February 2016
In the past month we heard about three dogs. One was in McKenna, one in Spokane, and one in Billings. All of them were posted on Craigslist, all were contacted by rescue, and none of them acknowledged our mail. It’s the way of the internet and often discouraging. Finally, a day before this report was written, we made contact with an all-breed rescue that has a Samoyed mix (perhaps a purebred, but we don’t know yet). Melissa is going to visit and assess the dog, and then we will have the info we need.
Update February 14: During our discussions with the rescue we were told Bella bit her foster mom, and we will not take a biter into rescue. Depending on the assessment, sometimes we will refer people, so Melissa arranged to meet the dog in Portland. We were told she was a Samoyed or Sammy mix named Bella. Melissa discovered a huge dog, probably a good hundred pounds. What Melissa found was definitely a mix, and whether she has any Samoyed is beside the point, because after warming up to Melissa for a half hour, Bella attacked her. It wasn’t just a bite, but a full-on attack. One second Bella was nuzzling her hand, and the next she had hold of her arm. Melissa is experienced and was able to get away, but not without some bite wounds. We know now that “that’s what Bella did before” with the foster mom and two other people. Our advice to the rescue group is that this dog has to be euthanized. Melissa will recover from painful but relatively minor wounds; this is a first we would rather not have.
One of our previous adopters asked if we can help them bring a dog north from Eureka, California. Although she isn’t a Sammy, we will always do what we can, so we contacted San Francisco rescue and they told us it was a safe, no-kill shelter. The adopter will make contact, and we hope we can do more.
We are sorry we had a request to help an adopter diagnosed with cancer. There is only one rule in a case like this; we will do what they ask (and keep our fingers crossed). This is an appropriate time to ask you an important question. Are you prepared? For the sake of your dogs, make plans now. Write out your directions and keep them clipped to your will (or have your attorney draw it up properly). If you want rescue to help, please tell us so we can ask the right questions now while they can be answered. Who do you want to take your dogs, and where do they go? We always worry that our dogs will leave us too soon, but the opposite can happen. Take a moment to think about it, or better yet put your wishes on paper.
We in Northwest Samoyed Rescue are also trying to plan ahead. Although we’re helping fewer dogs than we used to, we will probably never hit the zero mark. That means we’ll always need someone willing to help Samoyeds who find themselves in a bad situation. We won’t be around forever, and we need people willing to begin working with us for that eventual transition. Right now it’s going well — but the IRS rules say if we ever stop that we have to give away our funds to other 501c3 non-profits. If that happens nobody will be helping our Sammies in the northwest. If you have considered helping run the group, now is the time to do it while we are all around to make it happen easily. Please give it some thought.