Big, sweet souls and the challenges of life...

Before you read about how you can help some desperate animals (including a dog who has been rejected twice over nothing), consider this example of the curiosity of life:
The new Fort Worth Independent School District Superintendent, whose actions may affect the fate of a generation of children, will make around $325,000 a year. A 25-year-old, right-handed pitcher from Japan who has never thrown a ball in the big leagues has signed a 6-year, $60 million contract to play a game.
The Dallas Independent School District is still looking for a superintendent and the City of Dallas is looking for a library director – not sure either entity has a headhunter in Japan. That is Inky, the Cocker Laureate of Texas, available to pitch for a mere $1 million a year or direct a municipal library system for the same bargain price. That DISD superintendent job? Six years, $60 million and he’ll think about it.
THE DOGS IN DALLAS: Based on the emails and conversations, Dallas Animal Services has been engaged in its usual pressure-packed week. That's a handsome big ol' black dawg, right? Look at those ears.
Healthy animals and injured animals alike spent time on the clock. How can you have a no-kill city when you don’t have no-kill residents? Ah, there’s the question. Got to be an answer.
Now, I’m admitting to being partial to big ol’ black dawgs, particularly Lab/Great Dane mixes. Our great Hambone Jack was just such a dog – he soars with the angels now and, believe me, he’s got the halo that lights the hereafter. So, when I opened an e-mail from DAS Animal Control Officer Mark Cooper late yesterday and saw this photo of DLF156/A704558, I  (a) saw the rejection record and nearly broke down and (b) contemplated violating the law by going to the shelter and adopting him. Can’t do it, though -- at the limit. It’s up to someone else to save this dog, who, if he were mine, wouldn’t have numbers he’d be named. Probably something like Duke or Hambone Mack or maybe he would tell me the name he prefers. Mister Sugar, maybe.
What’s he like? Officer Cooper says, “This dog is a total gentle giant! He is super sweet and loving, not to mention he’s a very handsome dog. He’s about 1 year old, weighs 78 pounds and appears to be in great health.”
Let me stop right here to tell you there’s more to the story. And Officer Cooper nails the situation perfectly when he adds, “However, he has not been leash trained, so he sits flat on the ground when you try to walk him. This has prevented him from being rescued twice. He does not deserve to be euthanized simply because he isn’t leash-trained. But he is super active when no leash is present!”
Lord knows how he got to be that way. Got to be a human in there somewhere.
Other dogs on the clock include these dogs pictured here: that Beagle/Dachshund mix, a little dog with her puppy and a brown dog who curls his lip. Officer Cooper explains, “He is my favorite dog in this shelter. He stole my heart a week ago and I named him ‘Elvis.’ He smiles when petted and curls his left upper lip just like Elvis Presley. It’ s the coolest thing ever!  He is a HUGE teddy bear and a big time butt-wagger!”
To ask about any of these dogs, e-mail Mark.cooper@dallascityhall.com.
Now, in the meantime, as these dogs were simply surviving in a shelter, two other dogs came in and they were facing dire medical problems Officer Cooper immediately asked for help from the rescue community and DFW Rescue Me responded.
[Aside: Oh, readers, try not to get mad at this one dog’s humans. They’ve not been dealt a winning hand and, well, what are ya gonna do, you know?]
Officer Cooper says the shepherd mix was an owner-surrender. “According to his owners, he was hit by a car over a month ago and they tried to treat the wounds themselves. The leg has been crushed and bones are exposed. He is frightened in the kennel, but very sweet once he’s out and he was a lover while in the lobby with his owners. He’s 44 pounds and looks to be about 2 years old. Even with his injuries he is energetic and allowed his owners to grab his injured arm and everything.”
Then, there is the little terrier mix, a stray who was a lap dog in pain. She is young and weighs about 9 pounds and her leg was “crushed flat and all bones exposed.”
These dogs may still need some help by the time you read this. Email Officer Cooper. See more animals and other shelter details at www.dallasanimalservices.org.
THE BAILEY SITUATION: For some time now, rescuer Deborah Verner has been trying to find a home for this dog Bailey. No dice. No dice at all. The dog was rescued with her pregnant mom, Sadie, from the “tree farm” area along the Seagoville/Dallas line. That was more than a year ago, if memory serves. And Deborah has been working with Bailey, taking her off-site adoptions, writing notes about her and doing just about everything except sell her to a major league baseball team.
So, one day, determined to write Bailey into the heart of someone, I asked Deborah to tell me 5 things she loves about Bailey.
She did. She also added things that need to improve. Here’s what Deb wrote:
“Things I love about Bailey: (1) She is very sweet, and loves giving kisses, (2) She loves running in big circles all around the backyard, (3) She loves playing any type of ball, (4) She gives high fives with her right paw, and shakes with her left paw, and (5) if you tell her to sit, she will automatically go into her frog position...with back legs out behind her.”
Those are among the good things. The “other” list? Deb writes, “Thinks that need to improve: (1) Her potty training isn't up to par no matter how many times she goes outside, (2) She is low to the ground, but very strong and hyper, making walking her difficult, (3) Food aggressive with other dogs, etc.”
You can see the dogs Deb is trying to place by clicking HERE.  Email her at dtrevino60@aol.com.
ANOTHER BONNIE AND CAT STORY: For as long as I have known Bonnie Lovell – and we go back decades because of our common history with the big paper in Dallas – she has been helping animals that are down on their luck. And, as I have told many a person, “Some of the best people people I know are animal people.”
This time Bonnie is trying to help a Denton resident by helping an animal, this cat Sophie. Bonnie says Sophie is the “softest, sweetest, most affectionate snowshoe Siamese cat (half Siamese, half domestic shorthair).”
According to Bonnie, “She's about one year old and urgently needs a new home before the first of the month -- preferably sooner -- when my even-poorer-than-me neighbor has to move into a tiny apartment and can only take her original tiny dog and cat and not her recent rescue who she brought inside to keep her from getting knocked up by one of the neighborhood strays. I have found someone who has volunteered to pay to have her spayed and get all her shots but who can't keep her. I also can't keep her. If [my neighbor] can’t find a forever home right away, perhaps she could at least find a foster home until a forever home is found. (The afore-mentioned benefactor will even provide food.)”
To offer to help this cat, e-mail bonniealovell@gmail.com.
THUNDER CAT: It’s kind of unfair to use a title like that, but I know you suckers for cute cat names will immediately start reading. Thunder Cat – star of a graphic novel? Anime?
Ah, we get the answer from Rebecca Kornblum. She sent out the appeal yesterday.
She wrote, “I was helping someone else with trapping some feral cats and now ‘I’ have a new foster cat in my house. Thunder Cat, or TC as we call her, was named for her big, rumbly purr. She is the sweetest and most docile cat imaginable -- never makes a mess or hisses at anyone but just sits in her little patch of sunshine by the window with a big contented smile on her face. She is wonderful with other cats and hasn't had the opportunity here to be around dogs. She's a quiet and peaceful being who would be great company for someone wanting a friend, human or feline.”
To ask about adopting Thunder Cat the Magnificent Purrer, call 214-293-5787 or e-mail rkornblum2@yahoo.com.
PHAROAH GETS A BREAK: I’ve saved this until near the end of today’s report – it’s like saving the best bite of pie until last. It’s a tasty morsel.
For a couple of weeks this dog Pharaoh has been dodging the needle at the Carrollton Animal Survives Shelter. But he’s also been subject of many an email and a conversation or two.
And, finally, we discovered yesterday, that Pharaoh has made it out of the shelter and into the care of the Justin Animal Alliance. We got the news from Carrollton volunteer Leticia Beauchamp who told us that the Justin Animal Alliance, fueled by founder Shelley Soniat and volunteers, had claimed big Pharaoh.
You can read more about Justin Animal Alliance HERE. After all, Pharaoh’s off Death Row, but he still needs a home.
CONTEMPLATIONS: First lines of titled but unwritten novels:
The Whistling Dog – “The pushbutton transmission on the baby blue 1961 Dodge Pioneer bewildered him and, yet, he was strangely at home in Havana because he had a dog named Dimitri who could whistle while dancing and who, according to legend, had once bitten Fidel Castro in the wallet pocket....”
Jump Shot – “After the game, the Mixed Species League commissioner explained to the press that the rules of competition did not forbid employing a kangaroo but, still, it was against the law to shoot at a kangaroo in mid-jump if he has legal possession of the ball at the time and has either one foot or one tail on the court and is not called for traveling.”
In the Money Huddle – The shock wave raced through the community when residents realized the new quarterback’s contract called for him to serve six months of the year as the superintendent of the school district because, as the board president said, “Anybody smart enough to get that much money for throwing a ball is bound to be smart enough to run a school system.”
Inky, the Cocker Laureate of the State of Texas, suggests that I may need to be seen to. Thank you for your patience. Be kind to animals.
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