Click HERE for more information on Temperament Testing
Kane's Story
Woo...err, I mean Hi! My name is Kane, I am only 2 years
old, but my friends tell me my story covers more than most Siberians endure in a
lifetime. Pull up an easy chair and relax. You might find this interesting.
I started life in Fall River, Massachusetts...a happy little pup, adequately
inquisitive for my breed. I made many friends on my many adventures (I am
a Siberian you know) and always greeted the humans with a gentle nudge or
offered my paw before approaching for pets and love. When my collar got
too tight I dug under my fence to visit a neighbor who loosened it for me, she
is one of those great neighbors we all wish to find next door, so I tried to
visit often.
One day I picked up the scent of something really good and followed my nose...Lo and Behold!!! I found a local market full of kind and loving people! They could not invite me in, but if I waited patiently at the back door they took turns bringing me meat scraps and goodies. We would play, I would sit like a gentleman, offer my paw and get pets and love along with the most delectable of treats. Not so bad so far, Huh?
My adventurous nature and inquisitiveness was a deciding factor in my family surrendering me to the Fall River Shelter in Massachusetts. But as luck would have it, I had a Guardian Angel, and whoever he/she is lead my special ANGEL right to me. Yep, Janice Jezek became my Auntie Janice and is involved with Angels of the Snow, she took me out to play, gave me love and treats, we visited the park where I could run on leash and have fun.
I even spent a day with my good friend Pat Casey who groomed me. I was terribly matted and did not smell very good, but when she was through I looked and smelled gorgeous. It was hard not to cry as she worked and worked on my matted coat...it HURT... but I knew she was my friend and never even turned my head once to ask her to stop. I'm a smart boy, I knew she was helping me and I really enjoyed smelling clean as well as feeling a gentle human hand stroke my fur and not get stuck on the badly matted spots. We just talked and enjoyed each other’s company as she worked away. Pat and I spent the day together and she liked me as much as all my other friends. I'm a very lovable guy you know! I thanked her with my sweet kisses and knew I would see her again. She is my very good friend.
Well, things changed drastically after Auntie Janice picked me up at Pat's and I returned to the shelter. She promised I would be coming with her soon to go to a foster home where I would live with a family in a house instead of a shelter kennel, and I knew she would not let me down.
As I was waiting for Auntie Janice to visit a van pulled up and some of the others were taken from their kennels and put inside the van. Then another dog started a fight and was not allowed to go in the van, so they took me instead. I tried to tell them I had to wait here for Auntie Janice, that I had a foster home expecting me, but no one would listen. They didn't understand my language like Auntie Janice and my other friends. I was scared, I didn't know if these humans were my friends, I didn't know if Auntie Janice would ever find me again.
This new place was another shelter but the scent of doom was much stronger there and that made me terribly nervous. Soon they came for me...and we went into a room. At first it was OK, they let me know what they wanted and I did it but that wasn't enough for these humans...I didn't understand...the rules had changed and I got scared. I missed my friends and no longer felt safe.
It was many days before I was allowed to see anyone I knew. I know Auntie Janice was there...I could hear her voice and picked up on her scent. I know Pat Casey was there, I heard her voice and picked up on her scent, but they never came to give me pets and love (at this time I didn't know they were not permitted to see me). I knew I could trust them and that they loved me, but why couldn't they find me? I called, "just sniff with your nose, it's me, Kane...I'm right here" But then they were gone.
I had to go through one test after another. Once while I was tied to a tree, a woman came at me again and again and again and again with some strange thing on a pole until I was too scared not to get mad and try to make her stop. Why was I forgotten, and where were my real friends? Why doesn't anyone understand me?
Then I heard her...and soon I picked up on that familiar scent I knew I could trust...THEN...OH, WOO there she was!!! WOOOO!! Auntie Janice didn't forget me. We greeted with hugs and kisses and I was so happy she finally found me I didn't even want the treats she had for me. There was another friend there too and I didn't know who she was but she understood me and I understood her. We began a different kind of test. Yes, it hurt when she pinched my paws, and I didn't really like it, but I knew I had to be a gentleman. She didn't tether me to a tree and scare the Bejesus out of me, either. After we were through I had to go back to my kennel, but I didn't want too, and Auntie Janice and my new friend Kris Ashton were allowed to take me back this time. I trusted them and, when told, got right into my kennel. I knew in my heart I was not forgotten...now I had hope.
Maybe I would not be the next one added to the scent of doom here at this shelter in Rhode Island. It took a long few days, but soon I was back at the Fall River Shelter again and I did not wait long until Auntie Janice showed up to take me home...YES...MY FOSTER HOME. My friends all visit me and we have met so many new people in the last few days. I even got to play with a tiny little dog and a big, big dog and lots of other cousins in between. I have met many new human friends also. Of course, I am always friendly and gentle and don't forget to offer my sweet kisses as a reward for kindnesses.
I will be staying with my friends until I prove myself once more and am able to put any questions regarding my temperament behind me...but I am a thinker at heart and I am once again understood by those around me. I really don't mind proving what a sweet boy I really am, my real friends always knew what a gentleman I was and they didn't give up on me nor believe the injustices spoken about me. I am one of the lucky ones that have been given a second chance, that shelter did not become my Potters Field of Forgotten Pets.
Unfortunately, the other animal friends I met are not assured of the same good fortune I found. Two of them are killed almost every day, so the scent of doom was not just my imagination or unwarranted fear.
I am a happy boy now, and I will patiently wait for my perfect family to find me when I am ready. But please say a prayer for those I left behind. Some of them might be just as sweet as I am but have no one to stand up for them like my friends at Angels of the Snow, Kris from the Bristol County Dog Training Club, and Fall River Councilwoman Pat Casey did for me. If I understand the human translation correctly, 16-18% of the animals at the Potter League are euthanized. Only five out of six leave there alive. Sounds a little like a game of Russian Roulette, doesn't it? These are not odds I want to face again.
Thank you Auntie Janice, Pat and Kris, from the bottom of
my sweet Siberian heart. I will do
my best not to let you down!
Love and licks,
Kane