October 2014
Jack was a giant of a dog who was dropped off at the Olympia Animal Shelter in October last year. Not only was he a huge 116 pounds, but his coat was ragged and missing a lot of hair. Even so he was a typical big goofy boy who loved everybody, and he spent a few weeks here waiting for a new home. Jack got along with all our dogs and they seemed to like him too. Our vet thought it looked like he might have post-shave alopecia, a condition where the hair grows back sparsely after multiple shavings. When we had an application from the Graham area we went to visit, and have to admit we were a little concerned. The people had an alternative lifestyle and seemed a bit casual about Jack and all the other animals they owned. We decided to try things out, and Jack went to live there.
Reports were all good, and they said he loved to be there but didn’t get along perfectly with their son’s dog; since there were two homes on the property and they lived separately it wasn’t a problem. Then last month we got a call that things might not be as good as they had said. They claimed Jack was distant, didn’t want to be around them unless they had food, and was not tolerant of other animals. He was so food-motivated he had begun eating seed that fell out of the birdfeeders. The woman changed her mind several times, and finally we asked her to stop delaying the inevitable and bring him back. Of course that wasn’t convenient, so Kathy hopped in the car and went and got him.
As you’re probably guessing by now, Jack is the friendliest, most mellow and well-behaved dog we’ve had in a long time. Once again he loves everybody, enjoys human interaction, and gets along with the other dogs. His coat is marginally better but still ratty, so we took him to the clinic owner, the best diagnostician we know. He looked at Jack’s coat and said circles of pink skin surrounded by darker scabby skin is almost always an indication of a staph infection. He’s on Cephalexin now and we’re giving him a few weeks to see what happens. We already have a home in mind for him, and we’re anxious to find out how much weight he has lost by his next vet visit. He was still 104 when he came back, and is losing weight steadily.
One of the things a rescuer inevitably learns is that their gut feeling is the most important factor placing a dog. This is the last time we don’t listen to it. The saying is “the dog picks the owner” and in the future that will be the first law of rescue.
Lily is waiting to be lined up with the right orthopedic specialist. She had a growth plate fracture in her right rear leg as a puppy that wasn’t repaired, and our vet (who does orthopedic work himself) says it’s going to take a specialist to repair it. Lily has a new home, and it’s the same she has been in since April. She is staying with Ron and Kathy, who will participate in paying for the surgery so rescue doesn’t have to pay for it all. She and Sasha are two dogs who probably never learned to play as puppies, and now they have each other and are learning how much fun they can have.
Two weeks ago someone posted on Craigslist that they found a young male Samoyed in Federal Way, running in traffic. I wrote to the contact email, an anonymized Craigslist address, and asked them to check for a microchip. They said they took him to a vet who read a number but couldn’t figure out what kind it was (and they didn’t write it down), so I asked them to please get it read again because I know the formats. Every couple years I check all the companies and note their formats and what phone numbers to call. Unfortunately, even with multiple emails, the finders would not respond. The ad eventually went away, and so did that email address, so they probably kept the dog and somewhere there is a family still searching. We hope we are wrong, and the rightful owner claimed him.
Judy Carrick has been hand painting a sledding design on shirts for years, and we worked out a deal where rescue could print them and use it as a fundraiser. We just finished shipping everything and haven’t yet totaled the donation to rescue, but it’s a significant amount. We want to thank Judy for letting us use her design. People have said they really love it.