February 2014
Our month began with lost dogs, which we try to help no matter where they are. The first one was a dog in California who was taken from a vehicle. The national network of rescuers, admittedly informal, really gets in gear when a dog is lost. We all notify everyone we can, and there were dozens of people looking for a Sammy named Freedom. He was found two days later and it looks like all the publicity made someone drop him off where he would soon be returned to his owner.
The second time it was two dogs of Josh and Norma’s, who were let out by a delivery person who left a gate open. After much detective work they found the dogs had wandered to a nearby apartment building. A man who was being evicted put them in his car when he left; since someone knew his name he was eventually tracked down to another apartment not far away. Norma and Josh went to confront him, and the dogs started barking when they heard the familiar voices. This turned out very well, especially considering how difficult it would have been without help from others at the first apartment.
A big part of the reason we hear of so many dogs, both lost and found, is the work Holley does online. She checks Craigslist and other online sources daily, without exception, and the results are sent to the national rescue secretary, who forwards dogs to the closest rescuer. We have another opening for someone who wants to volunteer for rescue; it would also be a daily task and has the potential of helping many Sammies. If you think it sounds like something you could do, please ask Ron for more information.
On the first of February a Samoyed girl was listed on Craigslist in central Oregon. As always we responded to let them know who we are and offering to help, or send people to her who wanted a middle-aged female Samoyed. She asked for us to let one of our applicants know, and although that didn’t work out she was able to find someone local to her who adopted her girl.
Northwest Samoyed Rescue has had some extraordinarily generous donations recently, and we want to thank our supporters. We have enough on hand to ensure any dog who needs medical help will get it. We’re also pursuing an AKC grant for the future. This money lets us keep our adoption fee the same it has been for twenty years. At $150, we have the lowest adoption fee of any Samoyed rescue group in the country. Thank you!