It has been thundering with lightning all afternoon so I shut the computer until just now. Unplugged it too - no surging allowed here!
 There has been a breakthrough with my shy karelian - Chenille - she is very trusting of me since our little episode with the quills. Her face lights up when she sees me and her eyes meet mine - what a happy day!
She has white tipped ears!!

The two speuters from yesterday are doing very well. Ned came home and headed right for the food and water. Bonnie Lassie slept for another three hours in her crate before venturing out for a drink and a few bites of high tech food. She was in her usual spot when I went to bed while Ned decided to cuddle on the bed with me. His new family LOVE cuddlebugs and pups that sleep in bed so he will fit right in. He also has his obedience class signed up for him for pre-agility - our Ned will be an agility star!

Two new pups have arrived  from the Burns Lake Pound. We welcome a beautiful collie mix, only 5 months old and a more active fellow will be hard to find. He has good will, eagerness to please and agility and grace for such a young pup. Any one looking for their next performance dog? This little guy will be a star!! He needs a name though before he can be posted on petfinder - please help find his identity!!

He sure looks like a nautical doesn’t he? Intelligence and good nature shine from his brown eyes.

and then there is the little gray girl. She is most likely a sheltie/terrier or schnauzer mix. She was already spayed, really really sweet girl and about 18 months old. What an awesome family companion. If you look at her fast you would see a blue merle shetie but she has a fuzzy face. She sure is a unique looking little dog.

She looks like a hedgehog here!

Pretty girl needs a name too!

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

Today started off on the wrong foot right off the bat, I forgot to check the am/pm button on the alarm clock/radio so of course the alarm didn’t go off. I got up to check at 8 am and rushed to wake up Dave, get the coffee on etc. I hate rushing around first thing in the morning. It upsets my equilibrium and sets the tone for the entire day.

It is Little Ned’s turn and Bonnie Lassie. Ned thinks Bonnie Lassie is the best thing since canned dog food. He follows her everywhere and is constantly at her side. So it was easy to get these two ready. I had tethered Bonnie to my bed so she could sleep in her favorite spot in the crate at the foot - Ned was beside her. So I unclipped Her leash and picked up Ned who went under Dave’s arm for the walk to the TG Bus. Dave was on his way lickety split - only slightly late.

Little Ned - he has a home in Chiliwack!

Pretty Bonnie Lassie - she has a home near English Bay!

In case you are wondering what happened yesterday - I will say one word - porcupine.  A suicidal lage porcupine wandered into the dog yard early, early yesterday morning. Of course Chuck had to check it out and Brocade/Chenille- the Karelians. Of all the dogs that live here only those three had quills. Chenille is the most reserved of the Karelians but she was the easiest to work with. They weren’t bad so I was able to remove the 9 quills myself - she was such a good girl - gentle and quiet. Brocade had some inside her mouth but by the time I got to her - she had removed them herself!! She has had them before!! I removed the few from her lip - they were easy. But Chuckie boy was a different story. He needed sedation and restraints. What a wimp - it must be the male thing - the girls were very brave. Mind you they didn’t have them as badly or as many. Now he will know where to NOT stick his nose.  Score 3 for the porcupine - 0 for the dogs. The big guy walked back out the way he came in!

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

Saturday saw a windy stormy day with lots of rain and hail. Sunday was a bit better but by Sunday afternoon during a phone call from a friend -the phone went dead and stayed that way. Dave went out and jiggled the wires while I checked all the cords to see if the dogs had chewed any. Nope - all wires were together. We had no phone and because we have no phone - no internet either! This sucks - big time.

Dave went to the store to use the payphone but the payphone was broken too - someone had cut the wire!! Next stop his buddy’s place but he wasn’t home either. Oh well we have a day off.  Monday - still no phone - we are very rural here. Dave’s friend was home and he reported our phone as down and out. They said the repair man would be out our way on Tuesday.  And so another very quiet day.

By noon telus was here and he needed to change our line at the switch house.  By 1 o’clock we had a phone again. And the main work of Turtle Gardens gets caught up. I only had 151 emails to wade through. And now the blog.  No new dogs today - Thursday will see pound pups but I don’t know what they are yet.

Did I mention I have a new favorite? It is Teeny Teena who already knows her name. She is one smart puppy. She is very cute. And she is very small. She is either a runt or a throwback to Ann Bonny - her grandmother. I am thinking she will be Ann Bonny size when she grows up - she is barely over 1 pound now. Just a sweet little lap dog. She will need a home where she can sleep in your bed and cuddle in your lap during the day for short periods. She comes a running when I call her name - she knows it is cuddle time.  She is going to be very hard to place.

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

After 24 hours of getting a busy signal when I tried to call Mom, I finally panicked. Visions of the flood waters swallowing T.G,  Mom standing in the middle  of the road alone surround by her 10 (or so) untouchable dogs her only worry being them, not the house or property not of herself only the dogs. That one of them might be put to sleep for some unacceptable behavior that continues to complicate there adoption.

I called the Bear (my auntie Loraine) and asked her what was going on up there? me being 12 hours away and all. She to had no idea what was up or why the phone wasn’t working, She decided to make the 130 km return trip to go and check on them. Just to be sure there was nothing wrong. Whew and a few hours later I am glad to say they had a big wind storm and the phone hasn’t worked since. So no phone no Internet as Mom only has dial up.

So Finally here is the 130 km update. It’s kinda vague and simple the Bear is not much of a doggy person.Mom (Yvette) said "No new dogs have come in to T.G,and I sure hope I don’t lose and homes because I can’t get right back to the folks the have applied for them with no phone." Whew with that one line i know Mom is OK because it’s all about the dogs,and only Mom truly lives in a dog world. Stan Son #1

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

This has been a day wrought with frustrations. From early afternoon and the shuttting down of the computer to the bad storm - rain/hail/thunder/lightening to the inability to keep a dial up connection to losing the hard written first blog!!! I can’t keep a connection at all - it keeps cutting out. I hate dial-up to begin with - it is so slow but to lose the connection every 3 minutes is the ultimate anger inducing frustration. I hate technology!! If there was an alternative you can be sure I would be using it. But today - I will look for an alternative to uniserve!!

TG welcomes another "Nautical" - Tinkerbelle had a home - she was spayed with our low cost spay neuter voucher program.  But she is a  teenager - and she chews - shoes are her specialty. And today was the last straw - a brand new pair of runners. It doesn’t matter that the kids were left their shoes where she could find them. She has to go - or else.So TG has another sheltie mix.
Tinker is Bonnie Lassie’s sister - just a paler version.

I am totally frustrated - what is the solution to unwanted dogs? Spaying didn’t  help this litle girl keep her family. What is the answer?

Then I read the comments  and find Grey Ghost’s family Happy Ending. And I find my reason for continuing. Happy Endings are the rhyme and reason for Turtle Gardens. They are what keep me going. And then I check my emails and find another Happy Ending - another happy adoption:

A very big THANK YOU to Grey Ghost’s family for their sponsoring Lucy and Mickey of Boot’s family.  The girs sold lemonade and earned $40. Mom and Dad topped it off to $100. You have boosted my spirits and reminded me why there is Turtle Gardens. I thank you.

Boots and her babies -
their eyes are open!!

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

Tiny Teena greeted me this morning as I was getting out of bed. She wanted a cuddle so I obliged the tiny little girl! the sheltie mixes are a very nice litter.  One of the husky girls has an application from Seattle, none of the blondies do yet though. So I took new pics today fo the little ones. Sorry Stan but I really prefer no backgrounds to showcase the pups.

And a picture of a bigger puppy but still a pup
She looks like a wooly sheep!

And still a puppy at 6 months of age:

Littly woolie - Raven
And now Sady who may just have found her family:

Hard work being a puppy!

The big truck stopped at the edge of the driveway. She apologized for having to ask for sanctuary but she had nowhere else to take the little dog - she has 4 of her own. There were two of them she said, the little black and white female and her brother (she thought) a blue merle. Someone had dumped the pair and they were spotted in a field herding/chasing cattle. Farmers don’t like dogs in their fields and this was no exception. Shots rang out and only the little female made it out of the field alive.  It took her 3 hours but she was finally able to catch the terrified pup - because that is what she is - a puppy of about 7 months of age. 

Dave and I looked at each other but we knew what we had to do. Turtle Gardens welcomes a shy/scared little purebred looking border collie pup who will need time and patience to learn to trust humans again especially men. She will need to be spayed and vaccinated and given a NAME. With Silas’s surgery to pay for; dollars are scarse. Can you SPONSOR this very pretty little girl?

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

Silas is doing very well. I have started taking him out into the main yard so he can walk around off leash and exercise. He gets along very well with all the dogs. He is such a nice dog too.  He spends most of his day locked in the bedroom where he is safe and cool. When Dave went in a while ago - he found Silas playing with Sady on the bed! The bed is quite high but Silas had jumped up. And because he is feeling so much better - he wanted to play. So I have begun to let him loose for a half hour at a time. He loves it!

Silas walking on his own.

Silas with a happy face.

Silas standing up too meet Dave’s Harley.

Such hard work - enjoying himself!

Silas can run! The sheer joy of movement in his face! He is pain-free!

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

What a mess greeted me this morning when I got up and walked through the dog room! The puppies had a hey day. They have discovered that some of their bedding in the crates can be chewed and strewn all over the floor. One of the crates had foam pillows. I thought it was safe as there weren’t any holes in it. But puppies have sharp teeth and cotton tears with a satisfying ripping sound. And inside - what a treasure of fun stuff to grab and rhrow around. They sure had a lot of fun. Not so for me - they sure can stuff a lot of foam pieces in an ordinary pillow! Why would anyone prefer a puppy to an adult dog is way beyond me. And all that work was before coffee too!! It’s a good thing they are very cute!

Dave went out last night and took pictures of the river and the streams that flow into the river. It sure looks ferocious. And the snowpack has barely begun melting. The river is almost over the bank at  the curve - this will come onto our property down the old river bed towards our house. It is quite a bit higher than yesterday. But the rain has stopped. …. For now.

This is from the bridge - it is over the bank here.

The other side of the bridge. Normally this is a small stream with a bit of lowland swamp. It is only a foot from Sunset Lake Road.

Across the highway - normally a small stream. This flows into our Bulkley River.

Only 12% of the high mountain snowpack has melted.

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