April 2012
About four days before Easter, a woman living west of Cle Elum noticed a stray white dog hanging around an intersection not far from her home. She tried to approach the dog, who always ran across to the opposite of a stream to get away. Fortunately the woman was on a Sled Dog group on Facebook and posted about the dog there. Several others tried to help, but nobody could get her to come close.
About this time we were notified, and Kathy Thomas offered to drive to the area the day before Easter to see what she could do. We know Kathy’s abilities with dogs and expected if anyone could approach a stray it would be her. She took along Isis, as well as a lot of chicken treats.
Kathy spent the day driving the roads around that area, checking in with other people who were searching, and mid-afternoon she spotted the dog. She sensed the dog would run if she opened the door, so she sat and talked to her and offered treats out the window. After enough time passed she was able to open the door and the dog came to her.
The previous day, the woman who first posted about her said she had faith that she would be caught and taken care of, and since it was the day before Easter she began referring to the dog as Faith. Since coming up with names for all our fosters is always difficult, that sounded just fine with us.
Kathy took Faith to the woman’s house so she could meet her, and then took her home for the night. Others had already placed ads on Craigslist, and we think some flyers were posted, and since nobody has responded we believe Faith may have been dumped. A clue to that is the fact she stayed around the same intersection for at least three days. She has scabs on the back of her neck that make it likely she was caught by another dog or some other animal but was able to escape. It’s no wonder she was fearful and reluctant to get close to anybody. We placed three more ads on different Craigslists and will put notices in the newspapers in the area, but at this point we don’t expect anyone to claim her.
On Easter morning, Kathy Manor drove north to Kathy Thomas’s home and picked up Faith, answering the question “What do rescuers do on holidays?” Since then Faith has been here, settling in. We have determined a number of things about her; she is quite young, probably over a year old but certainly less than two. She is not spayed, and may not have had her first heat cycle. There was a question on the Sled Dog list about whether she is a white Sibe, but Joy visited and is sure Faith is a badly bred purebred Samoyed, so that’s how we will place her. She has soft brown eyes, and her personality is Sammy.
Faith has more than enough energy to go around, and it appears she has never been indoors before. She was not housebroken, but is learning quickly, as we expected she would. She has learned to stand next to a door when she needs out, and always returns quickly after going out. It’s no surprise she likes to chew, and she is active from dawn to dusk. She does sleep in a wire crate soundly all night.
Since Faith came in as a stray we have to make a serious effort to find her family, so we won’t be placing her immediately. With twenty applications on hand we definitely have good homes available, so when we are confident she was dumped we can let her go to a new home.
Chip and Ozzy, our senior fosters, are still with us and doing well. Both have been increasing in strength and becoming friendlier every month they are here. We expect both will be here as hospice dogs the rest of their lives.
Ryann sent late word that SPDR received a message from someone who wants to surrender a six year old male. It sounds like that may be next month’s work. This is the time of the year we usually get busy in rescue.