DATELINE: SEPT. 19, 2013, DALLAS, TEXAS (PETPOWELLPRESS) -- Yes, it is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Arrrrgh. Aye, we're procedin' on course. See that artwork on the right? Made it myself. Recently learned to create a text box. Onlybeen working on computers since about 1977 -- quick learner.
But, as you can see today (need I point out that Thursday morn is the morning after Lotto Texas?) is 2013 North Texas Giving Day.
From 7 a.m. to midnight Thursday, you can donate to animal rescue groups, to
theater groups and to one of my all-time favorite organizations, the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth. The Council works to improve international understanding to the benefit of North Texans. The theater groups, such as Pegasus Theater, work to improve enjoyment of life. And the animal groups -- I’ll not name a favorite because I have MANY favorites -- work to improve life for animals and the people who love them enough to risk life, limb, financial security and domestic tranquility to help them.
Giving Day is important to these non-profit organizations. All of them -- from cat and dog rescuers to actors to the globally minded - have plenty of heart but heart won’t spend quite like cash.
NOW, TALES FROM THE PET SIDE AND BEYOND:
Readlarrypowell.com has been writing about Deborah Verner’s rescue efforts
for all of its existence -- going on 10 years. It started when she was pulling animals to safety after they’d been dumped on Malloy Bridge Road in Southeast Dallas. She was Deborah Trevino back then. Same spirit when it comes to saving animals, though.
Lately, she has been devoted to a rescue from a different part of Dallas -- Royal Lane near Abrams in north Dallas. It was one of those things. We wrote about it before -- back on Monday, August 5, Deborah saw the young Shepherd mix female being struck by a car during morning rush. The dog was mangled, but, Deborah wrote back then, “She has a strong will to live since she dragged herself off the street over to the grass.”
The dog was taken to Plano Animal Services. She was treated for many, many injuries.
Deborah wrote that her ID is A106723. “She was released back to Plano Animal Shelter yesterday [Tuesday]. She is currently in their Surgery Area. She still has
pins in her right hip, and favored that leg while standing. But, she is a total sweetheart. She will be placed in Foster Care, where she will stay for over a month. The pins are expected to be removed in 1 month, then she will stay in foster care a little longer, and then, be cleared for adoption.”
Deborah sent these photos, taken yesterday at the shelter. “This baby got to me,” she wrote. “I can’t get her out of my head. But she survived and that is a miracle.”
She’s calling the dog Bella.
The dog’s had a lot of help from people as she undergoes medical care and recuperation -- the next challenge is finding a home.
WHEN WE GET A NOTE FROM HOUSTON, it usually comes from either of two
notorious rescuers in the Bayou City -- either Edna Taylor or Kelsey Alexander. For this note, we turn to what Kelsey sent about this dog rescued from being
abused in a Houston park.
She write, “Most people think courage looks all busy and boyish, with weapons and lots of flash and bang. But you know what courage really is?? It’s making a stand, taking a chance, in the face of overwhelming odds. Courage is not about bravado. It’s about being afraid and doing something, anyway. And really, what did Abby have to lose? Emaciated and starving. Injuries. Lonely and homeless. But, still, her sweet, loving spirit prompted her to take the chance to approach people, hoping for help. What she got was hate and terrible cruelty.
“But, on a hot September day, just the right person read Abby’s story and went out to find this sweet dog and to get her off the street. And another great person offered to cover Abby’s vetting. Now, there’s room for one more in this story….just the right person to foster Abby.”
To offer to foster this dog, contact Elizabeth Asher at AsherElz@aol.com. Donate to Abby’s care by contacting Beechnut Animal Hospital at 713-774-9731.
A note from Elizabeth says 25-pound Abby, an underweight Rottie mix, has a sweet disposition despite the fact that she’s got “some old ulcers in her eyes, ear infections, hookworms and is heartworm positive. She also has an open wound on her front paw. Did I mention she is sweet and loving? She is now enjoying all the love and attention she deserves from the vet techs at Beechnut Animal Hospital. Abby has a rescue group that has agreed to sponsor her IF we can find a foster.” (So far Abby’s bill is at the $600 mark.)
[LARRY ASIDE: One can only assume that the person who let Abby get in this shape is probably eating regularly and can enjoy walks in the park without catching a rock upside the head. Nice, huh.]
Kelsey also forwarded this one from Katy, Texas. Here’s how it reads:
“Bella is a 7-year-old Catahoula who has spent her whole life tied up outside to a trailer in the trailer park. She has had many litters, but she is NOT pregnant now.
“She is very sweet, and likes other dogs.
“The people who go over and feed her said they will pay for her spay and shots. Her owners no longer want her. Please share her for a foster or rescue, so Bella can get off the rope she is tied to!” Email neglectedanimalsofkaty@gmail.com.
[LARRY ASIDE: There’s a deep trough of sorry running through some hearts in that trailer park -- and yet, there are also people who are trying to help this dog. So, what we can deduce from this is authorities from a village whose idiot is missing could start looking in Katy after they’ve exhausted all possibilities in Dallas. Dang, and I promised I’d be a nicer fellow. Please, all legitimate village idiots, accept my apology.]
YEAH, THE CALENDAR moves pretty swiftly sometime and this poster is evidence that it’s already time again for Mazie’s Mission’s annual adopt-a-thon. This time it’s going to be at the Bass Pro Shops in Grapevine.
FYI, they’re still looking for vendors and rescue groups to sign up -- go to www.maziesmission.org. Click on that artwork to make make it blow up like a big toe after a hammer accident.
[LARRY ASIDE: Someone will correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe the really tough road construction work in that area has been completed. It’s like driving those ultra modern cars in Disneyland when Walt Disney was alive. That’s what I heard. I could be wrong.]
REGULAR VISITORS TO THIS WEBSITE know we’re keen on the big ol’ Labsters. There are beau coups of them currently available in the Humane Society of Cenral Texas, which partners in the same building as the Waco Animal Services, we’re told. And, indeed, Jack the Lab can be had for zero. Zip. Nada. Just call 254-754-1454 and volunteer to get
the big fellow. Some of the others cost $50 and have pledges that go with them, but Jack’s been in the shelter so long that he’s available. He’s called “a gentle giant [who] would love a warm bed to sleep in tonight.” He’s A20765663. (LARRY ASIDE: That's not Jack on the right, that's a LabraDane also awaiting a home. And we're not sure that's Jack on the left, either, but it's one of several unidentified photos that arrived with the email and, what the heck, a dog in need is a dog in need.)
OUR COLLIN COUNTY ANIMAL SERVICES TIPSTER Allison Roberts, the volunteer shelter walker, sent a dire note. It reads, “We have dogs in temp crates again and are very much in danger of losing dogs at any time -- they just keep coming in -- many dogs are vetted and heartworm negative.”
To offer to adopt or rescue, email both ldrummonds@collincountytx.gov and animalshelter@collincountytx.gov . You can see the inventory on Facebook HERE and on the official shelter site HERE.
Not sure what’s going on out there in McKinney, but there are a number of quarterbacks in the shelter: There’s an Aikman, a Brady, an Elway, a Tebow, a Namath, a Boomerr -- oh, and there’s a Coach.
The story on Coach is the people at the shelter are “working with him to help him learn that no one is going to hurt him.”
There’s also a Courtni who doesn’t look as if she ever played a down, but could have.
When Allison sends the raft of photos of CCAS animals, I always take time to look at them because the volunteers and staffers there work so hard to save as many as possible. They have fine looking dogs in the shelter -- but, you know, I’ve never known a dog that wouldn’t look good flopping onto the couch next to you and watching a ball game or something on PBS, even. Well, some things on PBS.
Look at the face on Coach. That dog has been in the league a while, don’t you think? He’s 6 years old and knows “Sit” which puts him ahead of about 3/4ths of the first-graders in the United States.
Oh, and for a couple of weeks I mentioned a CCAS dog named Mary Todd Lincoln -- just seemed like a great name for a dog. Allison told me last night that someone adopted Mary Todd Lincoln and we all ought to feel better about that!
CONTEMPLATIONS: This is a good day to give, don’t you think? Hope I won the Lotto, then you’ll see some giving. A newspaperman who’s been out of the business for 9 years doesn’t have a lot of disposable income -- unless he’s repurposed himself. ... My funspouse Martha and I were driving home from dinner last night and she said something so funny we both laughed out loud and I
said, “I’m going to use that!” and the reason you don’t see it here is I can’t remember what it was and neither can she. But we remembered laughing. Maybe it’ll come to us. ... By now you’ve noticed what appears to be a photograph of Santa Claus. It is -- sort of. We got it from Sue Gooding, the PR hustler at the State Fair of Texas. This is Big Tex -- not recently, but from 1948 or 1949 when Big Tex was in his original gig -- Santa in the shopping area of downtown Kerens, Texas, about 70 miles south/southeast of Dallas. Keren’s now bills itself as the “Birthplace of Big Tex.” I’m not kidding. Look HERE. I posted this photo to remind you that the newly-attired and newly-designed Big Tex will make his debut when the State Fair of Texas opens for its Sept. 27-Oct. 20 run at Fair Park. Big Tex was the original “repurposed” employee. Arrrrgh, matey.
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