It must be Tuesday! It is spay day again and today instead of just Nell - Annie Fannie and Emily are going too. I received a phone call yesterday asking to change the spay days for the other two as our vet has bull testing next week. Not a problem for Dave - one less trip to Burns Lake and a sooner trip for the TG Bus.  Emily has a home with an older gentleman - she really, really prefers men! Now she will be ready to go home. and Nell has a home too.
  The one hour change has thrown my cycle way off! The hours of daylight don’t really change - it still feels the same but the time is now out of whack! Too early it seemed to me this morning as I struggled out of bed.  I put the coffee on and called Dave. He was up first call and when he opened the door for his apple dumplings Annie and Nell ran out too. I ran after them to make sure they didn’t eat anything! At  -11 they didn’t stay out long - brrr it is cold out there.
   After a quick cup of coffee Dave was ready to go with Emily under his arm. I leashed Annie and Nell together and walked them to the fence - they are very good on leash! Dave was on his way ! Three more girls with no more puppies!!! Cuddly little Emily

Nell is feeling so much better!

Annie is a funny, happy, little dog!

©Turtle Gardens Animal Rescue Society. Have your pet spayed or neutered today.

It was a very busy day yesterday noisy, stressful (nothing like constant noise to wear you down!) yet very productive. Lorna arrived early with a bouquet of carnations to help cheer me up! Thank you Lorna, I love carnations especially that colour!
Pretty aren’t they?

The first out the door for a walk was jade. Lorna says that once away from the yard she is quiet, a little uncertain around th erear end with being touched, she was starting to sit with treats, always watching he rface and really likes to be petted.  Jade is going to a new home in Abbotsford. She will blossom in a quieter environment.
Jade is just a sweet, cuddly girl.

Then Plato went out. Lorna says Plato has the personality of a doorknob. Not very flattering - she just  doesn’t see him like I do. He was not the least bit interested in food or affection, stands like a board when handled. Surprisingly, he walks very nicely on leash! He changes pace and is always beside you. See - a redeeming factor!
Would do well for a quiet person who likes to walk and doesn’t expect a lot from his companion. I still like Plato - he can be funny once he knows you.
He has a very smooth gait.

Little Abe went out next as he was constantly getting in th eway. He wanted his turn - now! Lorna found him to be very smart, he learned quickly to offer sits for treats. He learns quickly. He is quite pushy - he needs boundaries ste or he will run roughshod over you. He is quick to bark when frustrated, he jumped th efence to be with  Lorna - certainly didn’t like ot be confined - very vocal about it!! He will need a kind but firm leader to be an awesome companion. He is a fun, active friendly puppy.

Lorna thinks he is a Rhodesian Ridgeback mix - her friend has them! Notice the black beard under his chin - sort of like Abe Lincoln.

Chuck was next. He looks mean but he is a very nice dog. Lorna feels he would do well for a single woman - his looks would make people think twice! He is very friendly, responds very well to lures - walks beside you quietly. He has a very gentle mouth, is playful. Although he ha sbeen very quiet outside - he was quite vocal when Lorna was working the other dogs! He wanted all the attention. He is back to normal today - not a peep out of him!

 Those eyes make him look mean but he is an awesome dog.

A quick tea break then it was Zorra’s turn. Zorra is very food orientated, and very quick to learn sit and walk on a leash. She is very playful and loves affection. She is great with other dogs. I call her a velcro dog - she really wants to be with you.

Curley Sue went out next - she has a prospective home. She pulls back on the leash like a mule! She drops when she can’t get away. But she is very gentle - totally non-agressive - eventhough she was afraid. Lorna did ttouch on her ears, body - she would stand with a hand under her belly. I started a "tough love" program yesterday with her - she is confined to a crate or tethered - she has to come to me for food, affection etc. She is seperated from her sister Coco and Sampson. She is too bonded to the dogs and is not interested in people. Today she came to me when I called her and wagged her tail. She walked on leash quietly. She took food from my hand. She is happily in her crate chewing a bone. Her new role as a family pet has begun!
Curley Sue just needs some one on one to be a companion.

Cindy was a suprise for Lorna. She has been on the "tough love" program for three weeks now. She was happy, friendly and confident when out on her walk. It works!

Cindy will be a good companion for anyone!

Little Annie Fannie was confident, friendly and really enjoyed herself. She likes food an dpetting equally. she wlks ok on leash - she pulls a bit but not bad. She was offering sits too. A very nice girl!

She is a very pretty girl too!

And the last one was Danny - Annie’s pup. He started on leash like a mule but wiht a few treats was walking beside her and bouncing up. He was no longer scared! He is very food motivated. He was a little nervous being touched but comes around fast with food! The way to this little guy’s heart is his tummy!

He look like a mini-rottie! Such short little legs!

By now supper was ready so we sat down to an old-fashined Sunday dinner of roast beef, mashed potaoes, gravy and cauliflower. Man that Dave can cook! Guess I’ll have to keep him for another 38 years! Our wedding anniversary was on the 7th! Lorna  and I updated petfinder from her notes. drafted a new adoption list for posting and she left before the snow started again! A very good day!

©Turtle Gardens Animal Rescue Society. Have your pet spayed or neutered today.

It is sunny after the snow of yesterday. The dogs had a blast outside and i had my camera ready! Here is a busy day in the snow! It snowed all day but was very mild.

Annie Fannie with one of the short legged pups - Simba.

Come play with me says Chuck!

Holly snifing the short legged pups who have no fear!

Playing “king of th ecastle” - Jaime, Nelson, sheltie pup and Shortie.

Mopsy watched by Nelson and another sheltie pup.

Plato with his full coat - striking!

My follower - Possum. He will be a wonderful little companion.

Puppy chase - Nelson the busybody and Simba.

Little Shortie - Take me home!

©Turtle Gardens Animal Rescue Society. Have your pet spayed or neutered today.

It is a sad day for me - Tina affectionately known as Teeny Beeny passed away this morning. She was born November 22nd, 1994.  She came to Turtle Gardens as a wild, unsocialized 4 month old pup with her siblings. I was able to place three of the more friendly ones but Tina was very temperamentally challenged and so were her sisters Lucy and Aardvark.  Teeny only trusted me - no one else for many years. She and her sisters were The Black Gang. They always stuck together. When Teeny Beeny was spayed - she was extremely traumatized - eventhough I held her as she was sedated and put her on the operating table until she was under. She wouldn’t leave my bedroom for over a year. Teeny Beeny was unadoptable. She remained my trusted friend until she passed in my arms this morning - she didn’t want me to leave her side. Rest in peace my Teeny - there is no fear where you are now.

©Turtle Gardens Animal Rescue Society. Have your pet spayed or neutered today.

Plato was born of a demodex mother - the immune system of a demodex dog cannot handle the demodex mite which all dogs have on their bodies. With demodex dogs the mites multiply and grow on the root of the hair follicles. They excrete a substance which causes secondary skin infections - which emit a yeasty odour like a mouse infestation. The sores ooze and skin starts breaking down into sores which bleed. The dogs are fevered and feel sick - they don’t want to eat which further breaks down their immune systems. It is a vicious circle. And because the dogs are covered with sores people chase them away if they are strays, no one wants to touch them so they are pushed away - even if they do have homes. Some like Hero are put in a box to hide them so no one will complain about their dog. Hero lived for 10 days in a wooden box before he was discovered and brought to Turtle Gardens. The neighbours had complained about the looks of the dog -so his owner hid him.  Luckily Hero came here, had treatment, got better, was neutered, regressed, found his wonderful home in Alaska, regressed from the move and has finally recovered - he is a beautiful, full coated boy. It took almost 18 months to find his home.

His mother was Honeybear - a 110 pound rottweiller with a temperament of pure gold and the demodex mite gene.  The tendency to demodex is inherited from the mother so all of her pups had demodex. The first litter - she was bred to a pit bull - only two pups survived. One was in Telkwa and we spayed her after her treatments - she stayed with her owners. The other ended up here when she was 2 years old - with three puppies. All had demodex. Harley is Dave’s girl - she is the dog in the floodwatch blog! One of her pups is still here - Jaime. Here she is with a full coat - finally! She is almost 20 months old.

Honeybear needed a place to land so she came here too.  She was in very poor condition - her demodex had flared up and had not been treated - she was very sick.  We had her X-rayed to make sure she wasn’t pregnant and started treating her.  Just before Christmas she blessed us with puppies. Four survived.  Plato, Sampson, Moses and Patty. With extra care, premium food and lotsof raw meat Honebear raised the pups, was spayed, and finally she recovered from demodex. She found a home and has never regressed again. The cycle was stopped for good with her spay.

The four pups lived here, were treated regularily when their demodex flared and finally went in for their speuters. Patty did not come home. Plato and Sampson regressed again and started treatment with their remaining brother Moses. When he reached a year he started filling out and his personality starting showing - he was a clown! He was scheduled for his neuter but sadly he did not come home. He was just too frail.

Sampson and Plato have thrived since their neuter. They have a good skin tone and a full coat though Plato is still thin coated. Their personalities have changed into happy, energetic boys. Sampson is now 120 pounds and Plato is close to 90 pounds. Sampson loves smaller dogs and puppies. Plato follows me everywhere and is  a bit of a mooch. Both boys are finally ready for their own home. There must be special person out there for my big boys - they have been through so very much and now want to be yuppie puppies.
  Sampson serveying his domain.

Plato watching Mopsy and Flopsy play.

And for Wendy:

Nell and Chipmunk - the Sally look-a-like!!

©Turtle Gardens Animal Rescue Society. Have your pet spayed or neutered today.

It was another gorgeous sunny morning when I got up today. As I hurridely opened the door for the puppies I noticed there wasn’t any deposits this morning. Good puppies!! Possum is sleeping in my bed next to Sweetpea and Nelson - he has become my follower too. Ellie Mae and Jetta were asking to go out too - they wanted food and water! Not today girls it is spay day for you.
Jetta has a prospective home in Smithers.

Ellie Mae has a home in Terrace. I just need to find her a ride this weekend.

Both girls were loaded without incident and Dave had no problems with the TG Bus either. It was smooth sailing this morning!
A Happy Endings - RILEY:
going great here, sorry no new pics yet, will get some done ASAP , Bear and Riley play hard all day , but rest well together too, enjoying regular naptimes, dictated by Bear, I walk and run them on one leash, a coupler, unless of course we are off leash, that is going well, as both of them sleeping by our bed too, in fact last night Bear had a nightmare, jumped up in fright and Riley moved over and gave HER bed to Bear so he could be closer to us, much better today, don’t know what that dream was about.
She passed the test going to work with us along with Bear, not always a possiblity , but when we can take breaks at the 45min. mark it is good to take the dogs, they love eating lunch with us in the old ‘78 Westy and going for walks in new parks and the commuting is just another adventure, so it sort of took the monotony out of an ordinary day. Glad that worked out, as it looks like camping and travel with them will go well.
She was scared of a log yesterday, don’t know why, possibly because a beaver had gnawed it? A lot of things seem new to her, quite different to have a puppy as Bear is a wise old soul, seems to know all, never eats or drinks anything poisonous, we have to keep a close eye on Riley, she doesn’t have that common sense, has already eaten all of the rhododendrons, i am removing as many plants as i can in case they are poisonous, oh trying to stop her from digging too, she is on a mission, having already found all the bones i wonder if she thinks there are more?
yes lots of challenges, but you know, you were absolutely right that she would be a good match for Bear in every way, he has even becomve rather protective of her, growling at another big dog if it appears to play too hard, even though we all know Riley is the tougher of the two really. But it is pretty sweet anyway.

And an update from LOU:

Day 3 of fostering Lou. Being my first day back to work meant tying her up
close to the house and yet have access to her woodshed with hay. When I
came home, there she was, standing on the deck wagging her tail. Even
though she is initially still shy, wanting to hide in a secure spot, as soon
as my own pups get the greeting, she came right out wanting the greeting,
too.

The last 2 nights she has been indoors with the pups and similar pattern,
she hides under the desk when I step over the plywood to come into their
entrance, but as soon as affection is given to the others, she feels safe to
come get some, and is starting to ask for it by putting her paw on you. She
will not take a treat from your hand yet, but is a little gourmet with any
of her food, my pups have to be held back so as not to steal as she takes
her time.

She is great to walk on the leash, very social, and feeling safe when other
dogs are around her, she does not demand and has a quiet, pleasant nature.

Christine
Pretty, very black Lou!

©Turtle Gardens Animal Rescue Society. Have your pet spayed or neutered today.

The sun is shining - it is gorgeous out there but… if it gets too hot too fast the snow will melt and have nowhere to go. No one knows what will happen as we got 5 feet of snow before the ground froze on Octover 27th.  And the snow stayed, got deeper and more insulating. We have at least 5 feet of compressed snow  -well over 10 feet of fresh snow accumulated over this winter. The mountains have at least 48 feet of snow - it was measured on China Nose and the mountain near Houston where the TV tower is.  Dave went out yesterday and took pictures of my greenhouse, and the surrounding area and the river (the Little Bulkley River)  that flows through it.

It will be awhile before I can even get into it!! The glass reflects the dogs!

Across the driveway - Dave starts his walk.

Harley beside the snowbank.

The snow is melting on the road!

The river is quite near our road - The Little Bulkley is the beginning of the Bulkley River a major salmon river.

The river is getting ready to open up! Otter tracks on the surface.

The river is opening up!

Bigger!

And bigger -soon it will be flowing!!

The bridge over the Little bulkley. The mountains look so innocent - but they empty into our valley!

Puddles of water already on the road.

The hillside at the start of our property - it drains across the road into the river.

All of this has to go somewhere.

Back home in the yard  - all that snow will melt - if the nights stay cool then it wil melt slowly - but if it gets hot too quickly or rains a warm melting rain then we will be under water. We have started our disaster plan to evacuate the dogs if need be. No surprises for TG.

©Turtle Gardens Animal Rescue Society. Have your pet spayed or neutered today.

Lou went into foster care yesterday and it was the best thing that could have happened to her!  Christine is thrille dto report there already is a big change to her!
Christine says:
This is why I wanted to pick up the dogs on my day off, a unique opportunity to be around them all day. Tonight on our walk/run, Lou no longer was behind me on her leash but alongside of me, only one ear down, and less timid. She sits when I ask her, the reward is she gets to be off the leash and can run back up to the house. And she allowed herself to be petted for like 5 minutes, she was not tied to a post or anything, she could have escaped the affection, what can I say we are not even at day 2 yet, in fact less than 12 hours here. Lou will do fine in an active family; other dogs and kids I think would do her little soul good, she is already showing great loyalty and I think the main thing is, consistency and lots of physical activity. Tomorrow I will try playing ball with her, she has SO much energy … and well … it has been an active day for me;)

As soon as we got home, we had to take that walk on the snowshoe trail to get to know their surrounding. I let go of Troy & Lou’s leashes (left them on their collars though), and away they went to take the lead about 200 m ahead of us. Not till about the second turn-off did I see them and just called. Troy came with Lou behind. They were having their work-out. Then up to check out the outbuildings, then down the driveway and onto the road for their leashed walk. Lou seems like she severely timid, she crouches down into a down position every time I stopped to give her a pat on her head/stroke on her fur. Definitely some trust-issues, but she is yet young. Actually Lou’s disposition is sweet and gentle, too, she trusts her fellow canines a lot more than me, it was VERY wise to take Troy today, he gives Lou’s a sense of safety.

And Troy is so happy:
I think donations for a dog are never enough!  There is no price that can be
put on a dog who has forgiven past inflictions of pain, and arrives giving
trust and affection freely.  Troy was off the leash within 20 minutes of
arriving.  He has taken his place on the deck overlooking Boo Mountain, I
just can’t believe his manners and affectionate ways.  Without him, Lou
would not have felt so comfortable here either.

Fostering a special dog is very fulfilling. You are helping a scared dog find his/her trust. You teach them to learn how to live with  a family. You make a big difference in the dog’s life!! You give him/her that special second chance at "la dolce vitae" - the good life. There are plenty of opportunities to foster here - Curley Sue and Coco Brindle would benefit from some one on one time. The scare dlittle poodles need special experienced fosters to learn how to trust. Dogs that have just been spayed could use a respite home while they heal. Lots of different chances to help out a lost soul.

And an update on Bindy: Morning Yvette      Just a note to let you know how glad we are to have Bindi. She has a personality that shines through every minute. She has quickly caught on to our routines and is so very smart.  Her potty training is coming along and there’s been no accidents as long as she has every opportunity to get outside. I’m sure that will resolve itself. Mike’s old dog has become resigned to being "rounded up" and "heeled" into the corner. Our other dog, Bud, is slowly warming up to her. We had to put down his constant companion a couple years ago and I think this what he needed to get him out and about again.  She just needs a family to be part of and I’m glad it’s us. Today we will get the last of her stitches out. Many thanks for bringing us together. Sandy & Mike

©Turtle Gardens Animal Rescue Society. Have your pet spayed or neutered today.