Polar was on Craigslist early in June. The owner said he got him from a friend, and was rehoming him because he had too many dogs. Melissa called and wrote, and after a few emails back and forth, he brought Polar to Melissa’s home, where he has been fostered since. Polar was still intact, and will be neutered soon. He was born in 2019, so he is a wonderful age. We had a good app from someone in Clatskanie, Oregon, so Melissa took care of the home visit and reported they were a good home. After meeting him they decided not to visit Balto, the other dog we are trying to place, and as soon as Polar is neutered he will move in with them. He is a very mellow boy who loves people, and this looks like an excellent match.
Polar
We have been working with Balto off and on since January. His family seems to want him, but Balto is a jumper who can get over their five and a half foot fence. Because of that they have to keep him on a long line, and they recognize he needs a place to run. They recently brough him to us to meet, and he did well with our whole pack, as well as our fairly low fence. We believe a little judicious use of electric fencing would keep him contained, but so far we haven’t found anyone with an adequate fence. Fortunately, the owners are patient. Balto is a big guy whose ears didn’t come all the way up. He walked in the door and immediately joined our pack without problem, so we know he will make a great addition to the right home. Balto will be three years old in October.
Balto
In the past few days we heard of a Samoyed with four pups in Burlington. This month, Kathleen is on call so she is handling the contacts with the shelter. It’s her first month as “first responder,” and there is nothing like learning while under fire. When she reached the shelter, they indicated they would work with us. Melissa offered to foster them, which would be a heroic feat. We will see what happens. There was also a young Samoyed (we think) found in the Index area. We don’t know what his status is yet.
Dogs we heard about or saw online this month.
Sophie and Tessa go through spells where they won’t come inside, and when that happens we limit them to a small cross-fenced area of the back yard, where we can herd them toward the door. After many months of that, they seem to be coming in reliably now, and recently we gave them the whole yard. It helps that we are giving them high-value treats after they are in and the door is shut.
Meet Polar! He is 6 years old, new in rescue and is being fostered by Melissa. He has quite a back story. Polar was originally from Serbia and bought by a woman in northern California in 2017. She also bought Pearl, a female from Kabeara. We know she had at least one litter. Eventually, Polar and Pearl were sold to a woman in Lebanon, Oregon. She planned to use them to produce puppies, but she said Polar was sterile. He also killed several chickens and one goat, and the neighbors were threatening to shoot him. In July last year the woman’s daughter contacted us to take the two dogs. After going back and forth over two days, we arranged for her to drop off the dogs as she was heading toward Seattle for an event. That morning, a couple hours before meeting us, she called it off, saying her mother had a “nervous breakdown” and refused to let the dogs leave. That was the last time we heard from her.
This month we heard from a man in Salem who had a dog named Polar who used to live with a Sammy named Pearl. It took most of a day to put the pieces together, during which we learned that the woman in Lebanon had elected to give Polar away. Since then, he has been living in an apartment with a bunch of other dogs. Melissa talked to him and he said he needed to find Polar a new home; he had too many dogs dogs, most of whom he was also rehoming. On the 8th, he delivered Polar to Melissa’s door.
Polar, before his previous home.
Polar seems to be enjoying life now. He had been forced to be an outside dog before he moved to the apartment, and then while in the apartment he didn’t have a yard. Now he has a good-sized yard and people who want him around. We think he has a bit of separation anxiety and won’t tolerate a crate (we learned he had destroyed crates in his former home). It only took a few hours to settle in and begin showing his affectionate side. Melissa says he gets up on the bed a couple times a night for a few minutes and wants a snuggle.
Polar, showing he is comfortable at Melissa’s house.
Polar needs to be groomed correctly and have a bath. He was trimmed because he was dirty, but after he gets cleaned up he will be handsome again. He already has an appointment to be neutered, and after that he will be available for adoption. He is almost a perfect age, well past the puppy stage with many years of love left.
Polar, showing how much he needs a bath and grooming.
On the same day we heard about Polar, we heard about two other dogs on Craigslist. One was a puppy and the other was an adult. Melissa wrote and called both, with no answer.
For the most part, rescue has been slow the past month. We have been nursing Sophie after her diagnosis of a perianal fistula. She gets strong drugs once a day that will help it heal; twice a day she gets a stool softener and twice a day she gets a laxative. The goal is to keep things soft so the fistula will heal. The vet tells us we have to treat her for five or six weeks. This is better than the first week, when we had to give her a liquid laxative twice a day; she is still fearful and had to be trapped first. We have cross-fenced the back yard again because the girls are not coming in willingly. Now, even in the small yard, they still seem afraid of coming inside. Consequently, Kathy has been walking them many times a day, more often right now because we just started Sophie on Amoxicillin for a possible UTI and it’s better than mopping.
Sophie and Tessa
Holley alerted us to a dog in the Salem area, a 5 year old who needs a new home. We wrote to the address in the Craigslist ad, but as of this report we have not heard back.
We found Harmony last August in the SpokAnimal shelter in Spokane. She had been seized along with six other dogs from a hoarding situation. Her tail and other spots had been shaved because they were coated with feces; she was lucky compared to the other Sammy, a young male who was almost completely clipped (we took them both, and placed him in a great home). Harmony’s notes said she had a mammary tumor, so we left her with friends Tom and Erin in SeaTac, who got her to their vet for surgery right away. We fostered her since because she was listed as 12, and Kathy and I take the seniors. It was hard to believe she was that old because of her energy level. She ran around the yard like a young dog and loved to play.
In March I was petting her and found a lump that was suspicious. Our vet found not one, but two lumps that were a recurrence of mammary cancer. We scheduled surgery but asked for x-rays first, which showed it had probably metasticized into one lung, so we decided against surgery. She also had a slight cough. Two weeks later we took her to the vet again because she was crying out when she lowered her head. More x-rays showed the vertebrae in her neck were out of alignment, but they couldn’t tell if cancer was present there. We started her on Prednisone and almost immediately she seemed better again. The last few days of March she slowed down, and we gave her pain meds to keep her comfortable while we decided when to make that last trip.
March 4, Harmony was still excited to see her dinner, barking and diving in like normal. That night after bedtime, Kathy saw that Harmony was breathing heavily and decided to sit with her. She stayed and comforted her until Harmony lost her fight and stopped breathing. Rest in peace, Harmony. You were a good girl.
In last month’s report Harmony had just been diagnosed with two more mammary tumors. We were waiting until early this month to have them removed because there wasn’t a great rush with relatively low grade tumors. She went in on April 5, and because she had a previous tumor removed, we wanted a good set of x-rays first. Unfortunately, there as enough question that our vet sent them to a radiologist, who said there is someone concerning in one lung. There is a good chance the cancer metasticized. She also has a bit of a cough, so the surgery was cancelled. In a month we will take Harmony back for another set of x-rays and will make a decision how to proceed. According to what we were told when she was picked up at the shelter, she is 12 years old, and we have to consider age. Meanwhile we will continue spoiling her.
Harmony
We recently started Tessa and Sophie on a CBD product that worked well on Fena (Sophie’s litter sister). We couldn’t see much difference, but we’ll continue trying everything we can to make our Iowa puppy mill girls more comfortable. Once in a while we experiment by letting them outdoors off-leash, but they still aren’t comfortable coming back inside until bedtime. It’s odd, because when I let them out after dinner, Tessa (the more timid of the two) always comes back to the door to lick my hand. With the recent rainy weather we don’t dare take a chance too early in the day. Something happened to them when they were young, and after five years we don’t expect they will ever be “normal” dogs.
Our transition to a new generation of rescuers is going well. Each board member is taking alternating months as “first responder,” meaning they handle all inquiries for dogs for that month. We communicate with the other board members as things happen, so everyone has input and keeps current on events. Some months will be busy; some won’t, but we “old timers” can relate what has happened in the past and how we handled it. Speaking as an old timer, I have confidence Samoyed Rescue will be around a long time after I’m gone.
Kahlil, the big bundle of Samoyed Melissa was fostering, has moved on to his forever home. A wonderful couple from Tacoma meet him last month and decided he would be a good fit. He came from Seattle Animal Control, who told us he had been abandoned in a dog park. His life is going to be great from now on. Kahlil’s new name is Otis.
Kahlil, now Otis, watched the Super Bowl with foster dad Terry.
When we got Harmony from the SpokAnimal shelter last year, they told us she had a mammary tumor. Erin and Tom fostered her through surgery, and Harmony has been living with us since. We have always taken the senior dogs here, and the shelter said she was either 10 or 12 years old (they had it listed differently in two places). A week and a half ago I was scratching her and found a lump. Since September we have been waiting for our favorite vets, who quit Tumwater Vet Hospital then, to open their own new clinic. When I found the lump on Harmony, I used one of their personal emails to ask when they would be opening. Officially the clinic opens on March 13, but they told us to bring her on the 9th, the first day of their “soft opening.”
Unfortunately, the diagnosis is for not just one, but two mammary tumors, one on each side. They are likely low grade tumors, so we elected to wait until April 5 for surgery. We drew blood for a senior panel to be sure everything else is OK, and the results should be back by the time you read this. We need to give her a dental cleaning, and they will do that at the time of surgery. They will also do x-rays to see if it has spread. Harmony has cataracts in both eyes, but heart and lungs are fine, a big deal when cancer is involved.
Harmony
While Tessa is still too scared to get close to me, Sophie is finally beginning to make progress. I started keeping some graham crackers in the office, and when I’m at my computer Sophie will frequently walk up and remind me she knows about them. She takes little pieces from my hand. Someday I’m convinced she will allow me touch her.
(left) Tessa and Sophie, getting rinsed off in the shower after digging in the yard. (right) Sophie, waiting for her treats.
We welcome a new board member this month. Kathleen Guinee adopted Banjo, and offered to help where she could. We think this is a really positive step forward for the future of Northwest Samoyed Rescue. Thanks, Kathleen!
Our newest dog, Kahlil, came from the Seattle Animal Control. Ryann let us know he was there, and she called to say we were interested. Since we worked with them before (Winston and others), they said we could pick him up. They neutered him the next morning and said he would be available in the afternoon. Hans and Holley picked him up and brought him here. Melissa arrived the next morning, and she will foster him at her home.
Kahlil is one of the biggest Samoyeds we have seen, and his head is immense. They say he is only nine months old, so we wonder how big he will eventually be. The story we heard was that he was found in a dog park, and they were able to find his owner, who said he has cancer and left Kahlil there out of desperation. He is a big goofball, not well trained but willing to listen. We need to wait for him to recover from his neuter surgery, but in the meantime we will be searching for the right home for him.
Kahlil
Five years ago this week, we took in three Samoyeds from a backyard breeder, Prairieland, in the Vancouver area. He had leased five pregnant bitches from White Fire, already pregnant. You may recall White Fire as the Iowa breeder that got in trouble for terrible conditions not long after that; the dogs were seized and given to the ASPCA. By the time all had been placed, the total number of dogs was over 300. Prairieland’s arrangement was to return all five to White Fire after they had their puppies, and split the money he made from selling the puppies. We were never told why, but he called us to take three of the girls, and delivered them to Melissa’s home. The next day she met Kathy and transferred them to us. Sophie and Fena were litter sisters, and cousin Tessa was a few months older. They were practically feral.
The three Iowa girls, just after they arrived. The colors on their foreheads were for identification.
We emptied our garage and gave them a place in one corner for beds, with pee pads on the other side of the garage. Kathy and I took turns sitting in the garage getting them used to us. We added a large x-pen so we could sit inside it with them. After a few months, we opened the door to our laundry room and let them come inside as they wanted. With a little more time they began coming into the kitchen. Eventually we closed the garage door and they lived inside.
Sophie and Tessa chilling in the dog yard.
Although we wanted to place these dogs, we decided any adopter much have a double fence so an escapee would still be contained. A friend and previous adopter, Kathy Bacon, came to visit and meet the girls. Together we decided Fena was the best candidate to adopt, and she has done spectacularly well there.
Sometime in the past a man must have treated them badly. They eventually accepted Kathy getting close, and petting and scratching them, but the only time I can touch them is when they are in their crates getting bedtime treats, or when they are in their “safe place,” a shower in the bathroom. Sophie has begun coming into the office when I am at my computer and taking treats from my hand. Tessa still hangs back. From time to time they wouldn’t come indoors after being in the yard, then just as abruptly would begin coming inside. Currently they currently refuse to enter; if they get outside they won’t come in, even for their dinner. Kathy has to walk them on a leash several times a day.
When they are nervous, Tessa and Sophie hide in the shower.
We need to find homes for them. They feed off each other’s fear, and we are sure if we split them they might do as well as Fena. The right home must have great security, so if a dog escapes through a door they are still secure. Because they are afraid of men, we also need a home where there are no men. Most of all, their adopters must have patience.
We are getting old and facing the fact we will need to move in the next few years, maybe sooner. If the two girls are still here, the only current option we have is to ship them to a sanctuary where they will live without people. If anyone has ideas, we would very much like to hear them.
Tessa (left) and Sophie
We still think Harmony is younger than the 12 we were told by the shelter. The only evidence of age we can point to is her eyes, which are cloudy. Still, we have seen younger dogs with similar eyes. She has boundless energy, which she uses up by barking. She runs circles around the other dogs. She is the smallest purebred Samoyed we have had. Because of her age, or at least what we were told about her, she stays with us because we foster seniors. It’s very difficult to place a 12 year old dog. There is a new DNA test that promises to give nearly exact age, but as of February 10 it was taken off the market because it wasn’t working as well as promoted. The company, Embark, promises an update next month.
Harmony
Bella was listed on the Beaverton Craigslist in 2014, and went to a family in Seattle. In August 2021 she was listed again, and we heard about her. She lived in an apartment and had to be walked, and her family had a new baby and no time for the walks. They said she was 11, based on what they were told when they got her, but we know info on Craigslist is often optimistic. She may have been older.
Bella, on the day she arrived.
A few months later we had her at the vet for a check-up when they found a lump on her neck. An ultrasound showed it was probably a thyroid tumor, so we took her to a veterinary oncologist. The tumor was confirmed and they suggested a high dose of thyroid meds. There was no other treatment. Since then we watched the tumor get bigger, though her behavior didn’t change. Until recently it didn’t bother her. Her breathing got progressively louder, but she continued to be active and enjoying life. Last month it got worse and we waited for her to tell us it was time.
Bella could usually be found close to one of us.
Wednesday morning she let us know. She didn’t want to eat, and her energy was gone. Kathy carried her in from the yard while I tried to reach our vet. I couldn’t get them to answer, but I called a vet who does home calls, and she said she would come the next morning. Bella slept well and even rallied a bit. She asked to go into the living room, where we helped her up on the sofa, her favorite place in the world. She stayed there, quietly, until the vet arrived. The end came peacefully.
Bella, on her last morning, in her favorite place.
Over 22 years of rescue we’ve been through this many times, almost once a year, because we foster the senior dogs. This one hit us hard. Bella was special. She loved people and everyone who met her loved her. Every night after dinner I went to my room to read for a half hour, and Bella always joined me. We really feel her loss.
Like the other dogs, Bella loved the snow.Beautiful Bella.
Last month, we said Rosie had an adoption pending. She is now living happily in Lake Stevens with a great family. She has two kids, 13 and 11, for her very own. We are grateful to Jenna for fostering Rosie while we found exactly the right home for her.
Rosie
Niko didn’t work out for his first placement, because he and their other male were incompatible. They tried hard but it wasn’t going to happen, so we made it a high priority to find a new home. That came in the form of a previous adopter we know well, and now Niko lives on the Oregon coast with a very experienced Sammy owner.
Cooper has been with Melissa for quite a while. He was originally one of the Spokane hoarder’s dogs, named Ghost. We don’t believe the ages we got on him and Harmony, and we think he was a bit older than the 7 months they told us last Summer. His hormones kicked in, so he was neutered before finding his new home. That came last month when he went to a home in Tacoma with two kids, 3 and 5, plus an Eskie brother who will definitely be alpha. Because his name is so similar to the Eskie, he will probably be renamed to Mocha.
Cooper
Bella’s breathing is getting noisier and her appetite is decreasing. Our vet cut back her Thyroid to help with her weight, and we are feeding her pretty much whatever she wants. She is still one of the most loving senior dogs we have hosted, and that’s a large number.
Sweet Bella
Harmony, when she is quiet, is a lovely dog to have around. When she barks without pausing, she isn’t quite as much fun. We’ve been trying to work on her vocalization, which seems to come (a) whenever we talk to each other, and (b) when we have a meal at the table. We tried a sedative and it only helps a little bit. Bark collars, from beepers to spray to electric, have no effect. We’ll keep working on the problem.
Tessa and Sophie continue to make very small improvements. Sophie is now willing to take food directly from me, while Tessa still hangs back. Kathy has to walk them in the yard a couple times a day because they won’t come inside on their own unless it’s first thing in the morning (after their first outing) or at bedtime. Next month will mark five years since they arrived.
Our transition to the new board continues. New ways of doing things have to be found, and it’s not easy, considering how many dogs we worked with in the past few months. For some reason we’re taking in more dogs than most other groups in the country. Recently I talked to a rescuer in the Midwest who told me they only had one dog this year. We don’t know why we are so “lucky.”
Harmony is a great dog, somewhat smaller than most Sammies we see, which makes us think she came originally from the east coast. We were given two ages when we got her, ten years seven months, and twelve years old. The shelter put 12 on the paperwork, so that’s what we went with. She has cloudiness in both eyes, but her teeth look quite young. We are fostering her with us because we have always taken seniors, but we seriously question whether she is an old dog. Time will tell.
Bella, on the other hand, is definitely twelve years old, and she looks every day of it. She is the kind of dog that makes us wish we had her for her entire life. She is mellow, loving, and easy to have in our house. She is also a hospice dog who has precious little time left. Her thyroid tumor grows noticeably each month and she has begun to breathe noisily and eat slowly. A combination of the tumor and high dose of thyroid meds has made her lose weight. Kathy gets up and takes Bella outside once or twice every night now because she is so thirsty. Her appetite is sometimes small, and we now add canned dog food on her kibble to persuade her to eat. She is down to 39 pounds and you can feel each rib. We will continue giving her everything she will take, and try to make her final months happy.
Cooper is with Melissa, and was neutered a few days ago. She reports that he is doing well, but feeling sorry for himself and might be a little unhappy with her. He is ready now for his furever home. Cooper is one of the two dogs who came from the SpokAnimal shelter in Spokane, along with Harmony. They were both taken from a hoarder, so we will never have exact information on either dog.
Last June we placed Niko, a dog from Kent, with a family in Albany, Oregon. They are one of the best homes, and greatest adopters, we have had. They adopted Pono a year ago, and since another of their dogs passed in the time since, we asked if they could take Niko. They had a bit of a problem with the two males, but with training it looked like they would be okay. Recently they contacted us to say it’s no longer going to work. The two boys have decided to hate each other, and want to fight almost on sight. We know how that goes, having had Charlie and Shadow here together for nearly ten years. Even with constant fences and gates and a lot of care, they got together a few times with some awful results. So now we are looking for a home for Niko again. He is fine with other dogs, including those at doggie day care, and it is only Pono he can’t live with. We made this our highest priority, and we hope to do a home visit in a few days on a home that sounds great. Please cross your fingers.
Rosie has been in a foster home with Jenna and her family for several months. We found a great home for her, and she is due to move in the next few days. We are incredibly grateful to Jenna for stepping up when she did, probably saving Rosie from going to a shelter. It takes a lot of love to take a dog, knowing she will leave soon. Jenna, thank you!
Earlier this year we were asked to find a home for Gogi, and as we were trying to find one, we learned she had been taken by the owner’s brother. Recently he said he couldn’t keep her because she barked while he was gone. We were again asked to find her a home, and we published her on our Facebook rescue page. There were dozens of shares and many comments and reactions, and we had a good application come in. As we were getting ready to check on the home, the owner wrote to tell us a friend’s parents took her. Oh, well. It’s part of the job to spend a great deal of time working on finding a home for a dog, only to find out they made other arrangements.
Ordinarily we would have taken Gogi into a foster home, then looked for a home. We couldn’t do that because we don’t have any foster space. We have six dogs here; two are ours and four are fosters. Six dogs is too many, and for health reasons Kathy and I have had to say we will not foster any more. It’s critical to have a place to put new dogs, and we simply don’t. Earlier this year we had several offers; two fostered dogs for a while, one adopted a dog and doesn’t have room now, and one couldn’t foster when we asked. If you can foster a dog, or you know someone who can, we need to hear from you.
Thank you very much to SCWS, who this month sent us a sizeable donation, a large share of the proceeds from a recent agility trial. We are privileged to say that, despite being a separate entity, we will always be a part of the Samoyed Club of Washington State.
We have been talking about this for years, but in October we finally began the official transition to new blood. Melissa and Terry have been doing rescue in Oregon for 25 years, and Kathy and I have been doing rescue in Washington and northern Idaho for 21 years. We combined to form Northwest Samoyed Rescue in 2008, and we have become old and tired. At a recent board meeting, Hans was elected President, Erin is now Secretary, and Ron is Treasurer. Board members are Holley, Tom, Ryann, Melissa, Terry, and Kathy. We decided that the position of “first responder” will rotate by month, and we will all take turns. That person will be responsible for answering email inquiries, people who want to surrender dogs, and all other tasks where urgency is required. We’re still looking for more foster homes because we have no space right now.
Cooper is with Melissa, and will soon be neutered. It’s sooner than we usually choose to neuter, but we are not positive of his age and his hormones are showing themselves. He is young, but unusually affectionate. He will make a family very happy someday.
Rosie is a one-year-old in a foster home in Snohomish. They report she gets along well with the other dogs and is a very sweet girl who is ready for her new family. We are processing a recent application that looks like it may be the one.
Harmony’s allergies went away two days after an injection of Cytopoint. Our vet said that means her allergies are environmental and not due to food. When we got Harmony, we were told she is 12 years old, but she behaves like a much younger dog. Her energy is still high, and she runs harder than our other dogs. She also loves barking above everything else. Because she is a senior we planned to keep her here, but time will tell if she is better suited for another home.
Tessa and Sophie are still with us, of course, and it is approaching the fifth anniversary of their arrival. They continue to be fearful and we still have trouble getting them to come inside. Fortunately, they never fail to come in at bedtime, so we walk them on leashes during the day and only let them out on their own in the evening.
Holley responds to all Craigslist ads, most recently when we read that two senior girls needed to be rehomed. There have been no answers to our emails, but we will continue to try to help any Samoyed in need.
If you have ever thought about fostering a dog, please let us hear from you. We really need help.
Rosie is a one year old female in the Everett area who was put on Craigslist. Her owner wasn’t able to handle her energy, and after Holley wrote to enquire, the owner decided to let us help find a new home. Since we didn’t have a good home waiting for her, we ended up putting her with Jenna, a new foster mom in Snohomish. The consensus is that Rosie is a nice young dog who needs enough exercise to work off her extra energy.
Rosie
Cooper is still with Melissa, and we are still looking for the right home for him. Cooper has proven a problem we have, which is that we don’t have enough applicants right now. Recently we decided each dog will be put online and we will ask for apps for that dog, rather than apps for dogs in general. We posted him on Facebook on our rescue page, as well as on a large Samoyed group, and have had almost no interest. We can’t understand why people continuously post how they are looking for a young dog, but don’t contact us when we have one. Now that we also have Rosie, we have two young dogs and no good applicants on file.
CooperCooper
Harmony came along with Cooper, but we were told she is nearly 12 years old so we elected to keep her with us. We aren’t convinced now that she is an old dog, despite cataracts and stiff joints, because she runs like a puppy. Her mammary tumor was successfully removed, and her allergies are probably environmental. Our vet gave her a shot of Cytopoint, saying it would diagnose whether or not the allergy was to something in her environment, and three days later the scratching stopped. That rules out food. We’ll see how long it lasts.
Harmony
Bella’s high dose of thyroid drugs have kept her active and she seems to feel good. The mass on her neck is noticeably larger each month, and her breathing is raspy, but so far she hasn’t had any negative reaction to her tumor. It’s impossible to know how long she will stick around with us. She is such a cool old dog we hope it’s a long time.
Meanwhile, Tessa and Sophie have spells where they will come indoors when called, and long periods of time when they only come in at bedtime. We’re having one of the latter again, and we hope when the rains come again they will decide it’s warmer indoors. We know if we could find a home with a woman that either of them would do well there. It’s something we just can’t find.
As of now, there is no more room at the inn. We are not able to take more dogs unless someone steps up to help.
