Tuesday, March 29, 2016

BILL ANNOUNCES: Straydog Radio Show covering the events of Tuesday, Mach 29, 2016. Bill and Juana here on Wednesday and we are doing the Tuesday show. Juana, what happened on Tuesday?
 
JUANA: It was a chilly morning. It was 43 degrees. We had a full crew, because Maci came to work. DJ was sick and Jacob was off on Tuesday. Luckily Maci was available to come in and help us on her day off. It was chilly in the morning, but it got up to 70 degrees during the day. It’s spring and we shouldn’t have any more bad weather days.
 
BILL: It’s supposed to get cold again later this week.

JUANA: During caregiving time we doctor some doggies because we are in their kennels. Some dogs need to be doctored more than twice a day. Natalie has a big hot spot and it doesn’t look that bad anymore. She was chewing it because it was itchy and it used to be very red. It’s on her rear or her hip. She’s been on Cephalexin and Animax and the infection has gotten better, even though there is still some scabby stuff. I like to doctor her several times a day. Our vet prescribes Animax for hot spots.

Stephanie doctors up Natalie's hot spot with Animax which our vet prescribes. Her spot is not looking that bad anymore.

Here’s Maci with Quinn and Rafael during caregiving time. 

Quinn and Rafael are two of Phara's pups.

Newly had his Kong and he was ready to play. He always takes his Kong with him to the park. He puts it down and runs around. The walker usually plays with him and tosses it to him and he goes and gets it. No matter what he’s doing, when it’s time to go back to his kennel, he goes and gets it. That Kong is always in his mouth. It’s his baby. He is such a good boy. He would never forget his toy and he’s such a sweetheart.

Newley has his Kong and is ready to go the park and play.

When we walk the inside H1 dogs, we dedicate one on one time with them in the park. 

Karen gives Little Girl some one-on-one attention during park time.

They go to the park every three hours or so. They go at 6:00 in the morning and then at 10:30. We don’t finish walking the outside dogs until about 10:00. Then we take the H1 dogs at 1:00 and again at 4:30. If they have to go out at other times, they bark and we have temporary kennels we can use, because they have to go. At 10:30 walks, we have more than an hour to walk with them and we have time to straighten up their beds. We play with them and brush them in the park.

We have reported on Big Foot’s cancer. It’s not lung cancer. It’s a mass on his chest and it’s not in his lungs. He’s not coughing like Tuffy. He’s just been sick and he hasn’t been hungry. Then Dr. Shirey put him on Prednisone, which has reduced the tumor. He seems to be feeling better. He’s eating a lot and he seems hungry all of the time. We are just buying time, but at least he is comfortable. We give him whatever he wants to eat -- canned food or cookies and we love on him. It’s not too cold outside and we don’t have to bring him indoors. 

Big Foot gets a cookie from his pal Stephanie while his mother Snickers waits for her turn.

Betty isn’t outside right now, because there’s no place to put her. Daylight took Betty’s spot. I hope to put Daylight with someone else, so we can put Betty outside. Daylight went to Adoption Day with Ragtag Rescue on Saturday and I put Betty outside with Chip. They were fine together and ­­­­Betty was happy. She loves being an inside dog, but she likes being outside too. The weather is perfect for the dogs right now. I can put Big Foot and Annie and our other dogs with cancer outside in this weather. It’s probably the best weather we get all year and the dogs love this weather.

There’s my Annie-girl. You can see the tumor or mass on her toe. Dr. Shirey said that she has cancer and she now has another tumor on her side. Stephanie is showing us the tumor on her side. It’s almost as big as a quarter.

Annie is enjoying her life with Chester. We put her with Chester, because Wup wouldn’t take her back. He cries, when he sees her going to the park. He can’t help himself. He wants to be the top dog and dominate her and Annie is the top dog. Even though she’s falling apart, bless her heart, she’s still the boss. Chester would like to be the boss, but he would never mess with Annie. If he gets hyper, she lets him know that he has to calm down. Wup won’t back down. Annie is the female and the top dog.

Annie and her new kennel mate Chester wait for a cookie. These two seem to like each other very much.

There’s Chip and Daylight. They get along fine. That’s why I can’t put Betty back outside. Chip is with Daylight. I hope Daylight finds a good forever home soon, because she’s such a good girl and she does so well at Adoption Day and the shows. When she finds a good forever home, we can put Betty back with Chip. Chip will probably never find a home, because he’s so very timid. We took him to Adoption Day with Ragtag Rescue last month and he was just so shy. He’s Oreo and Raisin’s sibling and he is probably the sweetest of all of them. They are all very friendly with other dogs, but they will probably be with us for a while. I took Raisin’s photo, because all of her toenails were cracked and broken. It looks look like she has a fungal infection on her toenails. Her kennelmate Sonny doesn’t have that problem. I called the doctor and the doctor said to put her on Cephalexin and put some fungal medicine on her toenails. I’ve seen this before, a long time ago, when I took Nikki to Dr. Cornelius for fungus on her toenails. Dr. Cornelius gave me a recipe for fungal medicine and it had vinegar and fungal powder and I sprayed it on her toenails. Freckles had that problem too. I will have to google that recipe. This is the time of year, when we see start to see fungal infections, so it is time to spray for it.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. This is one of them. Chip and Daylight say Hi!

Stephanie doctored Natalie, when she was working in the kennels. Right before feeding time, I went out there and doctored her and gave her some cookies. She was shaking my hand for a cookie. I was playing with Natalie and her kennelmate Brian. They are such a cute pair of dogs! 

And this is another great picture that speaks for itself. Brian and Natalee (longtime Straydog residents and kennel mates) wait patiently for a treat.

There’s Annie-girl and Chester. He always has such sad eyes and he’s such a beautiful dog.  When a dog doesn’t feel well, we can see it in their eyes. They want to smile, but they just can’t. I see those eyes on Tuffy, Annie and Big Foot. Big Foot’s eyes are different from Snickers, because he isn’t feeling well and his eyes are sunken and you can tell that he isn’t feeling his best. Chester is feeling okay, but he always has a scared look and he has sad eyes. Annie looks like she doesn’t feel well, even though she wants to smile. 

Chester and Annie look up at the camera person. They are a good looking couple too.

I didn’t go to Adoption Day on Saturday with Ragtag Rescue, because Teddy had a home visit scheduled. The perfect family found him at the Auto Show two weekends ago. They filled out an application and they wanted to have a home visit. They have two dogs and they live near Tyler. I talked to them on Saturday and I stayed home to do the home visit. Lucy came to visit and they had something to do as well and we decided to reschedule. The mother is a teacher. The father works too and the kids are in school, but they are home by 4:00. So we scheduled his home visit for Tuesday at 4:30. There’s Stephanie bathing Teddy and drying this handsome boy and giving him lots of kisses and getting him ready to go to his forever home. I didn’t get to leave Straydog until after 3:30 and I got to their home at 5:00. I will talk about that in a little bit.

Stephanie gets Teddy ready for his home visit.

Here’s Mr. Tuffy-boy. He’s hanging in there and he has his good days and his bad days. He’s not eating very well anymore and that’s a sign that the end is coming. But he’s not ready to leave us just yet.

Tuffy's lung cancer is beginning to slow him down... and his appetite is waning... but he still very much enjoys his (frequent) daily visits to Park 1.

​There are the Chihuahuas. I had a little visitor with me. My granddaughter Emma was here. I don’t want to throw her under the bus, but she wanted to skip school. No, I am only kidding, she’s not in school yet. She is in daycare for another year. She’s five years old and she’s a big girl and looks ten years old. She has a September birthday, so she wasn’t able to start kindergarten this year. She loves coming to Straydog with Nana. She was walking with the Chihuahua Gang and they were all running and playing. There’s Autumn, Peanut, Bug, Sweet Tart, Benji and Jetta. We were walking them back inside.

Emma tells the H1 gang that it's time to go inside.

Then she follows them back to their kennels and crates in Hospital One.

I walked Teddy, before we went to the car. Roberto picked Emma up and then Teddy and I left for his forever home. It took us about an hour to get there, which wasn’t bad. The family has two Chihuahuas. One of their dogs is an older Chihuahua, who is 12 years old and she reminded me of our Roxie. They also have a very young Chihuahua mix and she is very friendly and very hyper. This family has three little girls and a little boy. It’s the perfect family for Teddy. 

The meet and greet went so well and there was no aggression at all.

We took the dogs off of their leashes and they went running. The backyard is fenced and very secure. Teddy hasn’t been adopted, because he was with Jessie for so long. And David had already explained the only concern that we had. It was that Teddy marks his territory wherever he goes. Even though he is potty trained, he will mark his territory, even indoors. They are going to work with him and take him to training. It’s a huge yard and it is beautiful. 

Once the leashes came off the playing began.

They were very surprised that their older Chihuahua, who hasn’t run in years, ran and barked with Teddy and their young dog. There she is, telling them to stop.

​It was such a wonderful home visit. I was amazed that they let Teddy inside and he sniffed around and he did not pee. They left to go and get a crate for him right then, so they could teach him how to go inside and outside. I told them that Teddy is used to being in a crate and he has a routine, where you get him out of the crate and take him outside to pee. He knows commands and he knows how to be good. I asked for a family picture and here it is. That’s such a big beautiful family – the mom, the dad, the three girls and the little boy and the three dogs -- the two girl dogs and the boy, our Teddy. It’s a beautiful home and such a beautiful family, as you can see. They live in a small, very nice town. I was so happy that Teddy found such a wonderful home, because I had been so sad at the loss of big dog James.

What a great family picture, Teddy has definitely found his forever home.

BILL: We’ll be back again tomorrow with another report from Straydog.

You can listen to today's Radio Show below.
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