July, 2006
Roxie was with us for three months after coming from eastern Oregon. She had a heart murmur, not serious but a definite obstacle to finding a home. Luckily, we had an application from a doctor who understood her problem and thought it was something she could live with. This is a woman who already has a paraplegic sammy with her own set of wheels, who is committed to giving her dogs the best possible lives. Roxie sensed right away that this would be a great new mom from the minute she walked in the door. Roxie met her new sister, everyone got along, and we’re thrilled that Roxie now lives in Portland.
We told you last month about Shasta, a six year old male in Shelton who needed a new home. While we were searching, his owner put an ad in the paper and placed him on his own. Although we had a signed release, there wasn’t anything we could do but hope for the best. As it happens we had done a home visit on Shasta’s new home several years ago and turned them down for lack of fence, but we can still hope it works out. Once again we had to look hard at our policy of leaving dogs with their owners while we look for new homes. The bottom line is until we get people to step forward and offer to foster, this is the way we have to do rescue.
Cosmo is a perfect example of a sammy who needs a foster home. He is with a woman who isn’t a dog person and would rather not have him there, but there is no place to put him. Cosmo is blind, and although 70-80 people each week look at his Petfinder listing we’ve only had one inquiry in over a month. We know well that a blind dog is no problem to live with, but of course it’s hard to convince people.
Last month we told you about Sadie, an older girl who went to a first-time dog owner. In the time we’ve done rescue, it was the most positive meeting we’ve ever seen; human and dog bonded instantly. Sadie’s new mom had just successfully completed chemo and celebrated by getting the dog she always wanted. She took two weeks off work to help Sadie settle in.
Well, sometimes life isn’t what you expect. Ten days after her placement, Sadie had blood in her urine and was diagnosed with bladder cancer. Her new mom had her to the vet for surgery immediately. Sadie recovered quickly but tests showed they weren’t able to get it all. Throughout this, her new mom has had an amazingly positive attitude, especially considering she is a cancer survivor herself. She has elected to keep Sadie with her and do everything possible to make her comfortable. They are taking walks, having great times together, and refusing to let this get to them. We think if we do rescue for a hundred years, we could never meet a more perfect adopter. We returned the adoption fee, plus a bit extra, to help Sadie with medical bills. If anybody else wants to offer assistance, we will pass it along and give you our gratitude.
Bear is another dog from the Mona, Utah puppy mill by way of eastern Oregon. He was one of their stud dogs for four years, then sold to a woman in the LaGrande area as a stud for her Malamute. After two years she got tired of him and gave him to Cathie Falck. Cathie found a foster home and had him neutered, then he came here. Officially we’re fostering him for Samoyed Rescue of Oregon while they repair their kennels, which gives us the experience of watching him blossom and come out of his shell. His coat was so matted he was shaved before he got here, so we’re also getting to watch how fast sammy hair really grows. We expect Bear to move to a forever home with an experienced sammy family very soon.