Dallas Animal Services: politics and death -- but in Denton get off the furniture or die

Our topics today will include inexplicable dog situations. And we have an insightful look at Dallas Animal Services and the city's animals that includes the quote, "We as a community are failing them." Read on:
BEFORE WE GET TO DALLAS, LET’S GO TO DENTON AND THE FURNITURE DOG: Veteran volunteer Stephen Plyler, who we’ve mentioned here several times, sent a note late yesterday from Denton and it has a dramatic aspect. “We have had a record 32 dogs come in during the last 24 hours. We only have 35 kennels and we were super full before the 32 came in,” he writes.
Why is there a photo of this Beaglesque fellow with this note?
Because I want to warn you about this dog before any of you gets a wild hair and runs up to Denton and adopts him. This dog is named Rally. He was adopted two days ago but the rotten SOB was returned to the Denton shelter yesterday.
Look at that lousy dog. What a repulsive creature. You know why he was brought back. A hellish reason. Demonic, really. Makes my skin crawl to think about it. He created a living hell for the people who adopted him. Here’s why he was returned, Stephen says. “He got on the furniture.”
That is one evil canine.  Got on the furniture. Why, if one of our dogs got on the furniture, I’d call in the Marines to clear off the sofa. How dare that dog.
Look, if nobody claims that dog, he will be killed for getting onto the furniture. I blame the shelter for this educational shortcoming. The Denton shelter should NEVER adopt out a dog before it goes through the Stay Off The Furniture Course. Poor innocent human didn't know about this living horror.
You can see Denton’s animals by going HERE and you can ask about Rally, the Furniture Beagle, or any animal at the shelter by e-mailing splyler03@aol.com or volunteer Amy Pelzel at amy_pelzel@yahoo.com. Call the shelter at 940-349-7594.
And if you know the person who dumped the dog, tell 'em where to go.
BEFORE WE GET TO DALLAS, LET’S GO TO IRVING AND THE MOVING DOG: Time is extraordinarily short for this bob-tailed Aussie Cattle Dog. We get the story from Russell Posch, the veteran shelter walker at the Irving Animal Services facility. He photos and posts animals in trouble and this guy is in real trouble today. His name is Blue. He’s #13738832. He’s a year old, weighs 35 pounds and he was dumped at the Irving shelter because his human was moving and couldn’t take him along.
Human moving. Cast off the dog. Throw out the dog. Dump the dog. Move on with your life and never look back as a city employee fills out the paperwork, leads the dog off to a cage and preps it for the needle. Dead as a friggin’ doornail because you moved and unloaded your responsibility with paperwork.
There may still be a chance today to save this dog’s life. I don’t know. But call the shelter at 972-721-2256 or 57.
Dog probably got on furniture, too.
BEFORE WE GET TO DALLAS, A LOOK AT UPHEAVAL IN BURNS FLAT: First, the tireless but weary rescuer Terry Lynn Fisher is facing challenges in Burns Flat, Okla.
We’ve been writing about her for years. She’s gotten many an animal out of that little shelter to safety. She’s had help from the animal control officer who also was the fire chief. He and the city administrator had a disagreement last week, says Terry Lynn, so the animal friendly ACO is now gone. The city administrator is the guy who shot Terry Lynn’s beloved dog Oddball several years ago and that incident led her into rescue work to save as many animals as possible from the Burns Flat system which, at the time, included not humanely euthanizing animals in the shelter, but shooting them on the spot.
As the month closes, here are two animals she’s working on right now. The solid black dog was dumped at the shelter after her mom was killed and the family decided they didn’t want her any more.
The black and tan dog was from a litter – the family that had the mom and the pups sent all but this one to a shelter elsewhere, but, after a few days, decided they didn’t want this one either.
So, there you have it. Political upheaval, people who don’t spay and neuter, people who don’t give a hoot about animals’ lives and Terry Lynn Fisher fighting a lonely and fiscally and emotionally costly fight in a small town in Western Oklahoma.
Offer to help her by taking animals or finding homes for the animals. Contact her at remembering_oddball@yahoo.com or call 580-330-1459.
Those two young dogs got out of the pound once. Terry Lynn explains, “The sad thing about them is I had them in a spare kennel that I had not wired down and that night a storm moved through. The next morning, I went [to the pound] and the kennel had blown over. The babies were gone  I was heartbroken. Two days later, they were at the pound -- how sad that THAT is where they felt safe and loved.”
Now, Terry Lynn has also begun a campaign to try to get her favorite ACO reinstated. She writes, I am trying to get as many people [as possible] to attend our town meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 6, at 6 p.m.” She says the former ACO/Fire Chief will be there to ask why he was removed from those positions. “If any of you are free and want to take a little trip to Western Oklahoma to back a wonderful man that has helped the dogs of Burns Flat, please come. All you have to do is show up.”
NOW WE GET TO DALLAS AND THE MEETING: This is a reminder that the City of Dallas Animal Shelter Commission meeting is at 1:30 p.m. Thursday at Dallas Animal Services – it’s that big building on the corner of Westmoreland at I-30, just west of downtown Dallas.
According to a note sent around by the Metroplex Animal Coalition, “The proposed budget cuts, employee layoffs and staff reorganization will most likely consume a large portion of the meeting.”
(ASIDE: FYI, a report on animal shelter activities from Oct. 31, 2010-July 31, 2011 will show that compared to the same period last year, the shelter took in fewer animals and released more to adoptors, rescuers and reclaimers. It will also show that -- thanks to people who dump animals, let them run free and don’t believe in spay/neuter – the actions of residents of this city led to the killing by needle of nearly 18,000 dogs and cats. Way to go Dallas.)
As explained yesterday, animal welfare people are feeling betrayed by the City of Dallas budgeteers and managers. The view is that just as Dallas Animal Services was beginning to recover from the humiliation of having the manager indicted for animal cruelty, and beginning to rebuild its reputation with a caring staff, the city kicked the props out.
Former Code Compliance Director Joey Zapata, now an assistant city manager over Code Compliance which is over the animal shelter, is scheduled to be the city official who’ll explain everything to the members of the commission, all of whom are appointed by city council members because they have a special understanding of animal needs in Dallas.
[SOAPBOX ASIDE: No doubt at some point someone will declare, “We’re all after the same thing – help the animals.” That’ll either be applauded or harrumphed – depends on who says it, a rescuing commission member or a city employee who didn’t get a RIF notice.
The only thing that might make this meeting more intense would be the appearance of Councilmember Dwaine Caraway to present a ceremonial key to the animal shelter to felonious dog-killing, millionaire quarterback Michael Vick.]
NOW WE GET TO THE DALLAS ANIMAL SERVICES SHELTER: We have written frequently about the do-gooders known as Take Me Home Pet Rescue.
Today I’m going to let the rescue group’s Rekka Melby do the writing. She explains what it’s like working with a responsive shelter – a responsive, but overcrowded shelter – and such people as ACO Mark Cooper, the rescue coordinator who is, well, dogged in his pursuit of homes for endangered animals.
As you can see, there are some photos with this. You see Emily, a mopey dog at Dallas Animal Services, on the clock and waiting for the needle. Then you see Emily looking up adoringly at one of the humans who saved her. And you see a couple of Lab pups riding to safety in the back seat, though, clearly, one is not certain of the destination.
Here is Rekka’s explanation of an experience with Dallas Animal Services:
“Last week we had someone interested in fostering a little fluffy puppy at DAS. Turned out that dog had been adopted so we sent our friend Annette Krausse to the shelter to take a look and see if she could find another fluffy puppy to save.  Well, she sent us a whole bunch of pictures so that lead to Elise Bissell and I going to the shelter on Friday to see what we could do. 
“Before we went, we sent out a plea for fosters so when we arrived at the shelter we had a list of what a few folks wanted to foster.  Long story short, we were able to save 5 lives. 
“One of them is a dog now named Holden that was being surrendered by his owner while we were there for being ‘too big.’  He's only 20-25 pounds but it sounds like that was too big for the apartment.  As you know the owner surrenders could be killed right away so we grabbed him up and took him home.  He probably had the shortest stay ever at a shelter! 
“It was very overwhelming walking the rows and rows of full kennels knowing we could only save a few of them.  It really feels like each dog is looking right through you begging you to save him/her and those pleas for help stick with you long after you leave the shelter. 
“I wish more folks would go walk those halls so they would see the faces that are running out of time and be motivated to foster.  
“I don't know why more people don't foster, most say it'd be ‘too hard’ to let them go in the end, but I think it's a lot harder knowing so many are dying and you could have done something to save one but didn't step up. 
“If you ask anyone that fosters they will likely tell you that yes, it is bittersweet when the dog goes to their forever family but that temporary heartache is worth it and the love sticks with you and the dog and the feeling of saving a life far outweighs saying goodbye at the end. 
“DAS has everything you could possibly imagine, from babies to seniors, purebreds to the all-American mutts.  All these dogs have one thing in common: They did nothing wrong.  They deserve so much better. 
“We as a community are failing them.  Just like you always say we're preaching to the choir, we have to figure out how to reach outside the current rescue community as all of us are aware of the situation and already overloaded with animals! ...
“When we were there on Friday we took pics and video to post on Facebook of some of the dogs we weren't able to take with us.  We all know how hard it is to survive a city shelter if you're a black dog or a pit bull-type dog so when we saw a broken and battered female pittie we knew we had to try and help her as the odds were really stacked against her. 
“Her ears have been cut off and for ‘location of injury’ on her kennel card it read ‘entire body’.  Her front leg had deep lacerations and was swollen.  We don't know who did this to her.  All we do know is that they didn't break her spirit.  She was wagging her tail like crazy and so sweet and tender.  We got lucky and Kathy Edwards [that’s her kid Blake with Emily] saw her video on Facebook and stepped up to foster her!
“So we went back to get her this past Sunday. She definitely knew we were there to save her, she pretty much ran down the hall! She is no longer a number, her name is now Emily. She wagged her whole body with excitement and stopped to hug us, too.  Through Facebook we also got lucky and found fosters for two young lab pups so they came home with us too.  In the attached video you can see Emily greet them with excitement as if to say ‘Oh good, they're saving you too!  Now let's go!’ We know Emily is going to be a great ambassador for her breed and a good lesson to folks on why they shouldn't judge a book by its cover. 
"One of the other pups is now named Trooper, as in ‘he's such a trooper.’ He was whimpering when we saw him at the shelter and had some rough looking wounds on one side of his body.  At first we thought he'd been hit by a car but it turned out to be sarcoptic mange so we've started treating him.
“So if you're keeping track, our small group saved 8 dogs from DAS Aug 26-28.  That's quite a few for TMHPR so we could really use help financially to help cover our vetting expenses, especially since Emily and Trooper require more than basic medical care.  Donations can be made via this link HERE.
“We are a 501c3 and will send a tax receipt.”
To see the video of “rescuing the Fab Five on Aug. 26” click HERE. To see a video of Emily’s rescue, click HERE.
And to get involved with Take Me Home Pet Rescue, click on www.takemehomepetrescue.com. 
CONTEMPLATION: If a hurricane endangered thousands and thousands of animals, sedentary people would gasp and grab their phones and credit cards to soothe their emotions by donating to a national charity at a breakneck pace. Each year, thanks to its uncaring residents, the City of Dallas kills thousands and thousands of animals – no hurricane, no quakes -- and sends the bodies to the municipal landfill. Only a relative handful of people – animal nuts, they’re called -- are concerned about this senseless slaughter. Yeah, it’s the Texas solution: Got an animal problem, let’s kill it. There has to be some way to touch hearts outside the animal community. How do we reach the simple-minded dimwits who let animals breed and who dump animals like fast-food trash? If you’ve read this far into the contemplation, copy it and send it to 10 people you know who are too stupid to fix their animals. Tell ‘em I sent you and will be happy to help them become enlightened and less stupid. I mean it. Send it. Nice isn’t working. It’s time to pinpoint the idiots. Make them know what they’re doing to animals. If they don't buy into the morality of the situation, tell them how much it is costing them to feed and then kill all those animals. Idiots.
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