357. Best Day of Fishing Ever 
359. Miscellaneous Vids

Pet Goat and Two Dog Pals Saved From Sheriff and the Street
By Diane Herbst | December 7, 2010

This stray goat (who acts like a dog), Great Dane and Retriever are an inseparable -- and unlikely -- trio.

It all started in early July on the grounds of a palatial Dallas-area wedding chapel. On the sprawling lawn lounged a goat and a Great Dane, who were taken to the nearby East Lake Pet Orphanage.

This was no usual couple. At the orphanage, Judy the Great Dane, and Minnelli the goat, were inseparable.

"This is definitely the most unusual inter-species match-up of pets I've ever seen," says Dr. Karen Fling, the veterinarian who founded the orphanage and owns the East Lake Pet Hospital that services -- for free -- the orphanage.
"They acted like a married couple, Judy and Minnelli are bonded at the hip. They eat together, sleep together, huddle around in a little ball and sleep together. It is very sweet."

Media coverage of the cuddling couple caught the attention of the Dallas County sheriff's office. In Texas, Fling soon learned, it is illegal for someone to harbor stray livestock. "This is all news to me," Fling says. "I had no idea this law was on the books."

Fling tried to work something out with the deputy sheriff overseeing the case. But there was nothing Fling could do as Minnelli was taken to the city animal impoundment facility, locked up with other homeless goats.

If Minnelli remained unclaimed by her owners, she'd be transferred to a town called Mexia, sold at a livestock auction for about $25, and end up as someone's dinner. "It was heartbreaking for us," Fling says, "to think a pet that walks on a leash, goes for walks like a dog and is a house pet could be sold to be eaten."

However, this was no ordinary goat. Thanks to media coverage of Minnelli's plight and the subsequent public outcry, the Dallas County Commissioner declared at a press conference: "It's not going to be auctioned off. I'll guarantee that."

Soon after, Minnelli and Judy's owners surfaced, and handed ownership of the pair to Fling. They also gave her their three-legged retriever, Lucky. "He was pining away at home," says Fling, "missing the other two."

Finally reunited, over 200 families inquired about adopting them. But first, the ten veterinarians at the hospital (in the same building as the orphanage) donated their time to spay, neuter, and de-worm the dogs.

After the dogs healed, Norman and Sandra Williams of Ennis, Texas adopted the trio on November 27. The "three amigos" as Sandra calls them, join her cats, dogs, horse, llama, birds, chickens, geese, and ducks on 3 acres. "They're doing great and they'll be happy here for the rest of their lives," says Sandra. "They walk around like a little troop; where one goes, the others go. They just capture your heart."

For more information on this unique pet hospital and orphanage, go to www.elpo.org  or www.welovepets.net .