February 2020
Last month Jiaozi was about to move in, and this month we have Max. We’re talking about the same dog, because we decided since he didn’t know his name we’d give him one that can be pronounced. After he arrived we were able to trace him back to his breeder, and he comes from someone we know and respect. She sold him as a pup to a Chinese couple who sent reports that he was doing well, but it appears they gave him to their daughter and didn’t mention it. The daughter moved and gave him to her boyfriend, whose green card expired. He moved to China, but before he left he posted the dog online and sold him to a woman in Seattle last May. In June she contacted us because he didn’t get along with her older Samoyed, but each email took her longer to answer. Finally we saw her post on a Facebook group saying she was sadly rehoming him and we wrote to her again. It took another few weeks but she finally agreed to release her dog to us. Kathy met her half way and he came to live here.
Max, who still doesn’t seem to recognize his name, has been with us longer than usual. Since he didn’t get along with the older Sammy girl, we’ve been looking for a home where he would be the only dog in the house. He and our boy Rowdy let us know the second night that they don’t like to be in the same room, so we have closed all our gates, which we have at almost every doorway. Fortunately, in the yard they ignore each other. Since he seems to have a pronounced prey drive we also don’t want to risk him being with cats or other small animals. He seems to have never had any training, so the home must understand how strong-willed and downright stubborn these dogs are. Homes where the people have had a Samoyed, where there are no pets now living, and who want a male, are few and far between. Hans and Holley did a home visit in Lynnwood and reported it would be great, but two days later the people wrote to say they are getting a Border Collie this Spring and weren’t ready for a Samoyed. We went through our entire waiting list and we don’t have anyone quite right for Max. Our plan is to put him on either our Facebook rescue page or my personal page. It’s a question of which will find the most suitable home and we’re still deciding. For now, we continue living with dogs that have to be separated.
Sophie and Tessa are still here, still fearful of the world in general and men in particular. Fena is with Kathi Bacon and doing much better than the dogs we have. We also have a foster boy in a home in Kalama, Nanuk (now called Nikki), who is a senior and will be there permanently. By establishing him as a foster dog, we agreed to be responsible for any extraordinary costs. The dog they had before Nanuk had some severe medical issues that cost well
into five figures. Nanuk couldn’t be in a more perfect home. He gets long walks daily, has his own place in their RV, and loves his humans. Cloud is still with Darlene as we try to find the right home for him, too. Her willingness to foster a dog when she has new puppies is a really big deal to us and we are grateful to her for keeping him.
Last month we had just heard about a seizure of dogs in Montana and that a couple of them might be Samoyeds. Tom Hannon found someone who was able to go to the shelter, and she confirmed that their report of Huskies was correct.
As we say so often, our volunteers are what makes Samoyed Rescue possible, and we love them all. Thank you!