OK IS GROWING; CITY SHELTER CHALLENGES; AND TAKING AN ANIMAL APPRECIATION MINUTE

EDITION OF WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11, 2018 [PetPowellPress] Before we get to today’s report, let’s take a moment to consider our animals. Call this an Animal Appreciation Minute. A minute isn’t long enough, but it’s what we’re taking.
 Where did your animal comes from? When you watch TV, does your animal watch with you? When you’re eating in front of the TV, are you watching the screen while your dog watches you and your cat goes off to nap? When you wake in the morning, doesn’t it make you feel good to see your critter/critters? At our house, the humans share that emotion. You know what it’s called? Happiness. Tell more people so they’ll adopt more dogs and cats. The world always needs more happiness. 
That is Deputy Chief Kittie Leigh Johnson helping me edit something we’ve written: The opening passages of The Feral Cat Who Came To Stay. It’s subtitled And Is Bitterly Disappointed In the Human’s Inability To Pick Winning Lotto Numbers. Kittie Leigh has a knack for writing subtitles.

OPERATION KINDNESS
BEGINS DRAMATIC EXPANSION
Yep, expansion is under way at the venerable Operation Kindness no-kill shelter, founded in the nation’s Bicentennial Year 1976. We’ve watched it grow. And it’s growing even more.
On Tuesday, OK broke ground for its planned $6 million, 14,628 square-foot medical wing -- it’s supposed to be ready in Spring 2019. The medical wing is designed to increase the shelter’s ability to care on-site for animals in need.
 According to a news release HERE, “The Rees-Jones Foundation is providing the lead gift for phase one of the 'Build. Save. Love: Creating Hope for Homeless Pets' capital campaign and the Elsie and Marvin Dekelboum Family Foundation is providing funding for the surgical suite.”

The release also says, “As the ‘go to’ facility for 47 municipal shelters and rescue groups, who are unable to provide additional medical resources to homeless animals, Operation Kindness is beginning to outgrow its current campus.”

Here’s another paragraph from Operation Kindness: “Since its inception, Operation Kindness has saved the lives of more than 100,000 animals and continues to work toward the prevention of animal euthanasia. In 2017, Operation Kindness was responsible for providing care to 5,090 animals and broke adoption records by assisting a total of 4,889 cats and dogs in finding forever homes.”

So, just in case you’re looking for a dog and/or cat to help make your house a home, we picked two photos to help make your decision and maybe even your choice. Since, OK was conducting a ground-breaking Tuesday, we selected Daisy Mae’s photo -- she’s listed as a Retriever (38246918). She’s 4 months old and based on her photo, it’s clear that she could have been helpful at a ground-breaking -- she looks ready to help celebrate a bit of digging! 
And that cat (we’ve mentioned her before) is Barbara (34426353), who is just over 7 years old and weighs 7 pounds. She’s been in the shelter for nearly a year and a half is descried as a “staff favorite” and “a cuddly girl who likes to wander around and follow people.” And, through the OK Sleepover Program, you can spend a couple of nights with her to make sure things will work out. Go to operationkindness.org to see adoptables and to see how to adopt them.

ONCE AGAIN: RED OAK AND WILMER,
SMALL SHELTERS NEEDING BIG RESCUES

Anyone who keeps up with animal shelters in Dallas/Fort Worth knows that the places are lousy with unwanted dogs and cats. Small shelters get no foot traffic. Good hearts try to help them and it’s a disheartening struggle because it’s tough to get the attention of people who don’t yet know they NEED a dog or cat! Here are some examples of the Red Oak and Wilmer situations;
AT RED OAK there is a lop-eared Husky mix named Nacho. His bio reads, “He's approximately 1-1.5 years old and he enjoys talking to you - he's just as cute as can be.  Big pretty blue eyes too.  So sweet.  Really cute cuddly ears with very pretty white and cream markings with the most adorable chocolate nose!  CUTE!!!!!”

IN WILMER, still waiting is a fellow named Bryson. His note read “So very sad because he has been waiting far too long. This is a good boy, too. ... The young ACO at this shelter adores him.
Bryson’s a Bulldog mix of some sort. 
To ask about any animal in Red Oak or Wilmer email Laura Macias, the determined small shelter advocate, at cat_girl_71@yahoo.com. Call or text her at 214-949-2726.
And, I’m going to mention Gunner in Red Oak again. So handsome. So unlucky so far. Adopted from Dallas Animal Services by someone who either dumped him or let him go. Rescued once. Moved to a shelter. Rescued from that shelter. Now waiting for help in the Red oak Shelter. He’s young, handsome and in need of a human heart.

COWBOY AND ROSE IN MESQUITE:

9 A.M. WEDNESDAY THE NEEDLE?
I hope that by the time you read this, Cowboy and Rose and every other dog in the Mesquite Animal Shelter and every other shelter we now of have been saved from the needle.
We were moved by two stories sent to us by Judi Brown, the volunteer who works to get Mesquite shelter dogs into the public view. Our first dog, Cowboy, we featured in an afternoon report Tuesday. The second, Rose, is a new posting. They have the same dilemma -- nobody tags or takes them by 9 a.m. Wednesday and it looks like it’s going to be curtains for both.
 COWBOY’S STORY
How about that cute photo of the dog looking out of the shelter. There’s a story.
This guy is Cowboy and he “has until 9 a.m. Wednesday” and then, if no one rescues him or adopts him from the Mesquite Animal Shelter, the 3-year-old Pittie mix, will get the needle. He’s been in the shelter since March 22. 
Our tipster Judi Brown wrote that “he was in the yard when several of our dogs were rescued. He saw them leaving. He became very excited.  It was as if he was saying,”Don’t forget me!” He’s a frisky, energetic, fun loving guy anyway and after seeing other dogs leaving, he had a hard time settling down. Cowboy is friendly. He likes to interact with people.”
 His shelter ID is 38127341 -- use that number when you call 972-216-6283 or email rescues@cityofmesquite.com to rescue or adopt him.
ROSE, THE CUTE PITTIE MIX
Look at her cocking her head! “What’s happening next?” she may be asking.
 Here’s the Mesquite story from Judi: “Rose has until 9 a.m. Wednesday....She is super sweet and super deserving. She is also already fixed and has her rabies vaccination."
The 5-month-old girl (25 pounds) came to the shelter as a stray on March 31. The bio describes this brindle girl as “a super sweet wiggly little puppy who wants attention and wants to play. ... Her tail wags her whole body. ... She would make a fantastic family dog.” 
When you ask about her at the shelter, use her ID #38193757. Call the shelter at 972-216-6283 or email rescues@cityofmesquite.com. Use her ID number to make it easier to save her life.
[LARRY ASIDE: Again, I hope someone can tell us by Wednesday morning that Cowboy and Rose are rescued. There is no need for more death in this nation of shelters. The burden of the death of these innocents is on all our hearts.]

CONTEMPLATION:
DO YOU READ TO YOUR DOGS AND CATS?
When I was doing some research on the impressive Operation Kindness expansion plan, I took at look at the shelter’s Facebook page. I found this, a report on some students from The Hockaday School in Dallas taking time to read to the pups at the shelter. The caption, in case you can’t quite read it, includes this passage: “The cats and dogs love listening to the stories -- it’s always so quiet around here when they stop by!
"
Animals in a shelter have a different attitude than the animals at our house.

When I read aloud here they go to sleep. When my musicalspouse Martha plays the harp, the dogs form a semi-circle in front of her and go to sleep -- some of the cats toy with the idea of plucking the harp strings. You now how curious cats can be. 
It would be tough for me to go to a shelter and read to the animals. I would not be able to leave with just books in my bookbag -- I’d walk out with all the puppies and kittens I could smuggle into the bag! 

This sort of fits into our opening paragraph about taking an Animal Appreciation Minute. Just take a minute and read something sweet to your dog or cat. 
I must confess this: We had, for many years, a Shepherd mix -- a beautiful, wonderful girl -- named Baby Jane Doe. (That’s one of her wintertime furry photos in her later years.)
She was a puppy I picked up out of Beckley Avenue at Colorado in front of a bus stop. She only chewed one book in her life: the best-selling Good Dog, Bad Dog by famed trainer Matthew “Uncle Matty” Margolis. Dog with taste, Baby Jane was. I recall that when I read to her, it set off her cravings for pages. I’m kidding. She’s one of many family members I genuinely miss as I contemplate my Animal Appreciation Minute. Gosh, I'd love to hug that big ol' furry neck again and slip her a treat she shouldn't have! A minute of appreciation isn't enough. You need a another lifetime.
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