Nova Needs a “Forever Home”

Nova has been ADOPTED

This is a assistance listing, so Nova is not in our program. Here is her contact information:

Hi, I’m a retired breeding girl that wants to be part of a family

Nova is a very nice playful and friendly dog. She walk very nice on a leash and is a happy lady that gets along with every thing she has met in the rescue. From Amish country, come get you new addition. Please call Karen for more information. She is the answer lady. 269 694 4703

More can be seen about Nova and the shelter at: http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/20392713

Gracie needs a special home

This is a courtesy listing and not in our foster program. Please contact heather.robinson.dvm@gmail.com for more information.

I will be very good in the right home!

Gracie is 4 years old, in good health, current on vaccinations and heartworm preventative, and has no medical issues. Gracie was given to me because her previous family could not deal with her protectiveness of their special needs daughter which lead to Gracie biting a visiting child. She is protective of her family and would do best in a home without young children. Gracie prefers to be an only dog and has not lived with another dog until I started fostering her. She has displayed inter-dog aggression towards my family dog and other dogs over food, treats, toys, space, and my attention on several occasions. I feel it would be best for Gracie to go to a home where she is an only dog. I have been working to socialize Gracie and introduce her to new situations as much as possible. She is good with cats and other pets. Gracie is shy in public and aloof with strangers. She knows basic commands (sit, lay down, come). Gracie needs a fenced yard as she will wander if not contained. Gracie is very sweet and wants to please her people. I really want to find the right home for Gracie where she will flourish and be loved. She is a wonderful dog that I would keep if it weren’t for my family dog who is now terrified of her.

2 new dogs have come into foster, Samson and Mocha

We took in a 3 year old male and a 2 year old female, both with some temperament/personality issues.

Samson....I know I'm good lookin'

Samson, is a neutered 3 year old that has several fear and anxiety issues. He just came in on June 20th so we are working on learning about him. He is fearful of new people, especially men. Will bark at them when they would come into his old home. He does not like people at his level so no children for him. We will update as we learn more, but so far is doing very well in his foster home with another dog. Samson would do best with another large, confident dog to act as a guide for him to help him adjust.

SAMSON UPDATE 6/27:

Samson is a sweet 3 year old neutered boy who just came into the program on June 20.  Although his prior owners reported that he had several fear and anxiety issues, his foster home has reported that Samson has not manifested those issues to the degree we thought he might.  Down inside Samson is a very sweet loving dog that is coming to the surface more and more each day.  He is somewhat fearful of new people, men more so than women.  One of his issues is that he would bark when strangers came into the house.  He has already been introduced to a few strangers in his foster home and has only barked at one of them (two barks), but within an hour (and after a few treats) was allowing himself to be petted and scratched by the stranger, and was lying down next to him while the stranger was sitting on the floor.  Although initially shy, he has warmed up to all of the strangers he has met.  The foster home reported that after Samson being in the home for one week, his trust level is already around 95% with the foster dad.  As soon as he is asked if he wants to go outside or for a walk he gets excited and runs to the door, and he walks very nicely on his leash.  Samson appears to be the most uncomfortable with people at his eye level, so a home without children would be best for him.  He would also do well with another large, confident dog to act as a guide for him to help adjust and learn to trust.  The foster home has another dog (an intact male) and there have been no issues at all between the dogs.  They are getting along great including teaming up to beg the foster dad to share his lunch. 

Mocha is spayed came into foster 6/21. She turned 2 on April 12th. She likes most people, almost too much. She has not had many experiences in her life so she will need socialisation. She will jump up on people and knock the unsteady ones down. She is a 2 year old with a 6 month old puppy brain. Mocha was just too much for her former owners trying to cope with a active dog in a retired home. She has separation anxiety issues which we have not seen yet, and so far is doing well in her crate at night if she is allowed to be close to her family. She has been evaluated by a behaviorist a few times and they believe she was stressed in the old home and needed stimulation to keep her occupied. She seems outgoing with people so far. Again, more to come.

Both dogs will require a physical above ground fence for their safety.

Hey there!!..... I'm Mocha

Beyla went to her new home

Rigel gives approval to Beyla’s new Mom & Dad

Beyla went to live in Lexington KY with a new Berner Aussie Brother named Kodak. They both will have a nice fenced yard and get to tour the town and visit, the dog parks, dog bakery and tons of doggie play dates. Beyla already has a fan club waiting to meet her and her first few weeks will be full of new people, places and treats!!

We wish the best for Beyla and her new life. We miss her already, she was a very sweet guest, that almost never left, but we need to keep room for other needing new homes.

Beyla needs a new home

I'll be even prettier when my coat grows back

Beyla is a 4 year old girl that has had a rough life so far. She needs a final forever home where she can just sprawl out and be happy.

She is a nice sized girl at about 90 pounds. She has some basic training, and house trained but have had an accident because we are switching foods. At about 3 years old she came into another rescue with 2 other Berners from an Amish puppymill. She was missing her left eye. It was injured on a wire sticking out of her crate and got infected. It then had to be removed. Then she went to a home for 15 months until her new owner decided she did not have time for her, becuase her job called for her to do a lot of traveling, so she placed her on petfinder classifieds.

From there she went to another home where she was fully vetted andthey shaved her due to mats. In this home she showed some separation issues and fear of thunder. She was also intensely interested in cats. The first owner did not see any of the anxiety issues in her home.the next home decided that she was not a good fit after trying for 3 weeks, our rescue was contacted. We took her that day.

Beyla has been here over 2weeks and we have not seen any of the anxiety issues. In the 2nd home she was confined at time in the laundry room with their other dog. She was not happy not being part of the family. We have allowed her run of the house, and she does not seem to care as long as she has the company of our gang. We had a storm come through and she was sleeping on our bed. She sat up, but we petted her and she laid back down and went to sleep. She is on a very low dose of anxiety meds which we will continue for the 6 weeks and then ween her off to see if it makes a difference.

We don’t see the issues and don’t know if it was the home or the meds. Beyla needs a home with other dogs, and we think Berners she seems more relaxed around as she recalls the safety of the time at the puppymill. She would do best in a home where people are around alot like a retired family or someone that works from the home. She will require an above ground fenced yard due to the possible storm issues and we don’t want her running off in a fearful state. With just the one eye she has a great chance of getting hit.

She also can not go with a home with cats. She will injure, and has injured a cat due to a high prey drive. So no small animals. She did spend time with some smaller dogs but for safety to them we recommend no small dogs. She is good with children of all ages.

I've never had a bed before

UPDATE 4/24

Beyla has not shown any of the supposed issues in the 3 weeks she has been here. She just needs a home where she will be a full part of the family. We had storms roll through the other night and she was between us on the bed with all 4 feet in the air and snoring.

5/1/11  She has decided that a couch is preferable over a dog bed and now is constantly lounging in comfort. It’s amazing how dogs from poor situations really seem to appreciate their new homes. Dog beds are nice, but a couch.....Yeeessssss.....

Rescue Report Winter 2010/2011

Rescue Report: February 2011                Written February 26th 2011

           The last part of the year was busy, as we took in 4 dogs in December. 3 were small mix pups and another just 7 months old Then we took in a 7 year old female in February. We also asked for help getting a young male out of the Alpena Shelter.

Cascade, Alpine & Ridge

Cascade, Alpine and Ridge were the mix pups, mixed with Australian shepherds. There were 6 total and we took the 3 that looked more like Berners. These dogs were from a puppy-mill in Indiana that April VanBuren was contacted about. I told her we don’t do mixes and she contacted Vilma Briggs who reluctantly agreed to take them but said she was being overrun with fosters. So I agreed to take 3 and the other 3 went to a rescue April had worked with before. The pups were about 12 weeks old, very cute and somewhat timid. They quickly learned that people were OK and loved our gang, but kept play mostly with each other. We had always talked about getting a pair of pups to raise together sometime. We are over that kind of thinking now.  Three little, crazy, active, poop and peeing machines was much more work than we realized. I know why breeders say they are glad to see them leave. They were a lot of fun and we got attached, and when they left they were very sociable.

Cascade, now Charlie, lives just 20 miles from where he started in Indiana, Ridge, now Lochlan lives an hour south of Toledo, OH, and Alpine, now Dexter Lives in Waterford, MI. It was amazing that all 3 homes send us e-mails telling us the each puppy was the best puppy they had ever met, and were so smart! I guess we were good foster parents for them.

Seeker

Seeker, came from a home in Milford, MI. His owner contacted us saying her was too much for her as she had recently broken her arm in a fall. When I picked him up I found that his life consisted of a maybe 4 foot square area at the end of the island in the kitchen on a very slippery floor. He was very shy and I could not touch him while at their home. He was so very skinny with no muscle tone and he walked strangely. When I got him home he self contained himself in a corner of out dining room where he was surrounded by furniture, so he had his safe spot. It took several days for him to finally come out into the dining room, then a few day to the living room with us. There he discovered the dogs beds and that was it for him. He found heaven. He has learned to trust us and loved rough housing with Rigel and Hoagie. His strange walking was from his standing on a slick floor with n o exercise. So much so that his tendons on the inside were tighter that the outside causing his feet to rotate inward. After about 6 weeks of playing his walking became almost normal. He had so little exercise; his pads were still puppy soft and were getting cut on the snow when he first came until they got toughened up by playing.

Seeker really attached himself to me. He followed me everywhere, and would sleep on my lap, so the affection became mutual. Seeker would have stayed with us if he did not have the compulsion to eat toys, blankets, socks, pillows, but mostly our gang’s stuffed toys. We had to puppy proof the house and ultimately had to crate him when we were gone. His adoption got delayed several times because he ate something and we wanted to make sure it passed before he went to his new home. He now has a 1 year old Berner buddy to beat up and lives in his new fenced yard in Ohio.

Heidi

Heidi is 6 ½ years old and the people decide they could not keep her or it turns out did not want to keep her. They wanted me to get her ASAP so I met them in Birch Run, as they lived west of Saginaw. I had a bunch of questions to ask but lost all train of thought when they pulled up in their pick up with Heidi in a crate in the back of the OPEN pick up at is was only 15 degrees out!!!! I don’t know why they did not have her inside of the extended cab. Heidi is very friendly and outgoing, sat immediately on my feet and lick my hands. So I loaded her into my warm vehicle and left after getting things signed, forgetting to ask questions about her.

She is a very sweet girl with an obsessive need to nibble on something or lick us when she get on some sort of furniture with us, especially the bed. Again, she has attached herself to me. She had a knee repaired some time ago and either the knee or her hips bother her when she sits. She loves her toys and teases everyone running around the yard showing me her toys, but plays keep-a-way with us. We are working on a home of some club members for her forever home, hopefully it will work out, the family is great, just no fence but have one in the pans for this spring.

Maggilo I found on petfinder at the Alpena Animal control. Do to logistics, I imposed on Brad and patty Aarons in Lewiston to check him out. I did not want to ask because of their losing their old girl that they rescued over a year ago, Brookie. He looked like a perfect Berner in the picture, but was listed a s a mix. So the Aarons went to check him out and found him to be a mix, but an absolute love, he looked all Berner but no

Maggs and his new sisters

tail!!! He is a Berner/Aussie mix, confirmed, but is 95% Berner (just missing a tail and has a big diamond Swiss kiss), in looks and personality. So Patty, fell in love and big hearted Brad, said “just keep him”. Done! Home found! No foster needed!! Maggs is a lucky boy!

He was tested and came back as having heartworms. So he is being treated once his weight gets up to where it should be. Keeping him quiet will be difficult as he already has the routine down to go crazy running with Trina and Skye on their 600 acres. He is a perfect match for Trina as he can keep up with her on the daily runs, and can even almost match her bounce! Once again the downfall of fostering, you fall in love. We know Maggs could not have a better life and family. I hope they adopt me next.

As I write this there are 2 missing Berners, one in the Marshal and one in Torch Lake. We are keeping  fingers crossed that they are found healthy and safe. It is thought the Torch lake dog may have been stolen.

Once again we are preparing for the DCK show in Detroit. We have an 8 foot booth for our Breed Education/Rescue table. We have solicited help from club members to assist this year so there will be some new faces helping get the word out on our great breed. Thanks to all that have offered to help!

We still have many t-shirts, sweatshirts and mugs available for our fundraiser. I will have them available at the annual meeting for those interested. If you let me know what you would like to bring, I will gladly pull it for you.             Thanks for your support

Bruce & Linda Whiteside, HMBMDR, Inc

Rescue Fund Raiser Shirts & Mugs — ON SALE!!

Cool Shirts!! We have new shirts for a fund raising effort, with information and ordering information to follow. A larger version sample of the print below
Sample artworkThe shirts are in stock

with limited quantities. If these appear to be a popular item we will do additional printings. We currently have 170 assorted pieces and 24 mugs.

With the permission of Patty Aarons and
the artist, Kellie Oliphant-Burns www.doodledogpaintings.com  we have been given permission to use this custom artwork of
Patty’s Trina, Brookie, and Skye. Trina and Brookie are rescues. The T-shirts are in Chestnut, Med Blue and Dashing Red, The Sweatshirts also come in the same colors. All are pigment dyed so sort of a washed look to them. All are preshrunk.
The T’s are $20 Now $15 for S-XL and $22 for XXL & XXXL
Sweatshirts are $40 $30 for S-XL and $45 $35 for XXL & XXXL
Mugs are 15 oz, white with the same print, they are $15.
Shipping is $5 per item (we may be able to reduce shipping on multiple
items depending on actual cost).

WOW Cool design!

We will be taking orders via e-mail @ BMDresQ@aol.comand we will confirm if they are in stock, than you can send a check for the total amount. We will ship the items once the check is received. Checks need to be made out to HMBMDR Inc (Heart of Michigan Bernese Mtn Dog Rescue, Inc).

Heidi has come in, and gone to her new home

Heidi is a senior girl who will be 7 years old in May. She is 7 but you would never know it, she loves to play with toys and cuddle in bed. She has a habit of nibbling on cloth and love to lick faces. She is vet sweet and deserved a new home where people had time for her. So  now she has a fenced yard, and a new young berner buddy to play with. So far she is doing very well and is adjusting to being the new toy for her younger sibling.