Our 2025 Christmas letter

Hello everyone-

As in previous years, the days have flown by. 

We still have Chief, Timber, Buddy, Wolf and Trooper sanctuaried with us. Trooper and Buddy have such serious special needs they have taken up the majority of our time and energy.

*TROOPER*

I finally figured out (after many Vet tests that were inconclusive) and trying MANY different things(everything from medicated shampoos - to what we washed our clothes in) that our Trooper is allergic to DOG FOOD! If he even finds a piece of dog food that one of the others left on the floor, we can expect him to have a night of chewing, scratching and misery. He appears to be allergic to so much. It took months of trying various things to find something he was NOT allergic to. After months of expensive Apoquel and Prednisone, I have him weaned off of them and we are using a small dose of Zyrtec twice daily. II

We tried expensive prescription diet dog foods but those did not work and I now make a home made dog food. It consists of rice, home roasted turkey, pumpkin, coconut oil, expensive pumpkin based vitamin and probiotics. I make small batches and freeze them. Thankfully we have a rice cooker(my fav appliance ever!) and a large crock pot that we can cook a whole turkey in. Finding turkeys in the ‘off season’ has proven to be difficult and expensive! This year my sister- in-law gave us a used, small freezer that we filled up with 5 turkeys this Thanksgiving (while they were on sale). We have used about one a month. 

Trooper still has regurgitation issues and we have to keep him pretty quiet after he eats. I can tell that the good probiotics really help him digest the food, as well as feeding him small portions over about 30 minutes so he does not just gobble it down. He is such a sweet funny boy.

He still needs medicated baths at least every 10 days(even in the winter) or he gets the itchy bumps again and will start pulling his fur out. Now that he can stand to be touched, he absolutely LOVES to be petted and loved on!

 This is just a teeny bit of his issues and problems, but I just wanted everyone to know how busy one small, special needs dog can keep someone.

*Buddy*

Our Buddy is now what we consider in ‘hospice’. We rescued him over three years ago. Even then he was a grumpy senior and blind and deaf. I really did not expect him to live more than six months. But he has loved life! He has slept most of his days away. Eaten like a little king and gets carried outside for walks several times a day. He must weigh 25-30 lbs (which has really put a hurting on my back. I have Sciatica now and it runs from my lower back, down my right leg). Buddy hates baths, grooming, nail trims and does not care to be held or cuddled. He just likes to be left alone to do his thing and EAT. He will sure let you know when he wants to be fed!! He won’t eat dog food anymore. So at this stage, he gets his favs which are hot dogs, chicken, venison and beef. He won’t take a vitamin or pill and can no longer eat on his own. So I chop everything up in teeny pieces and get on the floor with him and feed him by hand two to three times a day. Buddy has Dementia and forgets that he is eating, and will wander off, only to start barking a few minutes later. Many times he gets his days and nights confused and has started barking more and wandering at night. Three months ago, he stopped eating and was more confused than ever. I told Ronnie, that I thought his time was getting close. Well, Buddy might be deaf, but he must have picked up on what we were thinking, as he perked up and started eating and acting more spritely! As if to tell us, he was NOT READY YET!  He has absolutely the most beautiful coat and healthiest skin. After dealing with poor Trooper’s problems, I can really appreciate that!

*Timber*

Our Timber, (the heartworm positive rescue that was supposed to be Pom mix but that was really a Border Collie/Corgi mix -the ‘you never know what you are going to get’ dog) is doing amazing! She would go crazy over anything that had a motor, engine, cord, or made a movement or noise. Now she doesn’t go nearly as crazy and I was even able to beat the sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving this year with a mixer and she didn’t bite the cord or attack the mixer! That is what I call PROGRESS! She is presently our only female dog. She absolutely LOVES Ronnie and he rarely takes a step without her right at his heels.  She is so beautiful and has made me feel now that Border Collies are too tall and lanky and Corgis are too low to the ground and need full bushy tails! When she first came, I kept thinking she looked like she needed to be either taller like the BCs or shorter like the Corgis. Now I think she is just RIGHT!

*Wolf

Wolf is still Wolf. Always in to mischief. Always the one to get everyone barking and still trying to dart out the door to be the first to greet company. One day last summer, he found a gap under the big gate in the yard that we rarely use. I was in the back yard WITH the dogs when I noticed two ladies walking up the road with a little, white, fluffy dog beside them. It dawned on me that it looked a lot like Wolf. I started yelling for Wolf and realized he was not in the back yard fence with us. Ronnie was in the driveway and I yelled at him to check to see if the fluffy dog walking up the road was Wolf. He started running up there and sure enough, it was WOLF! Wolf had decided to scoot under the gate and go make some new friends! Needless to say the gate got a fix and that has not happened again. Wolf still thinks he is a 150 lb real Wolf and who are we to tell him any different?

*Chief

Last but not least is Chief. After losing Guardian, Angel and Gabrielle in the last few years, he fills that German Shepherd shaped hole in my heart. He has never slept outside but always slept on the bed. Never missed a meal or gone hungry. Never been beaten or neglected. In other words, our boy is living the life we wished all animals in the world could live.

If you made it this far, thank you. I now have the attention span of a gnat, so it has become more difficult to read, much less write anything anymore. 

Thank you to everyone who has supported us, been our friends and family, donated, served on our board, fostered and adopted our dogs and helped us through out the last 20+ years.

We truly do appreciate everything!

Our prayers are that you and yours will be blessed and loved this year. And that we will be kind and good to one another and all God’s creatures. May our hearts always be soft and our hands always be busy with doing good. 

Big hugs to everyone and have a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a Blessed New Year-

Elaine,

Ronnie

and all the pups of PomRescue.com