We received e-mail from American Eskimo Rescue on August 14, saying they had picked up a Samoyed in Oregon and brought her back to Seatac. Erin Sitterley lives close, so she did a quick assessment and took pictures. Two days later she brought Lilly to us at the Specialty in Enumclaw. Opinions differed, but she appears to be a very tiny Samoyed, probably bred by a puppy mill that claims to breed “miniature Samoyeds.” She certainly has a sammy temperament. Nancy and Doug Fenty were waiting for another dog to add to their family, so Lilly and Genie were introduced and got along well. On September 4, Lilly went to her new home.

Cosmo first came to our attention in May when we received mail from a number of people about a blind dog in Spokane. Our daughter Kristina visited him, took pictures, and we said we would help. Cosmo’s owner had gone through a divorce and Cosmo was living temporarily with a family member. We’re thankful his owner saw the need to have him neutered so we could begin looking for his new home. It’s not always easy to place a disabled dog. It took four months before we had interest in him, but the end result was a home with an experienced Sammy owner in Montana. She has had sammies for 30 years, used to show, and has another blind dog. Margo Varberg met us in Post Falls and arranged to take Cosmo to her own veterinary ophthalmologist. He confirmed that Cosmo is congenitally blind and is a dwarf, but no other obvious health issues. Margo and Cosmo went back to Bozeman and will live happily ever after. As with most special needs dogs, all fees were waived.

One of our adopters, Sheila Springer, works in Centralia. One of her patients saw her Samoyed calendar on the wall and asked if she wanted another dog, so Sheila got in touch with us right away. Oakley was given to a family about five years ago, and when they found he chased chickens they tied him out in the yard. He has lived there since. It’s a home with a single father with two children, and he works long hours and recognized that Oakley needed a better place to live. Judy Gustafson did an assessment and found a love-starved sammy of unknown age who hasn’t been groomed for five years. She went back and picked him up and brought him to us, and Oakley has been getting to know all sorts of grooming tools. His owner was told he was nine years old when he got him, which would make Oakley 14 now — and that’s clearly not the case. We estimate him at 8-10 years, with the agility and movement of a young dog. He is less than 40 pounds, skin and bones, and because he loves to eat we think they simply forgot to feed him. His first vet visit is scheduled and he is on the road to a good future.

Last April we placed two dogs together. One was Sammy, a male about a year old who had been in two homes before we got him from the shelter. The other was Emily, who we first placed as a puppy and came back a year later. The two went to live in Gig Harbor together, despite our feelings that it might be too much for the family to handle. We need to listen to our experience, because they are coming back to us this week. Two dogs, active and under 2 years old, would be a handful for any sammy family, let alone a home where training isn’t a priority. We’ll look long and hard before we place two young dogs together in the future.

Annie is a dog in the Seattle area, bought 10 years ago as a puppy, who needs a new home now because she barks too much. Our first efforts are always to counsel, advise, and try to keep a dog in its current home, but this owner made up his mind before he called us. She is being boarded now, will be kept by a friend for a week, and then we will bring her here if a home isn’t found first.
We’re also in the process of getting information on a male Samoyed on Whidbey Island. He was given to friends when his owners went to Germany, and now they are getting transferred to Guam. There’s an applicant locally, and we will try to work something out so they can adopt directly.

As the ones at the rescue table at the National in Post Falls, we want to thank Van, Liz, and the rest of the committee for their support. Our location was great and we met a lot of people we knew only from e-mail. One of the greatest parts of participating was meeting other rescuers for the first time, like Dorinda from Utah and Beverley from San Francisco. Although there have been a lot of politics in rescue in recent years, we proved again that we can all work together for our dogs.

The Rescue Parade was Tuesday evening; ten dogs participated. Sunny Bear came with Christine Kiernan from California; Celine Cutler brought Makita and China; Jim and Doris Commons had Saskia and Suni; Tom and Erin Sitterley brought Piper and Dory; Karen Johnson and Sam came from Walla Walla, George Johnson and Louise Goodman accompanied Tramp; and our dog Shadow was there, escorted by Diane Dings of SamUrgency.

Sadly, we have to report that less than two weeks later, George and Louise lost Tramp after he bloated and died before they could get him to the vet. Tramp has always been one of our favorites because of his unique, gentle spirit. We met him first when he was being fostered by Steve Madsen, and he has been a faithful attendee of the rescue picnic every year. We always joked that he was the only dog we knew who could surf the picnic tables without ever taking his feet off the ground, but he was so polite we never worried about it. Tramp’s passing has been a blow to all of us, and we mourn the loss of such a wonderful dog.

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.

After working with a couple from Salem for several weeks, we decided together that Honey might be a bit timid for their active family, so we have moved on to another prospective home for her. Sometimes it takes a bit of time to find exactly the right new home, so we try not to rush the process.

Honey remains for now in her foster home with Lon & Mary, where she is charming everyone who meets her. We have a home visit planned for a couple who met Honey last weekend and fell for her.

A few years ago someone in eastern Oregon bought a male and two female Samoyeds from a Utah puppy mill, intending to get “into the business.” He apparently found it to be more work than he thought, and about a year ago he gave his male to SRO. That was Casper, who was placed in the Lake Stevens area. Cathie Falck is in LaGrande, and has been a tremendous help getting dogs from that area into rescue. A few weeks ago she heard about Roxie, who is probably one of Casper’s pups. Roxie was placed in a home where her owner let her stay inside unattended, and at nine months old she chewed on things she shouldn’t. Her owner beat her for chewing, and threatened to shoot her.

Fortunately he was persuaded to give her to a woman who took care of her, but that home was a chain attached to an outside doghouse. The woman knew this wasn’t the best thing, so after 11 months she called Cathie and arranged to get Roxie into rescue.

We talked with Melissa about whether SRO or SCWS would take Roxie. Because we were told she wasn’t housetrained, she came here where someone is home with time for the training. Roxie is still timid and a bit skittish, but has warmed up to humans and dogs alike. It turned out she was quite well housetrained, and she is coming along quickly learning to trust people. It’s a warm feeling to watch a dog like Roxie find out how a sammy should live. She will be spayed on the 14th, and after recovery we will look for the right home for her.

We placed Powder and Peyton, a brother and sister pair, in 2002. Unfortunately we just learned they need a new home again because of a move. In the last two years they have gone from a pair of outside dogs to well-groomed and family oriented sammies, so we would prefer to place them together again. At four years old they would make a terrific addition to almost any home.

Each day we check Petfinder and other listings for newly listed dogs, and Holley checks Craigslist in every city across the country. Last week she forwarded the listing of a ten year old in Seattle named Aspen, and we wrote for more information. Consequently we will be listing Aspen while he stays with his family. He looks like a grand old boy with floppy ears. We checked with our rescue network, and the consensus is that he came from a Missouri puppy mill where many sammies have floppy ears and eyes rounder than usual.

Sadie was in the Moses Lake shelter, and we contacted them about getting her into rescue. They were willing, but before we could get someone there to pick her up, they placed her with a local sanctuary. When they listed her on Petfinder we called and have begun a good relationship with them. We added her to our website listing and will let adopters know about her, and in return they will assist us with dogs in Grant County and surrounding areas. This could be extremely helpful in an area where we haven’t had good coverage. Sadie is a neat older senior Sammy girl with lots of love left for her next home.

This month, in addition to Sadie, we found two other shelter dogs we couldn’t get to before they were adopted. The Moses Lake shelter also had Marshall, a young sammy boy, early in the month, and we were about an hour too late to get Seven, another young male at the Tacoma Humane Society. In both cases we cross our fingers they found good homes, and we always ask the shelters to pass our contact information along to the new homes.

Back in February 2003 we took in an older sammy girl surrendered by her family in Battle Ground. Mandy lived her life on a long rope with access to the garage, getting attention only when someone had time. There was a divorce and she needed a new home. When Mandy got in the car, she had to sit sideways because she was literally too large to sit facing forward. Because we didn’t have room, Melissa agreed to foster her, and Mandy began her diet.

She also found the love and freedom she hadn’t had before. During June we heard from someone in Seattle who wanted to meet her, and it was a perfect match. Esther is a third grade teacher, and over the years we heard stories about Mandy becoming the class mascot, even posing for the class picture.
With great sadness we learned recently that Mandy had crossed the Rainbow Bridge. We hope you join us in celebrating the last three years of her life, when Mandy had a life that made up for all the years that came before.