The Miserable Heat

The past month of outreach has been down right miserable! This heat will not give up! But neither will we, we have been out there as much as we can in this weather trying to reach as many animals as possible. Yesterday was a record breaking high and we were out there for these animals. We came across so many dogs that either had no water, nasty, stale, brown water, or were so tangled the couldn't reach their water. It is so frustrating to see dogs like this. You just want to tie the owners up outside with no shade or water and see how they feel. But since that realistically isn't an option for us, we have to continue to educate and stress the importance of the basic needs these dogs need. Some of the addresses we visit, we have to go there at least twice a week to make sure the dogs are ok and have water. No amount of education ever helps. It's very sad and very frustrating on our part. 

Our first stop was a dog that was chained to a tree and the chain was so tangled up, he couldn't even reach his water. The chain was around his neck and he had horrible fly strike. No one was home, so we just went to work fixing him up. We got him on a light weight tie-out and a put a new collar on him. He now has 20ft of space to walk around in. We put fly repelling ointment on his ears and hung a fly bag. He loved his treats! We left food and our information. He also needs a new dog house, which we will fix him up with before it gets cold out. 

 Next we stopped at Dollar Bill's house...yes that's the dog's name. We have been going here twice a week trying to get the owner to step up and take care of this dog. When we got there today he had 2 buckets full of fresh water and had food out!!! We get so excited over things like this. We hung a new fly bag for this boy and left more food.

After that we stopped to check on our boy JoJo. On Wednesday when we were out doing outreach, one of our teams found JoJo so tangled up he was literally choking and couldn't move, let alone get to his water. JoJo can be very unpredictable so it wasn't an easy task for Kendra and her Husband John to get him untangled, but they did! So we knew we had to get back to JoJo yesterday to check in. He wasn't tangled thank goodness and had somewhat fresh water. His ears are looking much better since we started educating the owner on stepping up and taking care of his dog. 

 We checked in on our boy that lives at a vacant home. His water was disgusting and he was on such a short tie out, he barely had space to move. We have given this dog numerous new tie outs, but something always happens to them... But we couldn't leave him like that, so we put him on yet again, another tie out. We dumped out his brown/green water and gave him cool, fresh water. We slathered his ears with fly ointment and hung another fly bag. He's always one we have to check on at least once a week. Neighbors say they take care of him, but that's not always the case. 

 Our next stop is always a frustrating one. It's like a roller coaster at this house. One week they are stepping up and taking care of their dogs, the next they are completely neglecting them. Today was one of those neglectful days. Boots barely has any shade where his set up is located and he never has fresh water. We have finally gotten them to start putting on the fly ointment consistently so his poor ears have finally healed up. Baby Girl, who lives in the back was so tangled around the deck she couldn't move or get to her water. She was panting really hard. We poured water over her to cool her off, got her untangled, and made her drink some water. Both buckets of water that were out there for her were green and really nasty. 

  After many more stops in KCMO, we headed over to KCK. We had several addresses in mind where we know dogs never have water and need our help. We stopped and helped these two dogs that live in a pen together and just as we suspected, their water was gross and brown, it probably hadn't been changed since the last time we were there. 

 Our last call of the day was given to us by an amazing meter reader who calls in to outreach groups as she sees dogs in need on her routes. I had talked to her earlier that day about a husky that was being kept outside with old water and no shelter. When we got there, we got to talking to the owner about the care his dog needs. He did have fresh water, but he didn't have any shelter and he was on the skinny side. We dewormed the husky and gave the owner some puppy food to bulk him back up. The man had rescued the dog and was trying to do his best to care for him. As we talked with him further, we discovered that his girlfriend had a puppy at her house that they didn't want anymore. They said she had worms coming out of her, so they put her in the basement where she stays all the time. They said she has been losing weight and they just didn't know what to do with her anymore. We immediately said we'd take her! They went and got her and she was quite the sad sight! She was skinny and attention starved. She smelt terrible and was in pretty rough shape. Sometimes these calls can turn into so much more once you start talking to people. We will be getting the husky shelter and staying in close contact with this family. 

 Thank you so much everyone for the support and thank you so much to the hard working volunteers who are out there helping these animals!