I tell some of my friends if they need a good cry, or if the hormones are running out of control, read Stan’s blog about Laddie! I’ve read it a number of times over and I still reach for that Kleenex box! There are many “angels” out there in Turtle Gardens nation, and I’m privileged to have met Linda from RAPS who just sent a couple of pallets of dog food up to TG recently. She knows all about the transportation problems TG is facing, she understands the need to fundraise so the Labattes can acquire a sturdier, and reliable vehicle. It’s easy to donate food, but the logistics to ship it up there isn’t quite as easy. This is where Linda’s brother, Jerry Pion, stepped in. He was instrumental in helping Linda load and unload the truckload of food as well as supplying boxes and helping pack it, then putting it on the pallet, wrapping the pallets, and then storing it. Then his driver delivered it to the Langley warehouse on the requested day and time, as arranged with the driver from Overwaitea…. Not quite so simple.
But wait there’s more, Jerry and Linda intend to drive up Turtle Gardens in the near future when TG is running low on food – how awesome is that? These two wonderful people are angels with a heart of gold. Thank you so much.

Back to business, raffle sales are going brisk. Your orders are in the mail. Please check your tickets and the numbers carefully, make sure everything is correct. I often have blonde and senior moments (I’m not blonde, neither am I a senior) It is imperative that you send back the UNSOLD tickets. Every ticket has to be accounted for according to the BC Gaming by-laws.

I received this email from a TG supporter:
“I am glad you guys have read over the “gaming rules” our association does raffles every year and we got audited by them last year. We thought we were doing well, but we got hammered in our audit…they really do expect you to follow EVERY rule to a T.
We got called on not having all tickets returned….people just lost some unsold tickets….anyways just a heads up to do your best to follow all the gaming rules…the audit was very thorough and not much fun at all!!!”

Some people think I’m getting too fastidious with this, but with this being our first raffle, we’ll do our best to keep Turtle Gardens name above board and beyond!

Now the fun stuff! Sara from Victoria, made some T-shirts with the TG logo for the entire Labatte family, Jude and I, and also for Chris at Escapes.ca who’s agreed to wear the T-shirt when he’s drawing tickets on August 30th. These T-shirts are so cute, and we’re intending to have some at the TG Reunion as well as doggy bandanas and TG umbrellas! We TG alumni are going to be so stylish with our T-shirts and our dogs all wearing TG bandanas!
Here’s a picture of the T-shirts.

We have 5 T-shirts available now, $20 each, that includes shipping.
White – Large, X-Large, Green – Medium, Red – large, X-large

Email me at cyndasgot3@gmail.com if you are interested in purchasing a t-shirt (don’t forget raffle tickets!) The $20 will go directly to TG.

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

Jesse the rock dog has passed away. Jesse was adopted as a 2 year old in 1998. She played on the swings - she would hang over the seat and push herself with her back feet. She would play on the teeter totter banging the end as she jumped off. She chased rocks into the river and dove down to get them. The neighborhood kids loved her. Then their kids grew up, the family dynamics changed and as Jesse got older she was ignored - she wasn’t fun anymore. When she couldn’t hold her bladder for hours she was kicked outside. Her arthritis got worse with the cold and she had trouble getting up. They decided Jesse should be put out of her misery. So they brought her to Turtle Gardens and asked us to “do her in”. Why you ask. Because we take care of animals. They figured we would euthanize them too.

One look at Jesse and she came into our home and into our hearts. Our vets checked her out. She had hip dysplasia, an injury to her front leg, a collapsed trachea and a heart murmur. She was old before her time. We put her on salmon oil caps, joint support, immune boosters and metacam for her pain. Jesse relaxed, and slept pain free. She got up on the softest doggie bed - she loved her comfort! She could go up and down the stairs and lay in the sun on her own rug . I had hoped she would enjoy a few months of love and comfort. But it was not to be. Jesse could not get up on Sunday. She was comfortable, she ate and drank. I again hoped she could recover. But today she was still down. So we loaded her into our padded wire stretcher and because I had a doctor’s appointment Dave and I took her with us. Jesse was helped to her eternal peaceful rest outside the clinic under the trees. She was peaceful and ready to go. Goodbye sweet Jesse.

Jesse with Lily on her bed.

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

The day started out perfectly - the sink sure made morning coffee much easier! Thank you Dave. (Dave thanks Stan as he says Stan did all the pre-plumbing making the job much easier) Today was Seattle ’s Best French Roast - a great eye opener! And good flavour too. Thank you so much.

Dave will close it in and put on doors so it will match the other counter. Fresh paint will give the kitchen a whole new fresh look. I want to paint the cupboards dark green but I have been outvoted. They want a lighter color of blue. We”ll see.

As the sun rose so did the temperature - we have jumped right into summer! So when Marie and her family came to visit the dogs it was hot! They had adopted a dog from Turtle Gardens in my first year! Their dog - White Sox passed away recently at age 23!! I had to coax the dogs outside - they wanted to stay inside where it was cool! Finally Edgar decided it was his turn for a family. He jumped on the viewing fence and licked the daughter’s fingers. He sat, he rolled over. He was put on leash and went out the gate to meet and greet the resident dog - Chico who really missed his companion. Edgar walked nicely on leash. He sat. He shook a paw. He licked Chico and play bowed. So it was decided to take Edgar home for a sleepover. Be good Edgar.

Edgar and Beau (Beau has a home in Seattle).

Then it was a TG adopter on holidays! Susan and her sister Jane arrived from Bowser Island. Susan has adopted Bailey - a golden retriever on a corgi chassis - a station wagon if you will.

Beautiful Bailey - a picture of a picture!!

We had a wonderful visit. A special gift of coffee ( I really love my coffee - thank you!!) and toys from Bailey for the puppers. And a picture of the two of us. Thank you for dropping in Susan I so enjoyed your visit.

Susan and I and Poncho - our new greeter dog or ” Mister I might miss something on the other side of the fence!”

And finally Isaac enjoying both nylabones!!

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

I met Sam’s new family last night as they drove in from Calgary and had to turn in to see Sam before going to their motel! Linda was worried about just dropping in but she was so excited about meeting Sam that she told Vince (her husband) “Turn turn!” as they approached Topley. My instructions were clear and they found TG easily. It is daylight until nearly midnight so visitors are common in the evenings. I don’t do dark so summer hours are extended as winter hours are very short.

Linda and Vince met me - I was actually out of the fence when they arrived - looking for harnesses with seatbelt attachment in the storage area at the closed kennel. Dave went and got Sam and we all congregated on the grass to meet and greet. Sam sat while he was introduced and was a gentleman. He has come a long way since his arrival in February as an unsocialized, fearful guy. He has learned to play with other dogs - squeaky toys are his favorite! First he learned to be a dog then slowly became a companion too. Sam was ready for his own home with chow experienced people. Enter Linda and Vice who found him on petfinder after figuring out how to forego the 200 mile limit!! That was well over a month ago. We corresponded by email, talked on the phone, checked references and shared pictures. They have adopted 3 rescue chows in their doglife. Their last one is a Katerina survivor rescued by their veterinarian in Canmore! When told Sam was theirs if they wanted him - they drove all the way here from Calgary. How cool is that!

After meeting Sam we arranged to pick up time at 8 am. Sam needed a bath and brushing! Dave gave Sam a lift into the tub and we scrubbed and scrubbed this incredible well behaved boy! He stood then sat in the water while we cleaned and rinsed him. Then it was brushing until he was dry! Two hours later except for his tail we were both too tired to continue.

This morning I put a collar on him, a harness so he could be secure in the back and gave him a squeaky toy or his journey (Thank you Cynda and Tom - he loves his toy!) Paperwork was signed, a last hug and Sam left for his yuppie puppie home!

Giving Sam his toy!

Juno wants to go too! Juno failed his sleepover which is why foster to adopt is a useful tool to match homes to dogs.

Goodbye Sam - be good! We will miss you!

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

Sometimes in life, we see and feel things that move us deeply emotionally. We hide them in the moment to protect our pride, not to look weak but to protect our hearts/souls from ridicule. There is a whole part of our world and beings that we never talk about. Robbing our world of some of the deep emotion that invokes serious enough thought to motivate change. I am lucky enough to find myself surrounded by many “warm handed” “some do people” to feel safe enough to share one such moment.


Mom had given our new camera  to Laddie’s mom to bring it down here to me in the lower mainland so I could get some great pics of Chris at escapes.ca. Kate had fallen in love with Laddie reading the blog, and just couldn’t help it and just had to make the journey north to collect him. Now that’s how a “some do person” spends their week holidays. I think we all remember Laddie when he came in http://www.turtlegardens.org/2008/04/14/another-day-another-turtle-gardens-update-a-very-special-one#comments http://www.turtlegardens.org/2008/04/15/neuter-day-at-turtle-gardens-4#comments

I thought it might be worth it to have a look. So I am in a hurry, as usual and went to drive out to Chilliwack. I got these crazy directions to some place and off I went. I never saw coming what happened next. I knock on the door and heard barking dogs (I love that sound. Always makes me smile!!) I was told, “Hurry, come in, don’t let the dogs out.” I step into one of the most beautiful living rooms I have been in in a long time. You can see in the pics, hard wood floors and the most beautiful white, yes I said white, fancy all-matching furniture. It looked like one of those designer magazines. What happened next is one of those things that makes you blink your eyes in disbelief. I am not seeing what I am seeing. There was Rover (Laddie) standing in the middle of that living room, eyes all bright and shiny with a big smile, and his heart filled with love!!!!  I immediately began to well up, tears of happiness. I am very skilled at hiding them (I have been known to have a soft heart) and my buddy, Rover, strolled over recognizing me right away and helped me hide my face in his long hair and hug and kiss him. I couldn’t believe the change in him, he looked so good. The Angel’s “warm hands” filled his heart with love giving him spirit to love life again.

Rover’s angel was hurriedly explaining all the things that she had done for him where he went to the vet. All the pills he was taking. I have to be honest I wasn’t really hearing her, all I could think was how close and upset mom was when he came in and how much she loved him. The special food and all the “you guy’s better be nice to that old dog!!!!” How dad trimmed his feet for him and gave him special food right from his plate. We get very close to the sick and injured. But Mom taught me many many years ago that we can’t love them enough, they need to go to a furever home to really feel loved, while our intentions are great we just don’t have the time. And with great courage she would send them out the door; eyes fill with tears of joy (yes I got my big heart from my mom) Like many things our mothers tell us we seem to just trust it because “mom said so” but last night I saw it with my own eyes and felt it with my own heart. We never usually see them after they go to their homes. Its so far away 14 hours one way and we never have time. As I get older and get to see more of my parents’ life work here in Vancouver I have a better understanding of how smart and strong they really are…


All this went on and I am sure Kate had no idea what I was thinking or feeling. And I am sure that my parents had no idea what I was thinking too. I really would like to thank Mom for the soft heart and the courage to just say what I feel. There is a very special place in this world for Kate.  What she has done for Rover takes tremendous courage to love a being that much when you know they are that close to moving from this world to the next. (it’s almost saintly). I feel compelled to tell you the truth about what I felt at your house last night, and to thank you so very much for doing something we never could. Let Rover feel as loved as he does. You are one.  you continue to do the something that you  can do

I also feel compelled to share with mom and dad because I heard from a little blue bird (redneck for secret spy) that you didn’t have money for gas to go to the vet. With the price of gas so high I know it’s making your daily life very much harder to deal with. I also know how discouraging that feels and I think that’s the worst. That thankless sinking feeling. So I thought I would pass on what Laddie told me and made me feel. I am sure he would love to thank you himself, he sure thanked me…… But I think I heard him say, “Could you give this to your parents for me?” And Mom I think there are many deep emotions that you have created that no one talks about.  Soon the talk will start and the motivation to change society’s outlook and one day there may be no more broken souls. I know you have this dream please don’t lose sight of it….and thanks for sharing it with me……   Stan Labatte

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

Hi Yvette:
I’m still waiting for the urine analysis to come back, so hopefully should have that by tomorrow or the next day.
Laddie continues to do extremely well here. Everyone has adjusted beautifully, even Lucy who thought she could boss him around, is coming around.
I have contacted the vet that Jean uses, and who is the vet for SAINTS, as I feel that I should align myself with a seniors Dr. I like my vet, and Finn and Lucy can continue to see him, but I feel that Laddie will need that extra special touch, and this women likes seniors., I picked up a product that Jean recommended as she used it on her dogs, called Vetamino, and that stuff works wonders (for building muscle tone, and overall health) he is on his glucosamine, and he is also getting salmon oil, that not only helps his coat, skin, nails, but also is an anti inflammatory. I am still working on his coat, I am hand stripping him out, and work on him for 1/2 to an hour a day, I make it a part of our one on one sessions, and he loves the attention, and being told what a handsome boy he is. I have trimmed up his ears, (as if I was showing him) his feet have had a trim down, (show style) (his nails were done at the vets) and tomorrow I will spruce up his hocks. I do something everyday, today it was cleaning ears. it would be to much for him to do a marathon on him. you should see him getting up and down now, he is perking up more as the days go by, and acting like a dog, we can almost get that leg up to pee on something, and I know he feels pretty proud about that., he even turns circles now to lie down. we are almost up to bed standards, I started with one rug, (I bought 3 the same), now it is doubled, I will ad a layer of cushy underlay next and one more rug on top and voila! soft bed for those bones.

He’s been showing and telling me lots about the training he received. how he was trained not to take from the hand,(He flinches, and hangs his head down) and what happens if the other house dogs bark at him, or he stands up for himself( he immediately takes himself to the door) so I have reversed that, and have untrained him. and will keep working on it, we are successful 95% of the time now, he is eating and drinking out of his pail, and bowl, all in all after only a little over a week, is doing very well, you can see his personality start to emerge, his eyes and nose are much better, pretty soon you won’t recognize him. He is a wonderful boy, who now knows he is loved, and is part of a family, and I get the best collie hugs, and tail wags you’ve ever seen, he is a champion, he deserves the title, after all he’s endured, how he can still love and trust is beyond anything I comprehend, I am so lucky to have him.
will keep you posted.
take care,
Kate

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

Not everyone likes dogs. There is a grumpy old man in our neighborhood who doesn’t like dogs. His lawn is immaculate, he is out there with the kitchen scissors trimming his beautiful carpet of green every morning. Every blade of grass is the same length. He freaks out if any dog, person or child walks on his grass – even if by accident.
If he happens to see me with my dogs, I can picture him scurrying away from the window and quickly back to grab his video camera – just in case any of my dogs pee or poo on his precious lawn. Several weeks ago when I walked by, there were two HUGE dumps of fresh poo beside the tree near the curb, right in front of his house. He leaned out his window, “Did your dogs make that of mess, clean it up!” I took a quick glance at the monstrous size portions – honestly, these two dumps were so huge it was enough to fertilize my garden. Was he really so mindless as to think my smallish dogs could produce these horse size deposits? I waved my little doggie bag at him and continued walking with a satisfied smile on my face. Maybe the politcally correct thing to do was to offer to clean up, “Do you have a shovel I can borrow?” Shame to the person who did not pick up after their dog – you make all responsible dog owners look bad! I know this grumpy old man didn’t like dogs. He would never know the joy and unconditional love a dog brings to the household. He would never understand how a dog can enrich and nourish the soul. Or perhaps it is possible he has never given himself a chance to love or to be loved by a dog?
One of the most enjoyable things about organizing this raffle is the interesting emails I receive. This one I found particularly moving. This woman has 2 rescue dogs and she has this story to tell:
“I first heard about Turtle Gardens last year when they picked up all those Sherriff dogs. Since then, I have been following their blogs, etc., and I think they do a marvelous job.
Up until six years ago, I’d never had a dog, never wanted one … didn’t like the smell, the stray fur, etc. But I was outnumbered by my husband and my daughter. I found our beautiful Samson on my work place Classifieds. Samson was 3 1/2 years old at the time, overweight, huge infected hot spots, and he was living in a cat shelter in Maple Ridge. We adopted Samson and today he is an active, very healthy Golden Retriever. I mentioned I was NOT a dog person. When Samson came into our lives, I absolutely fell wholeheartedly in love with him. And then, about a year ago, I heard about a female Golden, same age as Samson, who needed to get out of her home quickly. Maggie had about 3 tumours on her body, including a golf ball-sized one hanging from the side of her mouth. Her tumours were removed by a wonderful vet who did the surgery for free, and then Maggie came home with me. So now I have two beautiful, healthy 9-year-old Goldens who were destined for doggy Heaven.”
Thank-you for opening your heart to these wonderful dogs – in a perfect world, I wish everyone is able to do this. Open your heart to a rescue dog and take a chance.
Back to business regarding the Fundraiser Raffle, we are sold out all the $75 books of 25 tickets! In hindsight, we should’ve allocated more, but this is a huge learning experience for me, Jude and Sara. Our sincere apologies if you were planning to buy this denomination. About 75% of the $5 books are spoken for, and about half of the 3 for $10. This doesn’t mean that all these books have actually ‘sold’ yet. TG supporters will be doing their best to sell. The response has been fantastic considering the raffle tickets aren’t even ready for pick-up until tomorrow afternoon!
So if you are considering to buy or sell tickets, please email me at cyndasgot3@gmail.com

Here’s the radio announcer: Tickets are selling fast! BC Gaming Event #8775. Know your limit, play within it. Ticket purchasers must be 19 and over…..

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

On Saturday I received a call from our Burns Lake Overwaitea - they had a large pallet of dog food for us! Thank you for shipping this food up to us. We really really appreciate it. And thank you Lynda of Richmond Animal Protection for sending food, toys and goodies up to our TG dogs!! We were down to our last two bags of low quality food - this is premium food and our guys so need good quality food. They really love the toys and treats too. And Isaac has a chew toy he cannot destroy - he loves that big bone!! Thank you. It took two vehicles to empty the pallet. Thank you Christine for helping Dave. He will pick up the rest tomorrow - speuter day!

And today two parcels arrived in the mail. Thank you Cynda and Tom. The vitamins and supplements will go a long way to keep all of us well and healthy dogs especially. The treats - well suffice to say that that the dogs sniffed it out pretty quickly - they love parcels in the mail too. They all gather around when the parcels are opened and wait for their goodies. Sweetpea has a new squeaky toy which she hid in my bedroom. Sam has one too and of course Isaac - he played and played with his. What joy on his face. Thank you. I am not alone and though sometimes I feel overwhelmed I am reminded that there are very special people in my circle of friends. You keep me going.

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