By Kayla Bruch

8-month-old dog rescued from winter’s chill

Jan 8, 2015 | 4:11 PM

This week, the Prince Albert SPCA opened its arms and its facility to an eight-month-old female dog which was left stranded in the cold.

“There are a lot of stray dogs up north, but there are a lot of stray dogs across the whole province of Saskatchewan,” said Leanne Roberts with the SPCA.

Roberts said the Prince Albert SPCA received a message on Sunday from a rescue group called Saskatchewan Rescue Network. A woman in Stony Rapids had told the network that a dog showed up at her home “completely covered in icicles [and] very cold.”

“She took her in, checked with community members to make sure she didn’t belong to anyone because it’s quite common up north, you know, for there to be community dogs where everyone feeds them and stuff but they don’t technically belong to anyone,” she said.

After a few calls the dog, now named Remi, was deemed homeless. And the woman who found the dog at her doorstep couldn’t take her in.

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“She already has two dogs of her own and a lot of the houses up there aren’t very big so she knew it was in the dog’s best interest to send her somewhere else,” said Roberts.

Luckily, the SPCA had several kennels available at the time of the call and arranged to bring Remi to Prince Albert.

“There are a lot of rescue groups that work with Northern communities to help them control their pet population and to re-home pets that currently don’t have homes so it happens and we’ll help out when we have the space available,” said Roberts.

Remi’s crate arrived in Stony Rapids on Tuesday and a volunteer from Stony Rapids flew her to Prince Albert on Wednesday.

Roberts said it has taken some time for Remi to adjust to her new surroundings.

“She’s a little unsure, for dogs that come from Northern communities that are used to free roaming, being put in a kennel environment is a little bit stressful at first, but she’s only about eight or nine months old so she’ll adjust quickly,” she said.

Remi is said to have a good temperament and has been examined, vaccinated, de-wormed and spayed.

“The lady that found her said she was great with her two dogs as well as her toddler so I’m sure we’ll have no trouble finding her a home, she’s a real sweet girl,” said Roberts.

With such cold winters up north, Roberts said she isn’t sure Remi would have survived without food and shelter.

“You get so many stray dogs together and then they start fighting for food and she’s young and she’s very sweet so I don’t think that if she had to fight for every morsel and try to find somewhere warm to sleep she probably wouldn’t have lasted the winter.”

kbruch@panow.com

On Twitter: @KaylaBruch1