October, 2006
We received e-mail from American Eskimo Rescue on August 14, saying they had picked up a Samoyed in Oregon and brought her back to Seatac. Erin Sitterley lives close, so she did a quick assessment and took pictures. Two days later she brought Lilly to us at the Specialty in Enumclaw. Opinions differed, but she appears to be a very tiny Samoyed, probably bred by a puppy mill that claims to breed “miniature Samoyeds.” She certainly has a sammy temperament. Nancy and Doug Fenty were waiting for another dog to add to their family, so Lilly and Genie were introduced and got along well. On September 4, Lilly went to her new home.
Cosmo first came to our attention in May when we received mail from a number of people about a blind dog in Spokane. Our daughter Kristina visited him, took pictures, and we said we would help. Cosmo’s owner had gone through a divorce and Cosmo was living temporarily with a family member. We’re thankful his owner saw the need to have him neutered so we could begin looking for his new home. It’s not always easy to place a disabled dog. It took four months before we had interest in him, but the end result was a home with an experienced Sammy owner in Montana. She has had sammies for 30 years, used to show, and has another blind dog. Margo Varberg met us in Post Falls and arranged to take Cosmo to her own veterinary ophthalmologist. He confirmed that Cosmo is congenitally blind and is a dwarf, but no other obvious health issues. Margo and Cosmo went back to Bozeman and will live happily ever after. As with most special needs dogs, all fees were waived.
One of our adopters, Sheila Springer, works in Centralia. One of her patients saw her Samoyed calendar on the wall and asked if she wanted another dog, so Sheila got in touch with us right away. Oakley was given to a family about five years ago, and when they found he chased chickens they tied him out in the yard. He has lived there since. It’s a home with a single father with two children, and he works long hours and recognized that Oakley needed a better place to live. Judy Gustafson did an assessment and found a love-starved sammy of unknown age who hasn’t been groomed for five years. She went back and picked him up and brought him to us, and Oakley has been getting to know all sorts of grooming tools. His owner was told he was nine years old when he got him, which would make Oakley 14 now — and that’s clearly not the case. We estimate him at 8-10 years, with the agility and movement of a young dog. He is less than 40 pounds, skin and bones, and because he loves to eat we think they simply forgot to feed him. His first vet visit is scheduled and he is on the road to a good future.
Last April we placed two dogs together. One was Sammy, a male about a year old who had been in two homes before we got him from the shelter. The other was Emily, who we first placed as a puppy and came back a year later. The two went to live in Gig Harbor together, despite our feelings that it might be too much for the family to handle. We need to listen to our experience, because they are coming back to us this week. Two dogs, active and under 2 years old, would be a handful for any sammy family, let alone a home where training isn’t a priority. We’ll look long and hard before we place two young dogs together in the future.
Annie is a dog in the Seattle area, bought 10 years ago as a puppy, who needs a new home now because she barks too much. Our first efforts are always to counsel, advise, and try to keep a dog in its current home, but this owner made up his mind before he called us. She is being boarded now, will be kept by a friend for a week, and then we will bring her here if a home isn’t found first.
We’re also in the process of getting information on a male Samoyed on Whidbey Island. He was given to friends when his owners went to Germany, and now they are getting transferred to Guam. There’s an applicant locally, and we will try to work something out so they can adopt directly.
As the ones at the rescue table at the National in Post Falls, we want to thank Van, Liz, and the rest of the committee for their support. Our location was great and we met a lot of people we knew only from e-mail. One of the greatest parts of participating was meeting other rescuers for the first time, like Dorinda from Utah and Beverley from San Francisco. Although there have been a lot of politics in rescue in recent years, we proved again that we can all work together for our dogs.
The Rescue Parade was Tuesday evening; ten dogs participated. Sunny Bear came with Christine Kiernan from California; Celine Cutler brought Makita and China; Jim and Doris Commons had Saskia and Suni; Tom and Erin Sitterley brought Piper and Dory; Karen Johnson and Sam came from Walla Walla, George Johnson and Louise Goodman accompanied Tramp; and our dog Shadow was there, escorted by Diane Dings of SamUrgency.
Sadly, we have to report that less than two weeks later, George and Louise lost Tramp after he bloated and died before they could get him to the vet. Tramp has always been one of our favorites because of his unique, gentle spirit. We met him first when he was being fostered by Steve Madsen, and he has been a faithful attendee of the rescue picnic every year. We always joked that he was the only dog we knew who could surf the picnic tables without ever taking his feet off the ground, but he was so polite we never worried about it. Tramp’s passing has been a blow to all of us, and we mourn the loss of such a wonderful dog.