Watching Sammy transform was so rewarding. His coat started to transform from a matted dull, red mess to a real Berner coat, he gained 15 pounds, smiled all the time, tail never stopped, but what I found most unbelievable was his eyes were full of life again, bright and shiny.

Sammy now lives in Santa Cruz CA. with his new family Stacey, Brian and son Patrick. It took a lot to turn Sammy into Nico, but just look at that happy face!

The support of the whole Berner community was wonderful. We kept several lists informed on the progress of these 2, and after Oliver's death, we receive a ton of moral support. We also received donations from several and offers to buy the rescue shirts from others. (We still have a ton of shirts available, great for holiday gifts!)

We also fostered Apollo for a few days and placed him within about a mile of his old home. They actually met while on a walk and Apollo showed fear of his old owner and cowered down when petted. Apollo's new owner could not miss the reaction and told him that Apollo was his dog now and stay away. Apollo had several issues of fear aggression and submissive peeing. Both have never once been seen at has new home.

We also assisted placing Oliver, Max and Lily. We did not foster these dogs, but served as the intermediary because the dogs had no major issues. Lily was an assist to a breeder that had her returned because she was shy. As it turned out, we placed Lily and Max together, both kinda shy and are doing great together. In fact Lily's breeder and the Erickson's are now fast friends and are in constant contact.

October so far has been very busy with contact of 5 dogs, plus another up to 26 from and Amish breeder. I contacted BARC about the Amish "breeder" that was getting rid of his Berners. the status on those is still undetermined as I writes this. The other 5, one is a breeder assist, one is a placement on a dog that we placed last year, Kismet, Layla and Jacob are fosters that we are working with.

Kismet is a very shy girl of 4 years. We have finished evaluating her and she needs a quiet home without a lot of visitors, and she will do great. It was a concern of her old home that she would never adjust to a new home. She loves it here and we think she will do fine in the right home. We are working with the breeders support on placing Kismet. Kismit's new favorite spot in the middle of our bed with her head on the pillows!

Layla is almost 2 and has no real major issue. Just a little shy at first with new people, big surprise for a Berner. She is an unruly adolescent that the owners did not take the time to train her. Now that she is big and bouncy, she is too much for them. The owner told me she is more of a small dog person and prefers her Lhasa Apso.

Jacob, we were just contacted about last night (10/19). He is reportedly huge for a Berner at 160 pounds! He is almost 4 and still intact. They also have not trained him and is chained outside when they are not home and will escape a 5 foot fence. Supposedly he gets along with other dogs and loves kids. We will be getting him next week for evaluation. Layla will be going to her new home this Sunday.

Bruce and Linda Whiteside, Rescue/Re-Homing Committee

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