| ABC Dog School |
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| Rescue Part 2 |
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| Copyright 2007 Carole J Sulser |
| The turning point comes on a day in April when I happen to be off work and home. Must have been fate! It was the day of the great escape. Puppies running loose everywhere! I don't know where they had been or how they got out. When I don't get an answer on the phone, I grab a leash and some treats and head next door. There I encounter a mutual friend, standing in the back yard, obviously in a state of befuddlement. He's there to keep an eye on a mentally deficient family member while the parents are away, and now has the challenge of rounding up those frolicking pups with no idea where they're supposed to go, or how to accomplish it. Due to the changing situation at my house, I have a dog yard and a double pen available. Seeing an opportunity to rescue these pups at last, I yell "Toss them over the fence!" And I run into the dog yard to receive them. One by one, he's able to catch them and hand them over to me. They're smeared with something I suspect is poop, and soon I'm smeared with it, too. We get three females into the dog yard and a male in the pen. He has tied a black and tan female outside one of the makeshift pens, and, having one of my many brain infarctions, I tell him to put her back in the pen she had been in before. What was I thinking??? He'd already told me it was sloppy and smelled like a sewer! I should have told him to bring me every last puppy on the place! But, I figure I'm going to be in enough trouble as it is. So now I have four of the neighbor's dogs and I'm wondering how I can manage to keep them from going back into dog hell. Evening arrives and so does the owner. I'm much relieved that she isn't angry. Instead, she thanks me for rounding them up. I tell her they can stay as long as she needs them to, and she offers to pay me, which I decline. I remind her that when I have well problems, they provide me with water, and that when my ankle was broken, they helped take care of my dogs. Yes, I paid for that labor, but if they hadn't done it, I'd have had a major problem. I'm figuring now that if she thinks it's an even trade, and not charity, the pups will be allowed to stay. And now a startling revelation! Annie isn't gone at all! She's in the utility building where she had pups of her own, born just two days after Star's! She had escaped from her pen and made a visit to her old pal, Chubby. So that's why more and more puppies kept showing up! The grand total is 16, she tells me. Unfortunately, Annie is still in the building, not having seen the light of day for many months. Now I learn that two of the pups are deceased. One died from drinking bleach water, and the other, which had been given to our mutual friend, got accidentally run over. He then took another one, (and the following autumn, brought her to ABC for obedience classes.) When he told me he had got her spayed, I gave him a big hug. As we stand by the pen talking, the neighbor tells me she is having doghouses built, and then she can take the pups home. Of course, I wonder why she waited so long to do this, but months later, I learn that someone reported her to the humane society, so I'm guessing the houses weren't her idea. At some point I ask her what kind of food she gives them and she can't remember the name of it, but it's the cat food that comes in a yellow bag. Hardly able to believe my ears, I exclaim, "You're not supposed to give cat food to dogs!" She tells me she didn't know that, and I'm happy to report, she made the switch. Well, at least there are now four puppies out of that mess and having a good time. I have provided them all with shelter, water, and things to play with. As I sink into my bed tonight, I heave a sigh of relief and blissfully fall right to sleep. Morning finds me rushing to the window to see if everyone is okay. It's a veritable three-ring circus out there! I feel such joy! Life has been rough in recent years. In addition to the financial strain, are the dog losses and impending losses. With Conner, Grizzly, and Tessa nearing the end of their road, and several others officially senior citizens (and I don't mean seven years...I mean eleven,) I had been quite depressed. It's chilling to imagine this place, once alive with young rambunctious dogs, quiet and empty, with only graves and a few tottering seniors. The task at hand now is to do some rearranging so I can provide a gate for the neighbor to get into the dog yard. A day of hard work and the job is finished. She still has to walk down the road and up my driveway to get to the male, but doesn't seem to mind. I leave pooper scoopers close at hand, but they get little use, and with the cheap colorful food she uses, the enclosures are quickly filled with large mushy piles. Sigh It's pretty much up to me to clean up after the pups, and see that they have water. Containers get dumped almost as soon as they're filled, it seems. It's not a bad arrangement, however, as I have the fun of watching them, without the expense of feeding them. I do worry about their suseptibility to diseases, so giving them their shots is high priority, and I get that done soon enough. It turns out to be quite a challenge! There is so much more to tell, and more that needs to be done. There are still dogs suffering next door, and thanks to a great gal I work with, who made a phone call, there was another visit from the humane society. But that's another story. It involves one of the pups who got hoisted over the fence, and due to her aggressive nature, was traded for that little gal I had sent back to the smelly slop. The male went home a time or two, but is now here to stay. And by divding the double pen, room was made for Annie before she roasted to death in that utility shed. And then there's the little boy with the horrible eye. To learn more, click on each dog's story. It may not be the worst case of neglect you've ever heard about, but no dog should have to live like that. When they live right next door, helping them can be like walking a tighrope. So far, I'm maintaing balance. |
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| Copyright 2007 Carole J Sulser |
| Sula |
| For the sad ongoing story of the dogs next door, click here |