Month: October 2021

Miss Rosie was at the vet today!
 
Weight 41.7 kgs(91.74 pounds). As she continues to move, she will build up muscle mass/tone and lose more much-needed weight.
 
We are also looking into a harness for her to go with a martingale collar as her leash manners are a work in progress! 
 
Her heart plus lungs got a big thumbs up!
 
The vet believes as we do that she has been bred – previous owners stated that any breeding attempts they made were unsuccessful.
 
She is now on Apoquel for her itchies, and her amazing foster mama washed her in the Canadian medicated shampoo we requested to also help her skin.
 
She appears to have some arthritis in her left front leg – in some videos sent, she definitely looked arthritic. We will continue on NSAIDS for her as necessary. She does have Metacam.
 
We did extensive blood work – no shortcuts ever done by BHRR! – including testing for tick-borne diseases and heartworm.
 
She will be put on de-wormer, flea, tick plus heartworm meds. Though the vet did not feel any skin scrapings were necessary, she is being put on revolution for any possible demodectic or sarcoptic mange concerns.
 
Since Miss Rosie was brought into rescue, we also placed her on a fish-based food to assist with any possible food allergies.
 
Vaccines will wait until she is healthier.
 
She also has a broken canine that we will address when she has her mature spay. We will then microchip her at that time.
 
Here is a copy of her invoice from today. Doing things the right way for each and every animal is very expensive. We blacked out her foster mama’s personal information…. 
 
Between her visit today, and Mr. Symba’s yesterday – his own annual – the vet bills are just under $1,200.
 
BHRR also goes through just shy of 120 pounds of food each day….
 
Please consider donating your Empties to help us continue to help these incredible animals in need of our highly specialised rescue programs…..
 
Donations can also be sent via PayPal to gwen@birchhaven.org or via email transfer to contactbhrr@gmail.com
 
Thank you in advance for your consideration! 
 
We are posting a picture on the comments with how Miss Rosie’s skin looks…..
 

AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION!
 
BHRR’s Romeo is AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION!
 
Health Status: HEALTHY!
 
*What more can we say?! He is healthy!
 
Age: ~14-month-old Mixed Breed of awesomeness! Weigh ~50-55 pounds of solid, lean muscle with a personality of 200+ pounds.
 
Type of Home Ideal For Mr. Romeo: He can be in a home that works ft, pt, works from home, is semi-retired or retired, etc. He is another versatile BHRR dog! He will ONLY go to a home that is prepared to ensure that he receives the balance he requires with proper exercise, socialisation, etc. He does not necessarily need to go to a dog-experienced home yet; he does need to go to a home that is prepared to remain committed to his obedience, structure, consistency, and be patient, kind, understanding, and are not hermits. He loves home yet; he also likes his pet store and other dog-friendly store visits, plus visiting friends. We are not advocates of dog parks. He needs a very active home. Very!
 
Personality/Temperament: Loving, affectionate, calm, quiet inside the home/when properly emotionally/physically stimulated, uber-sweet, social, playful, very active, athletic, gentle, kind, and if not handled properly – he has the propensity to develop SA behaviours. He can be a bit shy in new situations and settings and needs a home that will be patient, understanding while at the same time will not baby him. Just give him a bit of time; he warms up SO quickly and is truly a character! He has had playdates plus play visits and LOVES the attention! Once he jumps in feeling comfortable, he JUMPS ALL in! COVID has made it harder for us to expose the dogs to all that we usually do and to the high level that we do, yet we have worked hard to make it happen for him.
 
Previous Dog Experience: Previous dog experience is not required per the above. He needs to be in a home that already has at least one right-matched personality fit dog. It is equally important that he has a strong doggie network as he needs friends too – he is going to be that dog that will make many friends and shall be ok having a multitude of hundreds of acquaintances to run, play, zip, play tug-of-war with, etc.! He has been fantastic with all of the dogs here.
 
Good With Cats: He has been ok with the cats he has interacted with to date, yet we would feel most comfortable with him being in a home without feline members. He wants to make friends and play with them, which can be overwhelming to his feline friends, so we prefer a home with no cats.
 
Good with Pocket Pets: Unknown.
 
Good with Children: He has been good with children, and we will consider homes that have children 12 and up and no more than two children in a home. No small children.
 
Grooming: He is good to wash, doing nails. We take a soft brush and brush regularly, and this is a great bonding time between us – along with treats!
 
Car: He is excellent in the car. We have worked for him to have a positive association with car rides and that it is one of great fun and loving experiences.
 
Housebroken/Crate Trained: He is housebroken and Crate trained.
 
Obedience: His manners have come a long way. Overall, his leash manners are excellent! He can still pull if distracted, so a properly fitted and comfortable harness is recommended in addition to his martingale.
 

Activities Suited For Him: He is calm plus has fantastic manners when it is expected of him, and to us, he is very low maintenance YET, he is active from 5 AM – 10 PM – physically plus emotionally plus mentally, so when he goes to bed, he crashes and sleeps soundly. Outside, he loves his hikes, walks, runs, zips, zooms, and can he move! He can also jump and high. He can quickly scale 9-10 foot fences and jump off heights that would make us mere mortals feel faint. To others, he will be considered high maintenance, and if you are not an active, outgoing person who likes to come home, chill, relax, read a book or watch a movie after having adventures, he is not meant for you.

He would excel in obedience, agility, therapy work, and we feel possibly even luring, dock diving. We know he excels in hiking, chair hogging! 

Loves & Bad Habits: He must go to a home that has a very high solid fenced in yard, plus he also must go to a home that loves the outdoors(he associates his fall coat with adventures and will do the same with his winter coat for he is too short-coated to be able to stand any cold temps when he is out and about). Looking for new adventures, a wonderful jogging/walking/hiking partner, he is your companion. His bad habit is his ability to scale fences of heights in a flash. He is not a runner. He is an explorer! New smells, sights, sounds – once assured, all is fine with a calm word/touch and, he is all in.
 
He is an early bird – up around 5:00 AM, does his thing outside comes in, wants a small treat(benny bully liver treat), and tends to go right back to bed until around 8:00 AM and then it is back out, in, breakfast, rest and then his day starts – with whatever that days adventures the day will bring! He is up to exploring and having some fun! He is so affectionate, loves to share Sean’s chair with him! He is the best in snuggler, giving kisses, and how the tip of his wee tongue pokes out is positively adorable!
 
He loves treats and loves to be around his humans.
 
As for other bad habits – if he becomes super excited, he can jump around like a jumping bean and be vocal.
 
He LOVES to de-gut stuffies too, and he loves to be my computer ‘supervisor’ as I work away. He has a dynamo personality in a small package! Small for us! 
 
Like any dog, he is not perfect. He is perfect in all of his imperfections, though! NOT to mention so handsome!
 
He makes our faces plus hearts smile….he is such a gem of a dog.
 
Anxieties/Worries: He can develop SA behaviours, and we have worked extensively to set him up for success. He has learned to like and love his own company and to know that we are coming home. It is integral that the right matched personality fit home does not spend 24/7 with him. During this pandemic, we still need groceries; we should still go out and walk about; we should still get in our cars and go for a small drive to go somewhere to do something!
 
As we have stated for over 25 years now, we will NEVER rush any dogs’ rehabilitation journey, we do not flip dogs, and we are not desperate to adopt them out.
 
We will always place up for adoption the dogs that are able to be adopted and haven any others that, due to medical and/or behavioural reasons, are not able to be placed up for adoption.
 
We do not take in hundreds of dogs yearly; we only took in 16 dogs in 2020 as it is about helping the next in need of us, giving them top-quality care, and not about taking in numbers. In 2021, we have ONLY taken in 5 dogs to date, with two more dogs in the pipe.
 
After 25+ years, we remain knowing that we cannot please everyone, which means that BHRR is clearly not the rescue to be followed, supported, believed in by everyone. We remain small plus mighty, and as we go through this next transitional stage for BHRR, we shall continue to operate with a zero-tolerance approach, plus providing up and beyond care to the animals.
Our mandates have never changed, and they will remain the same as long as we are around; the animals shall always be done right by as our priority.

Our adoption success rates remain second to no other group out there – 100% for over 10 years of operating, and now 99% as we go through year 25, and we are excited as we go through this slow transition for BHRR!

We are over the moon excited for you Mr. Romeo. This decision, especially for Sean has been brutally hard. You two are your own dynamic duo! 

 
 

Mr. Bruno says, come close….closer still!
 
*SMOOCH*
 
He wants to share that the ETA for him and his litter-mate Miss Bea(Beatrice) to begin to head to BHRR is the second week of November.
 
These were the two giants that were seized.
 
This gives us time to fundraise for their trip to us!
 

The next two that are in need!
 
These two are “Bruno” & “Bea”. Names given to them by the agency.
 
Littermates that were seized.
 
They are unaltered(the male is also Monorchid) Great Dane/PoodleX’s, ~3 years of age.
 
They were seized, and now placement is needed. We would love to assist, and the place that currently has them is willing to road trip to us with them, as they are located in another province.
 
They are good with other dogs, good with cats.
 
They reached out as the agency felt that placing them would be a huge challenge – in the hopes that these two could be saved – they have severe anxiety – break through windows, are skinny, lack training, lack socialisation, and cannot go to just any organization.
 
Just the type of special Giants we LOVE to assist! 
 
What we are hoping to do is raise much-needed funds to allow their rescue guardian angel to drive from SW Manitoba to closer to us. We need money for gas – prices are insane! – and for two nights in hotels.
 
Once they are here, we will figure out their vetting needs.
 
Donations can be sent via PayPal to gwen@birchhaven.org OR via email transfer to contactbhrr@gmail.com
 
Thank you in advance for any consideration…..
 
I look at these two beauties, and I see our Bakers Dozen……the GD/Wolfie Litter we whelped.
 

Miss Rosie!
 
The redbone black/tan houndx.
 
We have been told that she is settling in well! Her amazing foster home has a dog themselves, a cat plus their mother with a small dog also lives with them, and Miss Rosie seems to be so enamoured with her foster mama’s mother!
 
They took her to the Vet for a weigh-in and she was 41.3 kg(90.86 pounds). We knew that she was out of shape plus overweight yet, this is almost 10 kgs over where she should be……
 
I am told that she very gently took treats from the techs, got on the scale like a champ, and was a lovely hit with everyone!
 
She has trouble moving – very odd gait – plus a wide front leg stance. All things that we will investigate once she is able to be seen at her Vet visit. They will do a thorough nose-to-tail exam on her.
 
Her foster Mama also gave her a lovely oatmeal shampoo bath as she was coated in dried dirt/mud – quite possibly rolling in it to attempt to relieve some of the discomfort of her poor skin.
 
Here she is supervising! 
 
I am just so happy that she was able to be saved…..thank you Tracey for stepping up to emerge temp foster this gem!

AND she is safe!!
 
Miss Rosie – the almost 6-year-old unspayed redbone black/tan houndx.
 
Thank you to her incredible foster mama Tracey Popham Todd for picking her up, and safely harbouring her for the next several weeks for us!
 
We are presently reviewing an adoption application for Mr. Symba, and should all fall into place, we can then bring Miss Rosie into our own home.
 
Miss Rosie is scheduled for a vet visit next week – the earliest she can be seen – to address the years of neglect to her body.
 
She has severe skin issues – related to food, seasonal, and possibly environmental allergies.
 
She is the sweet almost 6-year-old girl that was slated for euthanasia as the wife would use any money for drugs over having Rosie vetted.
 
She is unspayed, has a cherry eye too.
 
We will be having blood work done including testing for heartworm plus tick-borne diseases plus a pre-op, in addition to a thyroid test, skin scrapings, de-worming her, putting her on flea/tick/hw preventative, treating any eye, ear, and skin infections with antibiotics, doing an ear cytology, putting her on Apoquel and/or Cytopoint, doing a fecal, getting medicated shampoo etc.
 
Vaccines will have to wait, as we have to get her medical issues under control first. If she is deemed healthy enough, absolutely, we will do them at the same time as her visit.
 
She is starting a fish-based food today, and she will be getting an oatmeal soothing bath tomorrow.
 
She is very overweight, out of shape, and the owners were trying to use her for breeding purposes. Her front legs will also be looked at, and if she needs any NSAIDs – she was apparently on Metacam at one point – we will also ensure it is done.
 
Whatever she needs, she will get!
 
I am told she is so uber sweet!!
 
I want to love on those ears of hers!! 
 
Any donations to her ongoing care can be sent via PayPal to gwen@birchhaven.org
 
Or via email transfer to contactbhrr@gmail.com
 

BHRR Doggie News Update!
 
The picture is of Mr. Maxwell sunbathing!  So freakin’ handsome.
 
1) Mr. Maxwell had a repeat urinalysis on Wednesday, October 13th has he had begun to have some inappropriate urination episodes. Nothing alarming was noted, yet his vet elected to put him on Zeniquin in case he has bacteria in his prostate(he was neutered late in age) that is causing issues. Additionally, with how brutal his past has been with UTI’s, his vet wanted to be cautious.
 
The home is working to ensure that he is in a SA free enabling environment too to assist in dealing with any behavioural causes of the urination accidents.
 
2) Mr. Brutus had his own recheck the same day – He remains on Apoquel 16 mg SID, his antibiotics have been switched to Amox-clav from the cephalexin he had been on for a month as his skin had stopped responding.
 
His eye medications have also been switched up again as his eye infections have also stopped responding to his previous meds.
 
His ear infections seem to be responding ‘ok’ at this time to the medications.
 
He has been putting on the weight plus muscle and WOW, what a gorgeous boy in temperament plus behaviour. We see no reason once he is healthy, why he could not be placed up for adoption.
 
3) Miss Jamila – she went into heat October 2nd – so unfortunate that she was so ill when she arrived as she would have been spayed that first week of September. This puts her at continued high risk of pyo and mammary cancers.
 
Her ears and eye infections continue to be treated, and thanks again to Carol Bruck for her donation to have Miss Jamila be Miss August in the 2021 Calendar being so generously put together by Katherine Bruck!
 
Last I heard there were still two calendars available for sale – Katherine will have to confirm this though.
 
4) Gwen is also working hard on Miss Rosie, the special needs redbone/black/tan houndx – Gwen has been in touch with the O., and working on getting her into our rescue on Thursday.
 
5) Mr. Rocket’s big announcement has been delayed as he had a seizure episode the night of Saturday, October 16th. He had not had anything prior nor has he had anything since.
 
6) Mr. Romeo remains soon to be making his own special announcement.
 
This past week saw over $2,100 in vet bills accumulated, and may this next week not be as expensive.
 

This is *Rosie*. She is an almost 6-year-old Redbone Black & TanX.
 
Her owners are not able to stay on top of her allergies – food, seasonal, environmental, and she is so uncomfortable that she has now begun to be grumpy.
 
The home now have a 6-month-old child and Mrs. wants Rosie gone ASAP. An appointment had been made at a Vet clinic to euthanise her, yet the clinic declined as they feel that Rosie can be helped.
 
Per the Vet records, the Hospital was able to access, she was last seen in 2017.
 
The Owners have a fast timeline for rescue placement to be found for Rosie.
 
We are currently conversing with Mr. re: her – attempting to find out more about her to best determine if we can bring her in.
 
Appears that Rosie also has a cherry eye.
 

Someone seems to love ‘lap time’ when it is morning coffee time at his wonderful foster home! 
 
Mr. Maxwell!
 

Stay tuned! Mr. Romeo will be making his own special announcement shortly…..