Thanks to Holley, we almost never go more than twelve hours without hearing about new dogs listed on Craigslist. She checks faithfully twice a day, every day of the year. Her dedication is legendary, and the last day of November found her on vacation, running scripts from her computer in Maui. She let us know about a Salem dog that was just listed; we called the phone number and left a message, then followed up with email, but heard nothing. As happens on many of these, the listing was taken down by the owner a few hours later and we will probably never know what happened.

Another dog popped up in the Kalispell shelter, listed as a Sammy mix but probably a Husky. Sandy went to check and let us know it was one we shouldn’t take. Sometimes a negative answer is as valuable as a positive answer, and having volunteers like Sandy is an important part of our rescue family.

A few days ago we had a question about temporary fostering for two dogs, and we will follow up as we find out the exact circumstances. At this point it doesn’t sound like an emergency, but these things have a habit of changing abruptly.

During the Christmas season we benefit from the purchases made on Amazon by our friends. If you go to www.nwsams.com/amazon and click the logo, Northwest Samoyed Rescue will receive a little bit of purchases made on Amazon. It costs you nothing and rescue benefits quite a bit. Imagine how much the dogs would be helped if all your Amazon purchases were done that way. We also have a reminder on the website for those who shop at Fred Meyer because they have a similar program. If you want the exact instructions write to rescue@nwsams.com and you’ll get everything you need.

It’s also the time when many of you make end-of-year donations. We are a 501(c)3 federal non-profit and your donations to Northwest Samoyed Rescue are tax deductible. If your check isn’t enough documentation for your tax account, we’re happy to send a statement showing what a generous and cool person you are.

Whether it’s Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, or Happy Holidays, we hope you have a wonderful holiday season and 2016 is filled with clouds of Sammy hair.

Every so often something happens in rescue that we haven’t seen before. For example, this month we took in the sister of a dog we had in rescue a year and a half ago. Her name is Missy and she came from the area around Pendleton. Her first owner gave her away to her sister in Idaho, and her sister is moving. Fortunately for Missy and rescue, Hollie Eller heard about her and stepped in to help.

Hollie picked her up and fostered her through her spay surgery, and as a bonus she did a beautiful job of grooming Missy (it’s rare we get a dog that has been professionally groomed and is ready for adoption). We put out the word that Missy needed transportation to the west side, and within a day it was all arranged. A thousand thanks to Tom and Barb, who made a 220 mile round trip to Lewiston to meet Hollie and Missy. Most of the drive was made after dark, and it was in the face of a WSU game night and thousands of oncoming headlights. The next morning a new friend named Deb met them, Missy was handed off, and Kathy met her in Federal Way late that afternoon. Transports are usually difficult to arrange, but this went as smoothly as could be.

Once we got Missy here we could compare her to Lily, the girl we found in the Walla Walla shelter in April last year, only 40 miles from the first home Missy had. Lily is the one who was covered with ticks, living with puppies along the river, and when we first saw a picture of Missy we thought they might be related. Once they were together it was obvious they are litter sisters, dead ringers for each other. They are both unusually small, badly bred (sorry, girls) but as sweet as dogs can be. Hollie told us Missy was wonderful with her grandkids, and Lily is good with our grandkids.

Many of you already know Russ and Joan in Portland, who lost their Sammy earlier this year. That’s hard on people who have had Samoyeds for over 35 years, and they were on our waiting list hoping for a female the age of Missy, which made this adoption a no-brainer. We only fostered Missy for two nights before they came to meet her, and she happily left with them for her new home.

We’re sorry to say that Iona, the senior Sammy girl taken in by a rescuer in eastern Washington, has a spindle cell tumor in her mouth and the prognosis isn’t good. She is 16 years old and her foster mom is taking her to WSU for a second opinion. They aren’t going to do anything aggressive, and will look for whatever will make her most comfortable. We are glad Iona has had the opportunity to spend time with Sandy, her foster mom, to learn what a loving dog home is all about. If there is something that can be done we will help Sandy publicize her fundraising.

Many thanks go to those great friends who helped us this month getting Missy here from Idaho. A special mention goes to Hollie, who picked her up and fostered her through surgery. It’s humbling to have friends like Hollie, Tom, and Barb.

Back in May we had a call from the Everett shelter and picked up an eleven year old girl by the name of Princess. She had lived in the yard all her life and was actually a little confused being in the house. It took us a little time to realize the reason she wasn’t eating was because she didn’t understand food being in a metal dish. When someone suggested her owners may have tossed food out the door for her we began feeding on the floor and she ate with enthusiasm. These months later she still doesn’t like a dish, so we have a special towel we put on a pillow, and her food goes on it.

Princess was initially afraid of everything. She was suddenly mixed in with other dogs and humans who wanted to be social, very different than her previous life. Gradually she came around nicely, albeit slowly, and we mark the special occasions like sneaking up beside one of us and waiting for petting. Her tail is up most of the time now, and when we call her in from the yard she runs happily toward the house. We expect she will stay with us because she isn’t a good candidate for adoption. We will enjoy her as long as she stays. The is nothing as special as a senior Sammy.

It has been a slow month in rescue. Another few applications come in each month, and we always have to say our waiting list is long and getting longer, while no dogs have needed our help. Recently we modified our application webpage to ask people not to apply unless they want an older dog, but still we have people who want young dogs or puppies. We try to help people who ask us to find a breeder’s dog, so if you know of an adult dog that is available, please let us know.

Do you remember Jack, who came into rescue a couple years ago? He had hairless patches all over his body and he was over 110 pounds. After finding him a home that didn’t work out, he came back and we decided he should stay. Over the months he has lost weight until he is now 60 pounds. We’ve had him on thyroid medicine and his coat has grown back except for his tail. We modified the meds slightly and will be taking him back to the vet in a month for more tests. Jack is one of the most mellow, well behaved, and loving dogs we have had.

Ron, Kathy, Melissa, Terry, and Joy make up the board for Northwest Samoyed Rescue. All of us are past retirement age now, and we can’t run rescue forever. If someone is willing to help, and perhaps someday take over, now is the time to step forward. We can all work with our replacements to make a smooth transition as long as we are still here. We can still do most of the work while you get experience. Otherwise, someday it’s going to be a difficult transition — or maybe Samoyed Rescue will disappear. There will always be dogs who need us and we don’t want that to happen.

Northwest Samoyed Rescue is looking for someone with experience listing items on eBay. If you know how to list things and can help us, please let us know. Rescue has a stack of donated items and none of us has time to spend on eBay sales. If you can help we will be very glad to hear from you.

Every so often a placement doesn’t work and it’s nobody’s fault. Holly is the young dog we placed in a wonderful home a month ago. Her name was Bebe and she came from north Seattle. She moved in with two other Sammies, and for a while everything went perfectly. Then Holly (her new name) and another dog decided they didn’t like each other. In our experience, once that happens there is no chance they will get along well again. With great reluctance they decided Holly should have another home, and she moved back in with us.

We had applicants in the Portland area with experience with Samoyeds and they have been waiting a long time. They came to visit Holly and it was a good match so she went home with them. They are committed to making it work and they understand she needs training (within a day they had scheduled it). The only problem is their cat; we thought Holly would be fine based on her experience with chickens but she chased the cat on sight. The people are still working on that and we have our fingers crossed.

We had a request from the Make-A-Wish Foundation to help a boy who just had a bone marrow transplant. He loves Samoyeds and they asked if we could help arrange a meeting with a bunch of Sams. By the time you read this the meeting will have taken place, and right now it looks like a large group will have taken part. The organizer keeps saying how impressed she is a the number of people willing to help, and we keep thinking what a great bunch of friends we have. After the gathering we’ll put a link on our website to the pictures.

Early in July, Holley forwarded a Craigslist ad about a young dog in St. Helens named Andy. The owner was looking for a new home, so we called and talked to her.  She was receptive because she has also done rescue, and after a long conversation we agreed to share one of the applicants on our waiting list. Her name is Carol and she lives on the Oregon coast. The owner took Andy to visit her, and the match was excellent. Sometimes we take in dogs to foster, and sometimes we play matchmaker. This was the first time someone decided to keep their old dogs and let the young, adoptable dog be placed. We are still marveling over that.

In February we worked with the owner of a young female Samoyed in Seattle, and the day we were ready to pick her up they changed their mind, something about getting permission from their landlord. A month ago we heard from the same person, who said his roommate (the owner) was moving back to southern China and their vet said it was too hot there for a Samoyed. Once again we arranged to get her, and this time it went smoothly. Bebe was only 13 months old and a ball of fire, as busy as any dog we have had in a dozen years. She was well behaved but almost frantic in her activity.

Bebe moved back to Seattle to join two other Sammies in a home that turned out to be as perfect as any we have had. Her new name is Holly. Her activity level perplexed them too, and after a day they decided to hold her down and check her entire body. What they found was a very thin mat of hair behind one ear they called almost undetectable, tight against the skin. When they touched it she was visibly hurt by the touch. With patience and a great deal of time they clipped out the mat in about fifty little bits, and the more they cut out the more she relaxed. From that day forward her whole personality changed. Even though it shows that we missed something while she was here, it’s one more thing to consider when your dog is acting oddly.

Another strange event is also worth mentioning here. We chipped a young dog a couple years ago; when he went to the vet recently they couldn’t find it. We use AVID chips specifically because it can be read by any reader of any age, so it definitely wasn’t in the dog. Chipping a Samoyed is an art because of all that long hair, and we have developed a procedure over the years. After chipping we comb the area and check again, then let the dog run for a while and comb and check again. More than once we found the chip was stuck in the hair because it hadn’t been placed correctly.

A week ago there was a conversation on a Facebook group and I learned there are many people who have Sammies whose chip is no longer found. Whether there was a fault in a reader, a chip not placed correctly, or a chip that was bad, we strongly suggest you periodically ask your vet to scan for a chip. Over the years we have recovered a number of dogs specifically because of the microchip, so it’s vital you know it works. If it’s a chip we implanted here, and your vet can’t find it, we will send you another one your vet can implant.

Princess is still here and will probably live the rest of her life with us. She is getting better but will always be a fearful dog. Spending eleven years in a back yard without people has affected her social skills. We’ve been making small breakthroughs, and she will come inside now when called. Just a few days ago she was in the far part of the yard when called, and she came running with her tail up and a big smile. Those are the days that make rescue worthwhile.

You may remember Chip and Ozzy, who came as a pair of senior Sammies four years ago. Their owner couldn’t keep them and had no money for vet care. They got what they needed here and Ozzy lived two more years, leaving us in 2013 at 15 years old.  Chip has been a perfect gentleman during his tenure here, always polite and respectful of the other dogs. Back in February we thought he had reached the end, but a trip to the vet showed he wasn’t ready yet. We bought a carrying harness and have been picking him up when he wanted to move since then. A persistent cough earned another trip to the vet a week ago, and this time it was something we couldn’t fix. He was tired and ready this time, so Chip left us on August 6. He was 14½. It’s hard to believe what a large hole can be left by such a quiet dog.

We are finding fewer dogs each year to place and still trying to come up with the reason, but some of it may be the increased use of Craigslist. We’d wish we could say anything that keeps dogs out of rescue is good, but an alarming number of dogs on Craigslist aren’t being re-homed as much as being sold. Twice this past month there were dogs listed, and we wrote for information without getting an answer. Sometimes people simply don’t know what rescue is about, but more often they are really trying to sell their dog.

In mid-June we learned of a Samoyed at the Tacoma Humane Society, found as a stray. When we called to check on him they told us the owner was known and was coming in. Two days later he was still listed so we called again. The owner had come in but agreed he should be neutered before release. That’s what happened, and he is back home again.

One of the most dismaying emails comes when someone decides they want to surrender an old dog. We had one of those from a woman who has been caring for a 14 year old Sammy for two years for a friend, and wanted to place her. This case turned out better than most; we wrote back and explained how unfair it was to the dog, and the woman agreed to keep her. It developed that she was one of those rare people who was trying to do it for the dog’s sake (she is gone a lot). We suggested some options and things worked out OK for the dog.

Princess, who has been here since late May, is getting better. She is a timid dog, afraid of anything new, a result of being a yard dog for her entire 11 years. We are helping her get used to being an inside dog, living with people. In the past few weeks she is beginning to raise her tail when she sees us, and once in a while comes straight to us. It’s sad to think she spent her whole life alone; it’s challenging to work through the problems, but as rewarding as rescue can be to see the slow, steady improvement. She prefers to be alone in a bedroom where it’s quiet, so we leave her there part of the day. An odd result of her past is that she won’t eat out of a bowl. It’s as though her food was always thrown out in the yard, and that’s what she thinks is normal. Lately we’ve given her meals by putting kibble on a pillow, and she is happy with that.

Princess had a limp most of her life. The shelter was so disgusted with the prior owners they gave us all her medical records, which amounted to two meager pages of notes, each visit describing a limp. She has been to our vet several times now trying to diagnose the problem, and it appears to be a tear in the cruciate ligament. At this age we’d rather not use surgery, so our vet described a procedure they have begun doing called “platelet enhanced therapy” or “platelet rich plasma,” abbreviated PET or PRP depending on the vet. They draw blood and concentrate the blood platelets into the serum with a centrifuge, then inject that platelet rich serum directly into the joint. There is good information at http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/the-blood-injections-that-might-transform-orthopedics.

We had the procedure performed on Princess on July 8. If it works, the improvement should appear in another week or so and we’re crossing our fingers. She has had a sore leg most of her life and deserves to feel better. There was extra serum so they also injected the other knee. PRP isn’t cheap, but it’s a lot less expensive than surgery.

Our 16th annual rescue picnic was July 11. It was the smallest to date, as you might expect with so many fewer dogs being placed. Two and three years ago the count was about 40 people and 40 dogs; last year it was closer to 25, and this year we had 19 people and 18 dogs (and 6 of those were ours). After weeks and weeks of heat, we had rain that morning but it stayed dry during the picnic. As people were departing the rain began again, so we had a lucky day. It was great to sit around talking to a yard full of dogs and people. Here’s the group shot from this year. Two of our attendees could only be here for a short time and aren’t pictured, but I think the picture shows all the rest. We are considering scheduling next year’s picnic on a Sunday for the first time so people who haven’t been able to attend can join us. We would be interested to hear what you think of the idea.

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Both the dogs we had last month are in great new homes. Samson, the young male, is now in the Portland area and is the center of attention in the house. Sophie, the five year old alpha female, found her perfect home in Bremerton with a single guy and no other dogs. We were lucky in both cases to find homes perfectly suited for them.

Later in May we took in Princess, a dog from Woodinville. Her family bought her at eight weeks old, and when she reached eleven they took her to the shelter. Even worse, if that’s possible, is that she spent her entire life in the yard and wasn’t allowed in the house. She has been here for several weeks and is barely used to the idea of being inside. She still spends the majority of her time in our laundry room. We have to be careful not to make sudden moves because she is spooked easily. It is obvious she wasn’t treated well in her former life. If we go outside with her and sit on the edge of the deck she comes to us and likes the attention. Inside she allows us to get close, but it’s as though she has been punished for running. We are asking her to spend nights in a bedroom and she is getting used to it. Her tail wags, but isn’t up much, so we know she wants to make friends with her new humans. She has a limp, which our vet thinks is a muscle strain, so she is on an NSAID for a while. X-rays show her bones are in good condition.

Princess is making slow but steady progress, with some occasional bad days interspersed with the good. We know this is a dog we will probably have here for the rest of her life. We’re glad she gets along with the others, as she has since she first walked into the house. When we find a dog who has been mistreated our usual attitude is to look forward toward her future and forget about the past. In the case of this dog it’s more difficult than usual to overlook her former owners.

Another Samoyed (we think) was taken into a foster home in Central Washington with a woman who does northern breed rescue. The dog’s name is Iona and she was left behind in a bathroom when her family moved out. She was found several days later, weak and filthy but alive. They had to clip her coat short but she is doing much better now. Her age is probably about ten but could be years either side of that. She has a typical Sammy personality, and the only reason we aren’t positive about breed is that clipped coat. Her teeth are terrible; most will need to be pulled. Her eyes are a bit cloudy. Iona seems quite content to now be with someone who values dogs.

Nevada rescue wrote about a young female they had, and we heard back that Utah Samoyed Rescue has taken her in and already found her a home. The idea of a National Samoyed Rescue has not worked out well, but we are glad to report the western rescues all work together well, and we all try to help each other.

We would like to thank a number of volunteers who wrote back when we asked for home visits last month. Erin, Carole, Kim, and Kathy all spoke up and offered to help. We’re especially grateful to Lon and Mary, who are always there for us when we need a foster home.

Invitations to the annual Rescue picnic will go out soon, but this is the last report before it happens. Our adopters, friends, and club members are all invited to our home on Saturday, July 11 for a potluck picnic. Please RSVP so we know how many are coming.

After six months without taking in a dog, we have two fosters who arrived a day apart.
Last month we had a call asking us to take a dog who lived in Woodinville. The people didn’t have time for her and they thought she should have a family better suited to care for her. It’s the most often heard excuse for giving up a dog, and it’s the lamest. It usually means “we bought a dog from a backyard breeder and they didn’t tell us how much work it would be.” In this case it also means mom and daughter wanted a dog, but dad didn’t and he finally won. Sophie is quite overweight and has a thyroid problem probably related to weight. It makes her frantic to get to food. She is gradually losing weight here and has gone from 88 to 83 in a month. That’s about as fast as we want to change her. Her family walked her because they don’t have a fence, so she is used to a leash.

Despite her past being relegated to one room in the house, Sophie is a truly sweet girl who absolutely loves people. We are looking for a strong home with people who understand her past and can see a wonderful future with her. We’re sure that weight loss will help her thyroid deficiency and may even eliminate it. She is a remarkably strong alpha bitch.

We had a call from a family in Centralia last month saying someone gave them a dog. From their story, a guy they didn’t know was walking down the street while they were in the yard, and he said he had been kicked out of his house, had nowhere to go, and would they take his dog? They took him to their vet for a quick check and a microchip scan but nothing was found. They kept him for three weeks and realized he was too large for their house; they already had two small dogs. That’s when we got the call.

The first thing we do with any dog is scan it for a chip. We’ve had too many cases where someone missed it, and this was another. He was chipped with the newer Home Again ISO chip, which doesn’t register on older readers. We called, and an hour later received a phone call from his owner, who said he ran away three weeks before. It means the guy who gave up his dog was not telling the truth. More than likely he found the dog and wanted to pass the responsibility to someone else. Doesn’t matter at this point. But it gets better.

The dog was brought home by the woman’s husband one day; he was at a building supply store and someone there asked if he wanted a dog. He said his wife would like it, and that’s how he got there. They didn’t have a fence so he kept running off, usually heading for the neighbor who had kids playing outside. She thought neutering would stop his running, so in February she had that done. At the same time they implanted a microchip, and that’s how we ended up with a long story. As she now knows, neutering doesn’t stop a Samoyed from running. Her only reason for wanting him back was to sell him and get something back for the vet expenses, so we made a deal. We paid part of the vet bill, since we would have had to do that anyway, and she signed him over to rescue.

His name is Samson, making him the third of that name we’ve seen. His conformation is better than most backyard dogs, and we think we might know his origin. About two years ago we heard of a woman in the area who had two litters of Sammies and was selling them from the back room of a business. It’s entirely likely he was one of them. Samson is one of the most easy going dogs we’ve had in a long time, getting along with six other Sammies and sleeping on the bed next to Kathy at night. We have someone scheduled to adopt him on the 16th and they will be very fortunate people to get this guy.

Your rescue board has been seriously discussing a problem we’re having. We have a lot of volunteers and supporters and they are well appreciated. We couldn’t do rescue without their help. But there is a major problem. We can usually find help with things that take an hour or two, but we can’t find foster homes anywhere. What that means is we have been carrying the load among ourselves, and we’re getting old and tired. Ron and Kathy have been doing this since 2003. Melissa and Terry have done it much longer. Unless we find someone to help us with fostering, we’re going to end up folding the group and walking away and leaving the northwest without a Samoyed Rescue presence.

 

THE 16th ANNUAL SAMOYED RESCUE
POTLUCK PICNIC
 SATURDAY, JULY 11, 2015

Back in 2010 we took in a senior dog named Casey from southern Oregon. His owner, only 46, died suddenly and rescue was asked to help. Thanks to Pat we placed Casey with Lorraine, a senior on Vancouver Island. She was well into her 90’s and had a Sammy most of her life. It was a good match and Casey lived his final year with her. After he passed Lorraine began to decline; her friends thought it was because she no longer had a Samoyed.

About that time there was a seizure in Texas and the rescuers at North Texas Samoyed Rescue were able to get the dogs. One of the Sammies named Graham was returned to his breeder in the northwest, and after lots of discussion we all thought he would do well with Lorraine. With another Samoyed in her life, Lorraine blossomed again and the two of them were inseparable. We kept in touch through her friend Diana and heard wonderful stories about the two. She named him Rikki, and he became her fifth Samoyed with that name, a progression going back to 1984. All but the first were senior Sams.

About a year ago, not long after she turned 100, it was Lorraine’s turn to go, and Rikki number five moved in with Diana. They had a wonderful life until finally, last month, the last Rikki passed on to join Lorraine and all the rest. All their ashes are now together. This is a picture taken a few minutes after the two of them met in 2011.

In January we worked with a Seattle shelter to find a home for a Samoyed they had. They didn’t want to let rescue have him so we sent one of our applicants to look at him. They ended up adopting him and his name is Polar. Here’s a picture they sent of him a week ago.

Lily had her 8 week checkup recently and the x-rays show the bones in her leg are healing well. She still is limited in her activity but she has a bright future ahead. Chip, technically still a foster dog, is slowly declining. His harness and wheelchair make it much easier to help him get around but he has difficulty standing. Our oldest dog is now Shadow, the first dog we picked up when we took over rescue, who is approaching 14 years old. Time flies.