor.

But here’s the deal: “He is so terrified. He just stares at me with those sad eyes. He wants to trust me, you can tell, but he has been so beaten down. My God, what have they done to this poor boy? ...He trembles with such great fear. Please, if anyone can help with this boy, let me know. He deserves to know that there are good people and loving, gentle hand.”

Terry Lynn says that earlier in the week the people at the Burns Flat pound called her about this 13-month-old Lab/pit mix. The personnel told her the man who brought him in said his other dogs did not like him and were always attacking him. “He has many scars on his sweet face and part of his lip has been ripped away,” Terry Lynn says.

She says the dog is in a kennel between other dogs’ kennels and “he just looks at them, showing no signs of aggression. When I see the fear in his eyes, it makes me cry. I talked to him and he had such a sad, lost look. His tail was tucked between his legs and he just cowered. He shook so hard and was actually just scared to death. As I offered him a treat, he slowly made his way to me and took it, then ran back to the corner to eat it...waiting till he thought I was gone. He is so hand shy..I imagine this poor little lost soul has lived through pure hell.”

To help Terry Lynn help Thor, call 580-330-1459 or e-mail remembering_oddball@yahoo.com.

Burns Flat is in Western Oklahoma – if you have a Texas map, find Dallas, go west to Wichita Falls, then go north to I-40. Make a U-turn and come back a little bit and there’s Burns Flat. It's not close to a lot of things.

NEWT’S NOOK: By now you are familiar with the story of how a Newt Gingrich group was going to give an entrepreneurial award to Dawn Rizos, owner of The Lodge gentleman’s club in Dallas and when the Newters (how’s that for an animal-related turn of phrase) discovered the nature of her business, they called the whole thing off.

American Solutions For Winning The Future (the official name of the Newters) sent her an explanation and returned the $5,000 she’d been required to give in exchange for winning the award. And she also got money back for two nonrefundable airline tickets.

Dawn, who has been a longtime generous donor to and supporter of animal causes in North Texas, decided to donate the money to Animal Guardians of America for help with its shelter in Celina. Thus was born a special area to help and protect pit bulls called “Newt’s Nook.”

This sign for the area was created by The Lodge bartender Bryan Callaway.

A press release provided by The Lodge’s Michael Precker, my longtime colleague at the big paper in Dallas, says the dedication of Newt’s Nook will be sometime in early November. And it included this comment from Animal Guardians’ Annette Lambert. “We’re sorry that Dawn was treated so unfairly. But this will be great for a lot of wonderful dogs. I hope Newt will stop by sometime to see what we’ve built in his name.”

And Dawn says, “We’ll certainly invite Mr. Gingrich to the dedication, and of course he’s always welcome at The Lodge. We don’t hold a grudge. And we still have a lot to talk about.”

SOME BRIEF NOTICES:

--I got this notice about an overload of puppies from Sydney Busch of Friends of the Animals at Cedar Creek Lake which runs the world’s most successful spay/neuter clinic in Gun Barrel City. She forwarded a note from our tipster Tina Hamilton of Happy Tails of Gun Barrel City and the note began, “Puppies! Puppies! And more puppies!” which indicates to me that some of you people in the area are not taking advantage of the spay/neuter clinic. Because of all the puppies, Happy Tails needs canned puppy food and homes for the puppies. And, Tina adds, dry dog and cat food for the Happy Tails Meals on Wheels Pet Food Program. Call 903-880-4124 or 903-275-5990 or e-mail txtina1201@yahoo.com.

--One of our favorite rescue shelters, Second Chance SPCA, is benefitting from people dining at the California Pizza Kitchen at the Shops at Willow Bend today. If you present the SC-SPCA coupon (click HERE ), 20 percent of your bill goes to SC-SPCA in Plano. Read more about the shelter at www.scspca.org.

--Here’s a theory: Nobody rocks like a rescue group. This is advance notice, but this time of year you need to plan ahead. Paws In The City is having its holiday season fundraiser from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on November 19 at the House of Blues. Our Paws tipster, Alan Lintel, tells us that the music for the evening will be performed by Live80, an “’80s cover band” that plays weekends at the House of Blues and “opened for the Mavs” at their season opener at American Airlines Center Tuesday night. Tickets to the Paws party are $30 each – reserving a table for 4 costs $50 and includes a $40 food voucher. To get a sample of Live80, click HERE. To see the animals you’ll be helping and read more about the rescue group, click on www.pawsinthecity.org.

CONTEMPLATIONS: Do you know these two dogs? ... Has the load of unwanted animals ever before been so oppressive great in the North Texas area? Spay and neuter (as the great animal protector Skip Trimble has preached). ... If autumn is this soggy, what can we expect in winter? ... Reminder to my dogs: The time changes at 2 a.m. Nov. 1 – it becomes 1 a.m. reverting from Daylight Saving to Standard time. Yes, spring forward, fall back. So, at 2 a.m. Sunday it’ll be 1 a.m. which means Baby Jane Doe our shrill shepherd mix will begin her wake up barking on her usual schedule – she refuses to carry a watch.

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PM edition: Where is Duncan?

2009-10-28T16:19:09-05:00

THIS IS DUNCAN: What we have here is an afternoon rally on behalf of a dog who is scheduled, maybe, to be put to sleep Thursday morning.

I've gotten a couple of e-mails that were handed around and wound up at Readlarrypowell.com without any contact point, without saying which shelter the dog is in and with one attached e-mail saying his PTS date is Nov. 4 and another saying it’s Oct. 29.

If this dog gets saved, you can mark it down as another success for guardian angels.

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We've gotten some e-mails after posting this that say Duncan is at the Arlington Animal shelter where he is known as "Barkley," one says. Click HERE, they advise. I'm still not sure, but just to cover all the bases, there's that info.

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Whatever the case, this dog Duncan, a Golden/Bernese Mountain Dog mix, is in need of rescuing – he’s on the clock at some area shelter, possibly Arlington Animal Services based on what might be interpreted as a clue by Sherlock Holmes.

He may be 2 or 3 years old. He weighs 65 pounds.

And if anyone can tell me where he is, then we can maybe get him adopted or rescued.

Please, join me in the frustration of trying to save a dog but not having the complete information to help him. I’m a pretty tenacious reporter, but I am stumped by this one. Maybe someone will recognize him. I’ll update this soon as we have some info.

This is as frustrating as getting e-mails regarding situations that have been resolved for weeks. Good-hearted people act before thinking. I love ‘em, but they’re grinding my canines down to nubs.

Frankly, I hope I'm not getting answers to my questions because the people who might have the answers are busy somewhere pulling this dog out of the mystery shelter. That would be great. In the meantime:

Save Duncan. If you can find him.

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An assortment for Wednesday...

2009-10-28T10:46:06-05:00

OK, readers, let’s jump right into the day’s fray:

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? This story comes to us from Keli Halteman, who usually deals with hard luck cats via Halteman’s Haven. But this is Little Latte, a toy poodle mix who isn’t naturally this color.

A man brought the dog to the vet clinic where Keli works. Little Latte has an injured left eye and is desperately in need of grooming, Keli says. “I have her scheduled for eye surgery and for a spay Friday.”

In the meantime, the dog needs a grooming and Keli is looking for someone who’ll donate the service.

“This poor dog was covered in the purple salve that some folks use on horses for wound care,” says Keli. “It has plastered her poor eye shut. She is coveted in mats and she needs a ‘spa day’ after she heals from surgery. I am willing to pay for her surgeries, vaccines, heartworm prevention, her antibiotics and pain meds. Would anyone be willing to pay for her grooming?”

To volunteer to help this dog, e-mail kellyhalteman@att.net.

Where did Latte come from? Keli told me last night, “I think she got out in the storms the night before. Whoever had her did not care for her, hence the mats and she is covered in that purple salve .. Some human put that crap on her. And she has no chip. So sad – that tiny dog running around in the middle of Buckner Boulevard.

“Well, she is safe now. Her cage is by my computer and she is sleeping soundly.... She snores. What a dear.”

DUMPED: Not all dogs wind up in the middle of city streets. This one, for example. Irene Nazar, who lives near Italy and Milford in rural southern Ellis County sent us a note about this lonesome pit.

“Someone dumped this dog on my rural road. I have been feeding her for over 3 weeks. She stays on an abandoned piece of property with a barn falling down but at least it gives her shelter from all these rains and she has access to fresh water. She has never been aggressive or even growled.

“She had some scratches and has an area of pink skin I think is from allergies-it does not seem to be mange. I did put Advantage for fleas on her 2 weeks ago.

“She wags her tail every time I show up to feed her. I cannot take her to a shelter to be euthanized -- she is better off where she is but she needs a place where someone can care for her. She loves people. I cannot take her to my home because of my animals I already have. Please help me find someone who will take her in.”

Irene is willing to deliver the dog to any responsible person who can take her and treat her well. To help this dumped dog, call 972-839-2722 or e-mail nazar428@airmail.net.

A CORSICANA SITUATION: Karla Kirby of Corsicana has a challenge and needs help. This dog, Harley, was recovered from a neglectful situation by rescuer Ann Burgess and now Karla is trying to help Harley find a home.

Karla says Harley cannot go to a shelter where he would be killed so, she writes, “He is being boarded at a vet’s in Corsicana for a short period of time. He is malnourished, heartworm positive and needs a rescue to take him ASAP.”

The 2- or 3-year-old foundling is in Rogers Animal Hospital in Corsicana and, Karla reports, Ann visits him daily and brings him treats and food. The dog has a slight limp right now – he was playing with the other dogs and they were all running and jumping onto a dog house and jumping off and some dogs just shouldn’t jump off a dog house. But, heck, probably for the first time in his life he was playing without fear of being punished.

If you pass the audition to adopt Harley, transportation can be arranged. To ask about helping Harley, e-mail kkirby@aerotire.com.

DAILY STIPULATION: Yes, once again, your honor, in the great testimony of life we’ll stipulate that all local shelters are overloaded and the clock is ticking on many, many dogs and cats and the only thing that can save them is the human heart. Find a shelter, save a friend – that’s the bottom line.

For example, these kittens (a picture of crowding, right?) are waiting in the Denton Animal Shelter. To ask about them e-mail dallas.newell@unt.edu or cathychamp@verizon.net or call 940-349-7594. And you can go to the shelter, too – this is America and you can always walk into a shelter during business hours. Connect to the Denton Animal Shelter HERE.

And, while we’re discussing shelters, we’ll go ahead and mention today’s Earhound. Dakota is an Aussie currently on the “urgent” list at the Dallas Animal Services Adoption Center.

It’s an “adoption center,” but unless there are adoptions, it’s just a place where strays and turn-ins go to die. Again, all that stands between these animals and the hereafter is the human heart.

You can see Dakota’s report by clicking HERE or you can drop by the city shelter at I-30 and Westmoreland in West Dallas.

LOOKING FOR SKILLED HELP: Sydney Busch of Friends of the Animal at Cedar Creek Lake has issued a request for assistance from someone who is on the cutting edge of things. “We had a wonderful donation of an 8' piece of Corian that we can really use to replace one of the counters at the clinic [Friends' spay/neuter clinic in Gun Barrel City]. I understand you need a wet saw to cut Corian but I really don't know anything about this. We need someone to cut this to fit - there is a sink on this counter and a backsplash will need to be cut for it.” To volunteer, call 903-451-4701 or e-mail sydney@friendsoftheanimals.org.

A SALE FOR THE BIG CATS: Coming up on Nov. 6 and 7, the “semi-annual huge garage sale” to benefit the International Exotic Animal Sanctuary the place where big cats and bears and other not-for-the-household critters live. Organizer Cathie Desell says the sale starts at 9 a.m. each day at 2528 Corbeau Drive in Irving (near Belt Line at Walnut Hill) and goes until “whenever we get tired and bored (ha! ha!).” Clothing, housewares, Christmas decorations, toys, games, jewelry, etc., are all in the inventory. You can read about the sanctuary by clicking HERE.

READ ALL ABOUT IT: You can read about the cruelty conviction and sentencing of ex-SPCA employee Alicia Marie Martin in Plano by clicking on the Omidog blog HERE – it’s a production of former Baltimore newhound and Pulitzer Prize winner John Woestendiek. Ms. Martin was convicted of some pretty awful treatment of a puppy in an apartment she abandoned. ....

--You can see how animals benefited when a political group led by Newt Gingrich took back its “honor” by clicking HERE. You’ll be able to read writer Robert Wilonsky’s account on The Observers's blog Unfair Park -- he tells how The Lodge owner (and longtime supporter of animal causes) Dawn Rizos wound up helping Animal Guardians of America fund a pit bull rescue structure called “Newt’s Nook”

-- Urban Animal magazine is gathering notices about upcoming events for its Winter edition. You have just a couple of weeks to submit your events for the period that starts with the holidays in December and goes through January and February and beyond. Free publicity can’t start early enough. Here’s how to submit: Send a simple notice with the details to lrpmail@aol.com and put EVENTS in the subject line. Please follow these simple directions. I’m beggin’. No elaborate artwork that takes forever to download and, please, don’t send me anything that is written by a dog or cat. Life’s too short for me to translate and I’m going Joe Friday on this events list: Just the facts.

CONTEMPLATIONS: Sleep is more elusive than wealth, true or false? ... A headline on the Drudge Report: “Man who threw feces in courtroom gets 31 years.” Ah, this is a venue problem. If he’d gone into politics instead of a courtroom, he’d be walking free. ....Pumpkin pie – ah, what a wonderful seasonal treat. Not on anyone’s diet, of course, but a mood elevator nevertheless.

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On a fine sunny day...

2009-10-27T10:56:16-05:00

The air is crisp and the sun is shining in our little Dallas neighborhood today. Holy smoke, is that sun a mood-changer!

As you try to figure out how you can take the afternoon off and spend some time in the park or at the lake or in a mall (weather doesn’t keep some people from shopping), read on. Today’s topics range from a cat show to a contemplation of an anniversary. Here goes:

WAXAHACHIE WILL BE PURRING: You see this cat? That is a Turkish Van. We know this because we got the photo from Cheryl Hogan’s e-mail regarding the upcoming weekend cat show in Waxahachie. Cheryl is handling publicity for The International Cat Association (TICA) show.

There’ll also be Bengals, Maine Coons and many other breeds competing at the TICA show and the household pet cat show at the Ellis County Youth Expo Center on Halloween (Saturday) and on Sunday (It’s already November 1!).

The Turkish Van Cat Connection is official host of the show which is themed “Cats and Gingerbread,” since Waxahachie, because of architecture, is “The Gingerbread Capital.”

Also, some of the proceeds from the show will go to rescue groups Little Orphan Angels and DFW Purebred Rescue.

Show hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for seniors 55-and-older and kids under 17. Get a dollar off by bring cans or bags of cat food for rescue. .

Personal testimony: I have been to cat shows. They are a hoot. The presentation of the contestants is as good as any clean-and-jerk in Olympic weightlifting. One hand under the front legs, one hand under the back legs and lift! And the cats act as if nothing odd is going on.

At a cat show several years ago, my snickerspouse Martha and I saw a competitor’s human who was dressed, perhaps intentionally, as Peter Pan. And some of the cat cages are very elaborate – one we saw was styled after Tara, the mansion in Gone With The Wind. So, yes, there are more things to see than cats with show business egos.

CONCERNED ABOUT STRAYDOG: The great sanctuary near Gun Barrel City east of Dallas, Straydog Inc., has many dogs, many fans and many needs, prime among the needs being cash. We’ve heard from two fans this week. Here are their comments:

--Britta Sjostedt writes, “It seems like every rescue organization is struggling right now and Straydog is no exception. They have a notice posted on their website that they only have less then a week's worth of funding left plus a huge outstanding vet bill. I think this year has been especially tough. Is there a way to mention them on your website this week? I am hoping a little extra notice can help them through until their next big fund raising letter goes out.”

--And Carole Walsh wrote, “Saw this morning that Straydog had an emergency appeal on their website. I've sent Terry Lynn Fisher [in Burns Flat, Okla.] and Straydog what I can afford, which is not a lot. What do you think of asking your readers to send $5 or $10 to Straydog? How about asking them to just put a $5 bill or a $10 bill in an envelope. It won't change their lives and they might have to give up a Starbucks or in my case an ice cream cone today, but think of the effect it could have on Straydog.”

And, there you have two appeals for Straydog Inc. You can see how to donate at www.straydog.org. You’ll see photos of the work those folks do.

BE ON THE LOOKOUT IN ARLINGTON: There are two dogs in this photo, the black dog Granpa and the other pup, Cari. Granpa is missing.

Kathleen Reaves reports, “My dog Granpa came up missing last night [Monday] -- he actually pushed the bottom of the gate open and squeezed himself out. He is a black brindle pit mix - missing front teeth on bottom - has a white mark on his check. He is fully intact, having gone thru several life-threatening illnesses. He was a rescue - I didn't get him fixed because I didn't think he'd survive the operation.”

Both Granpa and Cari are rescues and Kathleen says they are “both mine now, once I found out how pits get treated.”

Granpa is a “60-pound lap dog” who is friendly toward other dogs and cats and also people.

He was last seen Monday evening in the Wildwood West Division near Bowen at Norwood (just west of where Abrams becomes Norwood). If you know Granpa’s whereabouts, call 214-926-3823 or e-mail nov101983@msn.com.

A SCRUFFY DOG IS RESCUED, SORT OF: Stacy Hague of North Texas Basset Hound Rescue is looking for help with “a scruffy dog a few of us pulled at Collin County Animal Shelter on Saturday.”

This guy was an owner-surrender – he came in with a Dobie and a Basset – they were victims of foreclosure, Stacy says.

The Dobie went into adoption, she says, and NTBHR took the Basset. “This left Scooby. When I left with the Basset he gave me a look that haunted me. .... Lone Star Prys and Paws offered to pull him but didn't have room to keep him. I found a temp foster but now this temp foster and I are sharing fostering him. He is the BEST dog. About 6 years old, neutered, up to date on shots, heartworm-negative, microchipped and housebroken! He also has the best smile! He gets along with dogs but not cats and would fit in any household with kids. He is a large dog, weighing 57 pounds. ... He did not deserve to die and is loving every minute of being out of the shelter!”

To offer to help Scooby, e-mail Stacy at holdat29@verizon.net.

REGARDING CARROLLTON: A number of animals in the Carrollton Animal Shelter found homes or rescue groups yesterday, but there are still a few left (including Bevo, the big orange cat we featured on Readlarrypowell.com.)

And there is also this girl, Gaviota – which I think is Spanish for “gull.” She’s 3 years old and was an owner surrender. Sweet, gets along with other dogs, the shelter says, and is limping, so she needs someone to adopt her and get her to a vet for a check up.

You can see her in a video HERE.

To ask about any animals in the Carrollton shelter, call 972-466-3420 or e-mail joe.skenesky@cityofcarrollton.com.

TODAY’S EARHOUND: In honor of all the dogs and cats in the Irving Animal Shelter, we’re citing a third category today, the Earhop Earhound. This rabbit was surrendered to the Irving shelter last week, according to a note from Russell Posch, the noted Irving shelter walker. The rabbit’s available for adoption. Call the shelter at 972-721-2256 or 972-721-2257.

AT THE COLONY: It is always amazing to see the dogs and cats that wind up in an animal shelter. They all are wearing an imaginary sign that reads “Somebody didn’t want me.”

Now, in The Colony, there are a number of animals that you’d think would be shoo-ins for adoptions.

And, yet, some sit and sit and wait while the clock sticks.

Here are just a few still waiting at The Colony. There is 6-year- old George, the Bassett Hound, an owner surrender. George obviously qualifies as an Earhound.

And there is Dan who is believed to be a combination Dandie Dinmont, Lhasa Apso and Schnauzer. He’s “3ish,” friendly and well-mannered.

And the cat? That is the “incredibly friendly and well-mannered Rodney,” a neutered and declawed housecat described as a “stunning, cross-eyed seal point Siamese.” (You can have him for “the cost of a rabies shot and a $20 adoption fee,”

To ask about any animal in the Colony Shelter, contact Patricia Barrington, The Colony’s Animal Control Division Manager at 972-370-9250 or e-mail pbarrington@thecolonytx.gov.

QUICK HELP NEEDED: My former colleague at the big paper in Dallas, Aline McKenzie, is trying to find a new “foster or forever home” for an old pal of hers, Doris the Dog.

“Things went great at first with her new home,” Aline says, “but the kid developed emotional problems she took out on Doris. Mom is now keeping them separated. Also, Dad has a job that takes him away for long periods, so Doris hasn’t ac accepted him as a permanent feature and barks at him when he’s home. This isn’t a good situation for anyone. We have cats and she’s cat-not-getting-along so it would be tough for us to take her.”

Doris is a 55-pound, 2-year-old shepherd mix who is spayed, microchipped and up to date on shots. She’s also house-trained and “obedient to hand commands.”

Aline will handle transport if needed. To ask about help with Doris, e-mail aline.mckenzie@sbcglobal.net.

TWO DOGS IN A FIX: Because of personal reasons, we’re not identifying the human in this story except by the name Colleen. she’s looking for a temporary home for her “two precious dogs, a Bichon Frise named Jake and a mixed breed named Joey. Jake is 4 and Joey is3.

“We recently moved in with a relative who will not allow the dogs to stay here as she is not an animal person, and I am looking for a family with a loving heart of gold to take them into their family for an indefinite period, but likely 3 to 6 months. They are the best of friends so I would never want to separate them, and they are up to date on shots and are both housebroken.
“I would want to meet the family personally to see if I feel they are a good match, as these guys are just like children to me. They are indoor dogs but love to play outside throughout the day, and also are neutered. I would so appreciate it if you could help me find a wonderful family to take care of my precious guys for a while until I can get myself settled into a place of my own.”

To offer to help Jake and Joey, e-mail suzideer@me.com.

SEASONAL NOTES AND THINGS:

Wuf Pet Resort and Spa is hosting “Wuf-O-Ween” from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday to help raise money for the Metroplex Animal Coalition and its spay/neuter program. Wuf is at 3417 E. Carpenter Freeway (near Texas Stadium in Irving). There’ll be contests and Dickey’s Barbecue. And there’ll be doggie trick-or-treating. Tickets are $10. RSVP at 972-785-2983 or e-mail wufatus@wufspa.com.

--“We have so many dogs that we are doubling them up outside,” reports Everman Animal Control Officer Teresa Weldon. “We do not have enough dog houses to go around. Any dog houses, any8 size would be greatly appreciated.” Call 817-451-5495 or e-mail evermananimals@yahoo.com.

-- The Humane Society of Navarro County is also looking for dog houses – call 903-875-1060 or e-mail admin@thehsnc.org. And the society is also looking for supply help for the City of Corsicana Animal Shelter. Paper towels, cleaning supplies, litter, food, shampoo, bleach – the usual shelter supplies. Contact through the humane society number and e-mail.

CONTEMPLATION: This is the fifth anniversary of my unscheduled (by me, anyway) departure from the big paper in Dallas after 29 years.

Oct. 27, 2004 – they let a lot of us go that day. I’d been in the newspaper business as a reporter, editor or columnist since the first Friday in September in 1965 and now we have been meeting here at Readlarrypowell.com on a daily basis for five years and in the editions of the magazine Urban Animal for that long, too.

During the five years, lots more people have lost jobs – both in newspapers and in other industries. If we’re all in the same boat, it’s a big boat. I still dream about newsrooms. So do some of my laid-off friends.

I miss the business, but I’m told it has changed. Maybe the business has, but the mission of newspapers is the same: Tell people what’s happening and why, shine a light on the bad and good guys (the good guys don’t mind the light) and be respectful of readers and institutions, all the while being fair and honest, too. It’s a juggling act.

I worked for three newspapers in the Dallas/Fort Worth area beginning in 1972. Two of them are out of business and the third’s circulation is ...well, you’ve seen the reports.

I couldn’t let this day go past without honoring my fellow ink-stained wretches who had a really jolting moment five years ago today. Their work and efforts to live up to the difficult mission of newspapers should not be forgotten – they’d helped carry a corporation to new heights. Thanks to you all for the work. Thanks, also, to visitors to Readlarrypowell.com for helping keep this part of the mission of informative and helpful journalism alive.

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A sunny report from Saturday...

2009-10-26T11:17:17-05:00

Even though I’m a fellow who likes a good chilly rainy mood-setting day, we have had enough of those in North Texas recently and we have awakened to another one. So, what I’m going to do today is show you what Saturday looked like at Lake Grapevine at a sunny gathering of what can only be described as “the luckiest critter rescue group in the country.”

We were at the 10th annual picnic hosted by Golden Retriever Rescue of North Texas – lucky because of so many happy dogs and the fact that, as our longtime Golden tipster Anne Visser points out, in the decade of picnics, only one day has been cold and cloudy. Saturday was sunny and nice.

We’ll mention some other things, too, such as an available pit pup who wears a heart on her hip. Now, pull on your galoshes and splash along.

THE PICNIC: That opening photo, taken by Anne, is of one of the Visser dog’s, Toby, a “ball fanatic” who kept Anne and hubby John busy throwing tennis balls into the lake for him to retrieve. Other Goldens spent Saturday jumping into the lake after more balls – and, yes, they had to shake that water off somewhere. Golden people know to wear “picnic clothing” that you don’t mind getting wet.

And, as Anne and John and older Golden Barkley were trying to leave the picnic after several hours of romping, John was trying to put a harness on Toby but he followed Anne as she went for a bottled water and, she says, “as I reached down to get one, he took off for the lake. No doubt he was thinking we wouldn’t drive home with a wet dog in the back of the car – he was wrong, but I admire his attempts to try to stay longer. As you can imagine, Toby and Barkley had sweet dreams that night.”

Now, my funspouse Martha and I were at the picnic to help judge the annual bandana contests and, once again, it was a tough one. We, with the help of a young man named Ryan who also studies French and has a couple of Goldens in his house, managed to pick a winner – it was the quilted bandana titled “A Few of My Favorite Things” and decorated with pictures of the dog’s favorite activities – a squirrel for chasing, a tennis ball for chasing, humans for being chased, etc. There were two dogs that wore quilted bandanas fashioned from stuffed cloth cats that are given to kids at a hospital where one of the dogs does therapy work. And there was the bridal dog, Asia, shown dragging the bride across the park.

Martha snapped these photos though she spent a lot of her time bending down to greet happy Goldens.

But they weren’t all Goldens. This little boxer is Peanut Butter who, her mom says, “was raised with Goldens and thinks she’s a Golden, too.” She does wag her little stumpy tail with as much vigor as the Goldens wag their big fluffy tails.

You can’t beat a sunny day at the lake. And, as Martha said while surveying the free-roaming tailwaggers, “There is so much happy gathered at one place on the planet that I’m afraid it’ll create a deficit somewhere else and a war will break out.”

The people who have Golden Retrievers appear to be deeply devoted to their dogs – and the dogs feel the same way. If you’d like to join the crowd, you can see how to adopt by going to the Golden Retriever Rescue of North Texas website HERE.

THE LITTLE PIT PUP: This is DeeDee, who is being fostered by St. Francis American Pit Bull Terrier Rescue. She’s on the smallish side right now and may get to be medium, we’re told.

DeeDee “came from an animal cruelty bust in East Texas,” our source tells us. “The county was in a huge rush to put down all the pit bulls so we took 2 puppies. One has a great home, but DeeDee still needs one.”

DeeDee is about six months old and weighs 23 pounds right now. She is available to people who know the breed and love the breed.

As you can see, she has distinct markings on her nose, but on her hip, why, that looks like a heart! Yep, DeeDee wears her heart on her hip.

DeeDee’s foster mom says, “Even though Deedee was seized in an animal cruelty investigation, she had a great mama and brothers and sisters so she is happy-go-lucky and loves people and other dogs (she has not been around cats, but her sister went into a cat home and is doing fine). ... DeeDee is clean and quiet in her crate and learns very quickly with clicker training. She is very excited to see people and needs help remembering not to grab at peoples' hands. She is curious, wiggly, and gets into everything but given enough exercise, she loves to curl up on your lap and watch TV. DeeDee also loves to go for car rides and walk on a leash. She is just happy to go wherever you are! With treats, praise and consistency, I think she can learn just about anything because she just wants to please people.

“References will be checked. Homeowners only, please. Not to discriminate against renters, but landlords and pit bulls don't mix.”

To ask about adopting DeeDee (there’s a $100 fee), e-mail mail@lucydog.com or call 214-325-0015.’

AGAIN WITH THE STIPULATION: Once again, your honor, we’d like to stipulate that area shelters have way too many dogs and cats (and in the case of the SPCA of Texas, add horses, chickens, cattle, etc.)

So, to demonstrate what one might find by checking a shelter in one’s neighborhood, we focus on the Carrollton Animal Shelter. Today, the suburban shelter offers many cats and dogs including these. And among the available animals we have spotted this very obvious Earhound.

Her name is Betty and she’s about 3 months old. She and her brother were found wandering the streets on a rainy day. She likes to meet people and, apparently, can hear whatever they’re whispering. This Catahoula mix is 20675 and you can see her in action by clicking HERE.

Then, there is this cat with the very distinct face and the equally distinct name: Lightning McQueen. He’s 12 weeks old and is one of “5 little kittens ... dumped off at our front door by the light of the moon to be found by staff arriving early in the morning.” That’s right, someone made an overnight cat delivery at the shelter.

And, the big orange cat will surely attract some fans – his name is Bevo. (Obviously, fans of the University of Texas are bound to have a place in their hearts for him.) He was a stray – and he’s declawed on all four paws, which is criminal, of course. He doesn’t cotton to other cats.

To ask about adopting any of these animals, call the Carrollton shelter at 972-466-3420 or e-mail joe.skenesky@cityofcarrollton.com.

DRESSING UP ON WEDNESDAY: Dee’s Doggie Den at 6444 E. Mockingbird Lane in Dallas is hosting its 7th Annual Doggie Costume Party from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Wednesday. Games and prizes, light buffet (for humans), “spirits and boring beverages,” says the official notice. The $10 donation at the door benefits Operation Kindness, the no-kill shelter in Carrollton. See www.deesdoggieden.com.

CONTEMPLATIONS: Ever wonder what happens to the people who stop e-mailing you on a regular basis? And ever wonder why you always get e-mail from someone in Europe who is trying to help you claim a fortune from a dead relative? ... Here’s a theory based on my pal Inky’s reaction to rain: Cocker Spaniels never stage picnics at a lake so they can jump in the water and chase tennis balls. Now, you throw a ball into nice, dry underbrush and he’ll nose around until he loses interest – about two seconds into the nosing. “You threw the ball. You get it.” ... This morning, while listening to a traffic report, we heard one of the radio guys say that traffic was slowing down around the convention center in Fort Worth because of a motivational seminar. You wonder: after the seminar, will traffic move faster?

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2009-10-23T21:17:05-05:00

The camera can catch a moment in time and sometimes that split second is all it takes to earn a spot in our weekend feature, Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap.

Denise Wilson snapped this photo back in early Autumn – when there was still some summer heat in the air.

The humans had returned to their East Texas home after participating in a 5K charity walk benefiting an adoption/foster program for Child Protective Services..

Denise had just taken a shower and was coming back downstairs when she spotted this Slumber Tableau on the living room couch.

She says she "caught" her husband Shawn, their Aussie Forrest and “tiny Biscuit,” their 14-year-old Chihuahua “all piled up on each other snoozing away. I thought it was such a great photo, I couldn’t resist.”

Forrest is a rescue – Denise found him two years ago when he was a tiny puppy who couldn’t walk. It’s obvious now that Forrest not only has learned to walk, but he also knows the proper use of a couch. Just pile up and snooze.

(To nominate your sleeping critters or spouse or deadbeat relative for “Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap,” send the photos and the info to dallrp@aol.com. Remember, at Readlarrypowell.com, insomnia is our prevailing condition so any time we can find one sleeper, one napper or a pile of 'em, we’re proud to publicize them. It helps us live with the hope that we, too, someday will enjoy a good night’s sleep.)

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Late plea for Braley the Dog

2009-10-23T14:00:19-05:00

Just as I was about to leave the house for a brisk walk in the chilly wind, I opened one more e-mail and it is this pressure-packed plea from Matt Smith of Frisco. He is trying to find a home – by Monday – for his 8 ½-year-old mixed breed dog Braley, adopted from Operation Kindness in 2001.

Matt is leaving the Dallas/Fort Worth area, he says, and will be living in an apartment that does not allow dogs.

The dog is “free to a good home.” She weighs 35 pounds and is up to date on shots. The new human will get a dog crate, dog bed, collars, pet food and her heartworm meds, says Matt.

He says just found out 10 days ago that he was moving so things have been kind of topsy-turvy. He knows it’s short notice and he says, “That stinks.” He adds, “I hope for a miracle, but don't expect one. I am not sure what comes Monday morning.”

To ask about helping Matt find a home for Braley, e-mail mattsmith.1978@yahoo.com.

Busy times & critters in need...

2009-10-23T11:31:49-05:00

OK, it’s Friday and, assuming everyone has a busy weekend to get to, we’ll jump right into the day’s activities.

TWITTER’S BIG NEWS: Yeah, you thought Twitter was a social site on your computer, but there is another Twitter. , a little Boston Terrier who has been undergoing some difficulty.

We got his story from Heidi Trimpe of American Boston Terrier Rescue.

This little guy was hustled into rescue by a caring worker at the Mesquite Animal Shelter, Heidi says. This launched the rescue group into a stretch of medical drama.

His situation was pretty awful – prolapsed rectum. But it turned out that the usual simple surgery did not work. And the rescue group, after two temporary fixes, took Twitter to a vet with experience in the more complex repair and yesterday Twitter underwent the repair work.

Heidi reports that the complex surgery “went off without a hitch and the little fella is resting comfortably. If all goes well, he should be released Saturday morning.”

Twitter is among several “emergency need dogs” the ABTR folks have taken in this year and, says Heidi, “our resources have been stretched beyond anything we thought was possible. Doing more with less has always been our M.O., but this year has been ridiculous. It's the same story everywhere, unfortunately, but I was hoping Twitter's story might touch some hearts and open a door or two.”

You can read more about Twitter and see some graphic photos HERE. And when you click HERE you can see the assorted ways the group is trying to raise money to replenish the emergency medical fund. Plus, Heidi says, ABTR will be at Saturday’s Frisco Humane Society Barktoberfest. Get information about Barktoberfest HERE.

A DOG NAMED WOBBLES: If, like me, you tend to wobble when you walk now and then, you’ll understand why this dog is named “Wobbles.” The story isn’t a pretty one, but it may be headed for a happy ending.

We learned about Wobbles from Leona Berry Cleveland of the Corinne Smith Animal Shelter in Brownwood.

“When she was about 6 weeks old someone brought her to the shelter saying that he saw someone beating her with a 2 x 4 and they thought that her back was broken. It wasn't broken, but she does have some neuro damage. She is the sweetest dog and everyone at the shelter loves her but she has been there now for 6 months and I would love her to have a better home.
“She is about 7 months old, up to date on all vaccinations, spayed and on heartworm meds. Like I said, she does have some neuro deficit -- she walks like a person with palsy or Parkinsons, but it does not really slow her down. She is housebroken and loves to be with people, she really is the perfect puppy because she doesn't chew, dig etc. She is good with other animals but probably be best if she is in a home without a lot of other animal stimulation.....only because she doesn't have the coordination to run and play at full speed.”

To ask about adopting Wobbles, who has no problems with a Halloween costume, obviously, e-mail Leona at leonaberry04@msn.com.
Leona has spent a lot of time with Wobbles and says “she loves to swim, loves people, good food and belly rubs.”

And we can only hope that the jerk who beat her with a board finds himself on the receiving end of a home run swing by someone who works out and enjoys applying attitude adjustments.

THEN THERE IS CHARLIE: This is another example of people treating animals in a completely unfortunate fashion. We get Charlie’s story from Jennifer Szarek who tell us that about a month ago “he was dumped at the vet clinic in Rendon [on the southwest side of Fort Worth] -- stuffed into a tiny crate and starving. He is a WONDERFUL boy but I think I would feel more comfortable putting him into a home as an only dog. He likes MOST dogs but some he does not. I do volunteer with a few different rescue groups and there is an application for his adoption if someone is interested. “Call 817-706-7468 or e-mail dfwboogiegirl@yahoo.com.

Charlie is about 2 years old and housetrained.

And, he has “amazing green eyes,” according to the up-close-and-personal reports.

Yep, just shoved into a crate and left on a doorstep – could have been worse. He could have been beaten with a 2-by-4 or used as bait for dogfighters or wandered until he starved. So many options and, yet, here we are with an option for a happy ending.

AND IN THE SHELTERS: Once again we’ll stipulate that all shelters are overloaded and the relief for this should come not from euthanasia but from good-hearted people stepping up and adopting dogs and cats.

Today, thanks for an e-mail report, we’ll focus on some animals at the Denton shelter – to ask about any of them, e-mail amy_pelzel@yahoo.com or call the shelter at 940-349-7594.

You’ll notice right away that we’ve got an Earhound in the mix. That’s C.J., a 2- or 3-month-old shepherd mix who is “super cute,” the shelter says. He is, of course, playful with other dogs and with people. He becomes available for adoption on the 26th.

And the Denton folks have a little “marketing” thing going for the Yellow Lab. His name is Cleveland and the shelter bio asks, "Have you also wanted to own your own ‘Marley’ dog?” Cleveland is 2 or 3 years old and gets along great with everyone. He’s available for adoption on Saturday.

The third dog with the really distinct photo is Kingsley, a pit bull, who is adorable and available for adoption on Saturday. He looks sort of like a canine version of a really ripped bodybuilder.

Once dogs become available for adoption, the clock really begins to tick with a vengeance. So, all of these guys are playing or about to play “beat the clock.”

A PIT QUESTION: This comes from rescuer Holly Forsythe who asks a question for which someone surely has a good answer. “Anybody know of an organization here that rescues pit bulls that are a little bit more aggressive? Someone told me about one that takes them in and works with them, but it was a long time ago ...: She’s asking on behalf of a dog and a human in Plano. Email hforsythe@remglobal.com.

THE BURNS FLAT SITUATION: Tireless rescuer Terry Lynn Fisher of Burns Flat, Okla., reports to us that the shelter there is in “complete overflow.” She says, “I am actually working on 19 dogs – 8 of them are a small momma pit (under a year herself) with her seven 7-week-old pit babies.”

And there is Badger, the distinctly coated dog we featured earlier in the week. Then there is this Beagle who, in this photo, isn’t quite sure what’s happening.

Terry Lynn says, “I got a call late last night from the police that there was a little Beagle girl in the parking lot at the store here in town. He said she had been there for a long time and was trying to get into cars and people were kicking her away and some almost ran over her... Tara and I went and picked her up. She was soaking wet and shivering so bad. We dried her off and took her to the pound with some warm blankets and broth.

“A lady at the store said she saw a guy pull up about 5 hours before we got her and throw her out – she was trying to get into everyone’s car after that.”

The pound is so overloaded, says terry Lynn, that euthanasia has been scheduled for Monday morning if nobody springs some of the dogs.

To help, e-mail Terry Lynn at remembering_oddball@yahoo.com or call her at 580-330-1459.

HUNTING A HOME FOR SARGE: This guy, Sarge, will turn 5 on Monday and lose his home on Tuesday. Some present. But it’s a difficult situation for Sarge’s human, Jerry Quast, a lawyer from Lewisville, whose health issues are forcing him to find homes for his big dogs.

“Even though Sarge is almost 5 years old, he still acts like a puppy as far as his ever present desire to play (fetch the ball, catch the Frisbee, play chase, play hide and seek, etc.). He is very protective (which is how I trained all of my 6 German Shepherds over the last 34 years since I wanted to have my 7 kids protected at all times),” Jerry says.

He says Sarge is obedient, has been good with kids and would rather play than sit still, so he may need a home with a yard for romping. “He will miss his play partner, Sierra, my other 9 year old registered German Shepherd, who is a female, who I think is going to be taken in by my ex-spouse.”

To help Jerry find a home for his pal Sage, e-mail gdquast@gdqpc.com or call 214-488-2162.

FLO AND RYDER NEEDING A HOME: Here are a couple of pups who are needing a new home. The note came from Jeanie Malcom who is trying to help her son, Tyler, with his dogs.

She writes: “Flo and Ryder are in urgent need of a new home. My son, his wife and their infant son are currently in an apartment and are being forced to find new homes for Flo and Ryder. They love these dogs and are heartbroken that they must give them up.
“Flo is an American Pit Bull Terrier. She will be two years old in December and weighs 65 pounds. She is very affectionate and is great with people (adults & children). She is very energetic and loves to run and swim.
“Ryder is a 10-month-old American Bulldog who weighs 60 pounds. He is very calm and affectionate. He is great with people (adults & children), but not so much with new dogs. He is great with Flo, but has been with her since he was a puppy.
“We would love for these two to stay together, but understand if that isn’t possible. If you or anyone you know can help, please contact my son, Tyler, directly at 817-614-9457or tylermalcom1223@att.net.”

WEEKEND THINGS TO REMEMBER:

--My funspouse Martha and I will be giddy at some point Saturday. Why? Because we’ll be watching Golden Retrievers being Golden Retrievers at the 10th Annual Golden Retriever Picnic – it’s from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Meadowmere Pak at Lake Grapevine. You can get the details HERE. Believe me, if there is a lake (and there is), Goldens will go into it (and I’ve seen them do it!).

--Also on Saturday and Sunday, you can get an international flavor and learn about the world by attending Worldfest in Addison. Details are at the website of the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth HERE. The Town of Addison and the World Affairs Council are the “presenters” of the festival – and, on Saturday evening, you’ll be able to greet my internationalfunspouse Martha in the World Affairs Council booth. You can talk about international issues or dogs and cats – she’ll converse about either and please do not give her a dog or cat – we have plenty.

--A note from Joni McConnell of A Different Breed rescue reminds us that the group’s big garage sale is Sunday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Pepper Square Shopping Center, 14856 Preston Road at Belt Line. You can read about A Different Breed HERE.

--The American Association of University Women – Arlington Branch Book Fair continues through Sunday at the Arlington Museum of Art, 201 W. Main Street, in Arlington. It’s open through 8 p.m. today and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.Saturday and, on half-price day Sunday, from noon to 5 p.m. My literatespouse Martha and I went to the sale’s opening last night and left with two big bundles of book. Our pal Diane Feldman, a veteran book-toter and volume-stacker for the AAUW fair, knew we were coming and had already scouted out some of our interests. So, Martha got some new cookbooks and I got a volume of humorous writing by pianist/raconteur Oscar Levant – I found that on e in a section of books published prior to 1950. And I also got a little book of humor published in genuine pocketbook size for soldiers in World War II. The place is full of treasures. We also managed to find some great Beverly Cleary books for the grandkids. You can walk out of there with boxcar full of books for about $20 – most of the 20,000 items are priced at $2 or less. There are videos, tapes, etc.

And last night, as we shopped, we were treated to music by Frank Sinatra and other great voices. Who was responsible for that pleasant background music? Someone with the museum picked it, we were told. To get to the museum’s website, click HERE.

CONTEMPLATIONS: The City of Dallas is putting a roof on the Woodall Rodgers Freeway downtown and turning it into a park – the question arises: Who will be first to rescue a stray dog from the new park? It’s a fact in Dallas: if you’ve got a park, you’ve got stray dogs. ... Another reason not to fly: Good grief, a Northwest Airlines commercial jet overshot its destination by 150 miles. Better than prematurely ending the flight, I guess. ... In the category of headlines you never thought you’d see, courtesy of today’s AOL homepage: “Ice-skating bear kills trainer.” Hockey is a rough sport.

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A Texas connection, books & critters

2009-10-22T10:58:36-05:00

For Thursday, we’ll touch on a number of topics: a picnic for some great Goldens, a favorite book fair, and a Dog of the Year (and I don’t just mean one of the mostly inert rascals taking up room in a chair or on a couch at our house). Read on:

THE ASPCA’S DOG OF THE YEAR: The New York-based American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has named its Dog of the Year and there is a Texas connection.

We got this info from ASPCA’s Senior Director of Media & Communications Anita Kelso Edson – yes, she’s the former PR person for the SPCA of Texas, so she knows we’re always interested in the influence of all things Texas.

In this case, the ASPCA’s Dog of the Year is a guy named Archie, a service dog who was trained by Patriot Paws in Rockwall, The organization was created by Lori Stevens, a certified pet trainer, after some veterans asked her to train service dogs to meet their specific needs.

This has been a big year for Patriot Paws – in September, Lori was named the American Legion Auxiliary’s Woman of the Year and now one of her trainees is the ASPCA Dog of the Year.

Archie, 8, is a Lab who went through the Patriot Paws course and learned how to get help in emergencies, retrieve things and perform other duties that help Sgt. Clay Rankin, who suffered spinal injuries while on duty in Iraq. That’s a photo of the pair courtesy of the ASPCA. And click HERE to see an NBC report on Patriot Paws that includes Archie and Sgt. Rankin.

They’ll be among “10 extraordinary people and animals that will be honored for their heroic deeds” at the Oct. 29 ASPCA Humane Awards Luncheon in New York City. Read about the ASPCA and its activities at www.aspca.org.

MISSY’S SITUATION: Veteran rescuer and Readlarrypowell.com tipster Kim Polen sent out a heartbreaking note about a dog named Missy, a 3-year-old unspayed female pit, one of two dogs in this story. Kim was writing on behalf of a friend who is “desperate to find this dog a home. She had it placed and the people backed out at the last minute and she moved the NEXT weekend.

“I gave her every number I can think of but, as you well know, finding a shelter to take a dog -- much less a Pit Bull -- is very hard this is the last hope I have. She will be forced to put the dog down next week and I will be going with her because it is going to kill her to have to do this, She took in the dogs from an irresponsible friend and has done the best she can but could not afford much including spay/neuter which is why there have been 2 litters. ....She can only take one [dog] and it taking the older one which is 12 or 14 since that is impossible to find a home for. It’s another sad story...”

Missy is said to be a “very sweet dog” who is accustomed to apartment living, but would prefer to have a home with a yard. To offer to help Missy, e-mail pamela.j.greer@gmail.com.

THE GOLDENS, THE WORLD AND PILOT POINT:

--It’s not really a “spectator sport,” but the annual Golden Retriever Rescue of North Texas picnic provides some wonderful sights. Last year, for example, I marveled at the spectacle when someone threw a tennis ball into Lake Grapevine and at least two dozen Goldens went after it like a giant Olympics Synchronized Swimming program. The 10th Annual Picnic is Saturday at Lake Grapevine’s Meadowmere Park – and my funspouse Martha and I are scheduled to be there to help judge contests. (Last year, Martha was obligated elsewhere, so our daughter-in-law Andrea, mom of our granddogs, the Great Danes Frog and Henry, helped judge, but she’s out of town on a work assignment this year so it’ll be Martha who enjoys all the Golden kisses.) The picnic starts at 10 a.m. and goes until 4 p.m. – all the details are HERE and, just one more observation: those Golden people are totally devoted to their pups – vice versa, too.

--Events tip: Remember, if you wonder what’s going on in the animal world, you can always go to the Urban Animal Magazine website www.urbananimal.us and check the events calendar.

--Coming up Saturday and Sunday in Addison, Worldfest, the international festival – you can read about it by going to the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth website HERE or the Worldfest site HERE. And not only will you be able to sample cultures from around the world, but you may be able to find a new friend – among the booths will be one occupied on Saturday by the rescue group, Paws In The City.

--In Houston this weekend, they’re celebrating “Barkitecture,” a festival of dog houses. Check it out HERE.

--When writing about an injured dove in Pilot Point earlier this week, I asked why in the world was the town named “Pilot Point.” Our longtime pal and noted photographer Debbie Britain has the answer (has to do with a “peak” on the prairie and settlers). She points us toward the Pilot Point website HERE for the explanation. Debbie, a member of the Friends of Tri-City Animal Shelter has been tipping me to animal stories and answering questions for me for two decades. I should have just e-mailed her in the first place and cut down on the suspense!

THE MAC SPAY/NEUTER PROGRAM: In our late afternoon edition yesterday we reported that the Metroplex Animal Coalition had suspended its free spay/neuter program in Dallas – too many critters, not enough money. (See yesterday’s report for details.)

MAC is moving ahead with fundraisers in anticipation of reviving the program.(MAC’s annual meeting is scheduled for January 10.)

“We'll be doing a year-end appeal and then our Have-a-Heart campaign,” MAC President Elaine Munch says. And, “People can always go to the web site to donate 24/7.” That’s HERE.

Now, in the meantime, there is an opportunity to help MAC by attending the Wuf-O-Ween Party on Oct. 29 at the Wuf Pet Resort and Spa. Click on the poster to make it larger and you can see all the details.

WHEN IT RAINS, THE WASHER/DRYER CHALLENGE: Holy smoke has this ever been the wrong season for an animal shelter’s washer and dryer to fail. Teresa Weldon of the Everman Animal Shelter has sent out a poignant plea: “Our washer and dryer went out. If anyone has an old set sitting around that you will let go cheap please let us know. It can be full size or stackable. We do a lot of laundry especially this time of year with it getting colder and the amount of dogs we have.” Call her at 817-561-5495 or e-mail evermananimals@yahoo.com.

NOT JUST DOGS AND CATS: Earlier this week the SPCA of Texas and the Van Zandt County Sheriff’s Department seized two horses and a mule from properties at Wills Point. A dead horse was found on one of the properties. And the other animals are “extremely underweight to the point that their rib, hip and spine bones are prominently showing.” Animal cruelty charges are upcoming.

Good grief. Sometimes we are astounded when a raid confiscates a hundred animals but it is good to know that there is a system that protects just one or two – all it takes is a phone call. See www.spca.org for more info about fighting animal cruelty.

CONTEMPLATIONS: I’m still chuckling at the guy who, after a couple of hundred roosters and chicks were confiscated from his West Dallas property, claimed he kept them around for the eggs and meat. And, we’re having to wait-and-see if this will result in any sort of animal cruelty charges – no actual cockfighting was underway, but the implication is clear that these roosters weren’t just hanging around because they liked being able to shop in Dallas. ....

There is irony in this situation, perhaps, to find this many chickens living in the city limits when just a few years ago the city made a big deal out of banning chickens – seems like it was City Council Member Laura Miller’s mission before she became mayor and pushed through public smoking bans. While you couldn’t have a chicken in Dallas and you couldn’t smoke in a Dallas restaurant, you still could order smoked chicken. ...

Why I love autumn: The State Fair of Texas, World Series, football season and (among many other things) the annual American Association of University Women Book Fair in Arlington. It opens tonight (5 p.m.) at the Arlington Museum of Art, 201 W. Main Street. Yes, you should be able to see Cowboys Stadium from there – of course, you can see the stadium from miles away. But only at the Book Fair will you be able to find a bargain. You won’t have to pay $40 to park at the book fair. (The fair runs from 4 p.m. – 8 p.m. today, 10 a.m.-8 pm. Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday, half-price day.) Among the 20,000 offerings (most for under $2) at the fair is a $35 book called “This Stubborn Soil,” about the difficulties of growing turf in a domed stadium in North Texas. I’m kidding. That’s William A. Owens’ book about his rural childhood in Pin Hook, Texas – back when the tallest thing on the landscape was a big mule or a short tree. And, no, I don’t know the origin of the name Pin Hook.

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MAC suspends free spay/neuter program

2009-10-21T17:57:57-05:00

The headline on the press release today pretty much told the story:

"Metroplex Animal Coalition Suspends Free Spay/Neuter Program Due to Surge in Requests, Decline in Funding."

So, what does that mean? Who does this affect?

Mainly it affects people who stop to pick up unwanted puppies and dogs and kittens and cats -- there'll be more of the unwanted animals. More importantly, it may increase the euthanasia rates in the city.

Background, from MAC’s release: “DALLAS--In October 2008, a Dallas ordinance went into effect that requires residents to spay and neuter their pets. Now, one year later, a surge in requests from pet owners who must comply with the law has left the Metroplex Animal Coalition (MAC) out of funds for the only free spay/neuter program for lower-income pet owners in Dallas.”

MAC says a city mailing in the summer “resulted in hundreds of pet owners hurrying to comply” with the “new law” – now a year-old ordinance. The mailing included information about MAC’s enduring spay-neuter program.

It was this reaction by people in the low-income zip codes that drained the program.

MAC President Elaine Munch says the “demand for assistance from low-income pet owners has skyrocketed, increasing our surgery volume by more than 50 percent from our regular monthly rate. The need to comply with the law combined with the bad economy has caused low-income families to take advantage of our free program like never before.

“We are thrilled that people want to do the right thing for their pets and for the community as a whole.”

MAC is made up of more than 50 local animal-welfare groups. The free spay/neuter program began in 2001 – during that time MAC has paid for nearly 13,000 surgeries for families whose income is less than $35,000 a year. The program’s focus was on 14 Dallas Zip Codes that consistently have the highest number of calls to 311 regarding loose, stray and abandoned animals – the areas in which the pet overpopulation is the greatest.”

If the number of animals left “intact” in these areas is not diminished, then the number of unwanted puppies and kittens will increase – I believe that’s the way this birds and bees thing works.

If the number of unwanted animals increases, the number of animals euthanized in the Dallas Animal Shelter will increase, too. And MAC says that in the 2008 fiscal year (yep, killin’ costs money, too, so it’s in the taxpayer-supported city budget), Dallas Animal Services gave lethal injections to around 27,000 companion dogs and cats.—that’s nearly 75 animals a day. Of course, they don’t all come from those 14 Zip Codes, so it’s not just those codes that bear responsibility for tending to their animals.

I asked Elaine for some facts about the program and here are her responses:

When it comes to raising money to support the program, she says that this year, “We've raised about $30,000 through a Direct Mail campaign, e-mail appeal and small fund-raising efforts by board members."

Does MAC spend a lot on a surgery? “Our average surgery is about $50, but we sometimes need money to pay for shots and bloodwork when they animals' health may be in question. That runs from $40 to $60 more, but those are exceptions, not the norm - about 5% of pet owners may need the extra.”

What about the expenses of operating the program? “We spend about $100,000 annually on spay/neuter. The city has exposed us to about $110,000 additional if all these pet owners were to respond. The real tragedy here is that many who used the coupon could have paid - the responding zip codes indicate that fairly strongly.”

How many animals have been in the program? “We've spayed/neutered about 1,000 animals since June and spent about $50,000. We've spent more than $90,000 thru only September.”

So, as of now, the program is suspended. There will be meetings, there will be fundraisers probably and there will be more announcements, no doubt. And, of course, while this story focuses on money, the real focus is preventing animals from being born just so they can be killed.