The Ballad of Tim & Willem, part 2

(read part 1 here)

I'm really proud of myself for how I handled Willem's escape. I didn't even curse. Most people who know me know I can have a short fuse (mostly Irish, German, and Ukranian heritage... what do you expect?). I took a few deep breaths. Mom plucked a tick off my back. I was focused. I called Cindy back and she grabbed treats and slip leads and headed our way.

The next couple hours... Oh yes, hours. The whole capture ordeal took about 3 hours total... were spent trying to regain their trust. Tim was too weak to think much of us one way or the other, but he remained out of reach. Willem was none too pleased with us, but he was still hungry. Another good samaritan pulled up. "Is there a snappin' turtle over there?" she crowed, as we were peering into the woods, where Will had retreated. In a fluke of good luck, I was able to corner Tim and slip the lead over his neck. SUCCESS! I was confident that once I had one of them I could get the other. This was going to work out.

The four of us attempted to herd Will to corner him. I was too slow with the slip lead, and Willem wised up quickly. I wished I had cattle roping experience. The good samaritan produced a bottle of water from her car, Cindy grabbed a travel bowl from her car, and we poured some out for the dogs. Tim was too peeved, scared, and weak to care. He crawled under a semi-abandoned car, out of the heat. Cindy and I sat on the ground, me holding the lead, both of us trying to feed him bits of treats, which he would take but only once in a while. I briefly pondered how thankful I was that the storms from the day before seemed to be keeping at bay, even though I was sitting on soggy ground. The other lady had to pick up her kids. My mom had to deal with a situation at home. They both headed out and promised to be back soon.

Mom didn't take long, and came back with canned dog food (Paco's special urinary tract health formula) and a couple plates. We tried herding Willem again and managed to get him to settle under the car, next to Tim. We scooped out canned food onto plates. The dogs were interested, but scared. I hand fed them chunks, and they acted like it was mana from heaven. I made the slip lead into a large circle and set it around the plate, with the idea that if Willem would eat from the plate I could quickly whip it over his head, like a well-intentioned booby trap.

All of our patience was waring, the wind was picking up and the sky looked threatening. Mom and Cindy decided to put Tim in Mom's car. We gently dragged him out from under the car. This unsettled Willem and when Tim was out of his sight, Will crawled out from under the car. I was solo, but he trusted me the most. I fed him a few more chunks by hand, closer and closer to the plate. Finally, he approached the plate itself and began to hungrily gobble up the food. In a split-second, I had the exact clarity I needed despite my fatigue and the heat and my uncooperative coordination. I slipped the lead over his head. He and I looked at each other for a second in stunned silence. Then I stood up and started whooping and hollering. I allowed a little bit of the adrenaline that had been accumulating to escape as I shouted down the hill to my mom and Cindy "I did it! Success! I GOT HIM!" I led him down the hill, and he quickly grew accustomed to the lead around his neck and looked at me with happy expectation. I could tell his stress was melting away, the same as mine. He didn't mind getting in the car at all, especially with Tim there. At just the right moment, the good samaritan reappeared to see that we had caught the boys. I was glad for her to see us before we headed off, because I know if I had been her and returned to the cars and dogs gone, I still would have wondered. We thanked her, she thanked us, and she headed off.

Once again, the question nagged at my brain, "Now what?" Fortunately, Cindy was there. She made some calls and put in a found report at the county shelter with my name and number. It was the perfect level of vague and specific, so that a person looking for their dogs would know to contact me, but also so that unsavory types couldn't contact me falsely claiming the dogs were theirs. We took the dogs to a local vet to be scanned for microchips.

Tim just slept the entire time he was in the car. You can see some of the ticks here; those two bumps on his eyelid are ticks too.

Willem, exhausted from the three hour ordeal. He's covered in ticks too, but his fur is thicker so they're harder to see.

I was not optimistic, proclaiming "If these dogs have chips, I'll eat them." Of course, they didn't. These dogs reeked of abandonment. Two young, small-ish mutts, non-neutered males, skinny, scarred, covered in ticks, near a lake. They didn't know any words, not even "food," "treat," "cookie." I think they were pets at some point due to the willingness for belly rubs, but they were probably outdoor yard dogs at best. The vet tech and I discussed how unfortunately in this economy, many people were dumping their pets near the lake, hoping "their natural instincts will kick in." Dogs are so domesticated that most perish quickly. This vet was booked for the day, so my (future) sister-in-law Jessica called ahead to her vet, who also happens to be a 24-hour emergency clinic, and they said they could do an exam and shots. I also called my friend Cait, who I know has ties to Pawfect Match Rescue, the one closest to me. I resolved to foster them so long as I could get help with their vet bills and care.

We bid Cindy adieu and traveled to met Jess at the vet. She also fosters and is a huge dog lover, and was excited to meet these sweet boys. I figured a 24-hour vet was the way to go, in case they had to be kept for observation or something I wanted to be able to visit them. The staff marveled at the amount of ticks on both of them ("Don't you just feel like they're crawling all over you?"). Tim's gums were pale from the loss of blood. I sprung for their first round of shots, deworming, heartworm preventative, flea medicine, and tick collars. They took their shots like champs, even though Tim was so scared he curled into my stomach as I held him on the table and wouldn't look up until I said it was over. The vet thought they're a little over a year old, and possibly even litter mates despite their different sizes. Jess counted as a referral for me, so I got a $25 discount per dog, which helped take the sting out of the bill, even just a little. Plus, I knew that money spent on fosters counts as charitable donations on taxes, and frankly, I can't put a price on saving a life. By the time we left, the boys had been named with Jessica's help. Tim, for Tiny Tim because he was only 14.8 lbs of skin and bone, and Willem, a good strong name for the dog that had watched out for him.

The next two days were interesting, to say the least. My mother stayed with me as she had planned to anyway. I took Brugge to daycare for the first several days to help keep the dogs separated in my one-story, open floor plan, under 1300 sq. ft. home with no fence. At the vet's advice we kept the dogs in my guest bathroom on an easily-cleaned floor due to the ticks. The tick collar would kill them all completely within 48 hours, but at first they were coming off alive (although dying, I didn't want them crawling around my house), and we picked them up constantly as the dogs scratched them off. Hundreds and hundreds of ticks. None of us got much sleep. Tim's gums quickly became a healthy pink again. Mercifully, they were already housebroken, which can either be an indicator of a past life in a home, or they're just picky about where they go, which seems more likely to me.

The Itchy and Scratchy Show doing work on those ticks. Yuck.

The morning of the second day their lab results came back. Negative for intestinal parasites (a huge and welcomed surprise!), negative for heartworm (they will need to be re-tested in 6 months, just in case, but that is a great sign), and positive for Ehrlichia, which was no surprise. Still, I was happy to only have to pick up antibiotics and Rimadyl (an anti-inflammatory to make them more comfortable). Then came the fantastic news that they were in Pawfect Match! All future care until adoption will be covered by them, including their vaccine boosters, and neutering, and I was able to have them chipped and get them regular tick and flea preventative. Plus, they gave me their super cute collars and leashes to use.

Now, as you all know, they have settled in beautifully. They are fantastic little guys, and they get along well with Brugge, my 55-pound furry ball of enthusiasm. I plan on writing up little bios for them, but in the meantime contact me via the Lace And Twill facebook page if you want more information on adopting them! Don't you just love happy endings?

Here is my Do Not Try This At Home message: Please note that my actions in catching unfamiliar dogs without any equipment or training were very dangerous. There were several points at which I could have been seriously injured. If you encounter stray, strange dogs, the safest thing to do is to leave them alone and call the proper animal control authorities in your area.