March 2012
On February 24, Sandy Goodspeed’s dogs Meekah and Loki escaped her home. A number of club members immediately offered to help search for them, and email was sent to all the major email lists. Flyers were posted, miles were put on cars, and the following morning someone called after seeing a flyer. She saw the dogs the previous day, recognized they were lost, and kept them safe overnight. They were in great shape and didn’t even need to be groomed. Thanks to Liz and Kathy who helped in the search.
Rescue has been involved in quite a few searches for lost dogs over the years, and in all of them the most important factor in getting dogs returned soon is whether they are wearing an ID tag. Microchips are great, but dogs need visible identification to be returned quickly. When we pick up a dog we always take a rescue collar with us and it has a tag with our phone number. We put the collar on the dog the minute we first see him. Good quality collars don’t bleed or damage the hair, and having a tag gives great peace of mind.
Holley, who has been doing designs for our t-shirts and sweatshirts for many years, has another less public job. Every day she combs through every Craigslist post in the US, searching for the word “Samoyed.” All listings are sent to the SamFans rescue secretary (which remains the only non-political place to send them) and forwarded to the closest rescue group. As people move away from classifieds and toward Craigslist, this is an invaluable help to rescue.
Recently a dog named Shadow was listed in Olympia that we could handle without asking for volunteers. When we visited we found a mix, possibly partly Samoyed, but with all the great qualities of the breed. We worked with the owner to find a good new home, and although the dog was never actually in rescue we were happy to help.
A call came from a breeder who leaned a dog had been sold with forged papers to a backyard breeder in Oregon. The AKC was contacted and the papers frozen, and we were asked to help move the dog. Joy picked him up and met Kathy; we kept him two nights and took him to Liz, who drove him to Lon and Mary. The next morning a Great Dane breeder from Bellingham took him across the border and put him on a plane to his breeder.
This story was a real soap opera plot with aspects we can’t publish here. This was not a rescue dog, but we benefitted nonetheless. There is now a backyard breeder who no longer has a good quality stud dog and who can’t register the two litters for which this dog was sire. The dog is happy, once more an inside dog (he ran loose at the BYB), and his breeder is relieved.
Please remember that Northwest Samoyed Rescue is a dealer for White Pine collars and leashes. We have a full range of colors in stock with next-day shipping. We also benefit from your Amazon purchases if you use our website to enter their site. Both these fundraisers are linked at http://www.nwsams.com. Together they bring in a couple hundred dollars a month to help our rescue dogs.