Dear Fellow Dog Lovers,

It is always a joy when I can start a post with a wonderful story. But this week I have TWO fantastic tales to tell! So sit back and have a box of tissues nearby!

Pickles’ Story

Pickles, a five-year-old Jack Russell Terrier mix, arrived at our campus on July 6th. He came from another shelter, so we had no idea of his history. He was nervous and shy, but also a delightful little dog.

Here he was with Megan soon after he arrived at our campus.

On July 11th, Pickles was adopted and moved to Jefferson, Oregon. Later that day, we received the news that he had jumped a 4-foot fence and was lost. Here was the post on Jefferson Oregon Lost and Found Pets: “Lost dog. Just picked him up from the shelter. Jumped 4ft fence and ran. Headed south towards Adams Ln when last seen. His name is Pickles.”

Pickles may have been small, but he was extremely street-savvy. There were multiple sightings, including one near the interstate. Many dog lovers tried to find him, but he eluded capture. As days, then weeks passed, we began to give up hope. Then, in late August, he showed up in Shedd, Oregon, at a seed store. The owner left food out for him and Pickles stayed close for a week, enabling a trap to be set and on September 8th, he was secured. The woman who trapped him reported, “For almost two months he has been on the go. Thank goodness he was being fed for the last week, he stayed put and was easy to trap. He looked great.” Pickles’ adventure lasted 59 days and he had traveled about 23 miles. If only he could talk!




Winter’s Story

Winter, a seven-year-old Siberian Husky mix, first arrived at our shelter in 2018 as a transfer. She was soon adopted. Then on August 5th, she was surrendered when her family could no longer take care of her. She was very sad in her kennel, but perked up as soon as we had her outside. She enjoyed slow-motion fetch. She became an instant volunteer favorite and I featured her in last week’s post.

We were worried about her, and how long it might take for her to be adopted.

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Now we need to travel back in time to April, 2016. Milo, a senior Border Collie mix, arrived at the shelter as a transfer. He was shy and we called him a senior statesman. As always, we worried about who would adopt a senior.

It turned out we didn’t need to worry about Milo. He was adopted on April 24th. In that week’s post, I wrote, “It was so obvious, just watching, that he will be loved to the moon and back!” And he was for six-and-a-half years.

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Back to the present…

Last week I got an email from Milo’s person, Kim. She said that they had lost her “Marvelous Milo” a year ago. After reading last week’s blog post, she and her parents were coming to meet Winter on Saturday. She was hoping Marianne and I would be at the shelter and that I would bring my camera. She wrote, “With any luck, there will be some more Gotcha Day pics to take!! Fingers crossed.” We were thrilled! And so, here is the rest of the story in pictures.

And in case you are wondering how Winter is settling in with her new peeps in her forever home…

So there you have it—two amazing stories about two very special shelter dogs! And one more thing…Winter’s new family does not use the term “senior dogs.” Instead, they use “frosted dogs.”

And the happy news continues! There were 18 dog adoptions last week! Seven of them were puppies whom I didn’t meet. Here are the others besides Winter:

Pearl

Athena

Lily

Eris

Frank

Frankie

He looks so happy! Thanks for the going-home picture, Mackenzie.

Sadie

Goose

Our long-termer, smart Goose was adopted on Monday. We are hoping this will be his perfect forever home.

Harley

Nova

She’s the one on the left of the picture. Thanks for the going-home picture, Mackenzie.

Please Note: The dogs I feature in this section are available for adoption as of today, September 13, 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’m a pup and I’m looking for a family I can call my own. We could go on adventures together!

We are amazed that Koko is still waiting for her new home. She is a nine-month-old American Staffordshire Terrier mix who is an absolutely delightful youngster.

Koko is an eager learner and loves people. She can become overly excited at times, which can result in jumpy and mouthy behavior, but since she is very treat-motivated, she will be easy to train with positive reinforcement. She also loves to romp with dogs who have a rough and tumble play style like her own. She has had two excellent canine playmates since she has been at the shelter, but both of them have been adopted.

We took Koko out to a yard to play. While she loves to play fetch, she is still working on the concept of returning the ball to the thrower.

After a little fetch, Koko just wanted to hang out with us.

Then we went into Mary’s Place and she had us laughing with her antics. If you are wishing for a lap dog, you’ve found her.

We weren’t quite sure what this was, but it made us laugh.

We had a great time with Koko and when it was time to go back to her kennel, she wanted to say one more thing.

We’re hoping that a family looking for a fun, playful, loving young dog will come and meet Koko and take her home.

If the challenge of adopting a puppy is too daunting, how about adopting me?

Need a slower paced loyal companion? Meet Baby, a ten-year-old Lab mix. Baby was transferred to us and we don’t know much about her history. We do know that she can be a bit handling-sensitive, perhaps due to her age. She was very shy the first time I met her, but since that time, she has relaxed and her personality has shown through.

Baby loves to play fetch which we found out when we took her to a yard. She had a blast.

After a rousing game, we went into Mary’s Place to relax.

It didn’t take Baby long to settle.

Marvelous Milo

You read a little about Milo at the beginning of this post. I asked Kim to write about his life with them. Here is his story.

“On 09/20/2022, we said So Long to this 2016 OHS-Salem alum, our precious goofy goofball, resident lovebug, protector, entertainer and shadow—the Marvelous Milo. He was 15.5 years old. 

Milo lived for rambunctious indoor fetch with his red ball, Dad’s (volunteered) slipper, veggie drawer snackies, walkies regardless the weather, endless car rides, announcing walkers on our hill, and under-the-covers sleeptime snugglies. But RV-ing with his Mom & Dad to summer drag races may have been his very fav (even stamped his passport twice to Canada!). He generally fancied himself the captain, and had to be coaxed from the driver’s seat to actually go anywhere. 

In his final year, when walkies were no longer, we spent countless hours sharing deck-time and yard-time, where he could take in the world and continue to make himself known to any passersby. He garnered an impressive neighborhood fan club, a number who remain close friends thanks to him, and many stopped to share a tear when he no longer appeared at his post. 

Milo was widely loved and his devotion and giant personality left a memory-filled, though cavernous, vacancy. We could not be more grateful for the privilege of being his fur-family or ever miss him less.

Fast forward one year, when we were again chosen….enter Winter.“



Milo, a “frosted” shelter dog, could not have found a better home. I’m sure he would approve of Winter.

On a personal note, I have a dear friend coming to visit and we’re heading to the coast, so I won’t be writing a blog post next week.

As always, thanks to my photo team volunteers Marianne, Megan, and Linda, and staff members Mackenzie and Clare. 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