Tristan came into rescue during the summer, a 98 lb. weakling. He had been picked up as a stray in Superior, WI and foundered in the humane society until his time was drawing close. One of the shelter workers there loved him so much because of his special sweetness, she searched for a samoyed rescue who might take him. In his foster home he immediately fell into step with everyone; just happy to veg out. No wonder - with all that weight to carry around! While in foster care he lost 10 lbs. and his new adoptive home has kept up his weight loss regime. He also had a lot of saliva stains when he came into rescue. Poor boy, he was probably bored to tears in a previous life and simply fed too much. Over time and with renewed activity, he has no need to obsessively lick his pasterns.

He is as sweet as can be but as his weight has continued to drop, thankfully his activity level rises. Siegfriend, the shepherd and Tristan play non-stop now, and have helped each other shed the extra pounds. In his new home, he had to learn that rabbits are part of a pack, and his new mom has explained below, how it went integrating a new dog with houserabbits.

How Tristan (alias "Tris", "White Dog", "Smiley Face") fit in with the rest of the crowd...........Within a minute of Tristan setting his feet on the ground at our place, Siegfried declared that he was alpha dog. After that they got along splendidly. Tris wasn't up to as much playing as Sieg was, in fact, he was a bit grumpy, but it was a big change for him - new home, new people, new place, and too much weight.

We took him for a walk around the place (on a leash) and he completely ignored the cats - all of 'em - didn't even acknowledge their presence. However, when we neared the rabbits, he couldn't stop staring - in fact, we had to pull him away. He'd just stand there (or lay down when he got tired) and stare. No barking, no tail wagging, nothing, just staring.

For safety's sake we decided to block off the kitchen area (where the rabbits live), however, it took a good month or more for him to stop staring at the rabbits. We did try to introduce him to the rabbits on a one-on-one basis, but he nipped at them and tried pulling at their fur - this was not acceptable. We're still not sure if he's just curious or if he's thinking it's dinner. So, when they come out, he's crated. It's been several months now and he doesn't stare at them anymore, in fact, he ignores them. We have not tried to have him out when they're out. He seems content to sit in his crate - he doesn't even watch them hop around, even though he could. In fact, they hop up around his crate and he barely gives them a passing glance or lifts his head. He's great with the cats too.