January 2018
Remind me to never claim we had the busiest month in years, because it got worse. Last month we talked about Cloud, the 1½ year old male Darlene was fostering. The applicants in Boise drove to Coeur d’Alene to visit, and Cloud went south with them to his new home. Recently, we heard from his new family that he was intimidating them, and we realized Cloud is the husband’s dog and the wife hasn’t dealt with a large dog before. They called in a trainer and we’re optimistic. We have been talking about the situation this puts us in, and have concluded we will not adopt to someone outside our area again.
Knut, who will be 6 this month, belonged to a young man in Spokane who got him when his father died. We believe he loved the dog, but he did not understand how sick his dog was getting. We were first contacted by a woman who saw him in a dog park and recognized his decline. She talked him into going to a vet, but after the visit the man still didn’t understand the gravity of the problem. It took time, and an offer from us to pay for another vet visit, and by the time Darlene picked up Knut he had gone from 61 to 39 pounds. He wasn’t eating or drinking and was near death. Darlene’s vet did tests and transferred him to the ER vet in Post Falls for the Christmas weekend. The following Tuesday they did an endoscopy and found a lesion in his stomach, probably from eating chicken bones. That was followed by surgery by Darlene’s regular vet, which was successful. Darlene has been fostering Knut and very soon he will be hitching a ride with Cheri to the west side and moving in with us. It looks like we caught the problem just in time, and with $5,000 of care, Knut is beginning the second half of his life. This is a special dog we need to place in exactly the right home. We believe we have one lined up.
Nanuk is a dog we got from Snohomish County. His owner got him as a gift from her stepfather, but he was never wanted. She told us she has had him “6 or 7 years,” and didn’t want her stepfather told about him. Nanuk has been living alone in the yard and was in horrible condition when he arrived. Once the transfer was made the woman refused to answer calls or emails, so we began searching for her stepfather, the breeder. We found him in Oklahoma and learned Nanuk is ten years old. During the month he has been here we have had higher priority rescue work, and Nanuk settled in as a pack member. He gets along with our other dogs and has so much energy at 10 he wears out 2 year old Rowdy.
Several years ago, Ryann signed up to be the Samoyed representative for Seattle Purebred Dog Rescue. When she hears of a dog we work together to help it. She got a message from the SW Washington Humane Society about a senior dog they had; there was a mix-up getting it, but he was still there. We reminded the HS that we registered with them many years ago, and after checking their records they acknowledged we were listed. The delay meant a 12 year old named Charlie sat there for two weeks. The story was that his human dad died, so the widow dumped him at the shelter. The good news is that Melissa went in and bailed him out, and Charlie is with Melissa and Terry now. She says laid back, well behaved, and loves everyone.
Getting home visits done and finding the right adopters for each dog is a monumental task. Although we have thirty apps on file, when we eliminated those who wanted a female, and the ones who wouldn’t take any dog that wasn’t young, there were only a handful remaining. In the past few weeks our friends have visited a number of people, all of whom would be good homes, but not quite right for Knut, who is our highest priority. As always happens, some people don’t answer email and some have already adopted another dog without telling us. It means, as usual, that Melissa, Terry, Kathy, and Ron will end up fostering more dogs than we have room for.
A Canadian breeder asked for help with a young Sammy male abandoned in her care, and we reached out to Lon and Mary who instantly offered to foster him. A day later the owners returned, and he will go back to them. We appreciate Lon and Mary’s offer. They have been helping rescue for nearly 30 years.
Thanks this month go to Kathy Thomas, who twice in the last week visited applicants and did home visits. Our daughter Kristina did photo shoots on both Cloud and Knut. Monika Wamack is the dog lover who alerted us to Knut and helped convince his owner to do something, and in doing so almost certainly saved his life. Maxine Schvaneveldt is an Aussie breeder in Boise who did a home visit for Cloud’s family. Cheri Hollenback is providing the transportation for Knut from Coeur d’Alene to western Washington. And most of all this month, Darlene Rautio. She fostered Cloud until he left for his new home, then shepherded Knut through all his vet visits and surgeries before fostering him. Without Darlene stepping in we wouldn’t have saved Knut. It takes a lot of people to do rescue when it’s this busy, and we love all of them.