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The Napping Cat Leonardo

When a kitten decides to sleep, there are no rules of slumber. Pick a spot, doze off.

So, apparently, that's how Leonardo came to be flat out on his back. He's simply enjoying a nice "lie down."

So, who is Leonardo? Well, we won't know for sure who he is until he grows up -- what we do know is that this cat-napper is in need of a home. And he is our featured slumbering critter in our weekly series "Let Sleeping Dogs Lie; Let Napping Cats Nap."

Leonardo was one of six kittens -- maybe a week old -- surrendered to Fort Worth Animal Control, reports Kim Polen of Treasured Friends (www.treasuredfriends.org).

The six kittens were so young their eyes weren't open. And there mother was nowhere around. Just six dangerously young kittens handed over to a city shelter.

Thankfully, some good humans stepped up to save the whole bunch. Leonardo and the gang were, Kim says, "raised on a bottle by cat foster extraordinaire and Director of Treasured Friends Kit Tidwell."

Leonardo is now available for adoption. "He is," says Kim, "an Abyssinian mix and is super sweet."

To adopt him, get in touch with Treasured Friends. Leonardo will probably be happy to wake up and go to a good home.

Meanwhile, as a human with insomnia, I must confess to hosting monumental envy of this  gorgeous kitten. Yes, to sleep, perchance to purr.

(To nominate a sleeping critter for our weekly spotlight, send a picture of that animal sleeping to dallrp@aol.com. Remember, any sleeping animal is eligible. And we're proud to let you show the World Wide Web how cute your family friend can be.)

A day with many stories...

Today's presentation will include some upbeat things and a sad thing. That's life. The upbeat things include grandkids and a rescuer finding justice at the courthouse. The sad thing...well, read on.

Remember, you can't enjoy life without embracing the upbeat..

For example, last night we had dinner with our grandchildren: Hannah Rose, Emily Grace and Connor Michael. Their father, Bart, was there, too, but we put a big plate of food in front of him and he stayed quiet for an extended time and let the grandkids talk to us.

You can't sit in a restaurant with three well-behaved children and their well-behaved father and not be grateful. We've seen other children in restaurants and, frankly, well, our grandkids would NEVER behave like that...I'm kidding. All kids have the potential for localized tornadic activity.

Ever go to a Cracker Barrel? The front lobby is full of carefully balanced items made of stuff that doesn't have much of a "bounce factor." More of a "clatter and crash factor." To me, getting the kids to sit still at a table and eat was no challenge. But getting three kids under the age of 5 to negotiate the lobby without running up a "breakage bill" -- ah, that was the challenge.

At the end of the evening, their soft-touch grandmother, who declares that she's not all that fond of kids, took them on a shopping spree. There's a great joy in seeing a smile that emanates from a kid's eyes. And a great joy in seeing that "holiday credit card glow" on the face of a woman who claims to have no maternal skills.

Now, before we move on, take a split second to consider the blessings of your own lives.

We're about to encounter a story that has a terrible ending. But it also has a blessing .

SWEET CHICKEN: Back on July 12 we outlined the story of Chicken, a dog so named because her original owners had acquired her and wanted her to be a "fright dog" and it turned out she was mostly a "frightened dog."

They, perhaps, named her with contempt, but it was a name she came to know and to respond to when called by someone who loved her.

Al and Cindy Gomez have some friends who buy and rehab houses as investments. The friends stopped by to check on property they'd just bought and found Chicken abandoned and starving in the back yard. They called their friends, reliable dog rescuers Cindy and Al, who took over care of Chicken.

Subsequent investigation found that 5-year-old Chicken had been an indoor dog for the first year of her life, then had become an outdoor-only dog. She was no guard dog. She was shy. She needed love, not confrontation.

In a few short days, she learned to walk on a leash. She also learned to love bounding back into her home and she loved sleeping on the couch in the air-conditioned comfort.

She was rescued. She was a loved dog. She was home.

As rescuers know, dogs that are "saved" in Dallas often have a rough road ahead. Sometimes they have horrific mange. Sometimes they've been shot, hit by cars, beaten, kicked and their wounds allowed to go untreated. And sometimes -- all too often -- a stray in Dallas will suffer from heartworms. This is, generally, a condition of neglect.

And that was the plight that sweet Chicken faced.

There are treatments. They are expensive. They are tough -- you must keep the dog so still that it is just driven nuts by inactivity. For weeks and weeks this is the challenge -- the dying and dead parasites can still kill the dog.

On Tuesday, sweet Chicken went to the vet's for her first heartworm treatment. She was not an unhappy dog. She had a visible joy. And her style and grace in spite of her circumstances touched Cindy. It is a bond that is common between the rescuer and the rescued.

Chicken would not stay overnight at the vet's -- a dog that had suffered years of neglect and anxiety needed to be "home" where things were calm and she was treated like a princess.

Her greatest challenge, it seemed, would be waiting out the treatment.

Sometime Tuesday night, as Chicken slept in her own bed in the den, she slipped away. The vet told Cindy that a clot had formed in Chicken's parasite-ravaged body and caused a blood vessel to rupture. And, shockingly, she was gone.

She was a victim of human behavior. The people who neglected this sweet dog killed her just as certainly as if they'd placed a gun to her head and pulled the trigger.

They didn't care for her. People who took her in did care for her. The burden of mourning fell not on the hearts of those who'd abandoned her, but on the souls of those who cared.

At least in her last days, she was a dog that was loved, a dog that wasn't ignored, a dog that had a chance to get and give love. She was the adored Chicken -- embraced, not abandoned.

ASSORTED THINGS: My friend and former newspaper colleague Bonnie Lovell, a longtime rescuer of dogs and cats, spotted what she calls "a heartbreaking picture" of two beautiful Himalayan cats in a Denton restaurant window. She said she was passing the info on to our readers in hopes of helping these 12-year-old brother cats find a good home. The sign said the family's son was allergic to these older gentlemen. (Call 972-539-7449 to inquire.) ... Reminder: Monday is Aug. 1 and that is the deadline for entering the annual Operation Kindness Calendar Photo Contest. This is the chance to show the world how cute your critter is. The Operation Kindness Calendar is always a joy to see. (See the details at www.operationkindness.org.)

SHOW BUSINESS:  David Howard of Kinder Harbors Animal Sanctuary reports that there is a broadcast schedule for The Bow Meow Show. He says the first episode will be shown at 4 p.m. Sunday on Cable Channels 13B & 73 and at 8:30 p.m. on Channels 15B & 75. It'll again air at 9:30 a.m.  on Tuesday on 13B and 73 and at 11:30 a.m. Friday on 15B and 75. In mid-August, it's supposed to have a regular time slot on Channel 27. Reach the producers of this animal-friendly show at info@bowmeowshow.org or 972-380-5644.

SACHSE SENSATIONS: Laura Wise of Sachse Animal Control reports that the city shelter has some wonderful animals up for adoption. The shelter, at 6436 Sachse Road, is open 7 a.m.-5 p.m. "every day of the week," she says. Only fair. Dogs and cats are in trouble every day of the week.

The featured animals -- available without an adoption fee! -- are Bear, a 7 month old dog that is a "definitely mixed breed," says Laura. He's the size of a "tall Schnauzer, but has Labrador hair... some black spots on his tongue indicating there is some Chow in there somewhere. ... He is so friendly and has the temperament of a happy Lab."

Tiger is a mature cat who "follows you everywhere and comes when you snap your fingers He is calm and mellow and loves to be held and petted. ... I had a heck of a time trying to take pictures as I couldn't get him away from me enough to get a good shot!"

And the kitten -- no name yet -- was "dropped off Saturday by someone who found him running loose."

As Laura says, "I can't help but feel compelled to get these guys to a home." They were pets, she thinks, of someone "who didn't want to pay the fees to get them out of impoundment or else didn't bother to look for their lost pet."

Here's the Sachse system according to Laura: "Anyone interested can come by the shelter in Sachse between 7-5 any day (including weekends)." She says if you drop by the shelter and no one is there "that means we are off on a call." So, call the Sachse Police at 972-495-2271, then dial 0 for the dispatcher and ask the officer to summon animal control for a possible adoption.

BIG BOY ON THE MOVE: Big Boy needs a home again. He is the original Hard Luck Akita. In the past few years, his "people" have either died or been placed in assisted living centers. So, now he's available for adoption again. He's a Skip Trimble Project -- and, as you rescuers know, Skip, the legendary rescuer and pro-animal activist, is a determined fellow. .

(That's Skip in the photo with Big Boy.) Big Boy is possibly 4 years old, neutered, housebroken, microchipped and up-to-date on his shots. Because of his size and nature, Skip believes he "should go with a single person or adult couple with no kids or grandkids. He's fine with other dogs. They should be large dogs and believe it or not he currently lives with a cat, so I'm assuming he would get along with cats as well."

(To audition to adopt Big Boy, contact Skip at 214-855-2960 or e-mail skip@catlyn.net.)

JUSTICE FOR A RESCUER: Randy Turner, the Fort Worth lawyer who often handles animal-rescuer and activist-related cases on a pro bono basis, has won another one. This time it's on behalf of Retta Roberson of Euless who had rescued a Rhodesian Ridgeback that was tied to a tree and abandoned in Johnson County.

Many of you know of this case because you were planning on attending her trial in Cleburne next week. Mercifully, the charge of "theft of property having a value between $50-$500" was dropped.

It would have been heard in Johnson County Country Court-at-Law Number One, but the county attorney had a change of heart.

The story goes that Ms. Roberson, having been told by neighbors that the dog had been abandoned and having seen that, indeed, it appeared to be in bad shape, took the dog to her home. Then, after the dog had been saved, the owner broke into her yard and took the dog, then filed theft charges against her.

Mr. Turner says, "No one has seen the dog since then. Retta tried to file criminal charges against the owner for breaking her fence and for trespass, but the Euless police were not interested. I tried to get the Johnson County Attorney to file cruelty charges against the owner for abandonment but he refused.

"The case against Retta was dismissed simply because the prosecutor decided that he couldn't win. I told him I was bringing witnesses who were going to testify that Retta had been told the dog was abandoned and witnesses who had been giving the dog food and water over a number of weeks.. I told him that Retta's vet was coming and she would testify that the dog was in bad shape. It was obvious to anyone who looked at the facts of the case that Retta had no intent to steal the dog. She was simply rescuing an abandoned dog, or at the very least, she was rescuing a dog she thought had been abandoned."

He says he convinced the prosecutor that the defense of "mistake of fact" would prevail -- "that if she was mistaken about the dog being abandoned, then she did not have the requisite intent to deprive an owner of her property."

In a note to her many supporters, Mr. Turner wrote, "Needless to say Retta is extremely relieved. Retta and I want to thank all of you for your tremendous support and your plans to take off work to attend her trial next week. She told me today [Thursday] that the support of all the rescue groups and the animal rights community gave her the courage to fight the criminal charges rather than enter into a plea bargain."

It would have been so easy for Retta to plea bargain for probation. She faced a possible fine of $2,000 and SIX MONTHS IN JAIL. Can you imagine what that looks like to a law-abiding citizen who was doing a good deed? She sure had some courage.

So, in my own simple mind, the wrap up of this case goes like this: A rescuer is free, a dog has vanished and the woman who put the dog at peril gets away with shoddy, if not criminal, treatment of an animal.

But at least an innocent has not gone to jail.

Remembering a victim

No doubt there are many people just trying to understand the basic facts of this story. And they are terrible facts.

In "just the basics style," Gail DeLay, 49, a longtime SPCA volunteer, was beaten to death in her Dallas apartment. She was found on Sunday.

Word of the murder traveled swiftly through the SPCA "family." That "family" has established a reward fund to find the culprit or culprits. (If you know anything about the crime and can help the police, call 214-671-3661.)

To donate to the reward fund call SPCA Development Manager Stephanie Leslie at 1-888-ANIMALS, ext. 163, or, mail a donation to the SPCA of Texas, 362 S. Industrial, Blvd., Dallas, Tx. 75207. Mark the donation to "Gail DeLay Reward Fund/Memorial."

Two of Gail's cats were missing, apparently having skittered out the open door at some point in this horrific incident. They are Crispin, a big orange shorthaired tabby named for the "St. Crispin Speech" in Shakespeare's Henry V, and a big black cat, Marlowe, named for Shakespeare's literary rival, Christopher Marlowe. Volunteers are trying to find these cats. Her other pets are in the good hands of her loving friends.

How do we know about the names of the cats? Because in 2003 I wrote a profile of Gail and her work and her animals.

After a divorce, she was working at the Dallas Zoo and thriving. She had written a very well-received kid's activity book about animals, Pets Are Part of the Family, and she was absolutely proud to be an SPCA volunteer. (Photo courtesy of SPCA's Anita Kelso Edson.)

She also helped animals outside of her regular SPCA and Dallas Zoo duties. That's how she got Indiana Bones. And this story will lead to a most memorable human/animal quote from Gail.

As Gail told me, on the evening before Memorial Day in 2002 she was in her yard working when she heard a big commotion. When she investigated, a neighbor told her that someone had tossed a little dog from a car window and sped off. This dog turned out to be a badly injured, skinny miniature pincher/Chihuahua mix who came to be known as "Indiana Bones."

She fell for him. He fell for her. And when I interviewed her about her animals, she had a wonderful tribute for her buddy Indy. "If I could be more like him, it would be OK -- everything would be new and exciting every day."

Bless Gail's heart and bless her animals, too. And bless the animals she would have helped -- for now there is one less helping heart in the world. 

The Price of a Free Dog

One reason to envy dogs and cats? Guilt-free sleep. Please read on and you'll see why the term "free dog" is worthy of a good giggle.

What you see in this photograph is Annie, a little over a year old. A foundling. She was pulled from beneath a neighbor's storage shed where she'd been delivered with six siblings by her on-the-streets mom, Calamity (riding in the truck with me in the photo at the top left of this website).

So, you see, Annie has a pedigree. Well, a documented past, anyway. We can only trace her family tree back to one branch.

Calamity now lives with my brother Garry and my sister-in-law Brenita. Calamity, after months and months of slyly dodging capture, was nabbed because of her strong maternal instincts -- we got her puppies, she decided we could have her, too. She has, in the past year, become a nearly perfect dog though she has been known to nibble a sandal or shoe left in a vulnerable area. I see that as a display of affection, a desire to be closer, to walk step-by-step with the humans in the household. But it's not my shoe she's chewing.

Ah, but Annie, daughter of Calamity. She's got different tastes.

She's also taller than her mom. This gives her greater "stretching power."

Night before last, we discovered she can "power stretch" all the way to the top of the dining room table.

As the humans slept, for some reason, Annie stirred and, for the first time, decided to look at the top of the dining room table. There, atop that table, was Martha's purse.

My aggrievedspouse Martha's theory is that Annie reached up with one of her big paws and pulled that purse to the floor. We know the purse was on the floor. We don't know that a cat didn't help. None of the cats will look us in the eye when the topic of the purse comes up.

And I am puzzled that a purse that contains half the material matter in the known universe didn't make a big crash when it hit the floor. But that's a topic for a different day.

Anyway, because I am an insomniac, I was catching a few extra winks Tuesday morning while Martha readied herself for work.

Suddenly I was jolted by loud scolding and Martha leading Annie into the bedroom and sort of tersely saying to me, "Your dog just ate some money." That may not be an exact quote. I was struggling to wake at the time and may not have caught the details of the announcement. But I caught the gist and the tone.

I opened my eyes and Annie looked at me with her usual face, the one that is so adorable.

"What?" I asked -- it was the instinct of a husband coming to my aid. When you sense you may be in trouble but you don't know why, you simply respond with a "What?" It buys some time for your head to clear even if the response is "Don't 'what' me! You heard what I said."

So, the story goes, as the humans were occupied elsewhere, Annie the Dog pulled Martha's purse off a secure spot on top of the table, and when the purse hit the floor, Annie shoved her big ol' mixed breed nose into the purse and rooted around for something tasty.

She found a wad of cash and ate most of $15 in U.S. currency.

I don't know about you, but at our house $15 is a relatively necessary chunk of change. It'll buy dog food, cat food and aspirin.

And this leads us to the photograph I've posted with this. It was taken less than an hour after Annie's cash-eating spree. She went to the doggie bed usually occupied by our six-pound Maltese, Glinda, and curled up and began this guilt-free sleep, no doubt dreaming of money trees and harvesting cash. It is a dream we all share.

Today's mission: To Chill and Protect

Denver is supposed to be in the 60s today. Quick, somebody help me pack. Pack? Never mind packing, just hit the road. Wait!  I'll need to take out a loan for the gasoline.

Oh, we just need to be patient -- something I couldn't preach on Monday. I did mow the lawn (to my neighbors' relief) but that was just to avoid being around people because I was in such a foul frame of mind. Today, because of wrestling the mower yesterday, I can barely lift my arms above my shoulders.  Oh, yeah, why do we need to be patient? Because the temp in Dallas will eventually be in the 60s -- about the time people start hanging Christmas lights. You know, just before Halloween.

HELPING ASTRO: Heather Morales is still facing a problem placing Astro the Dog. She reports she's been working with a rescue group trying to find a foster home "but it's not looking good. If nothing happens soon, I'm going to have to take him to the sanctuary [Animal Angels] out in Jacksboro. I'm leaving for Chicago at the end of this week, so I'm still hoping someone can take him."

Astro was a rescue who was probably abused and is "very shy and nervous around people." So, this is a dog with some special needs -- like a good secure moment that involves a return of trust to his life. (To help Astro, call 214-235-9827 or e-mail hmorales72@comcast.net.)

Heather did a really good deed in saving this animal. Someone needs to step up and continue the good deed until Astro lands in a good, loving home.

A DOG IN SNOW: Yes, I'm running this picture because it reminds me that it won't always be sizzling around here. And it reminds me that some dogs are always at peril. Can you believe a gorgeous dog like this has been given up? Yes, Bevo is now in the care of the Frisco Humane Society and he needs a foster home or a real home. (E-mail jill.fuller@mail.sprint.com to help.)

Bevo is described as a "gorgeous male boxer/Lab mix. He was adopted a 12 weeks of age. His family continued to adopt two more dogs and has decided that they have too many and Bevo needs to go immediately. Bevo cannot live with cats. That is his only drawback. He is fully vetted, social, housetrained, kennel trained ..." Well, you get the picture. This dog has everything going for him except his people.

CATCHING UP ON DOGS AND A CAT: Remember Shakira the Schnauzer with the bad foot and her 8 part Schnauzer/part passerby puppies? Evelyn Hoover reports that all nine dogs have been adopted into good homes. ... Remember Nancy Seaberg's little cat Graciela? Nancy's still trying to find a home for this foundling. "Everyone thinks she is skinny, but she is actually filling out. She is just so tiny and has short hair," says Nancy. "She is a very pretty, gray short-haired at with a little stripe, especially around the ace, and some white around the mouth, with big, bright green eyes!" Nancy was already "over-catted" when Graciela showed up. (To help, call Nancy at 214-575-9590 or 972-494-6377 or e-mail nancy@adfwwedding.com.) ... And, remember, if you're reading this, you're probably a bona fide rescuer or animal lover -- we need to reach people who are the same way but just don't know it yet! Forward the link http://www.readlarrypowell.com to your yet-to-be-enlightened friends so they can join in the effort to find homes for animals who need them and the effort to make cities safe for animals. Thanks for helping.

SOME DOGS IN NEED: These dogs are currently in the care of the Companion Animal Network but are certainly available for fostering -- in fact, there's kind of a desperate need for fostering.

Sophia, a collie mix, is about 3 years old, heartworm negative and "sweet" with a "typical collie personality. And, get this. Beautiful Sophia (isn't she elegant?) was "rescued from a backyard where she was tied with rope 24/7." Why? Why on earth? Well, that's in the past. She needs a really good future.

Then there's Daria, a 9-month old female pointer/terrier mix who "loves everything that moves." She was picked up at Haskell and Parry in Dallas -- she was starving and loaded with ticks. So, she's being treated for anemia and starvation. (An aside: As a veteran of looking into the eyes of dogs, when I look at Daria's eyes in this picture, I see a dog who has one message to the world: "OK, I'm ready. Let's get busy.")

This guy, Quentin, looks a lot like that dog in the film Because of Winn Dixie. The folks at Companion Animal Network say 3-year-old, scruffy Quentin is "possibly a picardy shepherd mix." He is a rescue from LaPorte. And, of course, like so many rescues, he has heartworms. It's a "serious" case. He also hasn't been fixed -- and can't be until he's finished with his heartworm treatment. But, that'll happen.

To volunteer to help or to adopt any of these rascals, e-mail canadoptons@yahoo.com.

And, once again, remember to spread word of these dogs to people who aren't involved in rescue and don't have animals. Those are the people we need to convert, uh, reach. We can preach to ourselves until we're gasping for air and praying for divine relief, but we really must reach the outside world and persuade more people to get involved. That's the key to not only more adoptions, but to having political influence in a city. It's the right thing to do.

A Home for Lady

It's a Monday morning and today's lifestyle is "summer gripey."

Too much heat, too little cash. It's the American dream.

Don't look for animal answers at this spot today. I'm facing a bit of bewilderment. Of course, if you read past my whining, you'll find a happy ending. But before that...well, here's the source of my anxiety.

A few weeks ago I took a shot at helping a family try to find a home for a big ol' dog they'd taken in.

They gave me a phone number to post so people could call them to help. They gave me e-mail addresses.

Now, as I attempt to check on the status of the poor dog, nobody is responding to e-mails and when I call the phone number, a robot voice says that "at the request of the customer, this phone is not accepting incoming calls."

Life has enough frustrations already. Why do these people have to add to the deluge?

Plus, we may be looking at something unpleasant for the dog they have. Unless of course, they have decided to keep the dog.

Like so many of you, I'm beginning to understand the term "compassion fatigue." It takes remarkable people to keep on going in the animal rescue business -- remarkable people who are able to bounce back from the apparent indifference of others.

I'd like to tell you that I had a boatload of happy news to report today, but ... oh, yes ... wait a minute, there is one little bit -- well, a big bit, really. It involves what many would have immediately seen as an "un-adoptable" stray. In fact, some shelters would have simply declared "Un-adoptable. Off the dog."

I can't bring myself to post the "before" picture of Lady -- it is so gruesome as to be nauseating. Seriously. Think "dog in pain, raw meat and big chain."

We got this news from Jonnie England of Operation Kindness. She'd seen Lady when she was brought in a year and a half ago. I first saw the "before" pictures then and they stuck with me. They're that awful.

Lady was a rescue "trapped" by Angie Manriquez before illness forced her to give up her active role as the "Fairy Dogmother of West Dallas."

Angie caught this dog and immediately sought help. Operation Kindness stepped up.

Lady "had a heavy chain wrapped twice around her neck, then padlocked for good measure when she was just a puppy," says Jonnie. As the puppy grew, the links of the chain AND the padlock became embedded in the flesh until her neck was an "oozing, bloody" mess. Seriously, readers, it was much, much worse than it reads.

One day, her sorry human "set her free" in the neighborhood and when she tried to return, he threw rocks at her until she simply quit trying to go "home."

Good grief. So, Operation Kindness took her in, vets worked on her, people fostered her and last weekend, a completely healed Lady went to her new home.

Lady was among the 37 adoptions over the weekend, Jonnie says. They included, also, a St. Bernard known as both "Angus" and "Angelo" who'd been in the shelter and in foster care for months and months.

These are dogs that aren't small and aren't likely to be adopted when people walk into a shelter determined to find a puppy or a pocket pet. Gosh, people really should keep an open mind about the "big ol' dawgs."

There's an old line that goes "Big dogs need love, too." At our house and in many other houses in the civilized world, we know the accurate line is "Big dogs give love, too."

Not that some puppies don't mature -- when that happens, they sometimes go back to shelters because idiot people say, "I didn't know he'd get THAT big."

Heck, if you adopt a lab puppy, it's not going to morph into a Chihuahua. It'll grow up to be a lab.

Some people skipped biology class, I guess. If you went to class, then you'll appreciate this line about inherited characteristics: "Sheesh, Gregor Mendel's work fails to reach the pea brains."

Dog pile in Powersite

Our "Let Sleeping Dogs Lie and Napping Cats Nap" feature begins with a sentence you may never have expected to read.

La Verne Clark writes, "I have no idea why my dogs like to sleep in the bathroom." First time I've seen that one.

But, it is exactly what happens. And these are not little ol' pocket pups, like 4 Yorkies piled up in a laundry basket. Nope, we're talking some serious dog poundage.

La Verne and Dick Clark live in Powersite, Mo., which, she says, is 10 miles from Branson near the Arkansas-Missouri state line. "We're not on the map," she says. (Powersite has a bit of history. She says Powersite Dam was "the first dam built west of the Mississippi River (1911-1913) and since our little town overlooks the dam, that's how Powersite got it's name. We're 'The Best Little Town By a Damsite!' ")

The town may not show up on maps, but if you've got that much dogflesh piled up in the bathroom it'll probably show up in heat-sensitive satellite surveys. These Mastiffs are all rescues, either bred in puppy mills or used as breeding stock, says La Verne.

Her quartet of bathroom nappers weighs in at about 590 pounds. Pete is at the top of the photo, next to the tub. La Verne says she bought six-year-old Pete at a "dog auction" in Missouri when he was 10 months old. When the breeder decided to go out of business a few years later, she put her remaining dogs up for auction and La Verne bought Pete's mom and father. Pet's mom and a little brother live in Missouri now, Pete's dad lives in Oklahoma.

Buddha is the largest of the dogs, weighing in at 175 pounds. "He acts like a Mastiff but he just might have a few Great Dane genes -- I'm not sure that he's 100 percent purebred Mastiff. His former owners had a meth lab in their house and suddenly 'left town,' locking Buddha and another, smaller dog in the house. It was almost two weeks before the animal control officer in that town learned of the dogs. Needless to say, Buddha was quite thin and had severe separation anxiety when I first go him. The animal control officer thought he was about three-years-old when I got him, but I think he was much older (he's supposedly 6 now) -- he has a very gray muzzle and eyebrows. I think he might be at least 8 or 9 years old now. ...

"Honey is on the 'left' and she was another abandoned dog at a dog auction/puppy mill breeding stock. She weighs about 145 pounds.

(Now, readers, take some time out to go to this site -- but be sure to come back right away and finish reading our presentation. Get some Kleenex and click this http://www.angelfire.com/biz4/OEMAuctionBoard/auction1.html .)

La Verne says, "Honey had been in foster care for a bout a year before I got her and she was terrified of us when we got her. Every time I approached her, she would run in the opposite direction. It was a year and a half before she would let my husband touch her. It took a very long time, but she now acts like a 'normal' dog around us, but she will hide in the bathroom if anyone else comes over to visit."

They've had Honey for six years, so she's probably 12 or 13, "very old for a Mastiff." She's very active and "might be only 8 or 9," says La Verne, "but she's not talking."

And Girtie was another puppy mill dog. "When I got Girt, she looked like she had recently had a litter of puppies. And she weighed around 80 pounds -- she's a matronly 125 pounds and 10 1/2 years old," says La Verne.

When she arrived, she had a fist-sized tumor hanging from her chin. It proved to be malignant. But, says La Verne, "By the time we had gotten the tumor biopsied and had the tumor removed, we had spent more than the adoption fee on her vet bills, so we decided to keep her instead of turning her over to Mastiff rescue to re-home her. We got Girt about a month after we got Honey and Girt walked in and acted like she had always lived here. And I think she gave Honey some confidence and helped her along to becoming a 'normal' dog."

So, one must ask, why would someone decide to have Mastiffs around the house? "That was my husband's idea," says La Verne. "We had gotten a Beagle pup about a year after we were married and we had Bridget for 17 years. After she died he said he'd like to get a 'big' dog this time."

They lived in Illinois at the time and went to a dog show to look at the various breeds. Her husband thought he might want a Newfoundland "but when I asked him if HE was going to brush the dog ever day that sort of ended the thought about getting a Newfi."

On the next aisle at the show, they saw Mastiffs and he asked, "How about one of these?"

La Verne says, "I thought he had lost his mind, but after we talked to some of the breeders and researched the breed, I thought it just might be the right breed/dog for our lifestyle -- we're not into a lot of exercise!"

A few months later -- nearly 20 years ago now -- they got their first Mastiff and a few years later ran into a terrible animal abuse case through a Missouri Mastiff rescue group. Five starved Mastiffs needed foster homes. Moose came to La Verne's home "skin and bones at 79 pounds, but he was the sweetest dog! He gained 100 pounds over the next year and he was the only Mastiff I've ever had that actually liked going to obedience classes." The rigors of being nearly starved to death cut Moose's life short, but his memory lives on every time La Verne gets involved with a rescued Mastiff.

(Here are some Mastiff rescue sites: www.mastiffrescue.org http://members.petfinder.org/~MO245/home.html and http://mastiff.org/exhibit-hall/rescue/contacts.mv)

La Verne says, "One of our rescue volunteers designed a T-shirt a few years ago and it read 'Champions of Survival' -- they truly are!"

And, I guess, if these guys want to pile up in the bathroom and go to sleep, then it's just fine with everybody who loves them.

(Please nominate a napping cat or a sleeping dog for our weekly feature. Send the info and a digital photo to dallrp@aol.com. We'll also take photos of napping birds, turtles, cattle, horses, goats -- anything that sleeps and has a human for a pal.)

Challenges

Some days we have to face the awful reality that there are people who simply do not love their animals as they should.

They don't care for them properly. They don't tend to them. They don't cherish these souls. Why they have them is beyond me.

I hope to High Heaven that these people are far outnumbered by the good people.

In the past 24 hours, two disturbing notes have crossed my cyberspace.

STORY ONE: The first comes from someone who has relatives living in a small town south of Dallas. She’s upset and wants to know if what is upsetting her could possibly be true. I hope it isn’t. Outside of staking out the parties involved, I don’t know how we can prove this is happening. But, this is Texas -- anything’s possible if it involves a gun. (And I say that as a native Texan who knows the alleged “ways” of our state.)

The tipster writes that her relatives say it "is well known down there that when a stray dog is picked up, they are not euthanized, but rather shot."

Let's let that soak in for a while as we point out that there is a state law that controls the way shelters "put down" animals. If you go to www.capitol.state.tx.us/statutes/docs/HS/content/htm/hs.010.00.000821.00.htm,

you'll find this:

"821.052. METHODS OF EUTHANASIA ...A person may euthanize a dog or cat in the custody of an animal shelter only by administering sodium pentobarbital or commercially compressed carbon monoxide."

No doubt there's a loophole somewhere -- there usually is when it comes to animals.
As humans we have a responsibility to end suffering. Some prefer to end suffering by taking the stray to a vet and getting it healthy. Others, well, let's point out to them that there are options other than "kill it." Sadly, that is too frequently the most convenient option.

STORY TWO: A reader writes about a situation her rescue group is facing. "I feel so helpless as all we can really advise is to keep reporting him."

Who is "him"? Keep reading, but it'll really tick you off.

The reader explains,

"We have a situation in Garland where a man had his dog tied up with a rope and a garden hose. A neighbor knew about it but was afraid to report him and the dog is not dead. A fellow rescuer is working on gathering all the information and we are waiting to see if Garland Animal Control brings any charges against him."

That's the sanitized version. Here's the letter written to this rescue group by a neighbor:

" 'He is going on about his 5th or 6th dog. He likes small shepherds. People give them to him and he throws them in the back yard and forgets them. ... feeds and waters them when he just happens to think of it.... He started digging a pool and didn't finish it. It filled with water and one of them drowned. One of them had heartworms. Another one was eat up by ticks and another had dysplasia and drug around ... for a whole summer till [it died] .... I have called [non-profit and municipal animal agencies] but he always squeaks just under the radar because there are not enough people to make the calls and he cleans up just enough that they can't get him."

So, readers, there you have it. A bad situation that people know about but, apparently, nothing can be done. I don't know what advice to give. It's perplexing.

Perhaps someone else has a solution -- a legal solution, I hasten to add.

Seriously, we all have a "solution," but we all also know better than to apply it.  After all, if we had to pay legal fees in addition to vet bills run up on other peoples’ dogs and cats, we’d be bankrupt by nightfall.

Our greatest hope is that the hearts of these people will change. But just as we also hope for low electric bills in July and August, some things are unlikely.

London, springs, animals & Newhart

Oh, for crying out loud, London's been under some sort of an attack again today.

This is upsetting, isn't it? You never know what's next. It sort of makes me nostalgic for the duck-and-cover days of the Cold War when rich old men argued with each other and weren't really  interested in blowing anything up because it would hurt their personal fortunes.

Perhaps that's an oversimplification of the post-war world. I am, after all, oversimplified. Let's move on.

SAVING-A-SPRING QUESTION: A reader asks if there's a way to get a spotlight on an issue in Garland. We'll try and hope that the big media will look into the situation. Apparently there's a question in Garland about the future of an area called Big Springs. (You can read about it and volunteer to help at this site: http://environment.meetup.com/200/.) There is at least one church and one school in Garland called "Big Springs," so this naturally-occurring area of forest and springs, now under threat of "progress," appears to have some historical standing in the city.

I don't know if there's an environmental impact statement on this project, but sometimes emotions are part of the environment, too, don't you think? And, seriously, what does the Dallas area need? More leveled ground or more preservation of nature?

JUST A NOTE: The folks at A Different Breed, who save animals caught up in the "system" via Dallas Animal Services, will host their usual adopt-a-pet from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Pepper Square (That's in a center at Beltline and Preston between the Hobby Lobby and the Steinmart). If you go to www.adifferentbreed.org you can link up to the available animals at the City of Dallas Animal Services shelters. This morning the photos of the dogs include a trio of pups, Rotty mixes known as Selma, Patty and Marge.

I know that people reading this site already have housefuls of dogs, but, pass the word along to the "others" that they, too, can get good friends from shelters.

LEARNING TO POUR: The Companion Animal Network is looking for volunteers with "food service industry" talent. Barbara Weinberger says the Network needs people "to help run a concessions stand at the American Airlines Center to raise money for animal rescue. All it takes is a love of animals, a tolerance for the smell of popcorn and about seven hours a month." Call 214-923-9160 or e-mail banzaikitties@yahoo.com.

American Airlines Center -- it's that big gym downtown. You know, the place that used to have a hockey team.

SOMETHING TO CHECK OUT: Word from Carol Mielke, co-director of Tassie's Hope Animal Rescue, is that there's something new on the World Wide Web. Indeed, it is the new Tassie's Hope site at www.tassieshope.org. Always good to see a website that is updated. Sometimes websites are vulnerable to the dynamics of volunteerism -- heck, people get busy, priorities change. It's understandable. So, congratulations to Tassie's Hope for keeping up with things.

HI, BOB: Last night KERA (Channel 13) showed several hours of tribute to Bob Newhart. So, I got a hankerin' to see an episode of either The Bob Newhart Show, where he's the psychologist, or Newhart, where he's the innkeeper. But, neither of those shows turns up on our cable listings.

This prompts the question: Why is it that we can watch people eat bugs on TV or plot against each other while under fake duress on allegedly remote islands, but we can't see a comforting, enjoyable Bob Newhart show?

Words and deeds

Indulge me today before we get to regular business. CHANNELING: I don't know what this means, but in today's obit report we find two people forever linked by your TV set: Gerry Thomas, 83, the man credited with inventing the TV dinner for Swanson's, and James Doohan, 85, who played Scotty, the engineer on Star Trek. I've eaten many a TV dinner. And, sometimes I ate them while watching reruns of Star Trek. (When Star Trek was orginally on, Momma was still a cook, as many of my fellow Baby Boomers will recall.) Like many of you, I've often wished that either I could be beamed up, or that the person who was annoying me at the time could be beamed up. Wherever up was at the moment. Ah, somewhere in Heaven today there's a microwave oven set on 3 minutes and it's powered by dilithium crystals that never fail. Enjoy the Hungry-Man and the conversation, fellows. Reheat if necessary.

WORD ALERT: I've been watching the Tour de France off and on, mainly because (a) I'm sick of listening to TV people discuss important issues as if they knew something and (b) listening to the British broadcasters is like listening to an old Monty Python skit, i.e., the footrace for people with no sense of direction.

(Also, once again, who can figure out the scoring in that bike race? People win stage after stage and Lance Armstrong, who wins few stages, still is in first place. They must use the French International Wartime Scoring Method -- finish second and declare you’ve won the war.)

Anyway, as a student of lingo, I've noticed through the years how words and phrases from one milieu are appropriated by business types. For example, sea change, tsunami, homage, "grow the company" and other words and phrases find their ways into executive memos and speeches "to the troops.". You'll spot the phrase "cobbled together a plan" in the New Yorker one week and the next week, somebody has worked that phrase into a company memo.

Sometimes it works the other way around -- from business into journalism -- but the ruthless CEOs of the late 20th and early 21st centuries would just as soon use someone else's words. The sentence, "I was overcome by a tsunami of guilt" is unlikely to be heard dribbling from their lips as they are led away in handcuffs. But one can dream.

Moving along, two words keep popping up in the coverage of the Tour de France. One is "breakaway," referring to the point when a biker or two suddenly rockets away from the pack and moves out ahead.

I can see a management-type declaring, "We've got to ramp up for a breakaway from the competition." "Ramp up" -- that's another one of those terms that has been adopted in hopes of giving the impression that the speaker is a whirlwind of genius.

Ah, but here is the biking word to watch for: "peloton." It's from the French, meaning "a wad" or "balled up" and refers to the big crush of bikers peddling in a pack. So, at some point in your company memos expect to see your boss encouraging you to follow his sage guidance so your department or your division can perform a "breakaway from the peloton" that is the rest of the industry. You know, that big ball of also-rans.

Look for it when people get serious about politics, too -- writers and commentators will describe presidential candidates as having broken away from the "peloton of lesser competitors."

These will be the same people who turned the word "gravitas" into a political issue two elections ago. Of course, right now they're busy "ramping up" for the next presidential election. Ah, language -- it says more than we expected.

MORE TAPING: David Howard of the Kinder Harbors Animal Sanctuary says the third videotaping of the Bow Meow Show, a program spotlighting adoptable animals, will be at 7 p.m. tonight at Flag Pole Hill. E-mail him at kinderharborsanimalsanctuary@gmail.com if you're hoping to participate. Also, he says he'll let us know when the show can be seen on area TV. Stay tuned.

RAFFLING AND PLANNING: The folks at Dog and Kitty City think you need a vacation. So, they're giving you a chance. At $5 a ticket you can buy a chance to win a roundtrip Southwest Airlines flight for two to Arizona and three nights at The Boulders Resort near Scottsdale. This includes golf and "spa treatment" and is valued at $2,500. Tickets are $5 each and the drawing is Aug. 20. To get tickets, call the Dog and Kitty City Event Hotline at 214-855-7600. Money raised goes to supporting the dogs and cats that find their ways into the no-kill shelter. (Go to www.dognkittycity.com.)

When you get back from that -- all rested and relaxed -- you can start making plans for participating in the Dog and Kitty City Fourth Annual Lickity-Split Festival at Reverchon Park. That'll be on October 29. Details to come.

SUPREME NOTE: A quick poll of our dogs and cats finds they have nothing -- neither good nor bad -- to say about the president's supreme court nominee.

This is why dogs and cats don't appear on TV news talk shows: When they don't know anything, they don't continue to offer opinions.