April 2017
Snow has been here for two months, most of it waiting for a previous adopter to come meet her. We usually try to move dogs to new homes as soon as possible, in less than two weeks if possible. After that, they think they are in their new home and it means another readjustment when they move again. In this case, there was cancer treatment involved and we waited till she got the green light that it was in remission. That happened last week, and on the 10th she came to meet Snow.
Things don’t always happen the way we expect. We agreed that Snow wasn’t the right dog for her. She has a strong prey drive and our adopter has begun fostering feral cats. It’s something we didn’t realize, so Snow stays with us for a little longer. We are working our way through the waiting list and no doubt she will find the right new home.
Snow is one of the most remarkable Sammies we have ever fostered. We know she is over nine years old, but when she plays with Rowdy she is like the Energizer Bunny. He will be two years old in July, and is as wild as any young boy at that age, but she more than keeps up with him. We joke that we could easily pass off Snow as a five year old. Now that she thinks she is part of the pack she has tested us a little, digging in the yard and chewing on throw rugs. In other words, a perfectly normal Samoyed. This is a picture of a happy dog who just dug a new hole.Ten years ago, we picked up a badly bred Sammy at a Seattle shelter. A few weeks later while I was petting her she seemed much fatter than she was not long before. Bobbie visited and estimated we would have puppies in about five days. The next day a vet disagreed, saying it would be two weeks. The vet was wrong, and five days later Katie presented us with three healthy puppies (and one that didn’t make it). In addition to coming immediately to help when the puppies began coming, Bobbie brought all her whelping supplies to us and our lives changed for the next eight weeks.
A few days ago, Sue reminded us that those puppies are now ten years old, and sent us a wonderful picture of Sadie. It turned out Katie wasn’t a Samoyed; DNA tests showed quite a mix. It didn’t matter, and we kept her here the rest of her life. The pups’ sire was certainly not a Sammy either, but the kids sure turned out cute. The gallery we posted in 2007 is at https://nwsams.smugmug.com/Rescue/Katies-Puppies/. This is Sadie now.
A few weeks ago we were asked about the possibility of helping with a 7 year old male in Beaverton who isn’t doing well, now that there is a baby in the house. He has separation anxiety and they were exploring what to do with him. At this report’s deadline we were asked to arrange a meeting to talk about what to do, and Melissa will visit them. We would like to help them train him so he can stay in the home he knows, but we will probably end up taking him.
This month there was a Craigslist post about a lost dog in Issaquah, who fortunately was found in a day or two. We heard from the owner and learned he had escaped through an invisible fence. As we always try to explain, Samoyeds are too intelligent for that kind of containment, and they judge whether something they see is worth a brief shock. The dog’s owner agrees, and will now look into a real fence. We’re glad it turned out well.
Every so often we send email to everyone on our waiting list, asking them to answer if they wish to remain on the waiting list. It had been two years, and we had 37 families waiting. Of those, 17 answered. We get about 3 dogs a year, so it’s a testament to how much people want this breed that they continue waiting. Some have been on that list for years.