Turtle Gardens Animal Rescue

Life is quiet at TG well as quiet as it can be that is!  The telephone is quiet and so is the road – no visitors today. The weather is chilly at night -13 last night and the high was -4!! The sun is trying to shine but the snow is not melting at all. Where is spring?

Updates – two are recent and one was adopted two years ago – Little Gus!

We adopted Gus a couple of years ago, and are thinking of coming there from Surrey, for a visit.  We are thinking of coming around mid-June.  Gus has brought us so much joy, and we have thought about driving up there and maybe we can actually do it this time.  I just wanted to see if you are open to visitors if we stop by to say "hello" for a few minutes.  We wouldn’t be any trouble, we just thought maybe Gus could see his old friends the unadoptable "terriorists" you had referred to previously when we got Gus.  He is so excited when he sees little dogs, I thought maybe he would remember his old pals.  I want to take a walk down to where he was trapped, as well, just from my own curiosity.  We have to drive up to Quesnel because Len’s father is now in a care facility and we need to see him. 

It would be just a short visit, we certainly wouldn’t want to get in the way. (We would love to give you the grand tour! Visitors are always welcome at TG)

Carol Cole 

(attached is a picture of Gus with Charlie, the little blond one, and Picha, the big one)

Dear Yvette:  It has been a while since I sent you our last note on Fergie.  She is doing beautifully and is so well behaved.  She loves to snuggle up while we watch TV and never seems to get enough petting.
Her obedience training is coming along pretty well except she wants to chase cars so has to be on a long line when we are out working in the yard.  Sit, heel and come are getting much better.
The pictures I am enclosing is after being over with the neighbour’s dogs on their fenced 5 acres and discovering what fun it is to play in the mud.  What a mess but she had a GREAT time.

Thanks again for the opportunity of having Fergie as part of

The Stauffer Family: Pat, Tom and Fergie

Hi Yvette, here are a few pictures of Kerri – I think she’s still getting taller! Irene (I think so too! Those are very long legs. )

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

The puppies have had very busy days since their arrival. First they were dewormed and spent the night in a wire crate with Kelsey. Their vet appointment was at 3pm so they had another ride and vaccinations/check ups. Sadly they are less than 5 weeks old – they are getting their teeth but they should have been left with their mother for awhile longer BUT they needed the worming desperately. They were set up in the bathroom – warm and isolated for a while. It is also a great place for socializing puppies – people are always coming in!!  The little husky looking female – Lexi actually had seizures while passing the worms. I have seen it once before – that is the worst infestations. They recover fully but it sure is hard on them. They are still passing worms two days later. They  are eating  well though they still have runny stools. They are friendlier and enjoying cuddles. They have been moved into the dog room because Dave needed their area to work in – the bathroom pipes burst. We had no water overnight until parts could be bought this morning. Meanwhile the pups’ area needed to be emptied so Dave could crawl under the cupboard to fix the pipes. Unfortunately for him our easy button is busy in Surrey working on the new website. such is life at Turtle Gardens.

The little black and tan male – they can barely walk around.
Pup looking at me looking at her.

Lexi drinking – the pups are water starved – so most likely their mother had no milk for them.
The last two pups.

The puppies found the soft cushions and left their box! The pee-pee pads really work too. Thank you for the packages – they are very useful and labour saving.

Buddy is very curious meeting the puppy.

Auntie Sophie lies with the puppies.

Puppy meets Blaze.

Puppy sleeps with Blaze.

Puppies have found their sleeping spots – the soft cushions. Teague sits in front. Now I have to rearrange the sleeping spots to accommodate the pups yet leave areas for the other dogs to sleep too. The puppies are fitting in very well. The other dogs will socialize them, care for them and play with them – giving them the security and skills they need from their canine world. Life is good.

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

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.