May/June, 2006

In last month’s report we told you about three young sammies, all under two years old, and all being fostered in our home at once. “Our Three Sammies” sounds like a great title for a TV show, doesn’t it? And believe me, there were plenty of good story ideas. Fortunately, two of the three are now in their adoptive homes so we’ll call off that series before it starts.

Sammy is now named Zuke, his third name in that many months and the most important he will have because it’s forever. He was at the Tacoma Humane Society in March and adopted out before we could get there. After escaping several times in a month from that home, he was picked up and taken there again, and this time they called us so we could get him in a home that understands the breed. His only problem was excess energy, and that was handled by his being adopted along with Emily.

Emily is a mix of Samoyed and collie, or golden, or something else that also has a great temperament. We first placed her as a puppy over a year ago into a home that didn’t understand she needed training. Emily is a tall girl they allowed to do as she pleased, and the family decided to send her back because they couldn’t handle her. We were fond of Emily when she first came as a puppy, even more when she stayed with us this time. She bonds quickly to humans and only wants to please and play! When she first got here this time, she had some scabs on her neck, but they didn’t seem to bother her and were healing well — or so we thought. After she got to her new home she became ill and a deep tissue infection was discovered. After a number of vet visits, a change of vets, and more than one course of antibiotics, we are pleased to tell you she is healthy and back to normal. Because this was a problem she evidently had before she was adopted, we decided to return the adoption fees for both dogs to help pay the bills.

Nikki was in the Everett shelter when we found him, and he was quickly sprung by Erin Sitterley and fostered by Lon & Mary. He is a terrific young dog and we had no trouble at all finding him a great new home. How great? Well, these are people who drove their motor home 250 miles each way so Nikki would have a comfortable ride home. He now lives in Kalama with his new mom and dad.

Roxie has been with us since early March. She has a heart murmur caused by a defective valve (pulmonic stenosis) but shows no symptoms and has no problems. She is less than two years old, very friendly and full of the energy you expect from a dog that young. She also has distichiasis, an eyelash growing in the wrong place and irritating her eye. Our vet wanted us to take her to a veterinary ophthalmologist, but we finally convinced him to do it for us to hold down the cost. When it actually came time for the surgery and they sedated her, they discovered it could be corrected with minor electro cautery. She has already healed, and very soon will have another visitor asking about adopting her.

Sadie came into our lives after a pretty rough life. She had a systemic yeast infection, bad skin, and her ear is bent over from damage done by an untreated infection and hematoma. Both ears had raging yeast infections, as did other parts that made her uncomfortable. When she first arrived she was fearful and aggressive to the other dogs, but quickly learned to be tolerant of the pack. We estimate her to be around 7-8 years old. She got baths every couple days for a while, then twice a week, until her fungus was under control. Despite her interaction with dogs, Sadie is a love sponge with people. We found an applicant in Redmond looking for her first dog, and when she visited we saw the strongest reaction between foster dog and human we’ve seen yet. Sadie went to her, sat with her, and within a minute was on her back getting a tummy scratch. Sadie is now ecstatic in her new home. Her new mom even took two weeks off from work to get her settled in.

We work frequently with Angie Brainard in northern Idaho, who does Coonhound Rescue and has been instrumental in getting several sammies to us. Angie found a dog with a couple in Athol who wanted to find their dog Ice a new home because he had been escaping and killing their ducks and geese. We sent them a release form, and Angie was following up when she learned Ice had escaped again and the husband shot him. We are deeply saddened that they chose not to call Angie, who would have picked him up within 5 minutes (and they knew that). It is forcing us to re-think our policy of leaving owner-surrender dogs with their owners while we look for new homes.

There’s another Bear in LaGrande, one more dog resulting from the wanna-be backyard breeder who bought dogs from a Utah puppy mill. Bear comes from the same people who gave us Roxie, and he was so badly matted he had to be shaved. The groomer said his coat came off like a sheep being sheared, almost all in one piece. In the middle of this month, Cathie Falck (without whom we could not save nearly as many dogs) will drive him as far as Kalama and we will arrange transport to foster. Bare Bear was just neutered and his coat will hopefully start growing back quickly.

Our second Shasta in a year is coming soon, this time a male about 6 years old. He was bred by Sue Roberts, whose dogs have been frequent fliers in Rescue. It appears he is a half brother to our own Charlie, and his owner is unemployed and looking for a good home as he moves to California. The owner and dog are tightly bonded and we’re sorry to see this happen, and it’s possible we may be able to work out a way to keep them together. Unfortunately he has not had vet care for a long time, and has a yeast infection and is badly matted. We may take him into Rescue to ensure he gets the care he needs. Time will tell.

Cosmo is six years old, and blind since he was four months old. He may also suffer slightly from dwarfism but we aren’t positive about that yet. His owner was divorced and placed him with her ex mother-in-law six months ago, but he now needs a new home. We have a signed release, but in this case we are comfortable leaving him where he is while we search for someone to adopt him. There is a possibility we may have found one in Vancouver, but it remains for them to meet. His owner says Cosmo gets around as easily as a sighted dog; having lived with Shadow for four years we can attest to a blind dog having very few problems in life.

Home visits are an important part of rescue and an easy thing to do. All of us who have sammies understand what to look for almost instinctively, and we have a form if you want to know what to look for. Whether or not you have ever done a rescue home visit, we could use your help. Right now we have a dozen or so people waiting for dogs, with most still needing home visits. We delay most until they move up the list, since many find dogs elsewhere while waiting, but a few could be done so they are ready to adopt when we find the right dog. We are also constantly looking for foster homes.

Thank you to Joy Ritter, who did a visit in Kalama, and to Erin Sitterley who has twice dropped everything to pull dogs from the Everett shelter (Nikki and Sadie). Cathie Falck has almost made a career of finding dogs in eastern Oregon who need help. Lon and Mary have been fostering rescue dogs for over a decade, always ready to take a dog with little or no notice, always giving them the love they need while awaiting new homes. We appreciate the time and effort given by so many to the dogs who need us!