"Angel"
Date: 8/9/99
A few months ago, I found a female shepherd mix down by our pond and it was evident that someone had dropped her off and drowned her pups. It took me three days to get her to trust me enough to come up to the house. We named her Angel -- short for Guardian Angel. She won our hearts by following me everywhere. When I leave in my van, she follows me to the end of the drive and waits, no matter how long, until I return. It's reassuring late at night, in our isolated country setting, to see the shine of those "Angel Eyes" waiting for me.
Angel went in for her "spaying" and when I went to pick her up 24 hours later the Vet would not release her because she had not recovered as expected. I drove the 30 miles home with an occasional tear falling down my cheek. On the second day after her operation, I brought her home but it was obvious to me that she had either been in a fight or had really hurt herself attempting to escape, her back right hind quarter had 3 lacerations.
At 4:00 AM the next morning she woke me up with a "help me" bark. I got up turned on all the
lights and began calling her. She finally appeared and I tried to get her to come into the
house but she would not. Although she loves and protects me, she didn't trust me enough to be
confined. Again, I screamed like a crazy woman at the stray male dog that I could only assume
was bothering her. Unable to get the 60-pound dog in the van, I went to the Vets and obtained
medication and instructions on treating her.
The following day the Angel's leg was badly swollen and she was having a great difficulty walking. Yet when I made my daily trip to my Mother's, she was down at the bottom of the drive to meet me when I returned. She had to drag herself the 100 yards back to the house. I used the porch swing cushion to make her a bed on the back porch and hand fed her. After her tremendous effort to continue to be the Guardian Angel, she was having trouble standing to eat.
My husband was working in Nashville during the week coming home for the weekends. Saturday
morning he removed the bandages. We were both afraid she was going to die or at minimum loose
her leg. He loaded her in the van for the trip to the Vet's. [Note: It was actually a rare
allergic reaction to the medication used during the operation.]
When Angel died the later part of 2003, with her she took a piece of my heart, tears are
rolling as I post this story. The reason I post it is to make the point :
Animals, like people, need an environment that allows them to be wonderful!
Angle was someone's "throw away but precious to me".
"Boomerang"
A mix breed dog appeared on the porch, probably a beagle/fiest mix.
The medium length hair on his abruptly ending tail is from an unknown ancestor.
He had an attitude of "I belong here".
Out of deep concern for Angel, I had chased off the stray male four times. Twice all the way
to the main road which is a quarter of a mile away. On each occasion I thought that was the
last time I would see him, but he kept coming back. Saturday morning I was so upset about
Angel that I told Bob she was not being pestered by a stray dog, he had to go. I caught him;
loaded him in the van and off we went. Five miles down a gravel road I put him out. I have
never taken off a dog before, but I decided someone had dumped him on us and I would just
take him further down the road. When we got back from the Vet's two hours later, he was
sitting on the back porch looking at me, as if wondering why it took us so long.
We named him Boomerang!
"Dumpy"
Date 12/15/00We noticed a new blue pickup truck stopped at the end of our gravel drive. The driver spotted us watching, jumped back into their truck and hurriedly spun out and down the road. A small dog scrambled onto the road, running and barking after the pickup. Another dumped dog!
I got into my van as fast as I could (with my gimpy foot) and raced up the road.
There on the side of the road was a mixed black and white male dog the size of a small beagle.
I would guess his lineage consisted of fiest and blue heeler. I used all my usual "come here,
doggie" skills to no avail. He was so frightened he just ran off into the woods.
During the next three days, I caught a glimpse of him, but having recently been bitten by a strange dog, I was not agile enough to get close to him.
On the fourth morning, I put a couple of slices of left over pizza in Angel's food bowl. Angel picked up a large piece of the pizza and headed off down the drive. I watched as she went to the place along side the road where the little dog had entered the woods. I waited about an hour, gave her another piece and watched as she did it again. Angel, (my Guardian Angel), was taking care of the "dumped dog". Maybe she recognized in the dog the same fears as she had when she was dumped out at very near the same place.
Today, coming back from the vet's I saw the "dumped dog". His sides were sunken in and he looked so pitiful lying in a grassy area beside the road waiting for his family to come back!! I stopped. He ran. It was obvious the only food he had were Angel's pizzas.
I returned with dog food and water to where I had last seen him. When I stopped the van, he ran. When I placed the food near by, he was so hungry he could barely wait for me to leave.
I returned 30 minutes later to a dog in a much better frame of mind but still really frightened. Using all my doggie skills, I was finally able to get my hands on him and managed to hold his head away from me so he couldn't bite. A scared dog can bite. I had come prepared with a dog carrier in the van. He curled up in the back of it and just shook.
Tomorrow, we'll go slowly, and the next day and the next day and one day soon, he will make someone a great pet the only problem is people don't want a grown mixed mutt. He needs to be given the best chance possible so I'll take him to the vet for his shots and have him neutered. We'll teach him to love and trust and walk on a lead. Just maybe some day soon someone will say, "Hey, I'd like to have that dog." In the meantime, he won't be shot, run over, freeze or starve.
Our county does not have a Humane Society or an Animal Shelter so people just dump dogs and cats along the side of the road, or worse!
Just imagine, my husband taking one of our bulldogs for a walk on a lead.
Down the drive they go with Angel, Boomer and Dumpy following 15 feet back in single file
and bringing
up the rear are the two "throw away" cats that live under the porch. The cats are
another story!
"Dingo"
Date 9/14/02
The new "stray that's come to stay" we have named "Dingo" because he is an Australian Sheep Dog, known locally as a Blue Heeler, the original of which was part Dingo. He's been laying around our in the woods for 5 months. The last few days he has "hung around" for a couple of hours allowing himself to be seen, by us as we work outside. Now the challenge will be for me to get my hands on him so we can have him neutered.
Saturday - 02/22/03 - 4:00 PM
Dingo, is running around in the woods with a half shot out eye and I can't catch him. I had my hands on him and told Bob to hurry with the leash, it scared him half-crazy so he took off.
Dingo's doesn't belong to anyone...he's a wild dog but he loved Angel so he hung around out in the underbrush for 5 months before we finally made friends. It took a lot of work to get him to trust me and I believe "the lead" destroyed the trust. If you saw Dingo hanging around your house you would probably get frightened. I can see where someone would be scared of him and if they had children be afraid for their safety... but I'm afraid he's going to die. I'm blaming myself for not being more careful, it just scared me so bad when I called him to me and his eye was hanging open. I wanted to get him to the vet's quickly. I forgot he was wild and always would be.......
Thursday - 02/27/03 - 8:00 AM
The Dingo is ALIVE!! Early this morning when Bob was walking Happy, he appeared. Not close enough to see his eye, but Bob said he appeared to be physically strong. I wish he would just stay here, so he would be safe, but there is no way to contain a "wild dog".
If I can just get my hands on him, Bob has a antibiotic shot ready. Goodness, I hope he won't bite.
- 3/12/03 - 5:30 AM
Along about dusk, the Dingo came visiting. Fluffy, Boomer & Dumpy were overjoyed to see him. They all ran around the yard area acting like fools then went on a chase into the woods. You could just hear them say "We were so worried about you. We need you to stay here to help protect everyone! You won't believe what we saw in the woods........"
Dingo's visit were farther apart until finally he stopped. We worry about him but prefer to think he found a place he liked better with another dog like our sweet Angel.
Friday - 09/16/05 6:00 AM
When dear sweet Angel was alive, she would bring home dogs who were homeless.
Since she passed away Fluffy has been the Queen Bee and has run off every animal who came
near the property. So I wonder what sad,sad story this one told her.He thinks he belongs here.....
He greets us with the utmost affection just like we had raised him from a pup. We've
started calling him NODog, for New Orleans Dog cause he's a disaster as you can see in the
pictures. He has skin issues, click for a larger version of the picture and you can see
around his eyes hair is missing, his right leg appears to have been damaged at a point in
time, probably broken since it isn't straight. There is no telling what disease he could
be carrying, etc. Every time he greets me I tell him, "you're not my dog", but he doesn't
seem to understand my meaning.He's found a place where there's plenty of food and shelter from the storms, so he's decided to stay. Shots, neutering, physical, testing for disease will probably cost us $150. It's tempting to take him 5 miles on down the road but... he'll probably do like Boomer (Boomerang) did and find his way back, to what he now considers, 'home'.
Meanwhile we're posting his picture at the local country store just in case someone lost him. With a deep sigh, we have to admit here is always the possibility that he'll be another Angel.