Bouchard

A Message From a Fort Doberdale Nemesis

This evening, Regis spotted the flying submarine, and alerted the Fort Doberdale Squirrel Posse that we were under attack by the beast. OK, we were really just under the thing, but we let Regis have his fantasy. Moreso, we participate in it.

The FDSP responds to the invader. Adrenalin flows.

The beast flies right over the Fort Doberdale campus! It seems to be trying to convey a message to us.

Regis doesn’t trust it no matter what message it’s trying to convey. He proceeds to give it a piece of his senior mind.

But the blimp disregards the warning from Fort Doberdale’s most senior Doberdude, and reveals its trademarked message.

The floating submarine’s pleasantries don’t appease Luna. She’s out to take the beast down. Luna’s loyalty can’t be bought.

As a matter of fact, none of the Posse gives up loyalties. The pack rules and everyday’s a good-year day here at Fort Doberdale.

Luna, in all her frenzy to capture the floating goon, catapults herself over the boundary between the dog- and no-dog-zone. Ooops. Bad news. Annie’s impressed, but that’s not an acceptable Fort Doberdale manuever.

Though we want to get that varmint gone, FD Law must be obeyed. Luna flings herself back into the dog-zone, and steps back to give the blimp another appalled look. The flipped back ear is a definite indication of Luna’s disheveled feelings over the violation of her backyard privacy.

Meanwhile, in my part of this world, well, there goes another “almost papaya.” I’m beginning to adjust to the fact that I may never get a freshly grown papaya off my own fruit tree.

As the blimp fades into the sunset, Luna gives one last warning.

And Bouchard takes care of the punctuation mark.

Helen (click to e-mail me)

Bouchard, Doberkids, Luna, Regis

22

Feb

2008

Bouchard, who knew you were left behind?

Helen

As I was getting ready to leave for work this morning, I heard on the Martha Stewart channel 112 on Sirius radio that Tracie Hotchner will be speaking about a travesty in the mortgage crisis. Did you know that when people are losing their homes, many of them leave their dogs/cats behind in the abandonned structures? They end up starving or trying to eat the wood paneling and whatever else they can pull from the walls or floors of the houses they are trapped in. Tracie mentioned in her 15-minute segment on The Morning Show that this is prevalent in Chicago, but is happening all over the country in record numbers. You can listen to her show tonight at 8 pm for the entire story.

Bouchard was one of those left-behind and forgotten dogs. His people moved out and left him in the backyard of his home in 2003. He barked and barked and barked, which is how the Orange county Animal Services got involved and found him.

Bouchard had a baseball-sized bruise on his side, which I assume came from the dark side of human beings who were bothered by him. His whole body was abused in one form or the other. His bottom front teeth are nothing but nubs due to his trying to chew out of his containment. Was it a chain? Was it chainlink fence? I don’t know, but his teeth do.

He was horrified to have anyone even think of touching his paws. He’d hide them by tucking them underneath his body, and when it thundered, he’d curl up in a corner to hide.

My friend and co-rescuer who pulled Bouchard from the shelter and brought him down to meet me halfway from Orange to Broward county asked the shelter if they were sure THIS was the dog because he was so emaciated. The shelter actually neutered this boy in his condition.

This is what he looked like when I got him from the shelter in Orange county, Florida. He still had tape fragments from his ear crop sticking ot his ears. Thank God they got to him when they did. He wasn’t in any shape to last much longer.

He was so thin, this 18-inch collar fit him like a necklace.

Bouchard couldn’t hold water. As fast as he drank it, the water came right through. I kept him in an ex-pen with covers on the floor and everyday I came home from lunch, I’d change his covers.

We got to a point where he could hold it till we ran to the back door, but he couldn’t make it all the way, though he tried, the movement made him let loose.

Sooner or later, there came a day when he did hold it, and did make it out that back door. Also, finding the right antibiotic to put him on helped. His body was adjusting, but due to the fact that this happened during his growth stage, his back legs are formed sort of like a duck’s where they stick out to the sides and he waddles around the back yard. He’s a fast waddler, but it is a noticeably unique gait. At obedience practice, I always get asked, “What’s wrong with his legs?”

Well, Bouchard is a happy boy now. I had placed him twice, and he came back twice. He’s got some piss and vinegar in him, and he’s a little reactive due to his former circumstance, so he’s got issues that only his Dobermom can understand. How cruel it was to abandon this boy. Though, through all the neglect, he came out of it with a light in his heart.

I think of all the other dogs out there trapped in abandonned homes, and wonder if they will be so lucky. So please, keep your eyes and ears opened. Maybe you will be the one to save a pet trapped in an abandonned home in your neighborhood.

Helen
(click to e-mail)

Week 4 Round-Up

Helen

Looks like we are already wrapping up week four of year two thousand and eight.

My computer is ill, and though I’ve been working off the clock to fix it, it ain’t happening. So I’ll be going to plan B next week. That’s why my posts haven’t been regular, and won’t be until I get this contraption and the havoc it’s left behind repaired.

Speaking of havoc, I had to spend two days in court last week as a potential juror. The trial for which I got picked as the potential juror was a heavy duty civil suit. The attorneys have it listed on their website, so I suppose it is all right to post the link to it here. Isham vs. City of Fort Lauderdale. I was excused due to cause.

This morning Raven was playing fast and furious after having ate her Wheaties an hour earlier. She came up behind Lilian, grabbed the yellow Tuffies ring which was in her mouth, and Lilian didn’t let go. Instead, Raven swung around like a tether ball, having the great fortune of slamming into my shin, which stopped the sonic boom that was about to occur due to the velocity at which she was traveling and prevented her from flying to the moon. My leg, however, has a bruise the size of Raven’s sharp elbow and has grown a silver dollar sized lump to make the blues and blacks of my new temporary tattoo stand out that much more. She’s still true to form.

Earlier in the week, there was some activity in one of my prized potted plants. Bouchard and Annie spotted a snail. The hunt was on. Nothing was caught, thank goodness. I hate having to make escargot.

Later on, The Queen Mother, Baby Diva, saw something through her Detective Diva gate spying slot. Whatever it was came and went so fast that none of us saw it, but the Diva, and she’s not talking.