Cassie is a nearly five-year-old female Soft Coated Wheaten
Terrier who was surrendered to WIN just before
Christmas. Her family had felt for a long time that they
did not have the time for her. A lady named Jennie, having
already adopted a wonderful older boy through WIN several
months earlier (see
BooBoo's story), wanted to get involved
and give back some of the joy that is part of rescuing and
loving a WIN dog. So Jennie, Cassie's foster mother in
Calgary, spent her Christmas holidays working with Cassie
and getting her to come out of her shell. BooBoo and
Maggie, his Bichon sister, also helped...
After careful consideration, it was agreed that Cassie would
come to live with us, another Canadian WIN volunteer family,
on a foster-to-adopt basis. However, getting Cassie from
Calgary to Winnipeg required her travelling over 1500 km,
and booking a flight for her would be complicated (not to
mention unreliable, given our crazy Canadian winters), so we
decided to do our own WURL and did the long drive on New
Year's Day, meeting in Regina, which is approximately
mid-way between the cities of Calgary and Winnipeg. Having
driven 2500 km in a single weekend to get their Boo, Jennie
and her husband Dev were already seasoned long-distance
WURL'ers. My husband, Nick, and I decided to bring our own
five-year-old male Wheaten, Baxter, along so that he and
Cassie could meet on neutral ground.
The WURL started out promising on New Year's Day, as the
weather was to be cold, cloudy, and with the possibility of
a few snow flurries. We headed out shortly after 7:00
a.m. and stopped every couple of hours to refill our coffee
and have potty breaks. Baxter was a doll, pottied on
request, and just sort of lounged/dozed in between stops.
After a couple of hours, it began snowing and blowing, and
visibility became very poor. By the time we got to Regina,
the snow was heavy and dense. Picture big fat hairy
snowflakes falling in clumps and swirling around madly.
Amazingly, Jennie and crew arrived in the Tim Horton's
parking lot within 30 seconds of our own arrival--I know
this because we called her cell just as we got there and she
was pulling in the parking lot. Pretty amazing for that we
both had been driving upwards of 7 1/2 hours!
While the snow melted and froze in our hair and we felt the
feeling going out of our
limbs, the dogs checked each other
out and we shared hugs, tears, and tales of (weather) woe.
Baxter, the easygoing, laidback, "I love everybody" Wheaten
ambassador extended a friendly welcome and was promptly
greeted back with a warning growl. Uh-oh, not a great
start! Once the bladders were emptied, goodbyes were said,
and we all got into our respective cars--Baxter seatbelted
in the back seat of our Honda CR-V and Cassie securely in
her crate behind the seat (part of the back seat was folded
down so the dogs could "visit" through the crate bars), we
were on our way.
The weather had deteriorated completely by this time
and made for a real white-knuckle drive as the snow became
heavier and the visibility was reduced to white-out
conditions on the highway. As we approached the final third
of our journey (home stretch, yay!), we eventually noticed
that traffic had become quite sparse. We could still barely
see as we peered through the white swirls in the darkness
ahead, but at least we were no longer being utterly and
frighteningly blinded by passing idiots and oncoming
traffic. Twice, the "rumble strip" at the edge of the
highway warned us that we were about to go off the road.
When we got to the next city, Brandon, we discovered the
reason for our loneliness--the RCMP had closed the
TransCanada highway in both directions! Seriously... there
was a big gate and flashing lights across the highway with a
huge "ROAD CLOSED" sign! So... here we were in a blizzard
with a temperature of -28C and windchill of -42 (those
were the actual figures according to the weather service),
and a "heavy snowfall warning in effect". No kidding!
We ended up getting one of the last two rooms in the Super 8
Motel--Nick told them we had two dogs that were really
clean and really quiet, and when the clerk looked a
bit doubtful, he told her that they hadn't said "boo" since
Regina and were better behaved than our children,
really!--we got one of those last rooms. Cassie loves the
snow and didn't want to come in, even though she was
tapdancing on alternate paws because of the cold--picture a
furry Gene Kelly. We discovered Cassie doesn't have a potty
word... every time we asked her to "go potty", Baxter would
do the honours. Eventually she complied and we praised and
rewarded her profusely. Once back in the room, Cassie
whined and barked to go back out, so we crated her and all
went to bed. Both dogs were absolute angels and we didn't
hear a peep out of them all night. Cassie loves her crate
(great job, Jennie!)
We arose at 7:30 the next morning to a bright, clear, sunny
day, only to discover that the TransCanada was still
closed! Apparently, they were still plowing and clearing
away the debris from a multitude of accidents. We checked
out of our room, hung around till 11:00 a.m., drinking
coffee, burning gas, taking very short walks (Cassie was in
heaven, silly girl), and exploring the immediate area, and
then found a backroad, secondary highway
which--amazingly--looked clear. So, we took this road
north, then found another secondary highway and drove east,
and then south back down to another town on TransCanada
where that highway had finally been opened. This detour
nearly doubled the length of the third leg of our trip, but
was worth it. Besides, we got to drive through parts of
Manitoba that we had never seen before! Both dogs were
blissfully oblivious to our challenges, relaxing contentedly
in the back.
When we got home, we were greeted by two-foot snowdrifts in
our driveway, so we parked across the lane and shovelled it
clear while the dogs continued to doze contentedly in the
car. I went into the house at that point to get warmer
pants so we could walk the dogs and was greeted by yet
another unpleasant surprise..... Our 32 gallon aquarium had
cracked during our absence, leaving less than 3 inches of
water in the tank and 16 fish hidden in the tangle of plants
lying on the bottom--including one poor angelfish who was
hunched over in a pathetic attempt to stay submerged.
Needless to say, our hardwood floor was covered with water
which had also leaked through to the subfloor, the ceiling
below, and onto the basement floor and into the carpeted rec
room. Meanwhile, we still had two dogs in the car which was
left running (now parked in our driveway) as the temperature
had by now only risen to -22C.
By 9:00 p.m., the fish were safely in a bucket (minus one
cardinal tetra, who I'm sad to say jumped out unnoticed
before we could devise a ventilated cover) with the heater
and filter (which amazingly still worked, even though they
had dried out in the crisis), the water had been mopped up,
the dogs had been fed, pottied, and otherwise attended to,
and everyone was happy... Thus ended our big adventure and a
memorable start to 2005!
Cassie is a sweetheart and she and Baxter seem to be fine
with each other. An upside of this is that they had lots of
time to get to know each other on neutral territory. We
won't take anything for granted, though... We are
implementing the NILIF program, teaching Cassie some
important commands (come, off, and go potty, for instance),
and establishing limits. It is interesting to note that
Cassie doesn't respond to commands, but Baxter does. So,
"Cassie, come!" - Baxter comes; "Cassie, in your crate!" -
Baxter goes into his crate on the other side of the room;
"Cassie, go potty!" - Baxter runs over to his bathroom and
obliges, even if he doesn't have to go. It's actually
pretty funny to watch. Cassie is a good sitter, though, and
she happily co-operates when we want to put a lead or
harness on her. She is also very affectionate with us.
Cassie is a cutie with her big doe eyes, though she is
somewhat overweight (she waddles) and is in need of a good
haircut. It looks as though she had once been clippered all
over--her dense coat is pretty much the same short length
everywhere, her ears are shaggy, and she lacks both a fall
and a beard. She seems to have warmed up to Nick and me
both right away (again, great job, Jennie!), so we are
looking forward to combing her out and bathing her. We are
also putting her on a sensible diet so she can slim down a
bit. (She was being grossly overfed in her original home.)
Cassie is a dream to walk, rarely pulling on lead, so I am
looking forward to both of us getting lots of exercise!
Nick plans on trimming her head soon so that she will have
more of a Wheaten look pending the growing out of her beard
and fall. I think she will be a beautiful dog!
It is now a month later, Cassie has settled in beautifully,
the adoption has been finalized, and life is wonderful!
Cassie has already had two baths and recently got a haircut
by Nick who managed to make her look like a Wheaten. She
has lost nearly 3 1/2 pounds so far on her vet-approved
diet and is looking quite fetching! Typical female, she has
put Baxter in his place a few times, but they get along
fine, share their toys and water bowl quite readily, and
follow each other everywhere.
We are now a two-Wheaten family and we couldn't be happier!
Thank you to WIN for allowing us to Lend a Hand!
Linda, Baxter, and Cassie
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
