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 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, 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 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
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