For those of you who haven't heard the stories, I found out about a little Sammy girl sweetie through the Georgia Samoyed Rescue some time ago. We went and visited her at the Desoto County Animal Shelter and ended up adopting "Emma" just a few weeks ago. Her past is pretty much a mystery but it is obvious she has been terribly abused.The Adoption Coordinators at the shelter believe that her only purpose in her 1.5 yr life has been to breed more beautiful white snowballs just like her. She was found protecting the body of her mother who had been hit by a car along with a full grown male Samoyed who like her, was filthy, badly matted and completely uncared for. She is a very gentle, sweet female, with sad brown eyes, who so badly wants to be touched, but is still not convinced that all people aren't cruel. She is extremely timid and shy, she peeks around corners and tucks tail and runs if you walk or look in her direction, but will sneak up behind you to nuzzle or lick a hand leg or ankle, as long as you don't look at her. She is making daily progress and has many miles to go, but her older "sister", another 4-year-old Sammy girl, Chelsea, is showing her the ropes.

Within the first night or two we noticed she had a terrible hacking cough. Fearing the worst I took her to the Vet to be checked out. He continued the once over and concluded that she probably had not been spayed yet, so that too would need to handled in the near future. Then came the blood test all pet lovers dread... the heartworm test. Yep, you guessed it positive, and from the looks of it a pretty good case. So over the next few months Ms. Emma is going to undergo all sorts of medical treatments along with her struggle to understand that she can actually trust people to lover her.

Her rehabilitation has begun with about 2 weeks of quarantine and antibiotics for the kennel cough, then will be the routine annual shots, a week or so to get over those then we begin the grueling 4-6 weeks of total confinement required for the heartworm treatment, a few more weeks to get over that then on to the spay surgery. I hope she will understand all of the torture is really about giving her a happy long life, best I can figure by spring she should be a new woman!!

2/28/06 from Carla:

Hi All,

Emma has had her last phase of heartworm treatments a few days ago and is doing just fine. Her hacking and coughing has subsided and her activity level seems to be improving slowly. She is a sweet gentle little thing, and becoming quite the attention hog. She has just begun blowing her coat so she really looks a mess being as skinny as she is, though we are quite glad to see that old coat go.

Underneath there it looks like she is actually going to be white!! The doctor says its not unusual to have them drop a few pounds during the treatment and she should start gaining some of her weight back soon.

Also as a result of her treatment the Dr recommended we not bathe her, for fear of the additional stress so we have never been able to totally get rid of that kennel/pound smell. We are so excited to see what she is going to look like and feel like when the under-coat comes in, and the shedding this coat in a way seems to represent just one more step in leaving her ugly past behind.

- Carla

3/24/06 from Carla:

Hello Everyone,

Emma went back to the vets for her final recheck and has received the "All Clear"!! She has been released to be "a normal dog". She is obviously feeling much, much better as she has acquired a for real full grown dog bark in the last few weeks, and now runs to the door when she hears one of our cars pulling up. She has also begun to run and hang with the big dogs and play a bit without being so totally wiped out afterwards.

Everyday we see more and more of her new found personality showing up, and we are excited to see her coming out of her shell.

Thanks to all that asked about her along the way, and to those who made donations to SamUrgency or specifically for Emma. An extra special thank you to the folks as SamUrgency who were so wonderfully kind and were able to help with the cost of Emma's heartworm treatment. She is such a sweetie who so deserves the chance to live "a dogs life", and I think she is finally well on her way thanks to all of you.

SamUrgency does such wonderful things to help Samoyeds in need. Don't forget them should you feel the need to contribute to a very worthy cause. Donations are tax deductible...

- Carla

If you would be interested in helping with the expenses of other sammies like Emma that meet the SamUrgency guidelines, please contact us at

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