Elusive Stray “Colt” ~ Case 434

A Good Samaritan named Victoria posted pictures of this stray pup on Facebook in hopes of alerting his guardians to his location. He eluded her every attempt at capturing him.  Another Good Samaritan named Shannon who had prior experience in animal rescue, saw Victoria’s Facebook post and sprung into action!  Shannon went to the location and found a perfect spot to start a feeding station.  She began feeding him every morning and every night which not only gave him the nutrients he desperately needed but it gave him a consistent food source which kept him in the area and continued to condition him for capture.  

Shannon contacted Collin County Animal Control and they were unable to capture him so Shannon reached out to our team.  We then contacted Juanita with Collin County Animal Services to get more information and we agreed to take the case. 

Our team arrived on site and met Shannon.  We surveyed the area and topography, spoke to nearby neighbors, and we deployed a video camera at Shannon’s feeding station so that we can monitor his feeding schedule in preparation for capture.  While our team was on site we got a glimpse of him but of course we ignored him and did not approach.  

🔹As of right now our plan is to deploy our corral trap on Friday evening and stage for capture Sunday during his conditioned feeding time.  

‼️“Why wait till Sunday?” you might ask….  If you’ve followed our cases in the past you may have noticed that if a dog is not fully conditioned and on a fairly consistent feeding schedule prior to capture, then our team can have to stage on site for HOURS and HOURS waiting on a dog to show up.  Our team is so busy with a backlog of cases, personal work schedules, and our personal animals and families needing to be cared for that we must triage our cases and plan captures more efficiently and only after they are properly conditioned.  😘 We always triage each case based on their medical or safety urgency.  If he was injured or ill it’s a completely different story… we would have already captured him.  This doggie is completely stable so there is no emergency to rush capture.

He finally visited the station late this afternoon and ate all of his food.  Shannon will be replenishing the food tomorrow morning. 

From our high resolution cameras we were able to determine that he is wearing a small dog harness (with skulls on it) that he was likely wearing as a puppy and he grew.  While growing he was likely trying to get out of it or it got caught on something and it moved to his neck. 😓 He looks pretty young to us so he may have been out on the streets since he was a puppy.  Hopefully he is microchipped. They can travel great distances, and once they find a reliable food source, they stop running and stay in the area.  

Street mom Shannon replinished the feeding station at dawn this morning!  It looks so yummy!!!  ~~~ This is where we start to monitor what time he shows up to eat each day so that we will be better prepared on capture day Sunday.  

Shannon calling him to eat each time is absolutely precious!  ♥️

His street mom Shannon replenished his food early this morning and we met her on site to give her medications.  Today we administered dose 1 out of 3 of Panacur dewormer in his food.  Shannon will administer dose 2 & 3 tomorrow and the next day.  We also administered a dose of Capstar today which will kill any fleas that he has in just minutes.  We will administer preventative medications as soon as we capture him. 

He is starting to show some consistency with his eating times.  He showed slightly earlier today.  He does show up multiple times day and night now looking for more food but he is learning that food is put out only in the mornings.  

Street mom Shannon has named him “Colt”!  Colt was there waiting this morning when she arrived to replenish his food.  Colt waited patiently about 40 yards away watching her until she finished and she walked away.  

Storms are scheduled to come in this evening.  We have found several structures in the area where he can find shelter.  Hopefully the weather doesn’t throw off his schedule too much. 

Colt was not there waiting today.  The weather forecast was inaccurate and the storm didn’t roll into Anna overnight and are not predicted till later this morning or afternoon.  Hopefully he shows up soon!  

Today in his food is the 3rd and final dose of Panacur dewormer.  His tummy is probably feeling much better by now!  

The rain didn’t stop this boy from having brunch at the feeding station!  We also confirmed today that he is traveling to Hwy 75 each day 2.5 miles away from our feeding station.  We are not worried about this because he seems to be avoiding Hwy 75, and he is visiting our feeding station each day and that is all we need for him to do in order to capture him.  Capture is still tentatively scheduled for this Sunday.

‼️If you see him roaming anywhere near Highway 75 in Anna, please ignore him completely, and please do not feed him.  We need for him to have every reason in the world to visit our feeding station every day until capture. 

Our team arrived on site late this afternoon to deploy our corral trap with the amazing assistance of Shannon & Joe!  As we were arriving it got very windy and chilly.  Thank goodness it was not raining.  

Tragically Colt did not show today.  Within minutes of him eating yesterday the skies opened up and the storms rolled in.  A lot of times the weather will throw off their schedule completely.  We sure hope he shows up tonight. 

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Colt has not shown up to the feeding station since the storms rolled in almost 48 hours ago.  This is still extremely unusual for him because Good Samaritan Shannon has been feeding him daily at this same location for over two weeks and he has continued to eat daily since we took the case a few days ago.  We are leaving the corral trap deployed for now and will advise later tonight what the plan for tomorrow is.  

He walked right into the Corral like he owned it!  

Our team will be on site at 06:30 am tomorrow morning to arm the corral and stage for capture.  Let’s hope he is hungry for breakfast and doesn’t travel across town like he has been doing the past three days. 

We will be broadcasting live on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter!  Join us if you are awake!  ♥️

This boy was successfully captured in our corral trap.  He almost immediately went back to eating.  HE IS JUST A PUPPY and the SWEETEST boy you’ve ever met!  He was wearing a small dog harness around his neck that we had to cut off.  ~~ LOTS more details to come so check back in 24 hours.  Our team needs much needed sleep. 

Since Collin County Animal Services was closing at the time of capture, team member Selena took him to her home overnight.  She gave him a bath which he actually loved!  He had a little dinner and slept like a baby in his kennel in the bedroom all night long.  it was probably the first time he was able to sleep without one eye open.  

We transported Colt to Collin County Animal Services for his legal 5 day stray hold.  They are out of room!  He desperately needs a foster home or adopter.  

We put him in Kayley’s office for now and Kayley’s daughter fell madly in love with him.  She watched over him for the rest of the day.  (Kayley consented to the photos being published)

Colt was vaccinated upon intake.  

We would like to express our sincerest gratitude to Victoria Uresti and Shannon Lewis for creating a call to action to help Colt.  So many people see a dog on the street in need of help but they turn the other way and go on with their busy lives.  These two ladies DID SOMETHING!  Now Colt is no longer suffering and trying to survive on the brutal streets. Their selfless efforts made all the difference in our team being able to take his case.  Shannon followed our feeding station protocols precisely and she played a crucial role in his ability to be captured. Without these two amazing women, Colt would still be out there suffering.  #TeamColt

Colt is still at Collin County Animal Services today but he will be leaving with a trainer tomorrow instead of going into foster care!  More information to come once he is picked up tomorrow!  

Kirsten Lee with K9 Total Performance picked up Colt today from Collin County Animal Services and his street mom Shannon was right there to see him off with happy tears in her eyes.  We are extremely grateful to Kirsten for offering to intake and train Colt for FREE!  Shannon made all of the arrangements for this happy ending and we are so grateful to Shannon and Kirsten for going above and beyond to help give Colt everything he needs.  

We will post updates as we receive them!  ♥️

Kirsten’s Facebook Post: https://www.facebook.com/100033899862987/posts/pfbid0vnao2hLUttfoCLZarv9ryTByJCLaFur6KMt5TsMinPWGueMmVg1VKD3H2QvCDNJsl/?mibextid=cr9u03

Colt was neutered last week but he does have an Upper Respiratory Infection that he is being treated for.  Once his URI clears up he will be back into training.