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On October 30 we had a call from Ryann, who signed up a couple years ago as the Samoyed representative for Seattle Purebred Dog Rescue. She had received a call from the Olympia shelter asking if she could pass along a message to us; apparently they couldn’t find our contact info. We called to find out they had just taken in a Samoyed as an owner-surrender, and did we want to pick him up? Since it’s our local shelter Kathy was there and back in just over an hour.

His owner gave a story about moving. His name is Jack, and he is about eight years old. His coat is terrible, with patches of bare skin, and he is grossly overweight. What wasn’t wrong is his personality, which is 100% Samoyed. This is one of the friendliest dogs we have ever seen. He loves everyone and behaves like a gentleman.

We were able to get him to the vet right away, where he weighed in at 116 pounds. Really. The vet thought his coat problem was a combination of poor nutrition and being shaved frequently; the name for that is “post-shave alopecia.” Jack immediately went on a diet, and after a day or two he had a bath. Within a few more days we could see hair growth, so we think the vet was right.

Jack got along with all our dogs, although Trent had the typical “last-in” response, telling us it wasn’t fair to add another dog. But he got over it and Jack settled in. We had an application from a couple in Graham willing to take a middle aged dog, so we set up a time and went to visit. Jack went along, and they thought he was wonderful. The question was whether their other family dog, a German Shepherd, would accept him. She had been abused in her former life and is paranoid about almost everything. Even though the dog belongs to their son, and they live in a separate home, they had to make the decision. We brought Jack back home so they could think about it, and on the 10th they came to visit Jack again. They felt their Shepherd would adapt, so Jack went home. First reports are all positive, and we think he has a terrific new home.

We are fast approaching the holiday season, and we hope you remember Northwest Samoyed Rescue benefits from your purchases at Amazon when you enter through our website. Your shopping experience is exactly the same, but when you start on our site we get a percentage of everything you buy. It’s a much-appreciated way to benefit rescue, and simple as it gets. Please bookmark www.nwsams.com/amazon and start there next time you go to Amazon. If you don’t remember the exact link, the link is on the front page of our website. Click the large “Amazon” logo and go from there. Thanks!

Rescue in the past two years has been feast or famine. Either we get many dogs at once or we don’t see any for months at a time. This past month has been slow. We have only Chip and Trent as fosters, and both are too old to place so we’re enjoying them while they are here. Our own pack is getting geriatric so the next year won’t be a lot of fun.

Back when we first took over rescue in 2002 we had a lot of help from long-time rescuers. Of course Cheryl was primarily the one we asked when we had questions, but several others volunteered advice and helped us find our own way of doing things. Danielle Buchheister of MidAtlantic Samoyed Rescue, Maria Kirylo of Playing Again Sams in Wisconsin, Alice Barz of Georgia Samoyed Rescue, Dorinda Lauer of Samoyed Rescue of Utah, and many others helped us. We listened to how everyone else ran their rescues and we established forms and procedures that have worked for us.

One of the central figures, and a real presence in Samoyed Rescue at the time, was Marietta Riley, who ran Buckeye Samoyed Rescue in Ohio. She began doing rescue officially in the 90’s, as far as we can find out, but she always helped dogs who needed it. She spent a lot of time coordinating donations of dog food for people who couldn’t afford it. She gave her time for dogs willingly but quietly. Her name wasn’t mentioned a lot outside Samoyed Rescue circles because she never cared if she got credit. She was on the oldest of the rescue lists, one for rescue coordinators, and when we asked for something we could count on Marietta offering to help. Over the last eleven years we corresponded frequently and we knew her as a generous and caring woman, an expert doing rescue, whose passion was our Samoyed breed.

Earlier this year she let a few friends know she had cancer, but she kept working to place Samoyeds. Over her rescue career she helped hundreds of dogs, all in good homes because she cared about the dogs. Those who were too old, too sick, or too unsocialized stayed with Marietta and her husband Carl.

Marietta passed away September 19, 2013, and rescue lost an Angel.

In April 2012 we heard about a dog in the Cle Elum area that had been seen many times, but nobody could catch her. We asked Kathy Thomas to help, and she drove over with her dog and a bunch of chicken snacks. Happily, she was successful and the dog got in the car with her. We named her Faith, a name thought up by one of the rescuers in the area who had been keeping people up to date with efforts to catch her. We think she is a husky mix, not a Samoyed, but we’ll always be grateful to Kathy for getting her for us.

Faith learned quickly she was safe and we placed her with Jill, who named her Stella. We’ve been getting entertaining updates ever since, like the time Stella jumped up on the stove to eat dinner off the back burner. One of the first things she learned was to pull a cart, and lately we hear stories about Stella trying to catch up with cars that passed her. It must be a wild ride for Jill, who has clocked Stella at more than 24 mph. This week we had an update with this picture of Stella (on the right) waiting for the green light so she could take off running. This is what a rescue success looks like.

Trent is the aging Malamute mix we took in the middle of July. We expected him not to be with us very long because he was so sick, just emerging from kidney failure and barely able to walk. Today you wouldn’t know he was the same dog. Although there’s no cure for old age, his kidneys are healed now and he has started to run, especially when there’s food involved. A couple weeks ago our vet suggested Duralactin, a new NSAID based on milk protein, and the difference in his mobility has been significant. Kathy has groomed him a few times, and last week was able to spend significant time combing (the picture shows him next to the hair combed out from only one side). He is looking great and has bonded to us like no previous foster.  We were told that’s a characteristic of Malamutes. We enjoy his company and expect he will live out his life here.

Twelve year old Chip is our other foster, and he has been here for nearly two years. Many years ago he had TPLO surgery and has had a pronounced limp since he arrived. Lately it’s getting worse and he is going to the vet soon to see if there is anything we can do.

This month we had a first; a woman wrote and asked if we would take her cat. We’re still shaking our heads about that one, but we recommended a cat rescue group close to her. Life gets more interesting every day.

As we get closer to the holiday shopping season, please remember you can help Northwest Samoyed Rescue at no cost to yourself. If you enter the Amazon website through our link, we automatically get a small percentage of what you spend. Go to www.nwsams.com and click the Amazon link. It’s simple and it really works.

July 20 was the 14th annual Samoyed Rescue Picnic, and the 10th held at our home. It’s an immense bit of work getting ready, but worth every second to see all the happy Sammies we have known over many years. We all get to sit and visit and catch up on things. It’s also impressive to see all these dogs in one place getting along with each other. We have an amazing breed.

The next time I say things are slow in rescue, would someone please kick me?

Early in July there was a call from a Seattle vet clinic asking about a microchip. Our records showed it was a dog we adopted to a great home (or so we thought) in 2008, named Sammy. In 2008 when we found him he was 94 pounds, and when he was found he weighed only 39. When I called the woman said she gave him away, so we voided her contract and informed her NWSR was taking custody. The two women who found Sammy refused to give him back because of his condition; they were concerned he would be returned to the owner who neglected him. After talking to their vet we believed their motives were good, so he stayed there as they nursed him back to health. We could have pressed the issue but our concern was for his welfare and he was getting excellent care.

A few weeks later they wrote to say he was doing well and they would like us to find him a home. We had one waiting, a couple from Kalama who adopted before and were looking for a dog just like Sammy. He came back to us for a few days for proper grooming (he had been clipped short but not combed out), and on July 31 he went home. His new name is Scooter and he jumped right into the motor home. Scooter will be with his humans 24/7 and get to see the world from his perch on the motor home sofa.

Brody is a nine month old Samoyed pup who was tearing up his apartment when his owner was out. Many times we try to counsel people to train their dog and keep it, but this was a case where we honestly believed someone was too dumb to have a dog. We talked to a vet in Salt Lake City, where he was purchased, and she told us the owner should be put on a “do not adopt list.” Brody was quickly adopted to one of our long time volunteers and friends in Portland, where the story got more involved. She called the next day to say he was sick and at the vet. Because there was a shaved spot on one leg we called the previous owner and she admitted he had “a bug from the dog park” and had been briefly at a Seattle vet hospital. On calling them we learned he had been treated for Parvovirus and the owner hadn’t told us about it. This is one of the most contagious diseases for dogs, often fatal in a puppy.

To make a long story shorter, Brody is fine now and there have been no signs of problems in our dogs. We also had a puppy here for a few hours while Brody was here, and that pup is also fine. All’s well that ends well but we simply can’t imagine how uncaring someone could be not to tell us about Parvo. There is no excuse.

Holley monitors Craigslist for any mention of Samoyeds and sends the listings to the national rescue address. Early on the morning of the 6th I opened a message about a dog in Lacey, and called the number. It was a woman who has cancer and wanted to find him a good home. Kathy was in town dropping off Shadow for an appointment so she continued on to meet the woman and her dog. His name is Jessie, he is 5 years old, and still really a puppy in behavior. When we got the paperwork we learned he was from a breeder friend so we called her. She had no idea what happened, but immediately offered to come get him. We told her about an applicant named Patty who has adopted three times before, who we thought would be perfect. It was arranged that the breeder and applicant would come at the same time to meet with Jessie, and it was so obvious Patty would be perfect that we were all thrilled at the match. Jessie now lives in Bothell.

We are now working with two people who want us to take their dogs. One is in Anacortes with a nine year old female named Denali and a shaky story about why she wants us to take her. The other is in downtown Seattle with someone who doesn’t want to let him go, but he is destructive. His name is Brolly and we will work with him to find a way for them to stay together.

Trent is the old Malamute mix we took in early July. His health has turned around; he is eating now and moving much better. He bonded to us as Mals sometimes do, and we will keep him here. He has a serious back problem and has had a few problems standing in the past few days, so we don’t know how long he will be here. We will enjoy him as long as he stays.

Pictures taken at the July 20, 2013 Rescue Picnic have been posted.
http://nwsams.smugmug.com/Rescue/2013picnic/

 

Three times in the past month there were dogs advertised on Craigslist we tried to help. One was in Beaverton; Jen and Rick were able to learn he came through a different breed rescue and advised them. They learned he would go back to them and tried to make contact, but weren’t able to get a reply. When they found he would be at an adoption event they went, only to find he had already been adopted. The second was a dog in British Columbia who was available, then not, then available, and finally the day he was supposed to come south they said he had been given away. The third was north of Billings, Montana, well out of our area. The dog was ultimately handled by Denver Samoyed Rescue when one of their volunteers picked him up during a holiday trip to Billings. Sometimes it just works out perfectly.

Then we heard of a dog just east of Moscow, Idaho whose owner had been killed in an auto accident. A rescuer there wrote to Sibe Rescue, who in turn called us in. The dog’s name is Trent, and he is ten years old. He was being kept with a neighbor who decided, without a vet, to put him on a huge dose of Prednisone. That so depressed his immune system that he developed a bad kidney infection and he is in the WSU vet hospital. The word at this writing is that Trent will be coming west in time to make an appearance at the rescue picnic. We hope his recovery continues.

On the 7th of July we had a call from a vet hospital in West Seattle asking about a microchip. Someone found a Sammy, wandering loose and in bad condition, and the chip said we knew who he was. It wasn’t one of the chips we implanted, but we had a record because we took him in rescue — and placed him — in early 2009. As far as we knew he went to a great home and was still doing well, but we were dismayed to learn he was now only 39 pounds and in terrible shape. This is a dog who came to us at the opposite extreme of 94 pounds. When we finally talked to the adopter we learned she gave him away a year ago, and claimed to have visited him often. And she wanted him back. After seeing pictures of this badly neglected, emaciated dog we did something that has never happened before. We notified her that under the terms of her contract we would refuse to return the dog to her. Poor Sammy was literally only a few pounds from dying. Now he is in a great foster home being nursed back to health. When we do have a special case like this we do everything possible to ensure his next home will be as perfect as humanly possible.

Our rescue picnic is July 20 at our home in Tenino. If you haven’t received your invitation, please let us know!

The 2013 Rescue Picnic is July 20 at Ron & Kathy’s home in Tenino. If you would like to attend and haven’t received an invitation, please contact Ron at rescue@nwsams.com.

While looking back through past reports, e-mails and other information to be sure we got all the past year’s adopters on the list of invitations, it was striking to realize we were only involved with four dogs since last July. This is an all-time record low, and from what we have heard it’s happening to many rescues nationwide. The economy is getting better, which may account for part of it. In recent years more people have used Craigslist to find new homes for dogs, but even there we haven’t seen an increase. There are volunteers checking all online listings and we seldom hear of Sammies in the northwest. Recently we asked all our applicants to reaffirm they wish to stay on the list, and at this writing we have thirteen families who are in line for a dog. Slow business in rescue is great for our breed, but not for people who are waiting.

At this writing we think we may have an eight year old Sammy girl coming, but we’re not sure yet. It’s another case where the husband says the dog has to go, to which we always reply “keep the dog and let the husband go.”  We’ll see what happens.

It was a quiet month in rescue, quite different from past years.  We usually heard about dogs in the first week of May, frequently several per year.  But not this year, at least not yet.  We have a large number of applicants waiting but no dogs to place.  As we always say, good for the dogs but bad for the people waiting.

This month we lost two of our favorites. We mentioned last month that Eddie was being treated for cancer with help from SamUrgency. He was responding very well, but on the night of April 28 he passed on, exactly five years to the day after he went to live with Jennifer and Rick. Eddie originally came from a kill shelter in northern Idaho, and we were able to get him pulled on his last day. We celebrate the five years he spent in his perfect home.

Before we took over rescue we were volunteers. A backyard breeder in Forks, responsible for dozens and dozens of our dogs, called to say she had a dog with hemophilia. We volunteered to go pick up the dog, a young girl named Honey. The vet told the breeder it would be dangerous to spay her because he couldn’t stop the bleeding. Her teeth were pink and he said that was the cause. After we got her home our own vet looked at her and told us the problem was enamel hypoplasia, not hemophilia and easily treated by brushing her teeth daily. There was no danger in spaying her so we did that and Cheryl looked for a new home. Along came Terry and Dennis who had previously adopted Sonoma, and the match was great. Honey became Jade and lived with them happily until last month. She began to decline and they had to make the decision to let her go.

Northwest Samoyed Rescue has two continuing fundraisers that provide much of the money we need to keep us operating in the black. We sell White Pine collars and leashes through our website, and they are extremely popular with the show community. The webbing is soft nylon which doesn’t damage the coats of Sammies, and the dye is so good it never bleeds. Limited slip collars allow the collar to be loose, but tighten when the leash goes taut. We also carry a full line of snap collars, plus mini-snap collars (think puppies!) and leashes.

If you buy anything from Amazon, you can help rescue by going to our website first and clicking on Amazon on the front page. When you enter Amazon’s site through ours they give us a small percentage; we make anywhere from $30 to $100 each month. It costs you nothing at all, it looks exactly the same, but it helps rescue. Both links are prominent on our page at www.nwsams.com/.  This income lets us keep our adoption fee the lowest of any Samoyed Rescue group in the country, and if a dog needs major medical help we can handle it.

Don’t forget our rescue picnic! This year it’s July 20 at Ron and Kathy’s home. Invitations will go out in June, but please mark the date now.

In February we heard of a breeder’s puppy who was being returned because he had enamel hypoplasia, which is a problem in which the enamel covering the teeth never develops. It’s usually because of either trauma or distemper, but the cause can also be a mystery. That is the case with this dog. He is a perfectly normal boy whose teeth simply stopped forming enamel over the top of the dentin (tooth material). It’s not genetic and the cause is often unknown.

He was flown to Portland where Melissa met him and took him home to foster. Because of a miscommunication in getting the paperwork to her we weren’t able to place him right away; by the time we got it there was no way to pry him away from Melissa, so it looks like he will be staying with her and Terry. Since Terry just retired they have each other for company, and the fit is Wonderful. His name is now Boomer. Once again, Denisenationsitis has won the day (Denisenationsitis is a condition reported by Denise Nations Newell, who first described the inability of a foster home to let a foster Sammy leave).

Over the last few years we’ve had a great influx of applications received from people who want to add a Samoyed to their families. We haven’t had enough dogs to place, so the list grew and grew until three dozen were on it, some for several years. In the past we periodically checked with people, asking if they wanted to remain on our waiting list, but in February we did it differently. We wrote to everyone and told them about the length of our list. We asked that everyone who wanted to stay on the list write to us and say so, and those from whom we didn’t hear would be dropped. About a third of our applicants asked to remain, a third said they had a dog, and a third didn’t answer. Our list now has about a dozen people on it, which is much more manageable.

We routinely ask if someone wants a purebred, mix, or either, and a surprising amount of people say either. Since we only take in purebred Samoyeds to be fostered, we keep a special list of those who would consider a mix; when we hear of one we write to those applicants and give them the information and let them proceed privately. Over the years that has worked out well, both for the dogs and for us.

Please join us in crossing fingers for Eddie, a dog we placed with Jennifer and Rick in 2008. He recently was diagnosed with cancer of the salivary gland and is undergoing treatment now. Many thanks go to SamUrgency, a wonderful group of volunteers who now administer the Kachina Fund, a program that lets them help Samoyeds who have been placed by Samoyed Rescue groups and are living in private homes. They have picked up a substantial portion of his treatment.

Ozzy first came to us about two years ago and ended up a permanent foster (along with his younger brother Chip) when his first owner died last May. When her dogs were younger they were frequently cared for by a friend named Mike, who kept in contact with us. Early last month we wrote to him to say Ozzy was beginning to fade, and perhaps he would like to visit one more time.  Mike was here a few days later and had a good visit with Ozzy and Chip. They always perked up when they recognized him.

Three days later, Ozzy had a stroke. From his point of view he had a good morning, a snack, a good scratch, and a peaceful nap from which he never woke.  It’s the down side of fostering a senior dog who turned 15 only a month before, but we would do it all again in a minute. Ozzy was one of the most charming old grumpy dogs we’ve known. He came as a cranky old man and became an affectionate member of the family. Chip, 12, is still here and will remain to live out his life with us.

About a year ago we heard of a senior girl in Everett who desperately needed a foster home. Doug and Michelle stepped up to the task and took her home. They came to know an old girl they named Char who must have had a rough life, who was afraid to come in the house, but was eventually persuaded to enter and enjoy the love. They nursed her back, cleaned her up, and she looked beautiful again. Char began to fail last month, and they sadly helped her out of her pain. We celebrate these people who are willing to experience the heartbreak that goes with the undeniable joy and love of fostering a senior.

The rescue picnic this year will be July 20 at Ron and Kathy’s home. Please come and celebrate with more rescue dogs than you could ever imagine in one yard.

In August last year the authorities in Delaware and Pennsylvania cooperated on the raid of a property that straddled the state line. Forty four Samoyeds were seized and taken to the SPCAs in each state, and after a court case resulted in a guilty plea to animal abuse the dogs were released to MidAtlantic Samoyed Rescue in late October. One of the dogs was known as Delaware-14, and MASR was told her rear was paralyzed.
When they got her they found an eager young girl who was deformed but could get around quite well. All the dogs were vetted, cleaned up and prepared for adoption.

When we first saw DE-14 we asked if we could adopt her. Our home was built for accessibility and we felt it would be good place for her, and MASR agreed to place her with us. She was flown from DC to Seattle in mid-November. We named her Sasha.

Because we also do rescue they allowed us to spay her after she arrived, and our rescue vet did that. She was treated for a persistent urinary tract infection and x-rayed to look at structure. The pictures showed she has no hip sockets, and the top of the rear leg bones are floating in muscle. The vet said it was a birth defect.

We disagreed with the treatment for her UTI and took her to a different vet, where she was treated with two different antibiotics. After her third visit we were in the waiting room when the clinic owner walked by, looked at Sasha, and said he knew what caused the deformity. He was at least the seventh vet to have seen her and the first to recognize what happened. He is an orthopedic specialist and had seen a prior case. He believed Sasha’s mother had a parasite when she was pregnant.

The parasite is called Neospora Caninum, and is more technically an intercellular protozoan. A pregnant dog with it can transmit it through the placenta to a fetus, and although some puppies are not affected, those that are look like Sasha. It can also be fatal to puppies.

Neospora Caninum is an infectious disease requiring two hosts; the primary is the dog (less often wolves and coyotes) and the secondary is cattle (also goats and sheep). It is spread by contamination of cattle feed by dog feces; transfer between cattle is congenital, through the placenta to the fetus, and can cause spontaneous abortion. Calves can be born without symptoms but still carry the parasite and pass it along to their offspring. It returns to the dog when it consumes meat from an affected animal.

This parasite was first identified in the mid-1980’s in Norway, when cases previously diagnosed as toxoplasmosis were found to come from it. It is now a major cause of spontaneous abortion in cattle worldwide and has been found many places, but is a particular problem in the U.S., Netherlands, and New Zealand. Because there is still a lack of knowledge there is no recommended regimen to protect from it. Infected cattle should immediately be removed from the herd and dogs should not be allowed near cattle feed. It is not infectious to humans.

Testing can be done to find whether a dog has Neospora Caninum. The first is the ELISA test (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) which should determine if antibodies are present (the cost on that test should be in the range of $25-$35). If they are, a more expensive specific test can be done which shows if this exact parasite is present. Sasha has been tested, as well as several other dogs from the Delaware seizure, and all dogs so far are negative. [ed. note: As of April 2013, at least 4 are positive] It was important for rescue to make these tests because of the risk to other dogs if any of them still carried the parasite. At this point it looks unlikely that is the case, but if any dog displays rear end weakness it should be tested for this parasite. There is nothing that can be done for Sasha because her rear and back leg problems are permanent, but nothing much bothers her and she is fairly mobile and very happy. For more pictures of Sasha go to http://nwsams.smugmug.com/family/sasha

This information was compiled from information from our veterinarian, from the USDA website, and from various sources on the net. Illustration from USDA. For more about Neospora Caninum you should consult with your own veterinarian.