At midweek, old Labs, new chances and planning your schedule...

We have a number of topics today – none of which will provide you with the winning lotto tickets. But if you know the winning numbers for tonight, please send them to Readlarrypowell.com. Our silent partner in earnings, the U.S. government, apparently needs some extra money to get through the rest of the year. We’re happy to help until there’s no blood left in the turnip.
Those dogs? You read about the old gray-faced dogs here before – on Monday. Old and dumped. Read on and you’ll read about them again. Now, today’s report:
OPPOSING HOUSE BILL 1919: The Texas Human Legislation Network has issued an “action alert” to halt the progress of Texas House Bill 1919 that would, detractors say, make it OK for someone to kill your dog if that someone felt he or she was in “reasonable fear of serious bodily injury.” The deal is what is “reasonable” to one person isn’t reasonable to anybody with half-sense. And, of course, who wants to give idiots an excuse to shoot dogs – that already goes on enough in Texas. Go to www.thln.org to see this and other “action alerts.”
CALLIOPE, A SURVIVOR SO FAR, IS WAITING: Pardon the quality of this photo. It is a testament to my technological skills. I lifted the photo off a list of “available” animals  at the Dallas Animal Services shelter.
What’s so remarkable about this dog?
She’s like all the other dogs in the city-run shelter: she’s on death row. Fact of life. Come into a city shelter and the clock starts ticking.
But the Dallas Animal Services Shelter is making an effort to get them all into a home or a rescue group or someplace safe. Just doesn’t work out for all of the dogs and cats that show up at the shelter’s door. Thank you, Dallas – when it used to advertise itself as the “City With No Limits,” who knew that meant there’s no limit to how low the residents will go when it comes to animals.
Here’s the word from Janet Henderson of the Dallas Animal Services Shelter: “Calliope the deaf pit is a parvo survivor. She is fine now and has been released by the vet to go to a rescue.”
Yep, the City of Dallas saved this dog from the horrors of parvo and now she’s alive and vibrant and if no rescue group finds a home for her, she’ll be killed and all that work and love will be wasted.
You can see many, many available dogs and cats in the Dallas shelter by going to www.dallasanimalservices.org. If your group wants to help Calliope, e-mail [email protected].
HOW YOU CAN HELP DALLAS ANIMAL SERVICES WITHOUT TAKING A DOG OR CAT HOME: Naturally, you may already have a full house of dogs and cats. So, anything you can do? Plenty – the shelter needs volunteers. But also, there’s a “pay attention” element. You can pay attention by attending the next City of Dallas Animal Shelter Commission meeting – 1:30 p.m. Thursday April 28 in Room 6ES at Dallas City Hall.
On the agenda: Status report on the national search for an Animal Services manager and a report on filling another key management position at the shelter. There’ll be discussion of other animal issues, also. And the public gets a chance to speak, too. It’s democracy at work.
Remember, the more eyes that are watching a City of Dallas department, the more sensitive that department is to public pressure. The more eyes that watch that department, the more sensitive the mayor and city council are to public pressure. That, too, is democracy at work.
And, in case you wanted to take a dog or cat home, there’ll be someone at that meeting who, without a doubt, will be proud to help you.
THE FIRES: Out West of Dallas/Fort Worth, the awful fires have affected animals. And there is need for help with a shelter as Rebecca Poling reports on The Examiner site HERE. There may be other instances of help that is needed but, so far, nothing else has surfaced. Feel free to click on Comments below and add some needs.
A DRIVING VOLUNTEER NEEDED: Krista Mc Anally, the manager of the Humane Society of Cedar Creek Lake shelter at tool, (52 miles southeast of Dallas, is looking for a volunteer driver who can transport animals between the shelter and the Kaufman County Animal Awareness Project (KCAAP) in Crandall on Mondays. The project does spay and neuter on adoptables. You can read about it at www.spayneuternet.org and you can contact  Krista to volunteer to use your own vehicle or to drive the shelter van at 903-432-3422. Make shelter donations at www.hsccl.org and see the shelters adoptables at www.texaslittlecuties.org.
BLU THE DOXIE: Our Discreet Source tells us that Blu, the blind-in-one-eye and deaf Dachshund from a shelter near the Red River has “found a home.” There are other animals at the unnamed shelter who need a home. Our Discreet Source can tell you about them and, probably, could use some help in getting animals out of the small, underfunded, understaffed shelter. E-mail our Discreet Source at [email protected].  And, if you want to know the name of the shelter, join the crowd. How do you feel about such “discreet” dealings? Is the light of publicity good for a shelter?
A HAPPY HOUR IN DALLAS:One reason I’m running this note is I love the logo for Animal Rescue of Texas. Doesn’t it give you a warm feeling?
ART, as Animal Rescue of Texas is shorthanded, will benefit Thursday from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. when the Barley house hosts a Happy Hour for the rescue group. It’s at 5612 SMU Boulevard and, as the poster says, “a $10 cash donation will help us to save a life and provide you with beer courtesy of ART.” You can read about ART’s work and see available animals at www.animalrescueoftexas.org. And you can see a video of how ART helped a dog named Bean by clicking HERE.
SANDY IN AUSTIN NEEDS A BREAK: Joy Wise works half the year in Austin and half in Minnesota and now she’s headed back to a houseful of dogs in Minnesota and in need of help with Sandy, whose rescued case she became enmeshed in while in Austin.
Joy says that Sandy “was adopted from Town Lake Animal Center in Austin in 2009. At that time they had her age as 4 years old. Adding on 2 more years, that brings her to 6 or 7 years old. ... I found her in December and because she is chipped I was able to track down her previous owner. She said she had given Sandy away, and she wouldn't provide any info on who was her current owner.  No name, phone, vet info.  Nothing.
“So, Sandy was probably dumped somewhere. Anyway, I found her filthy, and limping badly on her right hind leg.  I had my vet do x-rays of the leg and it showed a torn cruciate ligament. She had surgery to repair that two weeks ago. 
“Sandy is already wanting to run all over the place.  But she has to wait awhile yet before she can do much running. I am tapering off her pain medications.  It is possible she may need to stay on pain meds for residual knee pain.  I don't know yet.
“I am only here for six months of the year.  I am leaving on May 1 for Minnesota.  My place there will not allow a dog her size.  I have two other smaller dogs.  They have a 2-dog limit, too.  I have been trying for 4 months to re-home Sandy, including ads on Craig's list and in PetFinder. I'm sure I don't have to tell you how hard it is to place older dogs.”
Joy has taken Sandy to PetSmart to “greet other dogs and she’s done well. She is goo with children. I don’t know about cats.
“Sandy follows me around the house and sleeps at my feet all day.  At night she will put her head on my lap hoping for a scratch.  She's a very sweet girl, and just wants a loving home of her own.  I will gladly provide vet records to anyone who might be interested in her.”
To ask about helping Joy by adopting Sandy or getting her into a rescue group, e-mail [email protected].
SEAGOVILLE: This cuddler is Cami, one of the long-time holdovers who has avoided the needle at the Seagoville Animal Shelter. We learned about her from Johnna Bigley, the shelter volunteer who is helping the manager, Seagoville Police Sgt. Karl Bailey, keep the animals safe.
You can read about the Seagoville shelter on PetFinder HERE.
And Johnna and others are attempting to help the shelter become more than a warehouse for doomed animals. The’ve set up a “chip in” HERE. Donations go to the shelter’s veterinary fund. And the shelter will take donations of animal items at 1330 E. Malloy Bridge Road. You have to call first – 972-287-6838 whether you’re making a donation or trying to adopt an animal -- that’s the byproduct of a small staff. You also can e-mail [email protected].
THE TWO LABS AT PLANO: On Monday we mentioned two older Labs that had been dumped – 11 years old and dumped – at the Plano Animal Services shelter and that the shelter’s senior admnistrative assitant Debbie New was trying to find a home for them.
She’d been smitten by the gray on their muzzles and the spirit in their hearts.
They are still available.
They are Ranger and Dixie and they’ve been together since birth.
To offer to give these dogs a home, e-mail [email protected].
  FOR YOU READERS: I’ve actually seen animal lovers reading books about topics other than animals. Some of them actually read thrillers. That’s why I’m mentioning this. You can actually hear one of these writers in person on May 5 when Richard North Patterson discusses writing and his latest book, The Devil’s Light, about “the possibility of a nuclear threat from al-Qaeda and the complex politics in the Middle East,” at a World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth event at the Fairmont at 6:30 p.m. Get the details and ticket pricing at www.dfwworld.org. You’ll also see that later in this series of author appearances you can see and hear the incredibly entertaining David McCullough, author of a number of fascinating historical books. This speaker series, by the way, is part of the 60th anniversary celebration of the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth.
CONTEMPLATIONS: The State Fair of Texas has announced that for 2011 Big Tex, the 52-foot-tall Midway cowboy, will be wearing a red, white and blue shirt with stars on the shoulders. Somehow, for 2011 (Sept. 30-Oct. 23), having Big Tex in red, white and blue seems appropriate. Ten years after 9/11, red, white and blue is always appropriate. ... The wildfires and the wind – got to be a movie in this somewhere. “Hot Air and Texas.” “Prairie Storm.” “The Legislature.” ... I stopped in at my favorite drugstore and 5 & dime, the Ben Franklin Apothecary in Duncanville, Texas, yesterday to refill my blood pressure meds and, at the checkout counter I found a box of Mars bars. Remember Mars bars? The almond partner to the peanut Snickers bars of Baby Boomers’ childhood, as I anciently recall. Yeah, I bought one. Had a bite. Brought back a memory and made me think about the future, too, when someone invents a great-tasting candy bar that is beneficial for the human system. That’ll be the day, right?
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