December 2022 Rescue Report
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.