This chow-cross stray, was picked up by the SPCA where her fate was questionable. Luckily, she had a guardian angle watching her. A benevolent chow chow volunteer, saw a sweet but scared little dog at her local shelter. With Merlin’s Hope behind her, Madison was sprung and given a brighter future. First we treated her scaly skin, cleaned her up and put some much needed weight on her thin body. She flourished inside and out. Happy and healthy, Madison was ready to find her forever home.
Her sweet spirit and big round eyes won the hearts of many, including a wonderful family in the USA. Mom didn’t hesitate to drive over seven hours to meet her new family member. After another long seven hours home, a huge warm welcome was waiting for their safe arrival. They wrote, “We are now complete having her as part of the family”

Madison, we couldn’t be happier for you and your forever-HOME

Happy Adoption Day

Lucy, formerly named Jovah, was a stray picked up by the SPCA in New York. Like many shelter chows, she was deemed “rescue only” – likely because of her medical needs and challenging behavior.

Our first concern was vetting for Lucy’s painful-looking eye infections and entropion issues. We wasted no time getting her to the vet for eye meds and scheduling an appointment for eye surgery.

It was also quickly apparent that at six months old, Lucy was an overly confident chow in desperate need of boundaries and training. Within her first week at her foster mom’s, she quickly learned some important doggy manners including how to walk respectfully on a leash.

Lucy’s next weeks included her entropion surgery, follow-up vet visits, and more lessons in canine etiquette. Lucy’s dedicated foster mom had begun to see that her basic training was getting easier and Lucy was beginning to flourish.

Once her eyes had healed, the sweet-but-challenging Lucy was ready for adoption. Merlin’s Hope knew that a special family would be required to manage her spirit. Luckily for Lucy, the right family had already fallen in love with her. They had completed our adoption process while tracking Lucy’s medical and behavioural progress.  The family had been waiting patiently for their baby to come home!

Lucy’s exactly where she’s supposed to be and we couldn’t be happier for little Lucy!
Congratulations to Lucy and her new family.

Like most chows, Sheena failed the shelter test with flying colors. So much so, they had deemed her aggressive and unadoptable, and had rescue not stepped up, she would have been euthanized.

Sheena’s photo was spotted on Facebook by a devoted chow volunteer. What she saw was a scared little female with pleading eyes and a missing tail, hovering in the corner of her cage. Sheena was first pulled by CCRCNY and then Merlin’s Hope offered to help and Sheena was transferred to our rescue in Canada.

Sheena’s path followed the same trajectory as all our dogs: intake at one of our regular fosters for a period that allows us to get to know and work with the dog. After a few weeks in Toronto, we knew enough about Sheena to send her on to her permanent foster in Ottawa. In that home, her foster parents and two furry fosters chow siblings took on the task of working on Sheena’s somewhat lacking social skills. She must have felt very lucky when she was able to get some good training and settle in to a routine.

Surely Sheena must have thought she had struck gold and her good luck continued — her forever home turned out to be just around the corner! Sheena won the hearts of one of our previous adopters who had recently lost their chow. In her new home, she will be spoiled with love and affection all day long and I bet she will be doing her happy spin dance often! They even find her bunny tail adorable. Sheena, now Sheen-waz, is truly in doggy heaven on earth!

Congratulations to Richard & Victor for making Sheen-Waz a part of their family.

Miss Daisy has gone through a lot in her lifetime. At the age of 8 and with numerous health problems, instead of being in a loving home with someone taking care of her, she was sitting in a shelter.

Daisy was rescued and immediately taken to the vet. Thyroid & allergy issues were discovered and immediately addressed with daily medication. Her blood-work also showed possible early renal insufficiency, so we realized finding a fur-ever home for her might be difficult. But then along came Foster Mom Inez – a devoted Pei-fan – who was willing to keep Daisy as long as necessary until that forever home came calling.

BUT here is the happy ending…it turns out that Daisy WAS home.  She had wormed her way into her foster mom’s heart and she will never leave. Happy Adoption Day, Daisy!

D.J ended up in a rural shelter near the Laurentians, and without rescue his time was up, and he would have been put to sleep. We went directly to the vet upon arrival and after a few weeks of medical treatment for his badly ulcerated eye , he was able to have eye surgery (entropien) and  now his eye is  100% healed. Although he is vision impaired in the one eye, meaning virtually blind, you would never know it..DJ was a dynamo…

D.J.’s new mom saw beyond his handicap and fell in love with this this sweet goofball.  His happy ending makes us all smile knowing how close he was to leaving this earth

DJ, has 2 new brothers..Leo and Moosey, and of course a wonderful Mommy

Happy Adoption Day D.J.

Dee Dee is home!

After Dee Dee’s owner died, her adventure began with a brief stay in a shelter in Wisconsin where she was so frightened that she wouldn’t move and shelter workers carried her around – luckily she is only 11kgs/24lbs! Dee Dee also refused to eat for several days and still needs to gain a few pounds. An independent rescuer was alerted to little Dee Dee’s plight and provided a home and some much needed TLC for 5 weeks until she was transferred to Merlin’s Hope and moved to Ontario.

In just three short weeks, our pretty teacup grizzly girl has found a great home in the GTA! She has a young mom, dad, Shar Pei sister, and 2 cats to play with and we hear she is settling in nicely. The family understands that Dee Dee will require some patience and training, and they look forward to taking both dogs to school and having many happy years together

Maxwell a.k.a. Big Mac arrived in rescue through no fault of his own, he was an owner surrender.  When his owner got sick, no one in the family could or would take him in.

He was taken to a shelter, and was labeled “rescue only”….this means he was not available to be seen by the general public, therefore no chance of adoption.

Although a little on the plump side, and with the face of “grumpy old man” at times, Max’s new family fell instantly in love with him when they saw him listed .

We know that Max has hit the jackpot, he will be loved and spoiled,  and this will be his fur-ever home, no matter what the future holds.

Congratulations for Constance and Les, on their new addition to the family

HAPPY ADOPTION DAY LEO
Leo didn’t have the best start in life; Double cherry eye and severe entropion in both eyes, basically made him blind. If that was not bad enough, he was then abandoned at the end of the road at an SPCA. But life is now GRAND for little Leo, with his eye surgeries complete, he has 100 vision in one eye and partial vision in the other. Despite his handicap, his new Mom and Dad love him unconditionally… and if you look back further in our happy endings, you will see that this wonderful family adopted Carlie just a few short months ago. Thank you so much for giving Leo the home he deserves!

This beautiful girl was found on the side of the road in Sherbrooke , Quebec… turned into the SCPA… and no one came looking for her! Bella as like most shar-pei and chows and did not do well in the shelter environment; she was deemed un-adoptable due to her temperament.

Bella required extensive eye surgery for both entropion and cherry eye and once her eyes were better, she was a different dog – happy & friendly! This beauty didn’t stay with us for long; she captured the hearts of many, but one lucky couple proved to be the perfect home!

..Happy Adoption Day Bella ..

HAPPY ADOPTION DAY
This is almost a Cinderella story, but instead of a handsome Prince a Fur-ever Family came along. 3rd time is a charm for this Princess: after 2 previous adoptions and being returned to the rescue (through no fault of her own) and after ONE year in foster care waiting for that perfect home to come along, Carlie’s dream came true.

Despite needing monthly medication and a special diet, her new family was able to  look beyond all that and see what Carlie has to offer. Look at this beautiful picture of Carlie with her new mom and her new big sister, Autumn.

Congratulations to Carlie and her New Family …