March 2010
Once upon a time there was a woman named Denise Nations who did Samoyed Rescue. Denise was famous for fostering dogs, falling in love with them, and then adopting them herself. Her name is now Denise Newell, but to this day she remains famous in the Samoyed Rescue world for a disease called “denisenationsitis.” It applies to everyone who fosters and then adopts a dog, and this month we report a case of denisenationsitis in our own group.
Freya was listed on Craigslist and given away at least several times. The last time we intervened and found transport to Portland where Melissa picked her up and has been fostering her since January 20. During the last year Melissa and Terry lost two of their four dogs, and you may recall they adopted Keno last year, the dog from Montana. The two dogs they lost were both bonded to Terry, and the rest have bonded to Melissa. Freya is an intelligent dog and immediately decided Terry was her human, so you can guess the rest. After a month and a half there, Freya has found her forever home.
Tara continues to heal, and just had her final visit to the vet who did her ACL repair. She has now graduated from a short leash to a flexi, but will still be on a leash outdoors for at least another month. She is putting weight on that leg now and getting around very well. The vet says the “fixed” leg will be strong enough that she may never need surgery on the other leg. Whoever gets Tara is going to have one of the most loving dogs we’ve ever fostered. She isn’t purebred but she has every bit as many sweet genes as any dog could have. She is a bit of an alpha, but one-on-one with a human she really shines.
Hope this month is much like Hope last month, but with progress. She is the dog we retrieved from the Puyallup shelter who appears never to have been socialized. She came to us terribly frightened of people, and after two months she has slowly improved her level of trust. Initially she lived in hiding in a small bathroom off our laundry area, but has gradually trusted us enough to spend most of her time in the kitchen. In the last week or so we’ve been able to walk up to her without her running from us, and occasionally she has even turned over for a belly scratch. We think with another month she may be able to go to a very quiet home. Our work with her has been both frustrating and incredibly rewarding.
We had an e-mail from a family in Renton saying that they had a baby and their Samoyed growled at it. While we all know that’s a training issue, and one of the best dogs on earth around kids is a Sammy, they refused to do anything but find him a new home. When they threatened euthanasia we knew we needed to take him. Sam is ten years old and lived with that family since he was young, but now he is with Lon and Mary in Custer. He has settled in nicely and a case of temporary separation anxiety seems to be getting much better. Lon says he is still playful and loves toys. When he has one he growls to say he wants to play, and we think that’s what happened. It’s a shame his family couldn’t see that.
Melissa has been working with a dog in Salem. Our first message came by way of Craigslist, where someone wanted to give away a Samoyed girl they had for two months. They got her from a previous Craigslist ad where former owners had shaved her, and although the family loves her a number of circumstances meant she needed to find a new home. One of the circumstances was financial, so after a number of e-mail and phone exchanges we offered a grant to have her spayed and some dental work done. The woman promised to do the research to find which clinic offered the best price on the work, which she did. We thought this would be the best thing for the dog, but then the circumstances changed again. Her 18 year old daughter was taking care of the dog because her Mom’s health wasn’t good, and the daughter suddenly announced she was moving out. Melissa has arranged to take the dog, whose name is “Baby Girl,” and by the time you read this she should be in Melissa’s care. She is about five years old and we’ll know more soon.
We have the longest list of applicants we have ever had, but because of circumstances the dogs we have been fostering aren’t ready to be placed. We could use some help doing home visits to get people ready. It’s an easy way to help rescue, a chance to meet new Sammy people, and we’ll help you do it. Please let us know if you can help.