Dear Fellow Dog Lovers,

We had a beautiful autumn Sunday, making it a perfect time to spend with shelter dogs. We took lots of outdoor pictures of the new arrivals as well as our feature dogs for this post. But first, here is the adoption report.

There were four puppies who were adopted, and I didn’t take pictures of them. They were Mocha, Margie, Azula, and Sangria. Also adopted were the following:

Dug

Dug, featured last week, is such a clown of a dog. What fun his family will have with him!

Rusty

Rusty was quite shy and looked worried when he came to the shelter and we were thrilled when he went home with his new family.

Jackson

Also another one of last week’s features and another terrific dog, Jackson, was adopted. Thanks for the going-home picture, Marianne!

Flower

We all fell in love with this sweet girl. I couldn’t get her to smile, and she looked worried, but what a gem she is! Lucky family!

Shiva

This girl looks very serious in her picture, but she was a hoot on Sunday. I had planned to feature her this week, but she got adopted!

Please Note: The dogs I feature in this section are available for adoption as of today, October 4, 2023. But things change fast and our goal is always to find wonderful homes for our dogs as quickly as possible. To see if today’s featured dogs are still available and to see other available dogs, click on the link to the currently available dogs here. “The shelter is open for walk-through viewing and meet-and-greets 10 AM – 7 PM seven days per week. Meet-and-greets are done on a first-come/first-served basis.The shelter address is 4246 Turner Rd. SE, Salem.When you come to the shelter and see a pet you are interested in meeting, please take note of the pet’s name and visit the front desk in the lobby. Our Customer Care team will be happy to assist you with the next steps.”

I like my peeps here at the shelter, but I’m really looking forward to meeting my new family! Is it yours?

When we first met Tilly, she was quite stoic and didn’t smile. That would soon change.

Megan fell in love with her at their first nose-to-nose meeting.

Tilly arrived at OHS-Salem from another shelter along with her NINE puppies. She went immediately to a foster home until her puppies were weaned. Then she came back to us, was spayed, and is now waiting for her new family. Tilly is a two-year-old Rottweiler mix and is such a sweetheart. It wasn’t long before she felt safe and relaxed.

Last Sunday, she was happy and loving all of her new friends at the shelter. She was eager to pose with Marianne, Linda, and Megan.

Tilly has quickly become a favorite of volunteers. Several dog handlers have left happy notes about her such as, “She loves walks. Doesn’t pull hard on the leash.” “Super sweet. Will bark at dogs who bark at her.” “Tilly LOVED playing catch with a tennis ball in the play yard. She would bring the ball back and drop it for me. She didn’t want to leave her ball behind.”

Tilly is quite athletic and enjoys catching toys in mid-air. Marianne was eager to show us that she also catches treats thrown in the air. However, showing her off didn’t go quite as Marianne had hoped—at first.

Not only is Tilly a talented catcher, she also is the current “best painter” at the shelter, according to Marianne. Here she was on Sunday showing her licking style.

We’re hoping that Tilly won’t have to wait much longer for her new family.

Whew! I was pretty scared when I came to the shelter, but I’m feeling much better now. How about coming to meet me to see if I’m a good fit for your family?

Look at this face. Does it touch your heart? It does mine.

Domino was found as a stray along with Flower (who was adopted last week). He was extremely shy his first few days at the shelter. Notice how he wants to go to Marianne, but is uneasy at the same time.

Domino is a one-year-old American Pit Bull mix. Last week, he was so serious with sad eyes.

But this week, he has blossomed and is no longer the extremely timid boy he was. He walks well on leash and is treat-motivated, especially liking cheese. One dog walker wrote, “Sweet, happy-go-lucky on long walks. Did get a bit jumpy when excited. Treat-motivated, did not seem shy today.” Another walker stated, “Great on his walk—no pulling, loves to sniff. He is still a little fearful at noises and doors. He loves cheese!  And no problem getting him in and out of kennel. Good boy!”

On Sunday we had a wonderful time with him in Mary’s Place where we saw his delightful personality. And it turns out he’s quite a talker!

And who would have guessed Domino and Marianne would break into song?

Singing is exhausting!

Then it was time to paint! Some of the dogs’ paintings are going to be for sale at the OHS annual Boo Bash fundraiser later this month.

After all the fun in Mary’s Place, it was finally time to go.

We told him that he needed to be in his kennel so that potential adopters would see him. We’re hoping he’ll soon be with his new family.

We have THREE terrific updates to report!

Kiwi/Sadie

First, while I was taking pictures of new dogs on Sunday, I heard someone call my name from the parking lot. To my delight, it was two old friends. Joan and Steve were long-term Wednesday dog walkers, years ago, when I was their team captain. They were great with our dogs and very dependable. We became good friends. Joan and Steve loved all the dogs, but Hounds and those with quirks were their favorites. It was wonderful that they loved Hounds, as they live out in the country where a Hound can howl to its heart’s content. Steve and Joan have adopted several WHS dogs over the years. The last one was Kiwi, a senior Border Collie mix, transferred to us from our sister shelter in Hawaii. They also have a young Hound, another rescue.

Here they were on Sunday.

Here is Sadie’s update.

“We adopted Sadie (previously known as Kiwi) from WHS in February 2018. At 8 1/2 years old, she was shy, extremely sweet, frightened and sad about losing her Hawaiian people. Today at 14, she has retained that shyness and sweetness, but is comfortable in our home and hearts!  As a matter of fact, she  is a masterful communicator. If her Border Collie stare doesn’t work, she employs a sequence of stares, nudges, and yips to get what she wants!

For fun, Sadie likes to roll on her back! She is joyful when rolling in sword ferns, stubby grass, or bamboo. She’ll stop and roll three, four, even five times on our daily walks. She has a look of pure bliss while rolling! Luckily for us, she doesn’t have a preference for rolling in stinky stuff! It happens….but rarely!  The scant fur that we adopted her with is now lush and angora-soft.

This year has been a hard one for Sadie. In January she left our property with our much younger Hound and traveled through the woods until lost. The Hound, white, was found within a day. Sadie, however, was not found for several days.  We thankfully had the help of a Facebook group, the local police and sheriff departments, animal control and many other friends and and kind people. Five days later, after searching many road miles, hours of tears, and numerous sightings, she was found through Facebook and returned home. Both girls now wear trackers and are never outside together!

In the early summer, Sadie developed “old dog vestibular syndrome”. The vet diagnosed her with the syndrome and gave her a round of steroids. She was back on her feet and doing well after a couple of weeks of motor and feeding support. If you have an older dog, it is worth reading a little about this syndrome. It is somewhat common and that knowledge will calm your worries if your dog develops it.

Sadie was considered a senior when we adopted her, but she is a well-loved, loyal and steadfast member of our family! Can’t imagine life without this old girl in it!“

Shelby/Bandit

It’s a small world. My yoga teacher told me that one of her students at Willamette University had adopted one of our dogs. I asked for an update and got it last week.

Shelby was an adorable puppy when she was found as a stray and brought to the shelter last February. Here she was when I met her at that time.

Here is her update.

“Currently Bandit is my emotional support animal and lives with me on campus at Willamette University. She loves going on long walks to Bush Pasture Park, playing in the snow, chewing on sticks, and cuddling with her favorite blankets. She is loved and cared for by so many students at WU and is always very excited to meet new people! She is very sweet and loves to sleep with me at night, even in my small twin-sized bed. She is very smart and knows exactly where my room is in my building and knows our usual walking route. She also is very silly and loves eating ice cubes! Her favorite spot to hangout is in her bed by the window where she loves watching people and animals outside. She is such a sweet and kind dog and I am so lucky to have her!” 

What a wonderful girl Bandit has grown into and is lucky to have someone who loves her so much.

Mona/Blondie

Staff member Mackenzie sent me update pictures of Mona, now named Blondie. She was surrendered last May and was adopted in June. Here was Mona when she was at the shelter. She was very shy and uneasy at first.

And here she is in her new home, as Blondie.

On those very happy notes, that’s it for this week!

As always, thanks to my photo team volunteers Marianne, Megan, and Linda, and staff members Clare and Mackenzie. All of the dogs I have featured today, along with other terrific dogs waiting to be adopted, can be found at Oregon Humane Society Salem Campus at this link. Remember, if you see a dog on my blog whom you are interested in meeting, try to make arrangements to get to the shelter soon. Some dogs are adopted more quickly than you might think.You can reach me at adoptanoregondog14@yahoo.com