Sleepovers, adoptions and arrivals at Turtle Gardens
Sleepovers are very useful to see if the new dog is a perfect fit. Especially for inexperienced people who have never had a dog before. Or where young children are involved. Spring went for a sleepover yesterday. There is two toddlers in this family and Spring walked into the house, lay down and made himself at home. The toddlers walked over to him, hugged him, patted him and he lay there slowly wagging his tail and grinning. He was home. I think he is home too.
Trinket has also gone to a sleepover - no kids but an out to lunch min pin mix who needs a buddy. Trinket needs redirection when greeting - she gets so excited -she jumps up and nips butts. From a scared little dog who peed if you picked her up to a social butterfly who greets everyone too enthusiastically. Her new dad keeps a toy in his pocket so when she runs to him she has the toy to grab instead. She is cuddly and loves to play with her canine brother. She will come back Tuesday for her spay appointment on Wednesday. Then she will be ready for her family.
Marin has been adopted. I received a phone call from Shirley whose doctor prescribed a “dog”. Her husband is in an extended care home. She needs to get out and walk for her arthritis. She needs company. But it had to be small so she could bathe it in the sink, and wouldn’t pull on leash and liked to sit on her lap. Could I help her? I knew i had found Mairin’s home. so she called her friend and they came to see Mairin and Cara. It was love at first sight. When she picked up Mairin - she put her little head on her shoulder. When she put her on the ground in her new harness and small leash, Mairin was ready to go for a walk. She bounced and pranced - she was so darn cute!! I imagine Shirley will have slow walks as everyone oohs and aahs over her tiny fluffy companion. But she is already smiling!
And new arrivals. Minnie and Moses’ mother has come in as well. But Samantha already has an adoption pending! She is calm, quiet and very obedient with beauty and brains. A perfect companion for a first time dog owner.
Moses, Samantha, Tuxedo and Minnie
Yesterday was pound pup day from Burns Lake. Jackie from the clinic named him Dudley and he is a young husky/shepherd who was tied up on a short chain his whole short life. He was fed whenever they thought of it and by the looks of him - it wasn’t often. Yet he is super friendly. But he has no life skills or doggie social skills or manners. He has never been indoors so he has a lot to learn. He learned to sleep indoors last night and today he is coming inside on his own. He is learned proper greeting etiquette too - he is too big to jump up! He is very smart - he has learned “sit and I will pet you”. He will be an awesome companion with a little more manners and life skills. He sure is striking!!
Beautiful Dudley!
The other side of Dudley:
And finally a stray from here in Topley - he is an older fellow and looks to be a husky mix. He slept in the kitchen last night and went out early to potty - he is housebroken! What a bonus. It was pouring rain this morning. But he came right back in. and lay in his corner of the kitchen.
©Turtle Gardens Animal Rescue Society. Have your pet spayed or neutered today.
Hi Yvette,
It was SO great to finally meet you a few days ago! Jane and I had a wonderful visit with you and all the dogs. Really glad you’re enjoying your coffee ^_^ SO pleased to hear Marin has a forever home. She is such a sweet dog, I could barely stand to leave her when we left. Think Bailey would have enjoyed her, perhaps even thought of her as one of her puppies. (Sadly, my kitties just can’t handle another dog right now, especially as one isn’t very well.) Jane really figured we’d be back at TG the next day to pick Marin up, she fit so wonderfully in my arms. Shirley, however, sounds like the perfect Mom. I just got home tonight. In the next few days, I’ll ask my neighbours about Minnie. Meanwhile, it will be wonderful to picture TG as I read your daily update. All the best in your marvellous work. You’re truly amazing!
Comment by Susan from Bowser on Vancouver Island — July 5, 2008 @ 10:42 pm
So, we make a trip out to Topley six weeks ago to check out a dog as my G/f’s border collie passed this winter. We look over the dogs and my G/f decides on a little pom/chihuahua X. A little passive aggresive in nature but no problems as we have no children living with us and my terrier x will easily be able to handle his own with her.
Yvette leads us to believe ,, no problem,, she just has to be spayed in a few weeks yada yada yada.
My G/f calls her two weeks later and asks how its coming with the spaying etc. (still led on by Yvette to believe we didn’t drive all the way out there for nothing).
Today,,, six weeks later ,, upon noticing in Yvette’s blog about how Yvette took a pair of dogs; including what was thought to be her dog, out to be viewed by some potential adopters.
She phones Yvette and lets Yvette know,, “I’m still interested in this dog and what’s up etc.” Yvette states she has not yet had her spayed and that sorry that dog will then be placed with adopters in Burns Lake because she felt the dog was not a good fit for my g/f as Yvette thought she had children.
There are NO children here but there is a neutered terrier X, a spayed shorthair cat and two animal loving adults.
I personally feel that Yvette has lost her nut. My g/f says that’s not nice to say but I think if she wants to place animals Yvette might be more able to by letting people decide what type of pet would be a “good fit” instead of Yvette.
In the past I had gotten a dog from Yvette way back when she was up in Granisle. The dog wasn’t a good fit as it was way too much dog for my daughter at that time to handle and I gave her to a friend of mine who had acreage and and a young lad. I thought WOW what a compassionate woman with a good heart. Now I kinda lean towards the crazy lady at the end of the road with 50 pets.
I guess We won’t be getting a dog from Turtle Gardens in the future,, but oh well. We’ll take our chances on purchasing instead of adopting.
Comment by Arthur — July 6, 2008 @ 11:43 am
Hi Arthur, I’m really sorry things didn’t work out for you and your girlfriend. But you are right, Yvette
is a compassionate woman with a good heart, I hope you didn’t mean that in spite. I can’t speak for her, but it is possible that she misunderstood, it is easy enough, because often when I’m talking with her, dogs ar barking in the background, and interruptions….I’m not saying it’s an excuse but a possible reason. It’s pretty crazy for me at tmes with 3 dogs, and I really can’t even begin to think how she manages and remembers everything - dog’s temperment,
personality, spayed, not spayed, to be spayed, good with kids, not good with kids….let alone remember the names of 50 dogs! However, please give her a little more credit, she has placed over 4000 dogs and with those numbers, there’s bound to be a ‘bad fit’. Fact is there are thousands of happy endings and ‘good fits’ out there. I do hope you will check out other rescues in your area first. Best of luck.
Comment by cynda — July 6, 2008 @ 4:55 pm
Hi Arthur, I think you might have missed the blog I wrote why the vet trip was canceled. It’s in the last paragraph. http://www.turtlegardens.org/2008/06/26/for-mom#comments Stan Labatte
Comment by Stan — July 6, 2008 @ 5:43 pm
No problem Stan, I understood she hadn’t got her spayed yet. My frustration was sympathy pains for my girl friend who had her heart set on picking up Cara in a week or so. We were under the understanding from the first visit that this dog was up for adoption. My girl friend was frustrated on the lack of communication as she had visitted, submitted an adoption application, phoned ,then emailed again. Yvette never did give a firm response
( they were more of a vague Cara is not ready yet ) until her firm response of Cara is placed in Burns Lake, today. It wasn’t like we didn’t try to have good contact on our side and we were willing to make a good donation and pay for the dog, as we know that it is tough to look after and feed so many animals.
Comment by Arthur — July 6, 2008 @ 6:53 pm
Hello Arthur
I feel I could be the ‘crazy lady’ at the end of my road with TWO rescue dogs, one, recently adopted from Turtle Gardens…..and to my friends and family that’s who I am. The dogs’ needs are high in my daily priorities and I would do my utmost to protect and provide for them and amongst my friends and family, I am sometimes known as the dog whisperer. Often, with some of these rescue dogs it takes a while to see their characters develop and Yvette, with all her years of experience now, definitely has the sensitivity of tapping in on the individual dogs to see who or what is best suited and the dogs themselves quite often seem to know who to choose. Sometimes, there are personal things which occur in our lives that make it necessary to act out our craziness, but it does not mean we don’t have compassion or a good heart. I really do hope you and your girlfriend can find to adopt a ‘good fit’ and that you will be able to have a ‘happy ending’ to share with us one day. Not only can we give a gift to the dogs and as you already know, they most certainly have more in life to give us! Thanks Arthur for sharing yourselves with us and for allowing us to share our stories and ideas with you.
Comment by Jude — July 7, 2008 @ 9:01 am
Thanks for the fluff Jude,, lol ,,, but it still doesn’t change the fact that my g/f got screwed out of a dog that would have been a good fit,,, and we thought we would do a good thing by giving a rescue dog an excellent life as the animals that we have had, have passed, and have are very content and loved. Yvette should have said right off the get go that she wanted to place the dog with a person of HER choice instead of leaving us to believe we could adopt any dog.. Enough said,, My girlfriend had her heart set on taking a rescue dog and got screwed over. Are you not getting that or what ??? DONE !
Comment by Arthur — July 7, 2008 @ 2:52 pm
Oh ,,, BTW their are all kinds of us people who love are pets and we are all wonderful people,,, yada yada yada,,, It doesn’t change whay happened in this case,, WE ARE PET LOVERS TOO .
Comment by Arthur — July 7, 2008 @ 2:56 pm