Eight girls from Troop 8869 and One from Troop 3632 of Flower Mound gave back to the community Tuesday, October 13.  The girls are third grade Brownies in Service Unit 408.  Animals are near and dear to the hearts of all the girls. They began working on their Our Pets, Our Friends Try-It badge days before the trip to the Flower Mound Animal Shelter on Justin Road.  In order to earn the patch a few of the requirements were to make and take donations to a local animal shelter.  The girls made home made dog bones out of wheat flour, peanut butter, and milk for the dogs and puppies of the shelter.  They also tracked down all the mismatched socks in their homes to stuff with cotton balls and cat nip, embellishing with twine for added fun to give to the cats and kittens.  The girls had the opportunity to take a tour of the shelter, which at the time was housing about 14 dogs and about 20 cats and kittens.  Virginia, an employee of the shelter, talked with the girls about the importance of registering your pets, what to do if you find a stray, how to provide solutions for our local wildlife, the importance of tattooing or implanting microchips for your pets identification safety, and ways to reduce your risks of rabies.  Other requirements for the badge included learning about a animal hero who they found to be Chi-Chi the Chihuahua, who made it into Reader’s Digest and also made an appearance on The Today Show with Matt Lauer and Ann Curry for saving the lives of two women.  Chi-Chi, along with his owners Mary and Rick Lane, was visiting the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  All three of the Lanes were relaxing in their own beach chairs, with Chi-Chi restrained to his chair due to a fascination of other beachgoers.  When Chi-Chi suddenly did a very strange thing: "He leapt out of his beach chair, still attached, dragging the beach chair, and he started sending out an alarm," Mary said.  "He was making a sound we never heard before.  Rick said, 'Hey, what's the matter with the dog?'  "Although nothing was wrong with Chi-Chi, something was wrong with two elderly ladies who were in the ocean.  "There was a storm surge, and there were two elderly ladies, one had fallen on her back headfirst into the surf," she said.  "The other lady, a little bitty lady about 90 pounds, was trying to hold her head up, and she was in danger of being washed out."  Both Mary and Rick sprung into action and together were able to pull the ladies out of the dangers of the riptide.  Thankfully, both ladies were just fine and the Lanes returned to their spot on the beach to find Chi-Chi fast asleep on his chair!

Additionally, the girls were to make PB&Rs using pieces of bread spread with peanut butter and topped with raisins for the birds who fly into their back yards.  Lastly, the girls learned some of the ways dogs are used in our society to help Rescue, Assist the Disabled, Work as Police Dogs, and Work as Therapy Dogs. 

Of the nine girls, five are third-year Brownies:  KelleighBrooks, Jasmine Silvey, Sofia Ruiz, Lauren Parworth, and Kaitlynn Soo. Two are second-year Brownies:  Addison McCaffree and Meghan Bailey. And, two are first-year Brownies:  Sydney Gardner and Margaret Baisley. Troop 8869 is led by Leader Margo Brooks, Co-Leader Theresa Silvey, and Co-Leader Tracey McCaffree. Troop 3632 is led by Leader Margo Baisley and Co-Leader Lisa Mizer.

For more information on adopting an animal from the FlowerMoundAnimalAdoptionCenter call 972-874-6390, visit them at 3950 Justin Road Flower Mound, Texas75028, or you can check them out online at www.flower-mound.com.