A CHIP WORKS FOR FRILLY; PLUS, OTHER ANIMALS, GOOD FORTUNE & THE FAIR

EDITION OF TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2019 [PetPowellPress] Two decisions made years apart and made miles apart made the difference in a dog’s life and the lives of two people who love dogs. We’ll tell that story of Frilly’s perfect timing in Contemplations. 
Read on — perhaps you’ll find your opportunity to help animals and people.
PURLOINED PUPS 

BACK HOME IN TEXAS
We’re quoting the great animal advocate Beverly Fyfe because she touched the bases in this case. 
She wrote, “Great news to start the week: Thanks to a bunch of good people (including the SPCA's Courtney Gustafson and Jason Burns…, Davi and Pepper are back home. May the ‘rescuers’ that ‘allegedly’ stole them and took them to Wisconsin to sell for profit -- pay serious consequences.”
And she also writes, “I am told the Van Zandt County DA (Tonda Curry) was instrumental and determined to bring this to a successful resolution. After a couple of decades of hearing about serious cruelty issues being ignored by ‘the authorities’ in many North Texas counties, this is encouraging news. Planning to send a big thank you to the Van Zandt County DA and Constable Jesse Ison.”
Click HERE to go to Beverly’s Facebook page and also Courtney’s “Weekend Mission Recap.”
ZIPPY’S IN THE CARE
OF A FELINE RESCUE

Thanks to Patty Turner’s note about Zippy in Rockwall Animal Services, we were able to write about her situation. She’s the cat who had two broken hips and “needs some weeks of crate-rest so her pelvis can stabilize.” 
Tuesday we got a note from Brigitte Barnard of North Texas Cat Rescue: “She will be with us for a while. I am am sure we will find her a great family.” (See how to help by going to northtexascatresccue.com or visit the North Texas Cat Rescue Facebook page HERE.)
TWO THINGS
(1) The story of the young woman putting the dog in the dryer (for a matter of seconds has exploded on the internet. And, according to news stories, the dog is OK. [LARRY ASIDE: Matter of definition, I think. No dog is OK after such a lousy trick.] And the idiot event didn’t occur in Dallas; it was in Lewisville and the police there are investigating, according to news stories. The alleged perp is a juvenile. Geez, how about some counseling? … (2) The cats under the Dallas church? One saved; three may still be under the East Dallas church. This is a photo of one of the cats scooting through an opening and hiding out. Don’t know that anyone has invited the SPCA of Texas’ cruelty unit to get involved in this ugly situation. Read more on on the DFW Purebred and Domestic Cat Rescue Inc. Facebook page HERE. You’ll have to scroll to Jennifer Styers’ postings.
SCRAPPY GETS A BREAK
In Monday’s edition, we mentioned the little Chihuahua girl Scrappy who was terrified in the Denton Shelter even though those big-hearted people were trying to help her understand they were on her side! You can imagine how it feels to be a little 2- to 5-year-old dog in a very different situation with strangers.
 Our reliable Denton tipster Amy Poskey has the announcement: “I’m very happy to report that Roberta Womack with Lucy’s Lost Loved Ones Rescue in Fort Worth pulled this little angel [Monday] morning!!!  Happy tails, Scrappy!!!  THANK YOU ROBERTA!!!”
Then Amy importantly adds, “If anyone would like to make a donation for Scrappy’s care, please click on the link below.  No amount is too small.”

Here’s that ‘LINK BELOW’:
https://www.lucyslostlovedones.org/
AN IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT
THE STATE FAIR OF TEXAS
Oh, my, Wednesday morning there’ll be excitement at Fair Park — has to do with the 15th Annual Big Tex Choice Awards. Can it be 15? Time flies when it’s deep-fried.
The Fair’s Senior Veep for PR Karissa Condoianis tells us that the 10 finalists for the assorted titles in the 2019 Big Tex Choice Awards will “compete for the respected titles of ‘Best Taste—Sweet,’ ‘Best Taste-Savory’ and ‘Most Creative.’” [LARRY ASIDE: Just thinking about the Fair and the treats set off cravings, didn’t it!? Hold on — the Fair opens Sept. 27 and runs through Oct. 20. I new you’d want to know.]

FYI, it’s important for the competitors to triumph. But there’s an even larger triumph, we figure. The news release notes, “All proceeds from the Big Tex Choice Awards ceremony will be donated to the Big Tex Scholarship Program. In 2019, the Fair awarded nearly $1.25 million in new college scholarships to 196 graduating high school seniors throughout the Lone Star State and seven Seasonal Employee Scholarship recipients.” 
Kind of a nice to now that knowledge is a byproduct of the contests.
CONTEMPLATIONS
HOW THINGS CAN WORK OUT
We teased this story in the opening paragraph. Sometimes things have to line up to get a dog back to where he belongs.
The dog is Frilly and he’s the dear companion of Michelle Vaughn. The rescuing human is our pal Diane Combs, longtime animal advocate and an alumni of the SPCA’s volunteer system. This happened on Saturday, Aug. 3, in Dallas. Diane wrote:
“I was coming home from lunch around 12:15 and took a shortcut that I sometimes take to avoid a light where there's no turn on red.  I was going down that street when, lo and behold, I saw this cute little dog (looked to be a small terrier mix) with a collar but no tags just wandering by a school.  Oh dear.  It was starting to get hot outside - oh dear again.
“I stopped and called her ‘Come here Sweetie.’  She came right up to me wagging her tail - VERY sweet dog.
“About that time a girl pulled up in a car and asked me about the dog.   Her name was Rebecca.  She said the dog looked familiar but didn't know where she lived; however, she thought she MIGHT belong to this lady a few streets away that has rescues & fosters.  She said, ‘If you want to follow me, I'll show you where her house is.’   So I did - but the lady didn't answer the door.
“I then took the dog to City Vet close by. I would have taken her to [my vet’s office] but they close at noon on Saturdays.  I wanted to see if she had a microchip.”
[LARRY ASIDE: We’ve noted Diane’s decision to take a “different” route to avoid a red light. Now we reach the other key decision in this rescue.]
Diane continues: “City Vet scanned her and she DID have a chip BUT it was a Waco address - about an hour and 1/2 drive from here.  The City Vet gal called the number but just got a voice mail and left a message with their number on it — but they close at 2 p.m. They thought she was a terrier mixed possibly with Dachshund mainly because she had a long body and short legs, but she definitely was more terrier looking. 

“However, still, I couldn't help but start to think about keeping her IF I couldn't find the owner.  I even started thinking of names.  I came up with ‘Becca’ - short for Rebecca, the nice gal who originally helped me when I first found her.”

Diane has a dear relative she visits frequently. She explains, “I was planning on seeing Lane today, so I went ahead and went over there with ‘Becca.’  Of course Lane loved her, and 'Becca' was VERY good with Lane.  
 “Then I took her home and she met my clan.  They all got along great.
 “I then tried calling the same number that the City Vet gal had called (a Waco number) and a girl answered.   
 “I said, ‘You don't know me at all, and I'm in Dallas, but are you by any chance missing a dog?’  

“She got all excited and said ‘YES!!  I'm in Dallas visiting my parents with my dog. They are having some work done on their fence and my dog got out this morning.  I've been searching for her.  Do you have her?’ 
"She sounded very worried and seemed like a good person who loved her dog, so I said yes. Turns out her parents live just a few blocks away and all her siblings went to the same high school as my sister and I.  She went to a private school.
“Anyway, I told her where I lived and she came right over to get ‘Frilly.’ She told me they rescued her when she and her husband lived out in the country and the dog was dumped along with her puppies.  She's about 5 years old.  
“She said she has another collar with all her ID tags but somehow that slipped off and it was lost. … She really did seem to love Frilly and Frilly was so excited to see her - so I felt real good about the reunion.”

The pictures we’ve used show Frilly — and the name matches Frilly’s entertaining hairstyle — it’s really “frilly” in that first photo. The second photo shows Frilly with two of Diane’s dogs, Rita and Maxine. The third picture is Frilly with Rita and Myrtle.
FYI: The first pup to greet Frilly at Diane’s was her famous Dachshund Larry, known to all who meet him as “The Public Relations King.” He can charm an entire dog park just by happily walking in. Yes, he’s named for a certain local writer who loves dogs and cats.

But, Larry aside, the point is this is a story of a dog rescue and it occurred for two reasons: (1) An animal fan who’ll stop to help an animal in distress took a different route on the day she needed to and (2), years ago, a little dog got a life-saving chip. 
Our lessons? Be kind to animals and turn loose of the money and get the animal chipped! You might keep a critter off death row at a shelter and you might save yourself some anguish and misery while wondering where your dear friend has gone.
Oh, and this: If you’re going to get lost, always try to do it in Diane’s neighborhood.

[LARRY FYI: That’s a photo of Larry and Diane when they met for the first time in November of 2013. It's a great photo with a suggestion of mutual devotion to come.]

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