The weather is warm during the day and cool at night. The snow is very slowly melting. The river has gone over its banks below us. We already have water behind the greenhouse a few yard away. In the 10 years we have lived here - this is the first time the water has been there before the snow is even melted. Dave figures the water will be in the greenhouse by tonight.  The greenhouse is the lowest point on our property. Our house is one of the highest points - it hasn’t flooded at the house since 1972. 

From the back window of the house, near the doggie door.

From the back fence. The river is already quite high.

The farmer’s fields across the river from us. The huge lake is on top of the melting snow.

The new lake is getting bigger while there is lots of snow to melt.

Closer to home.

River is up since yesterday.

Close to the road.

Inches from the road now.

Still lots of snow!

Water behind the greenhouse - a good sized pond already!

With all the snow still to melt - it is inevitable that we will have more flooding then normal. How much more is yet to come. Will keep you posted.

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

This a short term foster - two weeks or transport to Turtle Gardens for two dogs - Honeybear is a six year old, spayed shepherd mix while PJ is a 9 year old neutered English cocker spaniel.

This is gentle Honeybear.

PJ looks like this dog!

If you can help these two dogs please email me at turtlegardens at gmail.com  it would be most appreciated.

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

It amazed me that this tiny little scrap of fur is unwanted. And so badly neglected thta her coat was matted to the skin. She appears to be an adult, is a tad shy but oh so cuddly, a little thin but that isn’t a problem - some wormer and the good Precise dog food - she will be fine in no time. Meanwhile another spay and vet check to schedule.
Little Peanut looks so tiny in Dave’s hands.

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

The warm days have opened the Bulkley River or in our case the Litlle Bulkley River - the start of the big salmon river. The big curve downriver is still frozen though and the water is flooding the farmer’s fields - on top of the snow!! Our yard is half clear - near the house is sand and grass but near the fence is still almost 18 inches of compressed snow/ice. Behind the greenhouse the water is pooling, th eground is already saturated. And the hillside is still covered in snow - the northside of our road and property. There is floodwatch everywhere in our area from Burns Lake to Prince Rupert - all th erivers ar enext to highway 16 so all the communities are in the flood zone.

The bridge near the start of our road.

Lots of water flowing!!

Close to the road

The water is already at high level

The water is pooling - nowhere to go as the ground is saturated

And still more snow to melt - where will it go?

And behind the greenhouse - the water is pooling on top of the snow. The ground is already saturated. The snow covered the ground before it had a chance ot freeze and insulated it all winter long. It doesn’t look good. We are getting our evacuation plan for the dogs and me ready. Will keep you posted.

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

Turtle Gardens seems to have an early batch of spring pups. Odd since we are still snow covered – but melting.  There is quite a range of pups, all very adoptable.  Puppies are cute as all heck but do come with the responsibility of providing training to raise them to be good canine citizens.  While we start all our dogs on housebreaking and they do learn quite a bit from following the older dogs outside you can expect to put in the effort to continue the right behaviours and curb the incorrect ones.  You will need to walk them often and praise them like they invented a way to turn rock into gold. 

Adopters should also plan on taking a puppy training class or two.  This is great socialization for your  pup and can provide useful tips for a lifetime of ‘good dog’. Make sure you have a sense of humour with pups, they sometimes try really, really hard to please but get it all wrong and do the wrong thing when they meant to impress you with their cleverness.  These humourous antics can include bringing you your underwear when you have company (hey you might need em), tipping the water bowl (the cat dared me), or tearing up the newspaper (maybe he disagreed with the editorial).  Try to maintain a sense of humour while guiding puppy to the right ways of doing things, eventually he will be an adult dog and so much a part of your family that you couldn’t imagine life without him.

There are 3 sheltie/poodle mixes which are low to no shedding.  They came in semi-feral but have come around.  They are quick and easily scared so quiet calm homes are needed for them.  They will be about 20 lbs when filly grown and will require regular haircuts at the groomers.  They are not suitable for children, sorry.

 

There are 5 golden crosses.  Their mother Shimmer has gone to her new home.  She has a very stable temperament, classic Golden really.  Her pups are big gold balls of fluff right now.  They will be great family dogs are they share her great temperament.  Young goldens need a lot of exercise and are a little too smart so they need obedience classes.  If you are looking for a medium to largish dog which can be a part of a active family then consider these.  4 girls, one boy.

 

Emma is a small 20lb sheltie mix with a great temperament.  She has 6 little ones to find homes.  These are much more suitable for the average family than the poodle mixes by far.  Very young children should be supervised with young pups as they can sometimes try to pick them up the wrong way and hurt the puppy.  But they are cute!

 

Rocky is going to be a fairly big boy.  He’s 26 lbs at 4 months of age.  But he is a cute little fuzzbucket.  What a face.  He loves kids/dogs whatever.  Rocky is another all round good pup for an active family.

 

Linnet is a labX and is everything anyone could want in a Lab.  Happy, confident, gentle mouthed, tries to please, she is very good with her housebreaking.  She should attend a puppy training class with her new owners, she will be class valedictorian for sure!

 

Please fill out an adoption application and email it to turtlegardens@gmail.com  Thank you.

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

And another:

I LOVE Happy Endings!! Don’t you?

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

It is another beautiful day here at TG. The sun is shining, the snow is melting but not fast enough next to the fence to keep all the dogs in. Most of these dogs have run loose all their lives so keeping them confined to a yard albeit a large yard is a challenge. Add snow and it can be nearly impossible. There is still two feet of snow on the inside of the fence. I  went around and tried to shovel down to the ground at the spot I have seen them jump/climb out. I managed to chop about 12 feet of ice before my wind gave out. Did it work?

Waylon and his tiny sidekick Ann Bonny just moved past the area I cleared and climbed over the fence. Ann had a tough time of it - she was crying - "Wait for me, wait for me!!"  And Waylon stood watching until she managed to scale the wall!

We need a good rain to wash this rotten snow away - just one day that’s all! Then those brats will be locked in the yard without being tethered.  Waylon and Ann don’t go far - it is the idea that they are out of the fence that bothers me. It the neighbour comes barreling down the road - do they know enough to get out of the way? I don’t want to find out. So Waylon is back in on his cable for another few days. His sidekick wont leave without him. All is safe again at TG.

Bonny Lassie is doing well - she is actually gaining weight She was very thin when she came in and now with her 10 puppies to feed - she needs the best food possible to raise them well. Precise is a very top quality food - 29% protein with all the vitamins and minerals needed for her to produce the amount of milk she needs without using her own reserves to do it. There is no reason for a dog to be thin raising puppies.  Or to be thin at the end of raising them if she is fed properly. It ain’t cheap to raise a litter. In fact it is darn expensive in money as well as time. Besides the food there is keeping her area scrupiously clean, her bedding changed, her babies warm and dry. With a large litter like hers I will be feeding the puppies a gruel as soon as their eyes open and they start to move around. The gruel is made from the Precise puppy formula and milk replacer bought from the veterinarian. I could use pablum but I have found the puppy food ground in the processor to be easier for the pups to digest. By the time they are four weeks old they will be eating a moistened puppy food with less milk replacer and will have their first worming. Then they will be unto dry puppy food by six weeks and weaned by eight weeks. They will be vet checked at 6 weeks, vaccinated and wormed again. They will all have their 2nd vaccinations at 9 weeks and be ready for adoptive homes. Taking care of puppies is a lot of work.  

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

The river from our backyard! It is quite close. It is almost open.

Actually our property’s boundary line is the river.  This is taken from the back fence around our house.

Dave has decided to walk the road again and take pictures of the snow which is finally going down. He always takes Harley his dog with him. Here she is waiting to go!

Start of the walk - with Harley, Jaime and Mary Read! snow is gone from the road - it was graded yesterday.

The river is close to the road here.

The river is opening up and is close to the top of the  bank in places.

Water is already overflowing the ditches - no where to go but up and unto the road.

From the bridge on Sunset Lake Road. The water is starting to move!

The corner of our road and Sunset Lake Road.

Little Mary looking at the river as Dave and crew turn back on our road - this is a third way down our road.

The snow is melting rapidly down here - it hasn’t started on the mountains yet..  The Lakes District  News has an article stating that we have 194% more snow than normal.   Burns Lake nears snow index record  

The entire Lakes District/Bulkley Valley is on Floodwatch. All our mountains have above average snowpacks. Will the rivers be able to handle all that water or will we be moving dogs an dpeople to higher ground. We wil keep you updated.

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