May 2012
Last month we took in a young female Samoyed named Faith, who came to us as a stray. She spent the past month with us because we wanted to do a serious search for her family. Finally we reached the conclusion nobody was looking for her, which goes along with the initial report she was hanging around an intersection for days before she was caught. That’s what frequently happens after a dog is dumped while waiting for her people to return.
Complicating her placement was that Faith came into season two days after she got here. It was only a minor nuisance since our boys are all neutered, but it meant we had to delay the spay for a month. During that time we began talking with Jill, who adopted from us previously. She was looking for a puppy, and after hearing about Faith she decided another rescue dog would be right for her. Because she works for a vet we were comfortable letting Faith be adopted before her spay; Jill will take care of the surgery in place of an adoption fee.
Reports since adoption are that Faith is even more feral than we saw while she was here. She learns extremely fast but acts like she had to take care of herself for a long time. Other dogs barking triggered a response, but Jill has been able to reassure her that it’s no longer necessary. She recently went through an advanced training session, inadvertently, when she went jogging with Jill and ended up on the same street as the high school marching band. Jill got her through the experience, as she has all others, and we are totally satisfied Faith couldn’t have had a better home.
To no surprise, Chip and Ozzy are still living with us. They shared the experience with our other four seniors that having a one year old girl was a shock to their system. Ozzy recently had a growth removed from his leg, and he suffers from arthritis in all his joints as well as being mostly blind and deaf. His brother Chip has a bad hip that once had surgery, but other than that he is doing well. Both have become affectionate dogs since they arrived.
We heard of three dogs, all males and two seniors, within a few days the last week of April. Cody, the eleven year old, needed a home after his owner died and the family had no place to take him. We’re still waiting for the family to find his AKC papers so we can contact his breeder. When we heard that his owner moved here from Florida eleven years ago we contacted rescuers there and learned a great deal about her. Because of what we heard, we would like very much to find out who sold her another dog so quickly after she moved.
Cody came to us intact, but we already had an appointment for Faith to be spayed so we used that appointment for his neutering. He came through it OK, but the vet forgot we don’t want Ace used; as a result he and Ozzy, who were in the same day, didn’t completely recover from anesthesia until the following morning. In talking to a past adopter in the Ellensburg area we mentioned that we had an eleven year old needing a home. She immediately said she would take Cody, which took a lot of pressure off of us. By the time this report appears in the newsletter we hope he will have a new home. Many thanks to Erin for helping with his transport.
Another dog, Koda, came from a home where the couple had new jobs requiring more travel than time at home. Koda is six years old and was left home alone a great deal so they decided to ask for help. The original inquiry came through SPDR, where Ryann is the Samoyed representative. Together we worked to find a home north of Seattle with experienced Samoyed owners. Both the old and new families wanted to meet and we elected to let them work out the transfer together. Koda is doing well in his new home.
The third dog is Ares, who also came through SPDR. He is nine and may be more difficult to place. He is a handsome boy, which will help, but his age will work against him. We are now waiting for Ares’ owner to decide what happens next. He also travels and his girlfriend has given him an ultimatum that he needs to re-home his dog. As usual, we suggested he keep the dog and re-home his girlfriend, but haven’t yet convinced him.
Although this report usually closes on an optimistic note, this month was disappointing. When we heard of all the seniors coming into rescue, and knowing that our house was full with three fosters already, we appealed to every club member and all our volunteers and those on our email list and Facebook group. We badly needed a couple homes for seniors that are almost no trouble at all to foster. I’d like to thank the three people who took time to write that they wanted to help but couldn’t. To all the others, a reminder that Samoyed Rescue is a community effort for the sake of our breed, and we are only the coordinators. When nobody helps, we either do everything or turn away these wonderful dogs. It means we burn out fast. And when we’re gone, who takes care of them?