Rainhaven's

Joey, Anna & Mickey Moose

January 13, 1991
Joey's first day home after being adopted from PAWS.
Joey was picked up as a stray running loose on the streets of Edmonds,
about 8 months old and unneutered.

I had applied to Seattle Purebred Dog Rescue in October 1990, and on January 10th I was notified by the Samoyed Club of Washington's Rescue Coordinator that a male Samoyed was about to be put down at PAWS. There I found a scruffy dark-almond-eyed 83-pound wild-man sitting in the kennel right in front of the door in the dog area, being passed by hoards of Saturday morning families saying "Oh he has too much hair, and that white coat will never stay clean." Over the years, it has been my experience that Samoyeds *do* stay clean, it's the *bedspread* and *carpets* and *car* that get dirty! Trucks with canopies are the perfect Sammy funmobile.

September 1994
Beautiful Washington coastline beaches of Ocean Shores,
where a Sammy can chase seagulls and mooch hugs and treats from just-met friends.

Spring 1995
Joey and I began making the 70-mile-one-way trek down to Ewe-topia in Roy, Washington
to take professional sheep herding lessons from Joe Kapelos.

Joey was loud and enthusiastic, but never aggressive. A lot of his barking was at Joe for laying down rules. "Rules!?! We don't need no stinkin' *rules*!!" Joey would say. Over the next several months, we took about 20 lessons in the small pen. We never gained enough control to graduate to the pen with obstacles or the wide open fields, but we had a heck of a good time and video taped many of our lessons. You really don't know a Samoyed until you explore their reindeer-herding heritage.
When November came and its' bad weather, we decided to take a break.
I didn't know that we were about to be sidelined for life and not be able to return to herding.

February 1996
Lake Wenatchee in the Cascade Mountains, after spending the day in nearby Leavenworth,
a town that has re-invented itself as a Bavarian Village.

By now Joey was down to about 70 pounds, but the years at around 80 pounds combined with crappy genetics had taken their toll. In November 1995 Joey started favoring both back legs and had a hard time keeping from falling on linoleum. Only 5 years old, Joey was diagnosed with severe arthritic hip dysplasia; by the Summer of 1996 he was more completely and correctly diagnosed at Washington State University Veterinary College as also having completely torn loose both anterior cruciate ligaments in his back stifles. Dr James Lincoln repaired the first knee in July, and the second in September. The meniscus had been completely destroyed in one stifle joint and partially in the other. This is not something that could be fixed, and eventually the joint fused from arthritis.

Immediately after Joey's ACL surgeries, I volunteered at the Samoyed Nationals
held in Puyallup, Washington in October 1996.
I missed not having Joey with me when leading the 5 mile hike and
helping with the sheep herding event and agility.
I did bring him for the Rescue Parade.
Joey had finally reached his proper weight of 58 pounds by then.

I first met Anna (aka Buttons at that time) at the Samoyed National in 1996 when Steve Matson was fostering her. People who had owned her for 5 years turned her into the Kent shelter "because she barks too much." Kathy Buckner, Rescue Coordinator for the Samoyed Club of Washington,was able to save her in time.

Daily walks and a yard to play in,
and a properly groomed coat...what a difference!!

Rainhaven's Joey de Vivre
May 14, 1990 - August 16, 2002

In the summer of 2002, Joey started rapidly losing weight.
He was diagnosed with cancer in the area of his intestines immediately
following his stomach, which was an inoperable section.

February 6, 2003

Mickey Moose

Samoyed Rescue of the Washington State Samoyed Club had heard of Joey's passing. Six months later, they phoned me and asked if I'd be interested in a boysterous Sammy that had just come from the Tenino shelter, who had been picked up running loose in the area. A couple hours later, Anna and I arrived at Ron and Kathy Manor's farm. There were five Samoyeds in the yard; Anna went right up to Mickey and hung out with him during the visit.

After a couple of hours visiting, the three of us went home.

For the last six months of her life, Anna enjoyed Mickey's playfulness and companionship.

I have always felt that Joey told Mickey to come find us.

Anna, Queen of Spades
1990 - August 8, 2003

Anna had slight awkwardness with her spine for a couple years,
which initially seemed to simply need chiropractic adjustment.
By March 2003, she was having trouble with her back end as the tailbone area
of her spine became more pinched from arthritis and affected her spinal cord.
Her condition by late July made it difficult to even walk around the block,
and by early August I made the difficult decision
to set her free when her body was too crippled for her to get around on her own.

2006

Mickey has been a wonderful companion;
he likes to do the same dance for his dinner that Anna always did,
but doesn't suffer from her fears of stormy weather.
He is much more willing to accept a less dominant position
than Joey generally did. He is unfortunately afraid of riding in the car,
which I haven't been able to completely overcome.
Mickey is a beautiful tall leggy boy who loves to run full-out.
Sometimes I suspect he may have been raised by
Golden Retrievers - he is often retrieving things and bringing them to me,
especially scraps of paper... and most of my socks
have become "doggone".

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