Adventures, challenges and Sugar the Dane...

We have some adventures going on all over the place.
But that’s why mot people got into animal welfare and advocacy, right? The adventures?
Oh, and the money, too. I forgot that part. That’s why the Rolls Royce is the Official Car of Animal Rescue. 
That dog? Sad-eyed Stacy, a Carrollton dog on the clock. More on this later today. Now, moving along (in a 13-year-old Ford pickup):
THE PUPPIES, THE GLOW AND THE GUY: When last we addressed Tawana Couch’s attempts to save a mom, a litter and a guardian dog near the Veteran’s Hospital in southeast Oak Cliff, things were dicey.
She’d basically been chased off the project by a guy who ran toward her and then toward the dogs. Quite unsettling.
When she went to the site yesterday, she says, “The nut case guy was back…I was with a friend and he left us alone.”
Tawana reports, “Susan McBride and myself were able to trap all of Angel Dog’s and Mama’s puppies.
The miracle was that all 3 of the pups walked into the trap. Just the perfect timing where all 3 were caught at same time. I have been trapping a lot of years and for 3 larger puppies to get in and be caught at one time is a miracle to me. The most I have ever gotten in one try … was 2 in one trap.”
Mama and the Angel Dog, so named because of the aura he gives off in photos, watched from a distance. When Tawana and Susan returned to try to get Angel Dog and Mama, he had vanished and she “did not want any part of the trap, at least for today. Will keep trying.”
And, she says, “We now need a miracle and [need to] have a group step up and take the pups or at least commit to one.”
There are 2 males and a female currently in vet care. “They need to find home soon,” she says. To offer to help [email protected].
One more thing: Tawana is still trying to help the dogs that follow a South Dallas woman and son to church – there were three when we first reported this on the 16th but now there are two. The Catahoula sleeping on the porch was struck by a car and killed. There’s a new sense of urgency in the rescue of the two surviving dogs. Contact Tawana.
TWO ADVENTURES UNSOLVED: Glynis Ritter, who has been trying to find a way to get a handful of dogs into safe haven in Carthage, still doesn’t have a solution.  But there is work underway. Nothing is ever as simple as it looks. Traps don’t work, animals aren’t cooperative, people are trying to find places to put dogs after they’re caught. Offer your advice and help by e-mailing [email protected]. …. A few days ago we mentioned some free-roaming dogs at Highway 175 and Elam in southeast Dallas. Nobody wants the dogs, nobody can catch the dogs. The momma isn’t spayed. It’s a typical “don’t care” situation. Except for one passerby who has been trying to find a rescue group that can both get the dogs and take care of them. To offer help, e-mail [email protected] . Again, nothing is ever as simple as it looks.
CARROLLTON’S COLLECTION: Currently the Carrollton Animal Rescue Enterprise (CARE) folks are hustling to find homes for several dogs on today “list.”
Yep, these dogs are three of them.
Why are they on the clock in Carrollton?
It’s a combination of things: They were strays, they haven’t been claimed, the shelter’s full, the earth is off its axis. Seriously, victims of circumstances they’ll be unless someone – individual or rescue group – steps up to save them.
The little girl is Curly Sue – vibrantly affectionate and happy to be with kids and “seems not to mind cats.”
Zen is the big black dog – well, the medium black dog. Young, too.
And Stacey – with the face from a clown portrait in the ‘60s (OK, maybe you’re too young to see it) --- is a St. Bernard mix, about 88 pounds and “loves children.” She was picked up while “out with handicapped children and was as gentle as could be with them,” the shelter reports.
Today’s the day if they are not claimed.
Contacts? Call 972-466-3420 or email [email protected].
REBOUNDING IN COLLIN COUNTY: We featured this 2-year-old Lab last week or maybe the week before – can’t recall, but he’s one of the many big, black dogs that has found his way into the Collin County Animal Shelter in McKinney.
He’s also one who has found his way back to the shelter. Cypress, 2, met with a problem at his new home, reports volunteer shelter walker Allison Roberts.
He was returned “because he’s very playful and the young kids were afraid of him (he knocked one of them into the pool),” Allison reports.
He’s got a CCAS video HERE. It shows him to be a lively lad. Too bad there’s no photo of him bumping the kid into the pool – surefire winner on America’s Funniest Home Videos.
But, seriously, folks, you don’t want the kids to grow up being afraid of dogs, so the wise thing to do is match the kids to the dog and the dogs to the kid. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Takes time to make the choice.
To ask about saving Cypress from the needle, or any other critter at CCAS, e-mail both [email protected] and [email protected].
MAKING DOG THEFT A TOUGHER FELONY: We got a note yesterday from Brad Kirby, the Dallas photographer whose Huskies were stolen and he discovered there was no tough law to handle the situation. So he created and got onto the books the Stolen Dog Law in Dallas.
now, Brad says, “I am at it again.  I am trying to get a law passed in Texas that makes stealing a dog a felony.  Right now it is ONLY a Class C misdemeanor, about a $60 fine to steal a dog and we want up to $10,000 fine and up to 18 months in jail and of course that would be up to the judge. There are a lot of people … that want jail time for dog thieves.  I have a petition for dog lovers to sign that I will be taking to Austin next year when the bill comes up for a vote by our state Representatives.  I could use all the help and signatures I can get.”
Navigate to the petition by going to www.lostdogsofdallas.com.
E-mail [email protected].
SUGAR AND HER FATE: A couple of days ago, Dallas Animal Services officer Mark Cooper, the rescue liaison for the shelter, sent out a desperate request for help for a 12-year-old, 107-pound Great Dane girl who was suffering from arthritis, a prolapsed uterus and, basically, being dumped.
That’s right, after 12 years of being a loyal dog, her reward was “Here’s the shelter, best of luck.”
Maggie Dahl, president of Animal Rescue of Texas, took up Sugar’s cause, too. And the eventuality is that the folks with DFW Rescue Me claimed her.
She’s undergoing some vet care right and, DFW Rescue Me President Jim Wenger told us, “We have secured a 'hospice' foster to let her live her days in happiness and never go to an adoption event, etc.  She trotted out of the shelter very happy to leave … Her new mom said she acted like she had never been inside a house. Very nervous at first.”
Is it possible that someone had given a Great Dane a home for a dozen years and never let that dog stretch out on the family couch? How can that be? Today's Danes are indoor dogs. They belong on the couch, on the big rug in front of the television, in your place on the bed. 
And for 12 years – a pretty impressive age for this big breed.
ART President Dahl has some feelings in this matter. “The dumping of senior dogs really gets me going. We pulled a 12-year-old Beagle from North Richland Hills dumped by her owner several years ago, and there was nothing wrong with her... Still spry, no disease... Healthy for her age. The people wanted to travel or some such nonsense. She was adopted and lived 1 1/2 years of a life filled with love, until her heart gave out.
”How can you spend 12 years with a dog and leave her scared and alone in a shelter.  I just can't even picture it.”
Oh, brother. We have geriatric dogs in our household – they are a great comfort to us. Maybe we are wrongheaded. I’m sure some twit can explain why it’s OK to dump a dog when age sets in – and, geez, they better hope they haven’t taught those values to their kids.
To see how to donate to Sugar’s care, go to the DFW Rescue Me website HERE.
CONTEMPLATIONS:  Will Mark Davis ever return to Dallas/Fort Worth air? Will WBAP (Cumulus) and the 18-year morning guy work out a contract? Must there always be change? Is a TV reality show possible? Probably only if he’s replaced by a Kardashian sister. …   FYI, I exercised (lumbered) in Kiest Park in Dallas yesterday from about 7 p.m. to nearly 8 p.m. and the last time I saw a crowd that big was at Grapevine Mills mall at Christmas. Maybe it is spring. … Why can’t Derek Holland beat the Yankees?  He’s 0-5 against the team in his career. My theory is he isn’t throwing to the New York Yankees, he’s throwing to Yankee ghosts.
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