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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (June 27, 2018)
COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL • JUNE 27, 2018 • 5 A Pet tips ‘N’ tales Local youth collects cans to help orphans By Mary Ellen “Angel Scribe” Don’t Be a Chicken! T ootsie, an eight-year-old Boston Terrier, commands attention at the dog park. Everyone stops and stares at the sight of her casually strolling around with a rubber chicken dangling from her mouth. Her latest rubber chicken is a “hockey player” chicken, which is appropriate because her pet parent, Heather’s family lives and plays ice hockey. “Whenever we go to the dog park, Tootsie insists on taking her rubber chicken,” said Heather, "and carries it the entire time. She has a rather odd collection of rubber chickens, be- cause they become headless minutes aft er receiving a new one. She routinely decapitates the newest toy, takes the squeaker out and declares it ready for the dog park. Our dog has never met a real live chicken, but if she did, she would probably run like a chicken in the opposite direction.” Tootsie is curious and smart and she adoringly tilts her head in an understanding way when we talk to her. Her ears spin like radars when we say “go” or “beach” as she runs to get a carry- a-long chicken. “We have to keep a supply of rubber chickens in both of our family vehicles.” said Heather. “One time, when we arrived at the dog park we discovered that we were chickenless! Tootsie fl ipped out barking in an anxiety attack because we broke her routine. She had nothing to carry in her mouth. What a traves- ty! She acted up and chased the other dogs, so I made her get back in the car and go home.“ Not unheard of, Tootsie purr-furs people food. When there is none on her horizon she reluctantly goes over to her bowl and picks up one piece of kibble at a time, before spitting it out on the fl oor. She will only eat the rejected food once she realizes that no people food is obliging her by falling like autumn leaves off the table. C/O CHRESTMAN FAMILY Second-grader Jude Chrestman raised more than $250 for an orphanage in India as part of his pursuit of generosity. When Jude Chrestman started the second grade at ACE Charter School in Cot- By Caitlyn May cmay@cgsentinel.com 6 -day weather forecast THURSDAY FRIDAY 74° | 49° 73° | 49° Sunny Partly Cloudy SATURDAY SUNDAY 79° | 52° 79° | 52° Partly Cloudy Sunny MONDAY TUESDAY 80° | 47° 77° | 49° Partly Cloudy Sunny tage Grove, he was given a list of character traits and asked to choose one. It’s part of the curriculum at ACE, a hybrid of charter and home schooling, that asks students to focus on one character trait per year and build a project around their chosen trait. Jude chose generosity and spent the year learning about the aspects of the trait — and collecting cans. “He decided to collect cans and then donate them to an orphanage we already support,” his mother, Tara Chrestman said. Th e orphan- age, Send Hope, is located in India, was founded in 1989 and has 20 locations around India, helping children aff ect- ed by HIV/AIDS. Send Hope provides medication as well as education, working to in- crease literacy. On Friday, June 15, Jude gave a presentation to his class about generosity and re- vealed he had raised $253.60. “He did go out and collect the cans,” Tara said, noting that the family lived near the lake and ventured out to col- lect cans. “Or, he’d say, ‘Stop the car, I see a can!’ and we’d pull over on the side of the road,” she said. Jude also so- licited can donations from family, friends and his moth- er’s co-workers. When he was done, he packed his cans up, processed them at the bottle drop in Springfi eld and wrote a thank you note to every per- son who had donated cans to his cause. “He didn’t expect anything in return,” his mother said. “He gave freely and that’s how he showed his generosity.” Transmissions Plus & AUTOMOTIVE SPECIALTIES PRACTICING THE ART OF TRANSMISSION REPAIR SERVICE SINCE 1991 Manual & Automatic Transmission Repair Tune ups 30-60-90K Services Brakes, belts, hoses and cooling system services Muffl ers & Custom Exhaust All makes and models. MAINTAINING YOUR VEHICLE AFFORDABLY 1 in 4 employees are ill prepared for emergency. PayneWest can develop your business’ emergency plan. Call today (541) 942-0555. PayneWest.com/Cottage-Grove WE LIVE IN THE SAME TOWN WE WORK IN “WE MAKE SHIFT HAPPEN!” www.automotivespecialties.biz DUSTIN TULLAR & RUSS OWENS 541-942-8022 • COTTAGE GROVE Tootsie's odd dog fetish is rubber chickens Tootsie is also a discerning eater. She went through a phase of waiting until cheese, left overs or gravy was sprinkled on her food. Th en she’d gently licked the sprinkled food off the kibble and eat the kibble for dessert. Th e dog sleeps beside Heather, under the covers, but that can fast become an unpleasant experience because of the “Toot- sie-toots.” “We impulsively bought Tootsie from a pet store,” confess- es Heather. “It’s something good dog owners, like us, know we shouldn’t do. Two days later, at her obligatory vet visit, the vet told us that our puppy had juvenile cataracts. He suggested we return the pup, that we had all fallen in love with, to the store and get our money back. I asked, ‘Th en what will happen to her’ and the vet said, ‘Th e store will return her to the breeder.’ Probably not a good fate for Toots. So that was that, we were keeping her. As the months rolled by, she became blind so we took her to a veterinary ophthalmologist who purr-formed cat- aract surgery on her. It improved her vision!” Heather said she must confess that they bought Tootsie on a whim, but she was worth the wild moment for all the joy and humor she has gift ed our family. A second chicken encounter comes from Bea, my favorite 94-year-old Pet Tips ‘n’ Tales fan. Bea shared that prior to her marriage, her date and her went to the race track stables to say “Hi” to the horses. “One horse was kicking his stall, whinnying and carrying on,“ said Bea. “I asked the trainer, ‘What is wrong with your horse?’ Th e trainer responded, “He won’t calm down until we put his buddy in his stall with him.” With that the trainer walked to the truck, reached in, and pulled out a fl uff y white chicken. “He walked the live bird over to the horse’s pen and put it in with the horse. Before you could snap your fi ngers, the race horse became as happy as a scream- ing baby handed his favorite blanket,” said Bea. TIPS: Don’t be a chicken, rescue your purr-fect pet from a pet shel- ter. Share your fun, amazing or crazing pet tips and tales at an- gelscribe@msn.com or Follow Pet Tips ‘n’ Tales on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PetTipsandTales. Adopt loving pets online at www.PetFinder.com. For spay or neutering, call the Humane So- ciety at 541-942-2789.