Turtle Gardens Animal Rescue

2008 will finish the same as it started with a couple of new arrivals. Snowmobilers well out in the backcountry found a skinny female dog! She looked like she had recently given birth – she had loads of hanging teats on an extremely emaciated body. They spent an hour and half looking for her litter but could find no sign of them though they did see a lot of wolf sign. Were they eaten? It was also -35. It may have been too cold for the babies to survive – this is a young mother with a very short coat. They brought the little girl home for Christmas. Yesterday they called me and asked for a safe haven for the girl. Turtle Gardens welcomes Bella-Noelle who is a teenager shepherd mix – lovely temperament, playful, beautiful and friendly – what an awesome forgiving dog! Someone will be very lucky to adopt this little girl. I will take pictures soon!

Then also yesterday I received a phone call from a gentleman who needed a safe haven for his dog. His wife had bought him from Petland in Terrace six months before as an older puppy. He was neutered very friendly with adults but didn’t like the children – he was nipping at them when they tried to touch him. Their veterinarian had told him that we could find him a new home – they would not euthanize him. He must have caught me in a weak moment – we rarely take owner surrenders but I said Buster Brown could come in. An hour later – he is here! Buster Brown is a cocker spaniel/japanese chin mix, a very cute, white and brown (of course) little guy. He is clean, likes to be petted, plays well with the other dogs and is a very quiet, well behaved little guy who needs an adult only home – how difficult can that be? Turtle Gardens welcomes Buster! ok pictures very soon!

It is the last day of the year. A very busy, educational, thrilling, invigorating, awesome, wonderful, sad, happy emotional great prosperous year! A lot was done this year – our first BC Lottery Grant, Pedigree Shelter Partner, several spay neuter grants, ( we speutered almost 300 animals this year!!) The adoption centre is almost complete. We have a new to us TG Bus. We have an adoption spot for our adoptions down south, we have reduced shipping for our dog food, we have a wonderful fundraising committee – the raffle was a huge success, we have fundraising up here too – also quite successful. We have wonderful volunteers and I thank you all! Our donations have given the dogs all that they need, our vet bills are almost all paid – how cool is that!! And to top it all off – Dave and I have lots of really good coffee to start our days. Including Seattle’s Best from Seattle!! Thank you Beau! Even our vet staff made sure there was a bag of starbucks in our Christmas hamper – Dave and I thank you! Thank goodness for Sandra’s gift box for the puppies – nylabone chews!! – Bullie pups are chewers! They also ate the other treats but the nylabones saved the rest of my pillows!! There is pillow fluff all over my room – they sure can tear things apart!

We took in almost 250 dogs this year. Adoptions totaled 210 – our next trip will be next year. A new start with this year’s adoptions! The speuters are back on track with two on Tuesday and several more scheduled right away. Soon all of the dogs will be home with their new families. Happy New Year everyone! May we all meet again at Next Year’s Reunion!

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

It really is true – when you can’t breathe nothing else matters. The flu combined with bronchitis and my asthma ended up with a lung infection. All I did was sleep. And in the common room in my easy chair cuz I had to sleep sitting up. My dogs are all very well rested – they never left my side. They kept me warm when I was oh so cold. Great company. Dave has been a saint! He has kept all the dogs fed and watered. He has cleaned and cleaned some more. He answered the phone and he took care of me. Thank you Dave. Kelsey was here for a bit too. And Grandpa made her all her favorite meals. That’s what Grandpas do.

The shih tzus have learned what a lap is – mine. The oh so scared little girl Shiya now comes to me for affection. She will be an awesome cuddly companion as will her mom Sura who showed her what fun affection and a lap could be. See there was a good thing with my sitting in the common room! The pups are growing in leaps and bounds and are all going outside. Dave takes them all out several times a day – he calls them and goes out with them. Good pups. The rest of the group are all well. Everyone is waiting for their speuters so they can go home to their families. Life goes on!

Thank you for your comments and updates – I have a big smile and warm and fuzzies!

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

Hi All.  I know you are, as I am, suffering from severe TG blog withdrawl.  I have the luxury of being able to call Yvette up (cause she’s my Mommy) to get a short telephone update.  So I thought I’d pass along our short update.

Mom’s bronchitis is not well at all.  She spent most of the Holiday Season dog piled in bed.  I know she is really not well when she doesn’t check the comments on the blog or her email.  So I immediately dispatched the baby redneck to look out for her grandma and her furry friends.  So all is well at TG with all of our furry friends.

Please, if you have time, I am trying to prepare a surprise for her.  She really enjoys all the very warm comments from all her friends all over the world.  It would be so very nice for her to have the comment bin over flowing with updates, anecdotes, get well wishes and warm memories from the furry friends that she has helped over the years.  So please, if you have the time, click the comment button on the blog and send a comment from your TG pet.  Mom particularly loves the ones ‘written’ by the TG dogs themselves.

Rest assured that I talked to Mom tonight.  She is well and on the mend.  But she sounds a little down and this is just what the vet ordered to warm her heart and her hands to be placed on fur once again.

Cheers Stan.

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

And Turtle Gardens is receiving a lot! First the TG Elves – thank you everyone for the gift basket!!

We have received three Christmas Hampers! No shortage of goodies at all. Thank you Jan and Heather and Joanne and Sharon and the really nice couple this morning. By the time I had made two trip to carry the box (I had to carry the turkey and potatoes then the box – it was too heavy for me) They had left. I think they heard me coughing and felt sorry for me. The dogs got plenty of dog food and treats, toys and blankets too. Thank you so much.

Porter went home today too. His family has a new member – Porter has a sister from Bullie Buddies – Sabrina who is 9 years old and was wearing a warm red coat! She is just the prettiest little girl! Tara and Ty met her in Kamloops and brought her home with them. Ty is in love with her already! And Porter thought she was the cutest ever. Thank you Tara and Ty and Porter for the butterball turkey and ham – I will be sure that Dave does the Christmas dinner!. Good luck Porter you have your very own playmate!

And we received another little arrival. Another little stray from Moricetown. But this little girl had a home at one time – she is cuddly, and likes to sleep under the covers. I think she lived with an elder who passed away! Turtle Gardens welcomes another nameless homeless little girl:

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

It is still very cold -40 at night and now there is a windchill warning. I am certainly glad that the pups came in before this deep freeze – the bullies would not have survived. They have no coats to speak of. We lost our water in the laundry room – the washer has frozen. And the tub lost the hot water!! No bath Nothing has a chance to thaw out it is just too cold. So far we are staying warm, the kitchen has hot and cold water, the most important toilet is working – we are OK!

There was a fantastic fundraiser in Smithers at the Hilltop Inn – The Battle of the Bands. The cover charge was donated to Turtle Gardens! There were 5 bands (thank you Tom and Grace of the Hilltop Inn for putting it on and supporting Turtle Gardens!) , a silent auction – thank you so much Cheryl! You are awesome! Cheryl ran the silent auction alone, we couldn’t get any volunteers to help but she did a great job! TG thanks you for your above and beyond. All told they raised $1500. How cool is that!

And we received a Christmas Box from the TG Elves! They had a potluck Supper and brought gift cards, gas cards, starbucks cards, grocery cards, chapters – I am an avid reader too!, lots of useful gifts for all of us at TG! Thank you – Sharon, Jana, Cynda, Barb, Carrie, Jude, Alfie the golden, Tom, Ted, Jim, Steve, Lynda and Doug. The picture of all of you is priceless! It will be in a place of honour in our new adoption center. Right next to the beautiful memento from Shelley – a book of the TG Reunion Pictures! It is a wondrous collection of all of the TG Alumni of August 30th – it is beautiful, also priceless and even has good pictures of me! A lasting memory- thank you Shelley.

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

This time it is a sleepover at Turtle Gardens! Our favorite bullie boy has arrived for a sleepover. Yes Tara – Porter is behaving himself! He does think he owns me as does King and yes there was a couple of arguments but they have sorted out their differences and are sleeping on either side of my feet! He and Isaac are playing outside cold or not – he is one tough dude! As always Porter is welcome at TG and we enjoy him!

It hit -40 overnight! It is colder beside the hill than anywhere else. At 10:44 this morning it was -36. It was sunny without warmth. The dogs are all frosted up when they come in – eyebrows and chins frosty white! But play they do then they flop down to rest in the warmth and comfort inside. They are happy dogs.

And now an update from Possum!

Dear Yvette et all…

Happy Holidays and Snowy days from Cumberland.

Possum continues to do smashingly and is happy and healthy. We have had a rather large amount of snow in the past couple of weeks (especially for us here on Vanc. Island) which has made Poss a very happy little guy. He LOVES the snow. He makes me laugh out loud as he bounds through it, snuffling his nose into it and running around all crazy. I have let his hair grow long for the winter which means lots of brushing (not his favourite) but he is so soft and cuddly. Isn’t he so handsome?

We are heading over to “Nana’s” in Vancouver for the Christmas holidays. Traveling used to be a bit of a chore as Possum usually threw up on any road trip. A patient of mine told me that getting a static strip installed onto the bottom of the car would stop him from getting sick. I was skeptical but did as was suggested and A MIRACLE !! He never throws up or drools anymore. It was amazing – we drove up to Vernon this summer and he was happy and fine the whole trip. Had you ever heard of this before? Apparently it works for kids who get carsick as well. Who knew?

I have been reading the blog and smiling so much at all the updates, especially the “first ones” and remembering how exciting it was when I first got my buddy. It only gets better !!

Just wanted to wish you and your family as well as all those who have contributed, adopted, volunteered, etc. with Turtle Gardens a very Merry Christmas and safe and happy holidays.

With much love ..Katherine and Possum (who is awesome) xo

PS – I have attached a few pics from this past weekend and also a September one when I had my Dad’s dogs for a week. Poss LOVED having them for a sleepover.

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