Animals, people and contemplative commemorations...

I ran across some place online that says February 16 is Do A Grouch A Favor Day.
You could do one grouch a favor and send dallrp@aol.com photographs of your sleeping dogs and napping cats for our weekend feature "Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap."  Do it today and win my admiration.
OK, here’s today’s Readlarrypowell.com report. Perhaps you’ll find something that’ll make you feel good or a mission that you can accomplish that will make you feel good.
YESTERDAY’S DOG, TOMORROW’S DEADLINE: Yesterday we told the story of Maria Llano monitoring the fate of a brown Pit girl who she first saw near White Rock Lake and who wound up in the Garland Animal Shelter.
The dog is friendly and has a big lump on her leg (perhaps a cyst) and is on a stray hold until tomorrow, Maria says. And the dog’s plight has inspired people to donate to her care – the money would go to a reputable rescue group that takes her off death row in a city shelter.
Maria got better photographs of the dog during a visit to the shelter. As you can see, she is so obviously an Earhound. To offer to help the dog, e-mail rescue@ci.garland.tx.us or contact Maria at mariallanoblue@gmail.com.
LONGSHOTS: Collin County Animal Services’ volunteer shelter walker Allison Roberts reports that amongst all the actual friendly animals in the facility are a couple of “semi-feral” heelers who are fear-biters and need someone with patience to work with them to turn them into happy companions.  If anything bad happens to the animals, it is not the fault of the shelter, but the fault of the person who let these dogs down. Optimistic rescuers should contact the shelter by e-mailing e-mail ldrummonds@co.collin.tx.us  and animalshelter@co.collin.tx.us.  Iris and Louisa are about 4 months old.
WHERE DO BOXERS COME FROM? PLEASANT GROVE? Sometimes.
Rescuer Jeffrey Hartman explains that he and wife Debra are fostering this beauty, Brooke. He found her “in the parking lot at work (Pleasant Grove area) the day after New Years. Of course she was starving, cold and probably let loose since she looks to be bred out. About 7 years old. We did a sonogram and naturally she has heartworm but thankfully is not pregnant. She’s vetted and plans are to start with HW treatment next month, then spay.
”She’s very playful and has fit in great with our pack. She is up for adoption through Straydog Inc. at the PetSmart in Plano on Saturdays, and should she find a home soon, I will be covering all the expense for the HW and spay treatment.”
To offer to help out with this gorgeous dog, call 972-978-3203.
LOST AND FOUND AT THE LAKE: Seems like you’d miss a dog that was this big. Believed to be a St. Barnard mix, this dog was found wandering in Seven Points near Cedar Creek Lake. To claim or to offer to help, email txtina1201@yahoo.com or call Tina Hamilton of Adopt-A-Happy-Tail Inc. at 903-880-4124 or 903-275-5990.
Looks like this dog could be hugged. Might be a good dog to hold a rug down in the living room. Could be used to add weight to a car for maneuvering in icy weather. Might be able to use this dog to teach your kid to hug big hairy necks – start out on this dog and work the kid’s way up to horses and his jackass uncle. Sorry, maybe he’s just a plain ol’ uncle.
You do wonder how a dog like this winds up on the loose. Got to be human failure somewhere.
THE CIRCLE OF LIFE: I’m on the mailing list for A Different Breed Rescue and today I opened up a note about the usual Saturday adoption at Pepper Square from Joni McConnell of ADB. And this sentence caught my eye. She wrote, “I noticed today we have lots of newspapers. Thank you! Sure could use some dog biscuits if you feel like donating any.”
A big donation of biscuits will, of course, result in a more pressing need for more newspapers. So, yes, just bring both biscuits and papers and you’ll be a hero. Take home a new dog or cat and you’ll be a godsend.
I went to the ADB website HERE and took a look at available animals and spotted this Earhound Spock who, as you can see from the photo, was posed in front of a genuine Earhound.
EVERMAN CRISIS: Shelter volunteer Anna Horton sent out overnight notes regarding the press of overpopulation and under adoption at the Everman Animal Services shelter south of Fort Worth.
Lots of dogs. Anna says the shelter doesn’t have a PTS list yet, but likely will have to create one if no one steps up to pull animals or adopt them.
These are just a couple of the cases.
Sophie is an “elderly” Fox Terrier – merely 10, it turns out --  who is heartworm positive – she’s under treatment. She also has some kind of wound on the top of her heard. Shelter stress is getting to her and she “hides her face from the camera,” Anna says. She doesn’t trust people but, in general, is more tolerant of women than of men.
And, anyone who has been in rescue knows what’s going on in the photo with the two dogs. Fright is causing them to go to a corner and crawl on top of each other to avoid the evil intruder. They are Babydoll and Andy, brother and sister who were roaming the streets. The good soul who picked them up is now fostering them, but they are “painfully shy or scared of people.” That’s Babydoll atop her brother as Anna snapped the photo. She says they are “project dogs.”
The shelter contacts are 817-561-5495 or e-mail eversmananimalservices@yahoo.com or you can e-mail annahorton@gmail.com, too.
DAS AND THE LITTLE BIT STORY: On Wednesday afternoon, Dallas Animal Services’ Animal Control Officer Mark Cooper sent out a request for help with a “very tiny and fragile” Chihuahua named Little Bit.
He explained, “This little cutie found its way into a senior citizen’s back yard where the pup met up with the woman’s Boxer and Chow. As she went to pull Little Bit from danger the dog nipped her on her finger out of pure fear. She housed the dog for two days then took the sweetheart to her personal vet clinic in hopes that they would help her find a home. When they learned of the bite, they reported it to DAS and we impounded the dog for quarantine. Little Bit has been with us for two weeks and she has quickly stolen my heart.”
He says the “very sweet senior citizen” who Little Bit nipped has pledged a donation to the rescue that helps save the dog. (Email mark.cooper@dallascityhall.com to offer to adopt, rescue or help. And go to www.dallasanimalservices.org to see what other animals need help in this big city shelter.)
A NOTE ABOUT JO JO AND A SOAPBOX MOMENT: On Valentine’s Day we told the story, thanks to noted rescuer Johnna Bigley, of Jo Jo, the dog who wound up in the Balch Springs Animal Shelter when her teenaged owner was arrested and the teen’s foster home didn’t want to keep the dog.
Johnna messaged us yesterday that Jo Jo has been claimed and was undergoing exams and care at a local vet clinic.
She adds, “Apparently, the teen girl who was arrested is a pretty troubled girl. She’s run away several times and always took Jo Jo with her. I know she’s going to miss him. “
It’s a bad enough thing that the dog wound up in a shelter and faces some great odds.
But this teen girl is facing some awful odds, too. Something makes her run away. Something got her into this fix in the first place. Probably she and the dog share something in common – they’ve both been let down by humans.
At Readlarrypowell.com we don’t know the inside story, but we’ve been around the block a time or two and we know that when a teen girl winds up in trouble with the law, there is a probably a problem that can’t be solved by simply locking up the kid and forgetting about her.
Let’s hope that she gets some help and finds a peaceful way to become a happy person. She was once someone’s little baby – somewhere someone failed her. I just don’t know if such a life can be repaired. Surely someone will try to help her just as people are trying to help her dog.
CONTEMPLATIONS: Here are two other notes about Feb. 16 – it is the anniversary of the 1978 invention of computer bulletin boards (see HERE) and it is also the anniversary of the first American 911 call which, according to this site HERE was placed in 1968 by the Alabama Speaker of the House and answered by an Alabama congressman.  Surely the first message was neither “Help!” nor "Hey, bubba, have ah got uh deal fur yew." Yep, politician to politician and, yet, we Americans still have faith in 911. … On Wednesday afternoon, one of the most beautiful days we’ve had around here in months, I met up with our letter carrier in the front yard and she told me she was taking a vacation next week. I said, “I hope you get this kind of weather” and she said, “Oh know, I hope we get some snow! I never get to enjoy it.”  She’s the neighborhood’s favorite letter carrier ever rain, shine, sleet or snow – hope she gets the vacation she wants – just enough snow to be pretty.
--- To comment, click below. ---