October 2007
His name was Braun then, and he had never been combed or groomed in his three and a half years of living outdoors. He came to us totally untrained with mats the size of baseballs hanging off him and a huge mat covering his whole back. Over a couple weeks, Kathy was able to get the mats groomed out without too much cutting, and Braun showed his appreciation by turning into a giant puppy. He bounded around the yard playing with the other dogs and generally learned to love life. Kathy began calling him Bjorn and the name stuck.
Meanwhile a couple in Seattle who adopted a dog from us two years ago was grieving for him. A car going by had swerved and intentionally struck Teddy, killing him. They called because they also have a Samoyed named Killian who needed a friend to play with. They came and visited and we could see Bjorn was a very good match for them. It put two young dogs together and it helped heal a family. Reports say all of them are doing well.
Katie, Bjorn, and Cody were all listed on Petfinder recently. That is the best chance dogs have for exposure to the public, but something we don’t always do when adopters and applications are plentiful because it generates extra work responding to questions. We expected Bjorn to go fast, but Katie and Cody are both older dogs and need all the exposure they can get.
Katie has been with us since late February and is one of the biggest project dogs we’ve had. Most of that was because of her puppies, but she also needed training and socializing. Most of all she still needs to grow back the hair she lost after whelping! The transformation has been remarkable as she went from a heavy coat to almost none and now is beginning to look Sammy-ish again. After going through her recent experiences we see now that she is a definite mix, something that wasn’t completely obvious when she got here. She looks older than she probably is and that isn’t helping her find a home.
Cody was in the Shelton shelter, listed as a three year old dog. He must have aged quickly because when we picked him up and brought him home he was closer to ten. A month ago he was neutered and one testicle was found to be an enormous tumor. Our vet believes it has not spread, and it is a slow growing type. He is also partly deaf and his eyes are getting cloudy.
From reading this you could easily get the idea that Cody would be impossible to adopt out, but we don’t see it that way. Once or twice in a lifetime you find a dog who is truly special, whose personality is so genuine and loving that you remember him forever. That’s who Cody is, and whoever ends up with him isn’t going to regret a single minute of the time he is with them. If only people could meet him in person he wouldn’t be here a day longer.
Brand new this month is Sophie. When we see a dog at the Bellevue Humane Society we generally keep an eye out but leave the dog there and refer people when we can. They have a positive record adopting dogs, especially senior dogs, because of the clientele in the area. Sophie was there for a while, then adopted, and returned a few days later because of “resource guarding.” We gave her a little longer and then Kathy drove up and picked her up. At this writing we have only had her part of one day, and she is still getting used to us after a month in a shelter. She appears to be in good shape but is a geriatric dog who will need a serious commitment from someone willing to take on a Samoyed this old. The report shows a mild heart murmur and teeth that need cleaning, so we’re also looking for someone willing to take on a challenge. We are still deciding whether she will stay here or move to SRO, so stay tuned.
Rescue is nothing if not interesting. We started out with two dogs, thinking we could foster one at a time. Now we’re at seven and it seems normal.
