EDITION OF MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 2016 (PetPowellPress) -- Welcome to the August Diet, 2016. Please, send no cookies, no candy, no pie, no cakes -- we’ll be having greens and fresh air. And if anyone’s interested in a 5-pound, 3-legged dog that was just dumped “out by the lake,” we’ve got one. Keep reading.
Oh, above? That is a series of photos for Achilles, ward of the folks at Unbreakabull Rescue. We’ll get to him and the organization in a moment, but I wanted you see see what a genuine Earhound may look like. Is that not a championship pair of ears? He sure looks huggable. Before we get to him, look at this panel of photos from the folks at the SPCA of Texas.
THE KAUFMAN COUNTY SEIZURE
That is one of 14 “cruelly treated dogs” seized at Able Springs, near Terrell, east of Dallas. The poor dog was in such lousy shape from being staked out that it needed an IV to survive.
The SPCA teamed with the Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office to get these animals out of a hellish existence -- 10 adults, four puppies, the SPCA news release says. (Read it HERE.)
The news release read, “All of the adult dogs and two of the puppies were found tethered on the property by heavy tow chains to car axles that had been driven into the ground. The remaining two puppies were living inside a feces-filled, urine-soaked shed on the property. None of the dogs had access to proper food or water and only a few had dog houses to seek respite from the hot sun. The dogs' living conditions are consistent with the housing of game dogs (fighting dogs).”
The seizure was the result of an anonymous complaint and “the animal owner was unavailable” at the site on the day of the raid. There will, however, be a custody hearing at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the court of Precinct 1 Peace Justice Mary Bardin in the Kaufman County Courthouse, 3001 S. Washington in Kaufman.
Remember, rescuing these animals isn’t cost-free. The SPCA has rescued hundreds of dogs and cats and fowl this summer. Go to spca.org to see how to help. And don't miss today's CONTEMPLATION.
BACK TO ACHILLES
The Unbreak-a-Bull Rescue folks are facing a tough time. “We are out of dog food,” read the appeal over the weekend. “Our food account at Somerville Farm and Ranch is tapped. We have 3 dollars left on our account and we need dog food and supplies.
Achilles is one of the animals the rescue has saved. He’s had medical problesm with his leg.
Other rescued Pitties have medical problems, too.
The Somerville Farm and Ranch phone number is 979-596-2224. Email [email protected]. And there’s a PayPal site HERE.
MR. HANDSOME IN DALLAS
Diana Lowrance, a senior planner with the City of Dallas, has been working on getting this stray dog “off the streets of Dallas [and into] a no-kill shellter.”
No luck so far. But, as Diana wrote, “Maybe someone can rerscue him beffore it’s too late. The dog hangs around a comemrcial property” in the 3300 block of Cedar Crest Boulevard.
She writes, “It is a male Pit mix but it is friendly. The property owner cannot keep him but is feeding him and providing water.”
Any good heart who wants to help this dog, can call the property owner at 214-859-7961 or email Diana at [email protected]. [LARRY ASIDE: Special thanks to a City of Dallas employee who is working to save an animal!]
RETURNED TO DENTON: TWO DOGS
Amy Poskey sends us the darnedest stories of “returns” at the Denton shelter. People change their minds. Inexplicably, sometimes.
Here are two examples.
First is Hercules (59474), a one- or two-year-old Pittie boy “who was adopted from the shelter a while back and has been returned, but I don’t know why. Poor baby looks so sad to be back at the shelter. He is such a great boy who is housebroken, friendly with people (including children), and enjoys all his pooch pals at the shelter! Hercules is an active boy who would make a great walking or jogging buddy!"
Then there’s this dog Hannah. The note from Amy read, “Please note that our precious Hannah has been returned after being adopted recently. Why? The guy who adopted her says he’s moving and can’t take her with him. Seriously? He didn’t know that a week ago? So, now, Hannah suffers the consequences? What the heck is wrong with people???!!!”
I included that extra punctuation from the note because, well, geezalou, what IS wrong with people?
Hannah (64209) may have hip displasia -- runs in her breed, German Shepherd. She’s said to be a shelter favorite.
Denton’s McNatt Animal Care and Adoption Center is at 3717 N. Elm St. Call 940-349-7594.
Email these addresses to try to help Hannah the rejected dog: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], and/or [email protected].
ANOTHER EVICTION NOTICE
This story came to us via the great Dinesha Schmidt of A Different Breed Rescue. She’s trying to help a dog who didn’t fit the apartment rules, apparently.
The note read:
“Being evicted by apartment complex
“Up to date on shots
“Favorite of all the residents!”
This is in Carrollton. The number to call to help this 5-month-old pup is 459-988-3172.
MEANWHILE AT DAS
More kittens at Dallas Animal Services -- and you thought Kitten and Puppy Season was starting to wane. Hah.
The note from DAS Animal Keeper Erica Vega over the weekend read, “In need of Rescue at Dallas Animal Services no mom, too young for adoption, about 3 weeks old. One of the employees here at the shelter is willing to foster for a couple of days if need be.”
Email [email protected] to offer to help.
A LITTLE DOG STORY
The note we got from Sydney Busch of Friends of the Animals at Cedar Creek Lake had a little bit of an attitude in the opening. And you’ll probably all agree that the attitude is absolutely correct. She wrote, “OK, how awful a person do you have to be to dump out a 5-pound, 3-legged dog? She is so hungry and terrified - and is now in a very temporary foster home...She is black and white, adorable - will make a wonderful lap dog to some lucky person.”
Joy Simmons is the contact at 903-451-4482 or [email protected].
She’s quick to answer.
She’s fostering what appears to be a little Chihuahua mix who is black with a white crest on her chest. She is “timid but friendly,” Joy says.
“She actually has four legs, but one in the rear has no paw -- so she favors that leg when running by hiking it up. It doesn’t deter her from moving! Not sure if she was born this way or an accident occurred.”
Then Joy adds, “We’d have to find the IDIOT who dumped her to answer that question....She would make someone a great little companion/lap dog.”
Kidding Joy, I asked her what she’d named this little dog. Veteran rescuers know that is the first sign that you’re keeping the dog -- you name it!
Joy’s a veteran, too.
“This is my second one in 2 weeks. Someone else dumped a little black male Lab maybe 7-8 weeks while, mind you, my husband was over working on one of our rentals. Guy was in a red truck and said he was putting the puppy there because he knew the mother dog lived in that neighborhood -- REALLY and what is that exact address? Sydney told me if I located the truck to go ahead and shoot out his tires and she would bail me out of jail.....hehe!
“Was lucky enough to get my friend Sarah who is involved in rescue to take him and she named him Opie and he is pending [transfer] to a home in Vermont! So there are happy endings and I know this little girl will likewise get fixed up.”
[LARRY ASIDE: As you know, Readlarrypowell.com is developing the latest model of the Two-by-Four of Enlightenment. And, if we find the little dog dumper or the guy in the red truck, we’ll do some beta testing on a couple of boneheads. That would be wrong, but it would feel so good.]
CONTEMPLATIONS
Here are two photographs from the SPCA of Texas “raid” in Kaufman County last week.
These photographs tell stories. You see the horrifying look on that black and white dog’s face.
“Is this as good as life will ever get?”
Then, you see two people bending over a brown dog who is smiling because someone is helping. Some people say dogs can’t smile. They don’t know dogs.
Dogs cry, too. Humans could not survive what people do to these dogs. These “fighting dogs.” What sort of sorry individuals do this to dogs?
And we’re not even seeing what the result of a life with these mean and stupid humans is -- it’s ugly and fatal and disgusting.
Bless the authorities for responding in a way that saved these animals. Now, someone convict the bad guys. They won’t get sentenced to a life chained to a car axle.
But the Texas Legislature begins its next session on January 13, 2017. If the Legislature wants to make chains and car axles, un-air-conditioned dwellings and limited food and water part of the lifetime sentence for animal cruelty, I am willing to chip in double whatever taxes I pay to help purchase whatever we need to establish the nation’s first Open-Air, All-Weather Chains and Axles Facility for Animal Abusers. Trust me, you could send these jerks to jail or nail ‘em to East Texas pine trees and slather ‘em with syrup and gravy and there would STILL be idiots who think they can get away with dog-fighting. Make it hurt when you punish them; they’ll at least think twice. Maybe. I feel bad for having typed that. But not real bad.
--- To comment, grab your MadMouse and click below, then go to www.thln.org and ask how you can help the Texas Humane Legislation Network lobby to influence the Texas Legislature to make punishment tougher in abuse cases. Kids, critters, companions, geriatrics -- you abuse any of them, you do some hard friggin’ time. --
