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Man's best friend still has a best friend in Randy Skaggs who
continues to operate a no-kill dog shelter in a remote area of Elliott
County.
Five
years ago he was caring for 60 dogs. Now there are more than
200.
It's
not an overstatement to say that Skaggs' life has gone to the dogs.
"I haven't been off this place in more than a year," said the
47-year-old former social worker.
If he
leaves, he fears someone will burn his house and shoot his dogs "for
target practice." Also, like children, dogs left alone also have
the tendency to fight among themselves.
Skaggs
said he has no volunteer help, so he has to pay someone to go to the
grocery for him, or take dogs to the veterinarian.
The
canine population explosion isn't caused by dogs on his place mating
with each other, Skaggs said, but by new arrivals. He has the
females which come to him spayed, but despite his vow not to take in
more animals, more animals keep coming his way.
Consider the case of Puppy.
The
young male dog was owned by a woman who died, and the animal was left
alone at her home. Relatives came to carry away the furniture,
and one person fed the dog every few days. But there was no real
attention, as Puppy grew sickly, with the likelihood that he would
either starve on the premises, be dumped along a road or shot.
"Puppy had no one to love
him, no one to comfort him in his time of sorrow, in his time of grief
for the one that he loved and missed so," Skaggs said.
He really didn't need
another mouth to feed, but Skaggs made room for Puppy.
Puppy's story has been
replayed over and again in the decade since Skaggs began what he calls
The Trixie Foundation. Named for his beloved former pet, buried
near his home, the foundation is devoted to feeding and caring for
dogs that no one else wants.
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Most of the dogs aren't
cuddly puppies or purebreds. They are generally mixed breeds,
who have been abandoned or dumped there because people know he will
give them a home. He has pretty well given up shopping for homes
for those who have become residents at his place. Puppy, Shane
and the others--Skaggs has named them all--will live out their lives
at The Trixie Foundation.
Skaggs is eccentric,
living a reclusive life surrounded by nothing but dogs, but he loves
the animals, and cares for them to the best of his ability. That
involves soliciting funds for the foundation, writing letters and
e-mail to potential benefactors, including dog food companies such as
Hills Pet Nutrition, which is a large donor.
A bachelor and a
vegetarian, it takes little for his own upkeep, Skaggs said.
He carries on a running
battle with local and state officials over humane animal care.
Elliott County, like many
others in the state, really has no facility for caring for unwanted
dogs, Skaggs said. Officials in Frankfort pay little attention
to his complaints about deplorable conditions for animals in the
various counties, Skaggs said.
He has recently purchased
more land around his canine compound, and his present priority is to
buy more fencing material.
Skaggs, who was once a
Northern Kentucky resident, converses with other humans via the
telephone and computer, but he seldom sees anyone. That's why he
knows all the dogs by name and even knows their individual barks.
"You get pretty familiar with them," he says of the animals who share
his life.
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