Opportunity knocks--repeatedly

Opportunity, that's what this country is all about. And, of course, here are some opportunities to help animals:

SKY NEEDS SOME HELP: From Wendy at South East Dallas Humane Society (www.sedhs.org) we hear that Sky is coming back.

That happens sometimes.

And Wendy is working against the clock, too. She's going to have a baby in about seven weeks, depending, of course, on the baby's inclination toward arriving on the "due date."

Meanwhile, Wendy is trying to find a home for Sky, an 8-month-old, spayed, up-to-date on her shots chocolate lab mix. Sky had been adopted out but is coming back. These things happen.

Sky has one blue eye, one brown eye. She likes to have her belly rubbed and she likes to "talk" when people talk to her. She hates being alone and she'll need to go to a home that has time for her. (E-mail wendy@sedhs.com.)

A LOAD OF DOGS: Carissa Kniss of Denton, who was scheduled to deliver her baby Wednesday, has been looking for help with some "found dogs." The folks at A Different Breed are trying to help, also.

Carissa had been trying to catch an "abandoned dog" running in her neighborhood for a few months -- the dog recently had a litter of pups under a neighbor's deck. How many pups? TEN. Ten pups. (Spay/neuter, anyone? Good grief.)

The maturing pups are in custody, mom is still loose, but people are working on catching her. Meanwhile foster help is needed with the puppies. (E-mail moniquevoelker@attglobal.net to help foster the pups or catch the mom or both!)

You can read about A Different Breed at the website www.adifferentbreed.org.

SHELTIE FOSTER HELP NEEDED NOW! Oh, my, more Shelties! Sigrid Mureen of Sheltie Haven says the group is about to get some extra dogs from assorted sources and needs either fostering help or permanent homes.

(One dog is being dumped "because the kids went off to college." Isn't that sweet? You wonder if, while the kids are at school this fall, Mom and Dad will move and not tell them.)

To volunteer to help Sheltie Haven, e-mail sigridm@sheltiehaven.org. You can check out the group's work at www.sheltiehaven.org.

As Sigrid notes, summer is usually a tough time to find foster homes -- lots of distractions get in the way. People go on trips. They have company coming to stay .. and stay...and stay.

By the way, Sigrid noticed that we'd mentioned several garage sales in this space lately (scroll down to see earlier items). Sigrid says Sheltie Haven has an "ongoing mini-garage sale" -- it's a traveling show, too. Sheltie Haven totes these "garage sale" items around to assorted adoptions and fairs -- next up is Operation Kindness' Dog Day Afternoon in Plano's Bob Woodruff Park on June 4. (See www.operationkindness.org.)

Sigrid says, "We had so much assorted dog stuff hanging around that we decided to have a table at our events with used and cast-off leashes, dog clothes, food dishes and whatever, plus some candles, vases, a calculator, oh, and an Igloo doghouse that was missing the door. Last Saturday was slow, but what made the day was we sold the doghouse!"

Probably sold it to some husband who decided he might not mind being in one os much if it didn't have a door.