January 2010
Casey is a senior dog who came to rescue after his owner died at only 46 years old. He left no instructions for his dogs, so they went to a shelter. They called us and arranged transport, and after a few weeks here we are happy to say he has a forever home with a 92 year old woman on Vancouver Island. Pat Cummins was instrumental in helping us place him, and she took the last leg of the transport from Lon & Mary’s home to his new Mom. A week later when someone from rescue visited, he stayed behind her until he was sure nobody wanted to move him again. He is as happy there as a dog could ever be.
Kaiya is another result of a death, this time an older woman who thought her family would take care of her dog. They didn’t have a place for her, but they did call Melissa who was able to take Kaiya into rescue. She was fascinated by Melissa’s cats, who proceeded to teach her how Sammies should respect their feline housemates. After a stay in the Hopper Bed & Breakfast, Kaiya moved to her home with Deb and John in southern Oregon.
Tara is a hard luck case, and one of the few mixes we have taken recently. We received an e-mail Christmas Eve from a woman in Onalaska about a dog in the neighborhood, whose owners moved a month previously and left her behind. After neighbors realized she was alone some of them began feeding her, but it was during very cold weather and she had very little shelter. After a lot of conversation Christmas day we convinced the neighbors to take her to the shelter when it opened the next day. Kathy met them and we arranged to get Tara when her hold was up. A note was left on the door of the empty house saying where she was, and it was removed during the time she was in the shelter, but nobody came to pick her up. We took Tara home the first hour after she finished her 72-hour hold.
Tara is about seven years old and was in the yard most of her life. She immediately took to living in a warm house and has no interest in the yard now. She is an affectionate love sponge who would be content to have a human arm around her the rest of her life. Although the shelter didn’t charge us for her because she was spayed, it was pretty obvious she was in heat. Her spay appointment is coming soon and we expect to find out she may have had some romance in her life while she was waiting for her humans to return. She is in good health except for her right rear knee, which may have had an ACL tear that wasn’t treated. She will probably end up with surgery. She is a big, tall girl who towers over the other dogs, and our males are wary of her and would just as soon she found a new home soon. Sorry, guys.
Fundraisers went well this year but total sales were considerably less than usual. Part of that was the economy, and part was because we offered t-shirts which cost less than the traditional sweatshirts. The bright spot was calendar sales; we sold out this year and will be splitting proceeds with SamUrgency, a group that funds medical expenses for Samoyeds who are with rescue groups. Many thanks to to Wolfpacks for their donation of the calendars.
Over a hundred smiles of rescued dogs are online at http://www.nwsams.com/rescues.