March 2020
We have been working with a woman in the Bellevue area who found a dog that looks like a clipped Sammy. She found him and decided to take care of him herself because she doesn’t want to take him to the shelter, and meanwhile is making posts on social media trying to find the owner. Years of experience tell us that’s a bad idea, because people automatically check shelters first, and there are still a large percentage of dog owners who aren’t on Facebook and don’t know to look at Craigslist. We have to be careful because many people believe shelters are bad, and would rather not take a dog there. As it happens, we have a good relationship with King County and we know they have some good people. If we push too hard we might break the lines of communication, so all we can do is urge the finder to do what we know is right. At this writing she still has the dog, and we’re trying to let people know.
On February 28 a woman left her four month old puppy in her car at lunch and he was stolen. She notified everyone she could, including us, and we put his flyer on our Facebook rescue page. She also posted it herself in many places, and someone contacted her (and us) with the name of the person who allegedly took him. She contacted the police department with the information; according to her they sent an animal control officer who got no answer and left. She decided to take shifts with her friends watching the apartment until the people were there, and somehow (we don’t have details) got them to open the door, at which time the dog ran out. They chased him down and caught him and he is back home safely again. The people at that address have been convicted of theft before, but this time nothing happened to them. We understand the dog is a 50/50 mix of Samoyed and Sibe, bought from “a breeder in Michigan.” The bottom line is that a stolen dog may not be high priority enough to get help from the police department. She took a huge chance, and fortunately this time things ended up okay.
Max is still here. We are trying to find a home where he will be the only dog, and it should be with experienced Samoyed people. He is uncommonly strong-willed and turns off his hearing when he doesn’t want to do something. Because he doesn’t want to be with other males we have to separate him from Rowdy, who doesn’t especially care for Max either. He wants to play with the girls but he doesn’t hold back; Sophie especially doesn’t understand how to respond. She cowers and he knocks her down, so we have to keep a close eye on him when they are in the yard together. His former owner surrendered him because he “didn’t get along with her older female Sammy.” After this much time here we think it’s likely he wanted to play and she didn’t. Whatever the cause, Max needs to be an only dog, or at the least be in a home with one female and a very experienced alpha human. None of the applications we have on file are quite right, so he is stuck with us for now.
There are no real changes with Tessa and Sophie. Recently Kathy has been able to do a little grooming on Tessa, which is positive. Sophie has tolerated that for several months already. The biggest change has been with Fena, who is with Kathi Bacon. Fena seems to enjoy her dog walker, a man, and that’s a very big deal.
In February we received an email from a rescuer in Virginia. A friend of hers was in Seattle picking up a dog she bred because the owner couldn’t keep him. She had a new crate shipped for his trip back east, but the airline refused it because his ears touched the top. She planned to buy a larger crate locally and wanted to donate the first one to rescue. We got in touch with her, and Tom Sitterley offered to help. He met her and suggested where to get a larger replacement, and then helped at the airport. Tom and Erin are storing the crate, which means we now have an extra in Seattle for the next dog who needs to be transported to us. All this, from the first email to her flight back, happened in just a few hours, so we’re grateful for Tom’s quick assistance.
