April 2019
The most significant thing to happen in the past month was the improvement of Sophie and Tessa. We weaned them off Prozac, which we gave for most of the past year to help with their fear. They are becoming much more normal dogs and exploring the house now. Kathy can approach them most of the time, and I have finally been able to get Sophie to take food from my hand. Tessa has been slower to trust ever since she arrived, and we are still waiting for her to get close when it’s her own choice. Fortunately she can catch treats. In the past week they both have moved to the kitchen when resting, something we were waiting for. I hand out bits of crackers each morning, and they now come to the office to participate. sAfter 14 months they are finally integrating into the pack. Their spays were last month and they went well; we expected some lasting fear from being at the vet, but both have continued to do well. It turned out they were just beginning their heat cycles, but because
of the stress of being at the vet we elected to spay them anyway. There were fortunately no problems. Becoming normal dogs has a down side. They now bark at night when we go to bed, and both have learned to jump a gate. They definitely need a lot more exercise than they did before.
Fena is still with Kathi and making great progress. She lets her leash be clipped on, knows some basic obedience commands, and is progressing faster than our two. Soon she may even tolerate a bath.
Annie has been here since November, learning how to be a dog. She is still very young, and we are at least her fourth home. She barks, chews, counter-surfs, and digs. Does she ever dig! We put her out in the small yard with Sophie and Tessa to exercise them, and she taught them to dig too.
Our yard may never be the same. We had her scheduled to be spayed last month, and the day before the appointment she came into heat. We rescheduled for April 17. One positive thing about her heat is that she seems more mellow now. Whether it is a consequence or a coincidence, it’s nice. Annie is calmer and that’s good. We think we found the right home and we will schedule a home visit soon. Annie is developing into one of the nicest dogs we’ve had in a long time.
We have begun to see dogs for sale in the Plummer, Idaho area. The word is that a group of Mennonites has begun selling them. There were rumors that Prairieland Kennel, from whom we got the three Iowa dogs, was going to sell the rest of his dogs to someone in Idaho, and that may have happened. The pictures we saw of dogs look much like Sophie, Tessa, Fena, and the rest of the Iowa puppy mill dogs.
Laura Brice organized an auction at the WVSF Specialty to benefit Northwest Samoyed Rescue. At this writing we don’t have exact details, but it was successful and she raised well over $300. We are blessed to have good friends helping us.