July 2015
We are finding fewer dogs each year to place and still trying to come up with the reason, but some of it may be the increased use of Craigslist. We’d wish we could say anything that keeps dogs out of rescue is good, but an alarming number of dogs on Craigslist aren’t being re-homed as much as being sold. Twice this past month there were dogs listed, and we wrote for information without getting an answer. Sometimes people simply don’t know what rescue is about, but more often they are really trying to sell their dog.
In mid-June we learned of a Samoyed at the Tacoma Humane Society, found as a stray. When we called to check on him they told us the owner was known and was coming in. Two days later he was still listed so we called again. The owner had come in but agreed he should be neutered before release. That’s what happened, and he is back home again.
One of the most dismaying emails comes when someone decides they want to surrender an old dog. We had one of those from a woman who has been caring for a 14 year old Sammy for two years for a friend, and wanted to place her. This case turned out better than most; we wrote back and explained how unfair it was to the dog, and the woman agreed to keep her. It developed that she was one of those rare people who was trying to do it for the dog’s sake (she is gone a lot). We suggested some options and things worked out OK for the dog.
Princess, who has been here since late May, is getting better. She is a timid dog, afraid of anything new, a result of being a yard dog for her entire 11 years. We are helping her get used to being an inside dog, living with people. In the past few weeks she is beginning to raise her tail when she sees us, and once in a while comes straight to us. It’s sad to think she spent her whole life alone; it’s challenging to work through the problems, but as rewarding as rescue can be to see the slow, steady improvement. She prefers to be alone in a bedroom where it’s quiet, so we leave her there part of the day. An odd result of her past is that she won’t eat out of a bowl. It’s as though her food was always thrown out in the yard, and that’s what she thinks is normal. Lately we’ve given her meals by putting kibble on a pillow, and she is happy with that.
Princess had a limp most of her life. The shelter was so disgusted with the prior owners they gave us all her medical records, which amounted to two meager pages of notes, each visit describing a limp. She has been to our vet several times now trying to diagnose the problem, and it appears to be a tear in the cruciate ligament. At this age we’d rather not use surgery, so our vet described a procedure they have begun doing called “platelet enhanced therapy” or “platelet rich plasma,” abbreviated PET or PRP depending on the vet. They draw blood and concentrate the blood platelets into the serum with a centrifuge, then inject that platelet rich serum directly into the joint. There is good information at http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/the-blood-injections-that-might-transform-orthopedics.
We had the procedure performed on Princess on July 8. If it works, the improvement should appear in another week or so and we’re crossing our fingers. She has had a sore leg most of her life and deserves to feel better. There was extra serum so they also injected the other knee. PRP isn’t cheap, but it’s a lot less expensive than surgery.
Our 16th annual rescue picnic was July 11. It was the smallest to date, as you might expect with so many fewer dogs being placed. Two and three years ago the count was about 40 people and 40 dogs; last year it was closer to 25, and this year we had 19 people and 18 dogs (and 6 of those were ours). After weeks and weeks of heat, we had rain that morning but it stayed dry during the picnic. As people were departing the rain began again, so we had a lucky day. It was great to sit around talking to a yard full of dogs and people. Here’s the group shot from this year. Two of our attendees could only be here for a short time and aren’t pictured, but I think the picture shows all the rest. We are considering scheduling next year’s picnic on a Sunday for the first time so people who haven’t been able to attend can join us. We would be interested to hear what you think of the idea.
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