May 2009
In March there was a Craigslist post about a female Samoyed found in the LaCenter area, north of Vancouver. We called the woman who found her and suggested she take the dog to the Southwest Washington Humane Society for two reasons; first we can’t take or place a dog unless we have legal ownership, and second because the Vancouver shelter is one with which we have a good relationship. Melissa checked with them and found out her stray hold would be up on March 21, and that morning picked her up. That was the day of a pet festival in Portland, so Lola joined Melissa, Kathy, and Jim at the booth there for the day. She was a great ambassador for the breed.
About two weeks later there was another post on Craigslist, this time for a lost Samoyed in the same general area. After some checking we determined this was the same dog. There is an established policy already in place which requires the former owner to apply and go through a home check the same as any other applicant. Our only interest is the welfare of the dog. The home did not have a fence and Lola was allowed to run loose; this was not the first case where she ran away. They didn’t begin searching until a week later when she didn’t return. Melissa spent a great deal of time with the man, explaining the need for a fence. He promised to put one up and she told him Lola would come back after the fence was built and she had been spayed. Fortunately he was good to his word, and the fence was built. After hours and hours of education, Melissa recommended Lola be returned. Lola, whose real name is Snowy, went back home late last month.
Keno was a surrender to a shelter in northwest Montana. His family said he was two years old and not good with children. We heard about him when a fellow rescuer in northern Idaho said his time was almost up and he needed to get out. We subsequently heard that the shelter manager had decided to euthanize all the dogs and “start over.” According to our source, one of the shelter workers took six purebreds and quit in protest; Keno was one of them. Whether this is accurate we may never know, but it’s the sort of thing we hear about in rural areas. We put out a call for help in the rescue community and put together a transport all the way from the shelter to Portland. Our lucky break was finding a Malamute volunteer taking a puppy from Portland to Spokane and driving back empty. She picked up Keno in Post Falls, and Melissa got him the next morning. That was early this month and Keno has now had a bath and is settling in. By the way, the Malamute transporter has two young children and she said Keno got along fine with them.
Nicky came to us several months ago after he was found as a stray. We found his original owner who said she gave him away, but were not able to find where he has been the last few years. Fortunately, since we have permission from his only legal owner, we will be able to place him. Nicky is an uncommon Samoyed, one who instantly got along with all the dogs in our pack. He is the only dog we ever fostered who never had to be told his place by our alpha male Charlie. We thought we had a perfect home lined up for Nicky, but they decided after meeting him that they better not adopt a dog because their home has too many cats. He is not cat-aggressive but we think he would chase one if provoked. For now he is happy here and we have no problem with him staying until the right home comes along.