Other articles with keyword "DOGGIEPING" since 12/29/04
Posted on 10/06/2005 11:13:24 AM PDT by green pastures
Tahlequah has quite a few celebrity canines who've made the pages of the Daily Press.
Just a few examples are Ruby the Redbone hound, who starred in the remake of "Where the Red Fern Grows"; Coach, the Labrador retriever who helped find victims of 9/11 World Trade Center attacks; Baden, the waving Collie; and Chica, the three-legged Rat Terrier who has her own chauffeur.
Now we have Tanya the poodle, who comes to Tahlequah from New Orleans, via Dallas.
Tanya's human companions are Lloyd and Rosemary Griffin, New Orleanians who recently moved to Tahlequah from the evacuee center at Camp Gruber.
The Griffins have been Tahlequonians for a week or so, but Tanya just caught up to them Saturday. She'd been hanging around the Dallas area for almost a month, but the Griffins had no idea where she was, and didn't really expect to ever see her again.
That would've been unfortunate, considering what Tanya did for them when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans and flooded the entire city.
"We both would've been dead if it hadn't been for Tanya," said Rosemary.
"That's right," added Lloyd. "That dog woke us up. When I got up, the water was up to my knees, and she was swimming around. The next time I looked, my sofa in the living room was floating, and she was up on the sofa."
Rosemary was a bit surprised, but thankful, to see Tanya dogpaddling - literally - around their bedroom.
"I didn't know she could swim," she said. "But Lloyd told me all dogs can swim."
"That's right," Lloyd agreed. "That's God's gift to dogs. They ain't gonna drown!"
Of course, once a dog saves your life, you can't just leave her behind - even if she is a good swimmer. So the Griffins picked up their soggy poodle and headed to the Super Dome, where now-homeless New Orleanians were sheltering from the rain and floodwaters.
For a week, Tanya stayed with the Griffins in the Super Dome, but when it came time to board the bus for Texas, evacuees who had pets with them were instructed to leave them behind.
"There were some beautiful dogs in the Super Dome," said Lloyd. "There were some dogs I would've loved to have had, but they said all dogs had to stay there."
But, as mentioned before, when a dog saves your life, it's kind of hard not to feel like you owe her one. So the Griffins found a box that was just big enough for Tanya, covered her up with a blanket, and boarded the bus for Houston - which ended up going to Dallas instead.
"When we got to Dallas, the dog had been in the Super Dome in a box for a week, and had rode on the bus to Dallas," said Lloyd. "The dog wasn't looking so good. I delivered her when she was born, and she'd never lived on the street. She'd go outside to take care of business and come back in again, and that's the only time she ever went outside. Rather than let her suffer, I decided to give her up to the SPCA [Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals]."
Rosemary said the separation was so emotional, people who didn't even know Tanya were crying when Lloyd took her to the SPCA representative.
"He said, 'What do you want to do before I take her? Do you want to kiss her?' and I said, 'No, I'm gonna just close my eyes and you take her.'"
"[The SPCA representative] grabbed the dog and was gone," said Lloyd. "I thought I'd never see that dog again. That dog was deep in Texas!"
While the Griffins made their way to Camp Gruber in Muskogee County, Tanya was doing some traveling of her own.
Her first stop was the Mesquite, Texas, animal control department. From there, she was taken to the K9 Rescue and Referral organization that is working to reunite displaced New Orleanians with their pets.
K9 Rescue and Referral Director Allison Becker took Tanya home with her, and began looking for her owners.
Lloyd had told the story of Tanya to Tom Cornish, a volunteer at Gruber, who got on the Internet and discovered that, lo and behold, Tanya had her very own page on the K9 Rescue and Referral Web site!
Cornish got the Griffins in contact with Becker, who delivered Tanya to her new home in Tahlequah on Saturday. Becker also volunteered to pay for cataract surgery for the 10-year-old Tanya, who in dog years is well into senior citizenry.
"She [Becker] almost spoiled her," said Lloyd, and then thought about that statement for a moment. "She did spoil her! The dog came riding up in a big ol' air-conditioned Cadillac, sitting on a pillow."
Tanya may not cruise around Tahlequah in a Caddy, but she doesn't seem to mind. She's obviously having no trouble readjusting to life with her folks.
"She's a bunch of love," said Lloyd. "She gets grouchy sometimes, but she's 10 years old - that's old for a dog."
Rosemary said Tanya's gotten back into her routine - sleeping, and occasionally going to the door to let the Griffins know she has some business to take care of. She pretty much has the run of the house, with one exception.
"You can't let her sleep with you - she sleeps flat on her back with her legs up in the air, and she snores," said Rosemary. "But I got my baby back, and I am so happy. I just thank God I got her back."
There is some more info at:
http://www.freewebs.com/k9rescueandreferral/tonyasstory.htm
but it can be a little hard to read (formatting/spelling/etc)-- still worth it to see all the things that worked together to get to this reunion!
A good one for your ping list.
Nice story! Thx for the ping, HairOfTheDog!
I have never had good luck introducing another cat into a house that already has a cat, but I did have a good experience with our old orange Tom (neutered) and a lost kitten that was here for a few days awhile ago... so I became hopeful that he might accept a kitten, maybe better than adopting an another adult cat.
Though there was a certain amount of friction....
At other times he seemed almost maternal.
They'd be indoor/outdoor on our little farm, but encouraged to spend time in the barn, where the mice are, once they grow up.
If we have a choice, would you suggest that two females might be better than trying to bring in another male? Or does it make a difference?
Thanks its always nice to read of a happy ending
There was another reunion on FOX. That dog had been taken to California!! So far, that shelter has had 8 reunions of pets with their owners.
Continued in post 6, with cute pix.
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Kitty Ping List alert!
[Freepmail me to get on or off the Kitty Ping List.]
I once had 4 cats. Two of those have died. I had two males and two females. Now I have a male and female. The female is several years older and is considered mentally ill by the vet. She always has been. Anyway, this male cat has taken her over and he even bathes her. They sleep in a heap together on the beds or couches.
On the other hand, my late female cat hated this female. They fought all of the time. One of the male cats took care of the mentally ill cat before he died. That is when the remaining male cat took care of her.
I would suggest that you have a male and female. Both neutered of course. ;)
My ole Cartman doesn't really think he needs help mousing ;~D He's half blind, but he still can bring 'em home!
He's a 21 pound cat with claws.... so I'd worry about a lot of damage if he decided to reject them, but I'm hopeful after the way he treated that little refugee kitten when she was here.
Sorry - no help here. I don't have any cats, but I do have a terrier that is one helluva mouser!! I stopped counting the number of mice he's nailed once it got past 50! Mouse hunting in the yard is one of his favorite past-times! lol
Wow - that's quite a kitty!
FWIW, when I brought Deimos home, Zia sulked for a couple days, but then they became buddies. For all her aloofness, Zia likes having someone to wrassle with.
My Dal-brador Gidget is pretty good too... She tries hard.... but she's too big to get into the tight spaces, so she loses them when they run under things.
Damn these stories make me cry. Glad this one ended happy.
I just want to go down there so bad and help rescue animals.
What a cat!!! I once had a three legged cat who was an excellent mouser. He hated it when I would take them away from him. They always caused him some digestive problems.
You can see his blindness in that pic... his lens is completely clouded over on one eye, and the creepy part is it moves around his eye. It doesn't seem to cause him discomfort though... so I've opted not to remove it. They'd take the whole eye out if it needed surgery, and that was a lot of $$$. I figured I'd wait and see if/when it caused him a problem.
omg, GREAT PIX!
I've often thought that one would make a good zot pic.
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