I do believe I have mentioned before that I don’t like puppies. Puppies are a lot of work - but socializing them and getting them friendly and outgoing is the hardest chore of all. Poop scooping, special feeding all of that is just normal stuff but handling these roly poly babies several times a day so they they start looking for human interaction is a chore to me. I have to make time for them - other things have to wait because the single most important thing these pups need is socializing, socializing and more socializing. Kelsey just attended (during her Spring Break) a very distinguished trainer/behaviourist’s seminar on Socializing by Dr Ian Dunbar. It must have been fate!

There are 5 of the little ones, 6 weeks old - maybe, a husky/sharpei? mix - hard to tell when they are so small. There are 3 females and 2 males. The mom will be spayed with our Low cost spay neuter program. She is a good dog - she just has too many puppies. So we will help her stay in her home and no more puppies. A win-win situation.
Turtle Gardens welcomes 5 babies who are on their way to Burns Lake for check ups and vaccinations this afternoon. They were dewormed last night and they really needed it. Now the food they eat will feed them. And less stress from their vaccinations today.

Turtle Gardens welcomes new babies:

Five little pups

The newly speutered guys are doing well. Daisy has gained 3 pounds in three weeks! She now weighs 10 pounds and is actually older than first thought not a teenager but a young adult. So she is full size!
Daisy sad and under the duvet on my bed. She has just come home from her surgery.

Daisy the following morning - stretching! She is back to normal. Thank you Burns Lake Vet girls for grooming little Daisy - she looks fantastic!

Isaac - what are we going to do with you. He should have a name change to Murphy - ’cause if anything can go wrong it does for this poorly bred pup. As you can see he has demodex.  We have to figure out a course of treatment for him as he is not a good candidate for ivomec. He will need a holistic approach and immune boosters. Isaac needs a sponsor!

 Squire and Daisy lying in a patch of sun with Sumosusie nearby!

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

TWO STEPS FORWARD, ONE STEP BACKWARDS , we need your feedback! Cynda Being computer illiterate and tech ignorant has its advantages. Stan – you want me to do WHAT? That part of my brain doesn’t open properly, or as in computer lingo, this window won’t open. I’ve had a number of inquiries about the posters – when will they be ready? Stan – when will they be ready? In a perfect world, everything would run smoothly, l’il brother and Stan should happily sit side by side and design this brand new beautiful website – which they thought would’ve been ready last week. Not so. There is a major problem with the server says Stan. I pretend I know what he’s talking about, “Oh you mean like Shaw or Telus?” and Stan answers, “Yes, only this server is on the east coast, and we’re renting it.” “Oh.” Besides the server, there were a host of other teensy setbacks, none of which I understand. Too many widgets and all the other jargon and terms – it don’t fit here, and and won’t go there. It takes a hundred steps to create one simple thing. I don’t think Stan will ever be a computer programmer in his next life, but I do have a new appreciation for what he and his brother are trying to accomplish here. This is a huge undertaking, and it’s far too complicated for me to even try and explain what they are doing. However, moving right along, we do have the rough drafts available. We made Several and we tried to be a little bit creative – the whole idea is to catch people’s eyes and direct them to the new website. You may have notice, the posters are not particularly fancy or elaborate, they are very simple. The reason? Stan is now the graphics guy. Please take a look the posters – we need your feedback? What do you think? Which one do you like best? Please give us your comments, don’t be shy. For this poster campaign to work, we need everyone’s input. For the volunteers going around town to hang them up – let’s give them posters they can be proud of, one that will stand out. If you have any ideas, let’s hear them. And if you don’t normally comment, it’s time to do it now. TG needs your support and your help to find homes for their wonderful dogs.



A Note From Stan I would like to take few min to give a rough out line of the new site. These posters are going to be automatically generated from the data base, a  organization is only going to have to place their rescue animal into the data base. The site will take of the rest, it will create the poster with  the information they have entered create a custom a PDF that is easy to  print and email. I think one of the coolest widgets is, the organization is  going to have the option to allow, the new site to go to their web site and  automatically download the rescue animals and their description. The site is designed to work with what they are currently using. I think the most important question we have is. Will it find homes? In order to maximize the efficiency of the Internet, the site has to be built unlike any we have seen. It  is built with the what works best for the Internet, the only compromise to  that is going to be for ease of use. It has to be simple, and get pets homes.  I think that it’s worth mentioning that once a pet is adopted they are going  to be issued a membership to the organization happy ending part of the site.  Here they will have a photo gallery a blog and opportunity to follow their pets’ family and keep in touch and plan to attend reunions. In hopes that  those that might be a little apprehensive of adopting a rescue pet will  see the many happy families, as well as to have place to ask questions.

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

Aren’t we caught up yet? Dave has been taking dogs to the veterinarian for a couple of weeks now. We got behind because of calving difficulties take priorities in ranching country. Dave has one more spay run next week in Smithers for the last two pups then we are done until new dogs come in Today was a SPay and nEUTER day Daisy and Issac went in early today. Daisy has a prospective home in Parksville are - thank you Bev of Second Chances for finding Jim for Daisy. He actually named her from her picture!

Our girls at the vet clinic gave her a "new do" while she was out. Thank you Jackie and Christine. She looks very sweet and cute. She is sleeping off her ordeal under my duvet!

Isaac who was born of a starving saluki - Trip as a singleton and he has many genetic problems. His immune system is crap. He is not exactly bright. He wasn’t growing well but has finally begun to gain weight and height. His father is also his uncle - Trip’s brother Poncho was most likely the father. He is the first true genetic/interbred case of demodex we have seen. None of the other dogs have or had demodex. He is the first. Treatment is going to be tricky. Dog with white feet don’t tolerate ivomec well. Mind you Isaac is white all over.

He was neutered today and is sleeping on my bed. We will discuss his treatment options tomorrow. He is a perfect poster boy for why spay and neuter is so important!

And Raz visited our vet today for his check up and vaccinations update. He is going for a sleepover on the weekend.  All of our dogs are vet checked before leaving - even if they are already neutered. Raz is a good natured happy fellow who will be a much waited for companion for Ben.

Beautiful gentle Raz.

And Mimsy is gone for a sleepover yesterday! She has 5 kids  to play with so they needed a good natured, laid back dog. They actually wanted an adult but Mimsy caught their eye. She will come back on Tuesday evening for her trip to Smithers Wednesday - spay day.

Be good Mimsy!

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

Another neuter day! This time Rusty was locked in my bedroom so no houdini for him - he was neutered today! And so did Tuxedo go with him.

Rusty lying in the dog room.

Tux is the little black and white pup from the Burns Lake Pound.

Tux is a very sweet boy.

Both boys were loaded up then it was Rover’s turn to go to the van. He didn’t want to go through the gate and cried, dragged his feet and just didn’t want to go. He likes it here. But go he did. He needed a check up.

Rover
 Our vet says that he is a very old dog possibly older than we were told or just had a very hard life. His feet are infected so he has cream to rub on them. His teeth are bad so he will have a dental. He needs to be shaved down so we can examine all the  bumps and bruises and wounds on his body.  He has a bad case of dry skin/dandruff and oily skin. He is an old dog. But what a happy dog when he came back through that gate. He was wagging his tail and he tried to jump up on me. He was so glad to be back here. And I was so glad to see him happy. He is sleeping in his corner of the kitchen next to the stove.

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

The warm Saturday was just a teaser of spring weather not a harbinger of things to come. It is back to -5 at night again!! Chilly mornings, cause it is too warm for heat at night but very cool to the tootsies in the morning. There are still 3 dogs under my covers at night time. Where is spring! BUT and this is a big BUT the slow melting is good for the flooding except it is still snowing on the mountains. And when that starts to melt - there is a real danger of flooding IF it gets warm too quickly. So I guess we wait for warmer gradual weather.

Our dear old soul Rover has a sponsor! Thank you Lindsay for sponsoring Rover - he will go for a check up tomorrow and we will schedule his dental ’cause - yes he definitely needs one! He has mega tartar! Dave and I checked out his feet today as he was walking very gingerly. Well no wonder he had a hard time walking - his feet were so badly matted that they covered his pads with hard lumps of mud and hair. He lay there quietly while Dave cut away at the lumps around his pads revealing red, sore skin underneath. Pictures show much better than I can describe.

The first foot

The second foot

The lumps from the front feet.

The third foot - a back one.

The last back foot.

The lumps from the back feet. He still walks tenderly - we will soak them and cream them to heal. Poor Rover - he will soon walk without pain. I promise.

And now a very special update. This fellow came into TG in May of last year and he was a favorite with all our readers. His courage and good nature throughout his ordeal has been an inspiration for us all. Without further Adieu  an Update from SILAS!!

here are a few pics of Silas with his brother Tundra. in the video he’s playing with Tundra and his cousin Ranger. he’s thriving with us and goes EVERYWHERE with us. we love him and Turtle Gardens for taking such good care of him.
thanks again!
the Vukovic’s

Silas with his brother Tundra

Silas and his mom Anita.

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

Well it is official - I have finally moved into our not fully renovated Foster Group Home and Rehabilitation Center!  Our apartment is not done yet but I am sleeping in the "what will be" Veterinary Exam Room. So to celebrate I started up the bread machine! I will let you know how it turns out - it smells good so far!

Not bad for the first loaf! And the top crust is my favorite - warm bread and honey -uuummmmmgood! And it is 60% whole wheat so good for you too.

I received a phone call this morning- strangely enough from the person who was instrumental in the arrival of the 13 dogs - that Marty came from. She was was his neighbour! Pat had a run of bad luck herself. Her trailer burnt down in December. She has moved into the Retirement home. She found homes for her two terriers but not her farm collie - Rover. Her son had taken Rover but he and his wife split up. Rover was in desperate need of sanctuary. Could I help? I explained that we rarely take in owner surrenders. Then I asked how old was he? Rover was 12 years old. I have a soft spot for seniors; especially seniors in trouble. I found myself saying he was welcome to come in here. She asked when. I said as soon as you can. She and her son went to pick him up and brought him in. Pat didn’t come out of the truck. She was so saddened to see his condition since December. Her son put the leash around his neck and I brought him into the gate while her son brought a bag of dog food in. I led the poor old, confused dog into the house.  I told him he was safe and that there was comfy beds for him here. Turtle Gardens welcomes Rover.

Still regal though he needs a brushing so badly.

Dear Rover is covered with sores, his feet are swollen, and his coat matted over a skeletal body. Rover needs a lot of good old fashioned TLC. Then he will be ready for his home with a comfy bed and gentle company. Rover is a very good boy.

Squire on a very clean (not for long) floor!

A truly beautiful of face! Colby is 15 years old.

Sleeping dogs except for Sumosusie - she is just getting ready to plop down. She looks spiffy in her fleece coat - she gets cold in the mornings.

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

Sabre was thoroughly checked out during his neuter. His missing testes was in his pelvis! He was under  more than twice the time of a normal neuter. He was x-rayed as he was limping. He has a broken pelvis bone that has healed with a large lump so he will always limp. Good news though - he has very good hips! He was very glad to be back "home" again - he had a drink, a bit of food, a quick run around the yard to check out the perimeter and then a long nap on the cushions in the dog room.  He is completely back to normal this morning - he is a very active dog busy watching his world and everything in it.

And now two updates! First Zack has been adopted! His sleepover was a qualified success. These pictures will tell the story very well. TG has wonderful FAMILY companions.

And now Dora the little explorer - she was one of a litter of orphan puppies - the very first of the Nauticals!!

Hi Yvette,
Just thought you’d like to have an updated pic or two of Dora. She’s doing great! She’s with a big dog I got stuck with. She has him right under her thumb. My old dog is still kicking around too.

If you have been sent any pics of her sibblings lately, I’d love to see them. I’m convinced that Dora is half sheba inu (pardon my spelling) and half chiwawa (sp). NOT pomeranian, as the ‘owner’ told you. (actually the "owner" said she was part fox!)

Anyway, I hope you are well and still doing your very valuable work.

Thanks again,
Karen Shirley

Dora and Kenny

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

Now it is getting to be a habit - this waking up earlier than normal. Mind you once the weather warms up I like to be in the greenhouse early with my coffee. There I can enjoy my greenery and good coffee and peace and quiet with only the wind chimes and wild birds for company. Yes - my greenhouse is a no dog zone. Well most of the time. Sometimes I let Sweetpea come in but not always. There has to be a stress reliever somewhere for me and I find growing and greenery to be mine. And what I grow taste great too! Except for the inedible flowers!! Those are for beauty and the senses.

So back tot he zoo. Dave was up and gone in no time with Sabre. Sabre is a crypto-orchid (sp?) which means he has only one testicle descended. The other testes is somewhere along the track sometimes as high as their abdomen. It is major surgery as the incision is much longer and if it is high up will have to be through muscles etc much like a spay. The undescended testes is  much more prone to cancers. So it has to come out - he would be still all male if it didn’t; much like a proud cut horse. It is of course a more expensive surgery. But a neuter is a neuter - and he will be a much happier fellow once he is done! Sabre is 5 years old and is your basic velcro type german shepherd temperament. He loves to be with you. He has had some training - he walks well on leash, knows sit and takes treats very gently. He knows lie down and has pretty decent indoor manners. He will be a wonderful companion for any family.
Sabre looks like he may be shepherd/border collie?

And now faces of Turtle Gardens - some old and and some new and some of the non adoptables!

First the two houdinis - who missed their speuters  - until next week!!

Bandit - she will be spayed next Wednesday.

Rusty - his appointment is on Tuesday!

Aardvark - she is now 16.5 years old

Her sister Lucy and Sumosusie

Amelia and Blaze

Daisy - queen of the hill - thank you Bev of Second Chances for matching her with Jim! She will be spayed on the17th - she was in heat on arrival.

Our klutzy Issac - he will be neutered on the 17th.

for Cindy of Saskatchewan - Here is Jaime still waiting for a ride to Saskatchewan. She needs to go home - she has been here too long already!! Please help Jaime meet up with Cindy.

Handsome Rowan!

Puff Dog and Sumosusie

and finally the meanest temperamentally challenged terrier-ist - Patches

Patches is now 12 years old.

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