Chicago - A Success Story

The Story of Cilla

"Hi,

Just getting back to you about the dog, Cilla, from the Chicago area. I drove down and got her last Saturday. .... She looks like she wasn't well cared for by her owner. She's tall, about 24 inches at the shoulder but only weighs about 30-35 pounds (our male, Samson, is 25 inches at the shoulder, is in great shape and he weighs 63 pounds; I know a female should be somewhat smaller), she doesn't run well (she may have hip problems, we'll have her checked by our vet), she eats everything and anything in sight and she has lost most of her winter coat so she looks pretty scraggly right now. She may be going through the trauma of having to adjust to a new home after being with the same family since she was three months old; she's just a little over 3 years old now. ...

We're going to Hibbing, Minnesota this weekend to a skijoring race and will be taking Cilla with us to see how she likes it. She won't be racing, just watching. I had her in a harness last Sunday and she seems to understand what to do but it doesn't appear to be intuitive as it was for our male and as I said, she doesn't run very well. We think she has sent too much time in the city.

We live in the country so there are a lot of things around to stimulate her. We're enjoying seeing her reaction to all the new smells, sights and sounds and think the additional stimuli will bring out the best in her. We have a lot of rabbits, raccons, pheasants, squirrels and other small animals around and we also have a pack of coyotes that periodically howl from a wooded point just a few hundred feet from our dog yard. That always gets Sanson excited and it should certainly have a affect on Cilla.

If you interested in how things are progressing, we'll let you know .

Thanks for your help.

Jerry Sivets"

One month later, and here's the latest:

"Just a few words to tell you about a Siberian we got via the Siberian Husky Rescue web site. I'd been looking for another Siberian since last October and was lucky enough to come across the rescue web site. After much searching and several false starts I was put in touch with some people in the Chicago area who were fostering a dog displaced by a divorce. After contacting those people, I drove down to Chicago on a Saturday, got her, and came back the same day.

The dog we got, her name is Cilla, is a very nice dog who seems to be loving her new home. We live on 11 acres in a rural location about 20 miles west of Minneapolis with woods, marsh and a big lawn. Cilla loves to play with our male Siberian, Samson, and they also hunt rabbits, squirrels and mice together. She's learning to skijor and has slowly been working her way into full run of the house. When she first arrived, she had a problem with wetting on the floor so she was only allowed in the kitchen. I think some of the wetting problem was working out her relationship with our 7 year old female Yellow Lab; this now seems to be resloved. They get along fine and Cilla doesn't have nearly as many "accidents" as she used to have.

Cilla has been putting on weight and a new winter coat. When we got her she had a very thin coat and was pretty skinny. She has gained about 10-15 lbs , she's up to 60-65 pounds, and her new coat is very dark gray and black. She's almost as big as our male which is good since they play pretty rough with each other.

We're really enjoying Cilla and appreciate all you and the Siberian Husky rescue group are doing to save these great dogs.

Thought you might like to hear from a happy "customer". Good Luck.

Jerry and Kay Sivets"

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