Wishing, hoping....

Hello boys and girls,

It's me- Bentley Beargrass. I thought you might have forgotten what I look like since the 2-legged can't get a good picture of me due to my dislike of that gadget these days so I let her take this one of me this morning. The goofy one behind me is my little sis Roux. She is trying to check on my tail because I have a hot spot and she thinks it is most fascinating. I also am fascinated by it but the 2-legged keeps putting some liquid spray stuff on it that makes it taste awful but she said it keeps me from worrying it. She threatened me with one of those cone-head thingys if I didn't leave it alone. Hmpf! All I know is that last week I had to go to the Vet mans office and he poked me with a needle to get some blood. I was really good and the 2-legged took me to the doggie store afterwards and drove me through one of those places where they hand you food through a window. But....guess what? When the 2-legged went for the results of the blood work, they were all skewed and the Vet man said he needed more blood. We went back yesterday. What a pain in my derrière I say. Actually they had to take the blood from my front leg. Just a little naked there now. As you can see, I am half naked and quite odd looking with half a hairecut from Sunday. I will only tolerate an hour or so of hairecutting at a time. The heat was so bad on Sunday that the 2-legged decided to finish me another day. Whew. I lucked out. Except I got a bath as did all of the 4-legged gang. Roux even got a hairecut but she likes all the attention when getting one. What a weirdo! Anyway, I am hoping to get my test results back late today so we will know if I am just being a grump-bucket or if something is really wrong.

Another thing I need to pass on is about Pretty Boy Floyd. The 2-legged checked on TART's Petfinder link last night and saw him posted. She e-mailed the TART people in Austin and found out he didn't work out. Apparently he was sleeping and someone startled him and he woke up growling baring his teeth. The family got worried and decided maybe he needed another family instead. Poor Pretty Boy....he probably is really confused now. Unfortunately, in this giant state of Texas the TART team doesn't have any other families able to foster right now so he is back at the aire-conditioned boarding facility in Georgetown with the nice people there. Please say a prayer for him that he gets a 2nd chance in a new forever family. This latest news makes me so sad.

I guess I should get off the keyboard now. The 2-legged just came in and gave me one of those looks. I think she needs to do some homework. What a geek. Talk to you soon!

Aire-hugs and woofs,

The Bentman

Whacked download....

So you'll just have to take my word that they are cute. What am I talking about? Why Pretty Boy Floyd, of course. Our Austin coordinator forwarded some new pics of Pretty Boy, now known as "Floyd" to me last night and I tried to download them but they cause severe malfunction when I try to put them on the blog update. So you will just have to take my word for it- He looks happy and settled in with his new family. He has a new cushy bed from CostCo. In one of the pics he's playing with one of his new toys and in another one he is lying down on his bed with one of his 2-legged's looking up at him with adoration in his eyes. Sweet! The family is the one that started as a foster over the weekend but they already decided he is there Forever. Isn't that great? I just love happy endings.

Another update will be coming soon about the Bentman's test results. I am supposed to hear from the Vet man this afternoon. So....let's hope it is something as simple as a thyroid issue. He is still being weird. Now he is going into Roux's crate and hanging out there- He usually hates the crate. Hmm. And really butt-stuck too. Keep your fingers crossed and I'll post later.

Have a great day!
Karen Raye

Special Report!

Whoa- what a week we had. I'm sure you remember my last post and how my Bentman is acting weird? Due to circumstances out of our control, we haven't made it to the Doctor yet. He has been acting more normal but I know he's not up to par so we are going tomorrow since last weeks appointment had to be postponed. I'll  update the results later this week.

This is the scoop- Texas Airedale Rescue Team's Houston coordinator's Mom went to heaven. So I took over a possible owner turn in (male Airedale- approx. 3 yrs old and neutered) at the Harris County Shelter. The hard thing was that I wasn't on the approved pull list for TART at this shelter. No big deal, I made some calls and got a friend from the Golden Beginnings Golden Retriever Rescue to give me some advice. Thank doG for her and other wonderful people in rescue that guided me through that day. There were a few strange problems such as another group that was a mixed breed rescue with the same name as another in a town in North Texas that had put a hold on the boy 'Dale. Then of course the lovely automated phone sytem that the county uses at the shelter had me calling trying to get through for 3 hours off and on that morning. Then the news that he been given to another group that has a large number of dogs that already needed to be placed. It was a mess and I didn't want to step on toes but for the first time in many years our group TART is down to one Airedale in Rescue so we have foster homes waiting and even have some adoptive families ready. Great news, huh? Anyway- after a lot of finagling, calls, and driving from one end of Houston to the other three times, I gave money to the other rescue group to get him at five minutes to 5PM that day. He had been taken to another shelter outside of Houston. That group had shaved him down NAKED- no beard, no HAIRE and charged a lot of money for it. Strangeness was everywhere with this situation. But it is OK, he is with the TART group now where Airedales are put in wonderful homes that know the ins and outs of the breed! Poor boy didn't have a name. They were calling him Ted of course, then the other rescue named him Callahan. I just called him Pretty Boy because Bless his heart, you just knew he was confused with all his haire gone and being transported all over tarnation by strangers.

So Pretty Boy came home to our house late that afternoon and spent the night with our family. Kinda skinny because his previous humans had moved and left him in the backyard to fend for himself. Did they forget about him? Did they think someone would step up and rescue him? I don't know. Some people just piss me off.  He is so sweet and was a really good boy while he was here overnight. He drank and ate food like he was rationing it for the future, kind of like he didn't know if he would get any more. So sad. He was really good with our 4-legged's through the outside kennel fence and while he was in the crate in the house though Roux wondered why she didn't get to sleep in her crate that night. She laid there and stared at him for quite awhile. She got to sleep un-crated that night with the Bentman.

The next morning Kris and I left for Austin/ Georgetown to transport him to our contact there where a foster family was waiting. We drove through a Whataburger in the AM because hamburgers are our middle name. Pretty Boy ate a dry hamburger gently and politely out of our hands and drank his water like a gentleman. Obviously someone in his past had worked with him. He knows the command to sit, he is gentle, and he never once jumped up on us. He does have a great big booming voice! On our way to the hill country we had to stop and get gas and let him out for some exercise. The bikers rally R.O.T. was starting in Austin Friday and bikers on Harley's were everywhere. He never batted an eye and was even excited when they revved up their bikes at the gas station. So on we went to Georgetown and turned him over to Tom at the boarding facility. Nice place- aire conditioning and everything. They have stuffed Airedale toys that I am coveting. Anyway, Pretty Boy put on his best manners and never looked back as he went with Tom to his overnight room. The next day Pretty Boy was picked up by his foster family which may become his new Forever family. Blessings abound and Life is good!

Have a great week!

Karen Raye

These are the before and after pictures. Hard to imagine, huh?

the Bentman and the camera..

He doesn't like the camera. I decided to pull it out yesterday and snap a few current pics. The Bentman was standing in the hallway playing with his new toy, one of those long wormy green ones that squeak, shaking his head like a maniac when he saw me with the camera and froze. Dropped the toy, tucked in his tail and backed into the corner. I knew he didn't like the camera much but usually he will humor me for a few poses. Not this time. So I put it away and he perked back up, still eying me warily but somewhat interested in his toy again. The Bentman has been doing some really weird things. He's back to staring off into the fireplace or at a wall for minutes at a time. Gets really freaked about all the thunderstorms we've been experiencing. He is real skittish and we are keeping an eye on him. It's not funny but he actually thought Kris's leg was a drumstick or something the other day too. Didn't hurt her but it was really freaky like he was confused or something. He is playing fine with all the other 4-legged's - especially his 'lil sis Roux. Regular bitey-face, etc. He's always been my goofy oddball- standoffish and a loner except when he wants loving but I must admit I'm worried. His back leg shakes a lot when he is laying down. Told the vet about this before but he said don't worry about it. I am worried and I think we are going to have a thyroid test done soon. What do you think?  Any other ideas? Am I just a paranoid mama?

Karen Raye with 
the Bentman