Moon Dance!

This morning at 10:15, Tony and I took off for the Kerrville pound to rescue more dogs! We ended up rescuing eight dogs and a litter of five puppies, along with two other puppies! We took Blondie, a sweet yellow Lab, Wally, a hound mix, and Archie, a medium sized yellow muttigree to Hoegemeyers to get them spayed, neutered and to be given all shots.

Before leaving the clinic, we took Sushi, a beautiful, sweet Pekingese, that we had rescued last week from a woman who was moving, and she couldn’t keep her three small dogs—Sushi, Muffy and Maxwell Smart. Max and Muffy are Poodle mixes that John brought in Saturday morning from Hoegemeyers.

A staff member at Hoegemeyers wanted to give Sushi a try over the weekend, but unfortunately his other two dogs didn’t like. her.

After Tony, Sushi and I left the clinic—we headed back to the pound to pick up the seven adorable puppies. And, they couldn’t wait to get out of there!

On our trip back to the ranch, Sushi slept next to Tony’s leg, while the crated pups howled with delight in the back of the truck! How Sushi could sleep with all of that is beyond me.

When we arrived back at the rescue ranch, Tony put Sushi in Mama’s old pen. Then he and I went to the puppy pen to move Max, the black one, and Muffy the white one—over to Mama’s pen—so they could be reunited! Easy task? Not!

When Tony and I went into the puppy pen to leash up little Max and Muffy—they got scared, and they raced around the pen—growling and barking at us—like we were the bad guys! Fortunately, John drove up in Kermit!

What’s wrong with these dogs, John?” I asked. “They won’t let us leash them, and they are growling and barking at us—like they hate us!”

“I’m glad,” John said, “because that’s the same way they act around me, too. I thought it was just me, they didn’t like. I don’t know what’s wrong with them.”

“I’ll bet it’s because of the full moon,” I said. “It affects animals, too.”

John, Tony and I then tried several times to calmly catch the angry little Poodles, but to no avail. So, we made a plan.

John went to the barn and grabbed a pair of our brand new, heavy duty, leather gloves and the catch pole—that we had just purchased last week. (Please note: We all hate catch poles, but we knew that it would be the only way to catch these two hostile little critters.)

When John returned to the puppy pen, he volunteered to try to catch them with his hands, first. He then put on the pretty, peacock blue gloves and he couldn’t get near them. Last option—the pole. After John and Tony figured out how to use the darn thing, Tony tried to catch them!

After about six or seven attempts, Tony finally caught Muffy, the little white wannabe Poodle! And that really made Muffy mad! John then reached down to grab her and she bit him! John said, “Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!” If Muffy wasn’t biting John’s glove she was biting the pole. Tony and John quickly put Muffy into a crate.

“Are you okay, John?” I asked. “I’m so sorry you got bit.”

“I don’t know,” John answered. “Let me get this glove off and see.” John carefully removed the pretty leather glove and then pointed to his knuckles, “Yeah, she bit me right there.”

Tony and I looked at John’s hand. There was no blood, thank goodness! “That’s just a dent, John,” I said. “She didn’t break the skin—thank goodness.”

“I know,” John said, “but it still hurts.” And, then he started laughing.

Fortunately, Tony caught Max on the second try and they quickly crated him, too. Then Tony and John carefully carried the crate over to Mama’s old pen to reunite them with sweet little Sushi.

When we reached Sushi’s pen—we went in. Tony opened the door to the crate and the two Poodles ran out of the crate to go see Sushi! They seemed happy and much more calmer.

“How in the world, can Sushi be so sweet and well adjusted, and Max and Muffy so different?” I asked.

“I’ll bet you, when that woman bought Sushi—she threw the Poodles out in the backyard and had nothing more to do with them,” Tony said.

“I agree,” John said.

“That makes sense,” I said. “Susan at Hoegemeyers called me when they arrived last Friday, at the clinic and she told me that the Poodle’s hair was all badly matted, and she suggested that they wash them and clip their coats short.”

John was squatting down petting Sushi, during our conversation, and before you knew it, Muffy was standing next to him and Sushi, and she let John pet her and she didn’t seem to mind a bit! Max then came over really close to John and he seemed calm and happy. All of us were amazed at the drastic change in their personalites—from Dr. Jekyll and Mrs. Hyde—to sweet dogs!

Later today, while Tony was outside feeding the puppies another meal, I was outside taking pictures of the puppies, Sushi, Max and Muffy. And Max and Muffy came up to the fence—tails wagging and they both licked my hand!

Full moons drive me crazy.