EDITION OF WEDNESDAY, OCT. 30, 2019 [PetPowellPress] Oh, my! Autumn has arrived and turned the 
metrosprawl into a place where colorful leaves may become the local norm. Maybe. Amidst the beauty, of course, animals left outside are always at peril around here. For example, some weather forecasters have us all on a “freeze watch” for Thursday — that’s Halloween.
Our dogs and cats have inside quarters -- ours. I’m sure most people reading this have indoor dogs and cats, too. (We’ll get to the SPCA’s Halloween advice in a second. In the meantime, I was smitten by this pose of my formerly feral cat, William Powell, as he sits at the window and looks at an autumn drizzle and, I hope, thanks his lucky stars that I lured him into our old garage with promises of regular meals and honest conversation about literature, film, baseball and dieting (he doesn’t contribute much).
So, what do we do to remind hard-headed people to protect their animals from bad weather? “Ah, strip ‘em humans nekkid and tie ‘em to an aluminum pole 
with frozen water out of reach and food only if it stops raining.” Wait, sorry. I got that out of the unpublished “Payback Handbook,” another novel written by my sweet girl Porche Noel, a once limping, rasping (no bark), unwanted dog of the streets. Well, at least we can use this paragraph to remind people that there are laws that protect tethered dogs and there are suggestions for turning “outdoor cats” into “indoor cats” so they won’t fall victim to weather or the two biggest predators in North Texas: The so what/don’t care humans and the coyotes who have been displaced by “progress” in the suburbs.
HALLOWEEN ADVICE
FROM THE SPCA OF TEXAS
If it’s Halloween, we’ll hear some safety tips from the SPCA of Texas — and these are based on decades of 
experience in dealing with the convergence of dogs and cats with odd little visitors who don’t look all that human in the porchlight.
I opened the news release sent by the SPCA’s Victoria Albrecht and one of the opening sentences read “With all of the gremlins, goblins and ghosts out on the prowl, the SPCA of Texas wants to remind pet owners to keep their pet’s safety in mind this Halloween.” You can see the entire list by going HERE .
The idea is to keep the animals safe from humans and humans safe from animals. It’s the right and kind thing to do.
The SPCA release's last paragraph has a great sentence that shout get a “Right on” reaction from longtime rescuers and shelter workers in the greater autumnalplex.
After noting the scariness of the holiday, it reads, “And of course, if the thought of more homeless, unwanted dogs and cats scares you like it does the SPCA of Texas, always remember the importance of spaying and neutering your pets.”
You can go to spca.org and see a great listing for free spaying/neutering for “community cats” on Halloween.
A long as we’re at the SPCA’s website, we’ll list some adoptables. That cat with the great face and the championship whiskers is Jinx (41495272), a 6-year-old small 
neutered boy cat. Great marking on that nose — looks kind of like a handbell.
And that dog who appears to be naturally costumed as a sad circus clown is Casper (414354630), a 2 1/2-year-old Mastiff Mix who is a “big marshmallow” who is rattled by a shelter environment. SPCA says he needs a “calm and quiet environment.” (You can foster him to help him get ready for adoption. Email [email protected] to check into that.)
ANOTHER DOG FACES PERIL
AFTER A DALLAS DECISION
We heard about this petition from the veteran animal advocate Elaine Munch. It focuses on saving the life of a dog named Cookie who has had a run-in with legal matters and, as a result, may be facing the needle.
But there may be a way to save Cookie from euthanasia for being an unattended dog. The opening of the petition to save her reads, “Cookie was deemed dangerous because she was loose and a neighbor felt threatened. Her label was not appealed and nothing can be done about her being legally labeled ‘dangerous’ despite lack of bite history.” There’s more. Here’s THE LINK.
[LARRY ASIDE: Would it be impossible for the City of Dallas, which spends so much money on an animal shelter, staffing 
and operating Dallas Animal Services while trying to increase adoptions and rescues, to establish a Municipal Animal Court? That way animal issues would get swift and thoughtful individual attention instead of being lumped in with the oppressive wave of human criminal cases that daily swamps the city. Just a thought. Offer opposition or solutions to keeping animals from being handled as “just a dog” or “just a cat” by emailing [email protected]. Such a court might put the focus on the bad guy humans and not on the victim animals.]
Just an FYI: Dallas Animal Services has a load of dogs and cats, two hamsters and two rabbits waiting for homes.
We decided to highlight this boy ScoobyDoo (A0869050), a 6-year-old Lab mix (brown and white and blessed with such expressions in his eyes. ScoobyDoo is on the first page of the 30-plus pages of dog listings at dallasanimalservices.org listing. He came into the shelter in early 
October. [LARRY FYI: The listings on the DAS site and on the PetHarbor site differ somewhat as to population — that’s PetHarbor in the color listing.]
But you have to go all the way back to the 30th page of the cat listings — there are even more pages — to find Mr. French (A1086811), a neutered Tabby who is thought to be “about 10 years old.” He came into the shelter on Monday.
To ask about either of these or both of them, call the shelter at 214-670-6800 or stop by t I-30 and Westmoreland.
A GREYHOUND REMINDER
Lots of fundraising social stuff coming up for the Greyhound Adoption League of Texas. Here’s a LINK to the current GALT newsletter — always informative. And we decided to post this GALT “Photo of the Week” which is described this way “Dug, FKA ‘Davis” and his kitty friend both look ust a bit put out by having to share the couch. ‘Mom! He’s touching me!”
The thing is this: Both cats and Greyhounds are known as legendary “Couch Potatoes.” Here's photographic proof from GALT.
CONTEMPLATIONS
THE WAY THINGS GO
How about that big birthday celebration in Dallas. I’m getting as many of these things in my inbox as I am calls from student 
loan advisors, house flippers and people trying to sell me a new health insurance policy. It’s nice that The Formerly Big Paper Downtown is celebrating this anniversary. Ah, kids, I was there when the company that ownedThe Really Big Paper Downtown/AcrossThe State, Nation and Around The World celebrated its sesquicentennial. That’s a word that means 150th anniversary — in case you didn’t know. That event wasn’t celebrated with a two-fer sale, but it was a big gathering on the plaza of 
company headquarters at the Belo Building at 400 Record across Young Street from The Rock of Truth home of The DMN. … You know who showed up to unveil the historical marker? Texas Gov. Ann Richards — that’s her in a DMN picture. She’s gone now. So is the name "Belo Building "— once a towering office complex for a sprawling media company, it’s now a multipurpose building owned by somebody else and renamed 400 Record. Things change. In the April 11, 1992, edition of The Really Big Paper Downtown, Et Al, the great writer/reporter Barbara Kessler (one of our top reporters who knew how to be careful with company stories), wrote, “A.H. Belo Corp., one of the nation’s largest media companies, on Friday became the first business in the state to mark its sesquicentennial.” (Texas had celebrated its 150th in 1986.) Anyway, back then the powerful, historic company owned not just the paper but also WFAA, Channel 8, and many other companies. Again, things change. The company’s stock (AHC) closed at $3.62 a share Tuesday. The stock had a higher price when you could buy an edition for four-bits, as the old guys used to say. That’s 50 cents — translating for 21st century people who never use cash and never read a colorful book. … Funniest memo I can remember from my days at The DMN — well, the funniest memo that I didn’t write, I mean. Our night news editor Frank Reece grew weary of a copy editor arriving late and slipping out early on a consistent basis. So he wrote this to deadline editors: “Please do not be offended if you are asked to work a complete shift.” Worked, for a while. I really oughta write a book. I never signed any “I’ll keep my mouth shut” agreement. I’m kidding — besides, all papers I worked for have funny stories. Some stock prices are more amusing than others.
—— To offer advice, therapy or contradictions, click on ‘comment’ below or email [email protected]. —-
