Turtle Gardens Animal Rescue

Until next time that is!! I sent off a huge stack of envelopes – sure looked like Christmas time. It was a very good feeling to know that I sent out the receipts and thank yous in a timely manner. I hope people who know me realize I turned over a whole new tree never mind a leaf. And all without my new desk – it is still sitting waiting for the  house to be finished. It was too big to bring in here. I have three planks nailed to supports which is just big enough for the monitor and hard drive case. I use my keyboard on an open dresser drawer next to the desk.  My corner is small but it is mine! I have gotten a lot of work done in my cubbyhole. The last of the sheriff dogs have their speuters scheduled. They will all be done except for the two nursing moms by November 15th!! How cool is that! There is a rush to spay the girls as they were all in heat when they arrived!! Except the three who were pregnant. Actually one had her single pup before we arrived but of the other two; one had her pup on Vet Day – October 12th – the other was spayed in time. Everyone except the two pups were vaccinated and the pups were checked over by our wonderful vet Dr. Kye and her assistant Christine.
. Dr. Kye watching Stan putting on the id tag. The dog is a nameless male.

Today I promised to take pictures of Nala’s pups. And I did but the puppy that has a prospective home – the red female had her back turned to me. I could have woken her up but i had taken the male who looks just like Robbie out to meet his prospective family and Nala was a tad protective. Ok she was upset with me because I dared to pick up her baby!! And I really wanted to write this blog. To do that I needed the batteries from the camera to go into the mouse. The other spare is in the clock – it ran low. Dave keeps forgetting to buy batteries so I use what I have and rotate them until he does remember. Such is the pleasure of living far from amenities!! So  here is Nala and her puppies!!

A slender, petite Nala. Hard to believe she is the mom of 52 pound Robbie!!!

The babies – wide awake little and I mean little one!

Robbie jumping up to say "Hello"

The last of the digging – the backhoe will come in and remove th efront so the last of the supports can be put in. Then the cement  footings put in, the dirt/gravel backfilled and the floors put in and holy cow – our house will be ready to move back in!!

A close up of Mya2 – she is a senior sheriff dog – a beautiful follow u kind of girl wanting her own person to follow around. She has been spayed and had a tumour removed. She is most likely at least 7 possibly 8 years old. She is housebroken, well mannered and is a friendly, good natured, quiet companion.

Lance our worker who isn’t afraid of dog poop – he helps out in the kennel and wherever  we need him; to finish our house before the white stuff arrives.

Digging so fast everything is blurry!

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

One of my worst failings is paperwork. But TG is growing and with growing pains comes more paperwork. I am ok with the daily work of listing new arrivals, the pound guys where they come from etc. Occasionally I calculate where the dogs come from using these lists- the graphs are interesting. But my new best friend has to be paperwork – the kind that are used for reports and financial statements and my particular nemesis- tax receipts.  Last week I found the donations program that I had downloaded and started filling in donators. Each time a donation arrives – in the mail or from paypal – I add to the list. Today I started at the top of the list and wrote receipts and a thank you note to each one, addressed the envelopes, put a stamp on it and marked the donees as "receipt sent"  It took me all afternoon!!  Being a stubborn Taurus I wanted it done NOW. And it is, so I can relax. Now that the program is set up it should be relatively easy to keep up. My mantra has to be "Paperwork is my new best friend". My son is sending me "Quicken" to set up the books – I may never be away from this desk!!

Taco the newest indoor sheriff dog is doing very well. She is housebroken. She is very quiet. She has no recall whatsoever!!! In fact none of them do. They were just never loose. But if they ever get outside the fence it is a "chase me cause I can really run" game. Stanley has this game today with Stan the human version. He ran down the road across the bridge then did a u-turn down to the edge……..and fell in the river! For some reason the river is as high as spring – the water is near the banks and really traveling. So Stanley Dog fell in and couldn’t swim – he sank like a stone. Stanley my son rushed to the edge, leaned over holding the bridge and grabbed his collar as Stanley Dog gasped upwards frantic for air. He was soon back on dry land and leashed for the return to fenced areas. A subdued, wet dog may have learned his lesson – dogs can’t walk on water.

Stan finished the wall under the sewer pipe and what a neat job!!  Now if we can find Dan and the back hoe, we can finish the digging and final footing. Snow  is in the forecast. And i really want to get back into our warm and comfortable space. The yard looks great. The woodshed is empty of junk and ready for wood. The last of the materials is ready for use and the chimney has been located – local prices are as good as big city prices. Our new selkirk will be up and ready for the stove underneath it.

Nala’s pups are doing great – their eyes are open and they are so darn cute!! Holly’s little girl is walking around – she is nearing 4 weeks of age while Tripp’s little boy’s eyes are open now too. He is a "porker" so round and fat. All the dogs are gaining weight and soon they will be leaving for families one at a time!!

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

Doggone it I slept in today! On a speuter day yet! Dave was up ahead of me and walked outside to “yell” at Stan in the atco. Once I heard “8 o’clock!!” I jumped out of bed to  start the coffee. Yesterday I found a treasure in one of the bags from Bandstra. There was Belgian chocolate cookies, 2 pounds of gourmet Seattle’s Best coffee and beef jerky – my favorite treat!! Thank you to whomever sent it. It is always appreciated when twe get treats too! So my first cuppa this morning is gourmet coffee – worth while getting up for and rushing around getting the dogs ready for their “road trip”. The first one out the door was Robbie who promptly wiggled her way out of the martingale collar!! One call from Stan and I was out the door catching Robbie, putting her collar back on and loading her into the TG Bus. Her collar was tightened – she didn’t get away from me.

 

Finn was next with Bailey. Since they came in together they walked well to the van. Finn was very well behaved though a tad scared but Bailey said “No way Jose!!  I am not leaving here” Soothing words soon calmed her down and she was ready to go.

 

Then I walked shy Coco Brindle while Dave took Taco. Coco has been here almost a year – a terrified, shy girl who just wouldn’t interact with humans. I left her intact, hoping that when she went into heat the hormones would balance her mental state. And so it did. She has started to come to me eagerly for pats. And recently she has jumped up on me in joy when she sees me. She has willingly followed me into the house and lies at my feet. Coco is finally ready for her spay and a gentle, patient family. She will be devoted and very willing to please – most likely a one-person dog like most chesapeakes or their mixes.

 

Taco has an injured leg and will be checked out at the office. She is a lovely, quiet girl – one of the 4 year old group – Stanley, Ripley, Sally, Honcho. She is housebroken, walks well on leash and is well behaved indoors and out. She ignores the other dogs. She sure is a sweetheart!

 

The work is progressing well both around the yard and under the house. The yard is clear of all debris for winter while we are fighting the rising waters of the river!! It is the first time we have ever seen the river so high in the fall. The ground water has come up and filled our excavation with water. The sump is running day and night to try and pump it dry so we can finish the digging and pour the last footings. The race to finish before the snows is on! And we will get it done in time!! I desperately want to be in my house, warm and with room to move around and the dogs will be comfortable in their new bright and clean room. More of the sheriff dogs will be coming in instead of just Stanley and Taco. But for now – two at a time is  the best I can do. Stanley is also a very sweet dog. He has been very ill with the parasite load he was carrying but with lots of TLC and special easy to digest meals he is recovering. He will be ready for a family very soon.

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

What a great way to start my day – a coffee as soon as I woke up – Stan had come in and started coffee and the computer! Then as I checked my emails – this Happy Ending!!

hi Yvette,

you have been a place of refuge for many a canine candidate, but that one day early September you made an exception.  I don’t know his whole story but I think he was brought to you by the Houston RCMP, a road find, the only survivor of his family.  All I know is that on 6th September he came to our clinic,  CBC a few days later talked about Pavaratti’s death, mentioning his first name being Luciano.  This is when your little feline rescue became Giano.  What a voice the little one had, a vibrato when he saw food coming to him via syringe, a huge belly after he had eaten and his favorite place to fall asleep being on the sheepskin of the piano bench.

Dr. Martin had given him an eye surgery right away and he has also been on medication for respiratory issues.  He is a very fortunate little kitten to have been found alive and been directed to the places that each helped him in their own way.  Needless to say, fostering Giano turned into adopting him; with 2 other cats in the household and 4 dogs, I was not too keen on offering a permanent home, but he just fit in so well.  Despite his respiratory condition, he is one confident, assertive, energetic kitten.  He trains his muscles by hanging off the springs of an old oak chair and then pulling himself up, he has also tried climbing the curly fur of my 13-year old terrier-poodle senior, but that was not appreciated.

Just to say THANK YOU, THANK YOU for making an exception and taking in Giano.  Attaching a picture of him putting my largest dog in place, Pablo is probably more than 85 lbs., nonetheless gentle as a giant he is the one that Giano goes to mostly.

Now off to work with the dogs! It is time to put some of them up on petfinder to find their own families. I will update with pictures shortly.

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

These have been very difficult days with me being so sick with the flu. I have been unable to use my computer with the headaches and coughing. But today I can so here I am.

The dogs are doing very well. I will start to put them up on petfinder so they can find their families. They need families who will have them as part of their family – inside. Most of them when given the chance like to be couch potatoes inside watching TV with their people. They are learning to trust again, to enjoy pats and treats ; to love again. The speuters will soon all be done and I would like to see all of these dogs in their homes by Christmas. There are four who are 8 years old. They are still very active and enjoy going for walks. All four are black and white. They could be siblings as each age group seems to look alike. The six year old group is shades of white and grey. The four year olds are black and tan and white – 2 males and 2 females. The second 4 year old group are brownish – like Aspen. The youngest are shades of brown and most look like greyhounds.  All of them will be excellent family companions.

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

It was certainly a chilly morning to start the day. Good thing Dave was up first and had the coffee ready to jumpstart my day – right from bed! Thank you Dave.

Of course then it is the 100 yard dash to the red house and the cold bathroom. I will be very glad to see the last of the digging start as soon as Stan gets back here. He is the one who will be under the house positioning the supports to hold up the house once it is dug out in front! Hurry back Stan – I feel winter coming!

We received a visit this morning from Kent Kokoska of Kamloops and Deb Goodine of Prince George; both are SPCA inspectors. They came with dog food for our “Sheriff dogs” and to tell us they are there for us if we need help. Thank you to all our supporters. We have plenty of premium food, the wormer is on its way for the last of the wormings, speuters are being done on Mondays and Sundays thanks to our veterinarians working their days off !! We are now down to 30 dogs with two  pups thanks to rescues stepping up to help these dogs. Several of the dogs have applications – one from a weekend skijjorer. Some of the 4 year olds have had training in pulling and once they have regained their health , they will be able to pull a skier with ease! Most of the very young dogs are very saluki in the looks and temperaments. They are couch potatoes inside but very athletic outside. They love to run in short spurts, and enjoy walking with you. They are very trainable – all of them are! There is 4 that are 8 years old. They are still very active and will need to re-learn to live indoors with a family. But they too will be good family pets as all dogs should.

Thank you so much!  Penny actually spent about 30 minutes out this morning before I had to put the double baby gate up.  She was happy to respect the bottom gate and a couple of times came up and sniffed but did nothing.  I don’t trust her outside though.  I had a fight with her this morning as she really doesn’t want to pottie on leash.  We came in and out, in and out, in and out several times this morning with no success.  The last time I went to pull her bedding out before putting her away because it could do with a wash and turned around to find her doing both her duties on the kitchen floor.  Will continue to work on this one, she’s happy to go off leash but on leash she doesn’t want to go.  Because she will jump the fence for no apparent reason I just can’t trust her to be let off.  Catch 22 I guess, she wants to be off to pee but can’t be off because she’ll take off, ugh!

The girls are very bonded and will cry if one goes out with out the other one.  I’m not used to this loud howl, cry, scream that they do, hehe!  We will start taking them out separately (at least during the day).  I can’t take them out separately at night after the boys go to bed as the one left behind will surely wake the kids and possible the dead, hehe!  They both faired well last night having a crate between them.  Started adding rescue remedy to their water this morning so hopefully that will help their nerves a little.  Willow can be a bit protective of her crate and will growl in her crate at the other dogs, even at Penny.  So I think tonight I will move her crate to the other side of the room so they are all in the same room but no one is crated right beside her.  My poor boxers were a bit stressed when I let them out this morning, I think Willow had been growling at them a bit through the night.  Willow is great with them all out of her crate, she is just a bit protective of her crate and personal space when she’s in it. 

Penny seems to be fairly indifferent to our min pin so we’ll cat test her because maybe just maybe she’ll pass!  Willow is not aggressive and does not go after our little guy but she is intolerant of him and snapped at him this morning.  So I think she may not pass cat 101 but we will test her as well.  Her intolerance could be because of her spay and her current stress level so we’ll try again later.

We’re going to start boot camping them a little on their jumping up.  Andrew and I are both covered in welts from them jumping up on us.  You can’t bend down if you are in the room with them as they will dog pile on top of you.  They will also do this to our little boys and land right on their heads, so one of our biggest and first challenges beside the separation anxiety is going to be the jumping up.

I think that’s all to tell you for now.  They are both eating like little piglets.  They are currently being fed 3 meals a day and we just received a wonderful donation of 3 40 lbs bags of Summit dog food so we will be able to keep them on the same brand for some time!  They love their treats and know that from time to time we pull out the hot dogs!

Hello Yvette,

Just a quick note and a couple of pictures.  We got home at about 5:30 last night and all went well.  I think we have decided that her name is going to be Hootchie.  She just seems like such a hootchie mamma type, not to mention us owning the tackle shop, it just seems to fit.  She has an appointment this afternoon with Dr. Sagar at 4:15.  Just the once over by him, looking at her face and the deworming issue.  She had a bath last night and loved it.  I’m glad cause it’s going to be a by-weekly thing, maybe even weekly.  Depends on what she gets herself into.  She has bonded with me so incredibly well.  She is going to make for a wonderful companion!  I hope you enjoy the pictures.  I’ll up date you again in a couple of weeks.

I thank you again from the bottom of my heart and God bless you and your crew for all of your selfless work for those creatures that can’t speak for themselves.

Forever Grateful

Brenda VanDoorselaere

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