Last month my Siberian Samoyed Noah proved to me that he is not all talk and performed a daring rescue of an old Dalmatian. I’m so proud of him that I have to share this dog rescue story with you. My four Samoyed dogs and I were sharing a house with someone who owns two lovely elderly Dalmatians – Coco,18, and Tara,16. Both are in exceptionally good health for their age except for Tara’s epilepsy. Her seizures have become more frequent and she is now on medication.
Old Dalmatian
One night after having a seizure, Tara disappeared into the treacherous 4 acres of native bush on the property. Her owner Ray and I searched as far as we could see to no avail. It was late at night and pitch black in a very dense bush. To complicate matters, Tara was born completely deaf so wasn’t going to answer to our calls. I even tried to set my other male Samoyed Blake into the thickness of it all to do a search, but he turned and hid behind my legs. No way was he going into that scary abyss in the dark! So I took this scaredy-cat back to the house and went to bed worried.
Ray searched every few hours with a torch and by morning he was sure that poor Tara had decided to go into the bush to die. It rained all night, and we feared the worst, but in the morning we still searched the property as well as the whole neighborhood. It is a rural area and we didn’t want her wandering onto farmland. By daylight, after Ray had climbed right into the bush as far as he could several times and was pretty depressed about losing his old Dalmatian girl who had been with him all her life, I decided to put on my running shoes and try one last tactic. After seizures, dogs become quite disorientated and very tired and I felt that she had simply got lost in there and was sleeping it off. The trouble was it is very dangerous and vertical in parts so she could have easily injured herself.
Dog Saves Dog
Now, this is where my Siberian Samoyed Noah fits into this true dog story. Noah has a lot of lady-friends because he is just too handsome, and Tara is a bit of a cougar as Noah is only 6 years old. By that time I had introduced Noah to the harness and he had the chore of taking the rubbish up to the gate which he loved to do. So I put the harness on my boy and let him lead me into the bush in places where Ray couldn’t squeeze into. This was a long process with Noah being very patient with me trying not to fall down the steep hill. He was great at giving me balance.
Once in the thick of this prehistoric jungle, I asked Noah to ‘go find Tara’ not knowing if he would pick up her scent or a possum’s. But bless his heart, suddenly his nose caught something and he was pulling me down further picking up speed. He was onto something! He stopped when we got to a thick tangle of branches and fallen Kanuka trees, sniffing the air, searching. I got down low and looked through the fallen trees and there she was! A cold dread ran through me because there was Tara lying motionless in a pool of mud. As well as being devastated that the old Dalmatian may have passed away, I thought “How the heck are we going to get her out of here? We’ll need a winch!”
Noah and I made our way down to the found dog and once he realized that I had seen what he had only smelled, he bounded ahead barking. When he reached her, our dog rescuer gave her a nudge and a sniff, and all of a sudden, Tara’s head popped up and she growled at poor Noah, indignant that he had awoken her. I was elated and checked her over for injuries while she wondered what all the fuss was about. Noah barked his usual proclamations being such a vocal Siberian Samoyed. I can’t believe how tough that girl is because there wasn’t a scratch on her. She was only muddy as hell. Now the hard part was getting us all out. Tara is 30kgs and was wobbly on her legs after her hard night and she has arthritis in her rear end too. Noah’s job wasn’t done yet. I tied a leash onto the found dog and connected it to Noah and our muscular dog rescuer pulled us all up the hill with his trusty harness. I had to help by pushing Tara when she just couldn’t get a footing. Noah was getting pretty knackered and would sit down refusing to go any further at times. I think he was a bit over it all by then and told me so. So we’d wait for him and then he moved on when he was ready. At the end of it, we were all very wet and muddy, but after two hours we were home. Tara trotted up to her very relieved Dad and after a bath, slept the rest of the day. I told Ray that he owes Noah, the dog savior, a juicy steak, and we’re still waiting! A very proud Samoyed Mum Marilyn Begg
About the Author
Marilyn Begg is a personal dog lifestyle trainer (or personal trainer for dogs and their owners) in New Zealand. She helps dog owners with issues they may have whether they are physical, behavioral, nutritional or medical and refers them to specialists when needed. Owner and Manager of Beggs Gourmet, she produces Blake's Bikkits dog treats. Please visit her company's website or a Facebook page. Photos Credits: Marilyn Begg.
Guest written specially for the Russian Dog website.
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Junior hebert says
I loved your story,I have a Dalmatian myself,he’s going on 12 in July,he’s been with me since he was 6 weeks old,he’s just like my son,my best friend,he’s my service dog since I’m disabled now.He has seziures and rear arthrits also.If I lost him I would be lost.I seen the Russian dogs and am interested in getting one when Rebel (my Dalmatian) passes.Yours is called a Samoyed are they smart and friendly dogs?Once again I love dogs and I see you and your husband do also,and I love your story.Thank you for sharing and your time.
Marilyn Begg says
In my experience Junior, removing preservatives from the diet, not over-vaccinating, not using any chemical flea control, feeding a raw food diet and using natural remedies have all helped with dogs with seizures. I cared for a Norwegian Elkhound, a Fox-terrier cross and a Dalmatian who all had seizures which diminished on this protocol. You may not be able to take your dog off meds if it is severe, but mild cases can certainly thrive on a natural diet. This applies to arthritis and hip dysplasia too. Keep the weight off, consider acupuncture, hydrotherapy. osteopathy and use glucosamine supplements.
Samoyeds are one of the happiest, friendliest breeds and can usually be trusted with children. They should be living in the house with the family. They are an intelligent working breed and were originally used as reindeer herders in native Siberia.