BARE BEAUTY BABY
April 24, 2005 - July 24, 2015

Her death was due to congestive heart failure. She was diagnosed with it on Sept. 14, 2014 and the vets at Fayette Hospital in Washington Court House, Ohio, placed her on Lasix for the rest of her life.  She lived the same proportionate amount of time that my dad did who was diagnosed with it.

Thank God I looked online for rehoming of Elkhounds and found Dixie in Taylor, Michigan.
She is three days older than Bare and a joy in my life.

Jacqueline & Dixie

Shadow
 

Windy City's Fast and Furious
"Porsche"
10-14-04 Thru 6-17-15

Porsche was a beautiful, happy little girl. She loved life and everyone in it, she was always wagging her tail even at the end. She is gone too soon.

*******

Ch. Windy City's Along Came A Spider
"Lexus"
4-18-02 Thru 6-17-15

Lexus was a beautiful happy girl, a daughter of "Taylor, " MBIS.MBISS.AM.CAN.CH.WINDY CITY HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER, CGC. She was from a litter of two, with one brother, "Sting", Windy City's Scorpion King who died at 14 months from toxic dog food. Lexus loved to show like her daddy and moved like him. She has also gone too soon.

Both girls will forever be missed.
S. Kaplan

Max
Nov. 27, 2000- Rescued 2009 - March 26, 2015

Max died unexpectedly from a heart attack on March 26, 2015.  We lost him so fast.
Max was a wonderful addition to his older sister (13) Liz until it came to getting his ears and face washed.  A low rumble stopped that from reoccurring.  Max was so laid back even doorbells had no effect on him.  He never growled or snapped  at anyone, but you just knew he checked out everyone approaching during walks to see if they were okay.  He like walks in the park and rides in the car to get there.  Squirrels baffled him; he couldn’t find them on the ground behind any tree he saw them run past.  He never thought to look up the tree to find them watching him.  And birds were never in the air only on the ground.  He and a male deer starred at each other in the yard.  He never barked or chased the deer, it was a stalemate for 5-10 minutes. 
He was my shadow whenever I changed rooms, he joined me there and lay in his favorite spots even if it was only for a couple minutes till I finished my errand there.  He always laid outside  the bathroom door when I went inside.  He was hard to take pictures of, he always turned his head away.  But he would pose for his Santa picture every year.  I hoped he would have a few more years with us, but that was not to be.  We still expect to see him in his favorite places. 
He didn’t play unless his toys played sounds.  His favorite were plush with realistic sounds when he picked them up.  If you asked him to “make them talk” he’d gently move his jaws in the area of the noisemaker until he hit the trigger point and made it talk.
He was the sweetest boy, you’d never know he had been rescued.  When he wanted to, he’d give delicate kisses or visit with people he saw on walks, but he only picked certain people not everyone qualified.  He loved to head butt my knees when I came home.  He was so endearing when he did it, if you moved your feet farther apart he’d squeeze between  for several round trips before being satisfied. 
We will truly miss him.  He was a blessing.

K. Faloon

Reno

Reno, a male who came from a white-trash shelter in Idaho in 2000, died on Friday, August 22, 2014. He was about two
when I rescued him. I adopted him out, along with an Elkhound mix, to a wonderful man in Issaquah, WA, the fall of 2003.
He was just about the perfect dog. A real sweet guy. May he rest in peace.

--from Larry Pratt

Natasha Okhotnitsa
April 1998 - November 2012

Natasha Okhotnitsa means Natasha the huntress (in Russian which I know (I had to go with that since I don't know Norwegian)), since like all Elkies, she pretty much loved to chase anything that moved that wasn't human or canine. I got her at a pet store in Nashville, which is a dreadful place to get any dog, as I knew there was no telling if that was helping some puppy mill or not. But a friend dragged me in to look at the all the pups one day, and I saw her brother and her. I couldn't help myself and went back three or four times to see her. The brother was sold in no time, but several weeks went by, and she was still there. The staff loved her, and they told me she was not being sold/adopted because she was born with a bad hernia. They told me to make an offer, and they would even pay for the hernia repair. I made a low offer (willing to pay more than what they were asking -- she was so adorable).

They accepted, and she was mine. The vet that took care of the Elkhound I grew up with, Romeo of Cedars, spayed her and fixed the hernia. I live on five acres in the woods, and in no time, Natasha was queen of the entire wildlife area, and all neighbors knew to stop and love on her (even a few hunters that visited the Wildlife Reserve Area next to my land knew her, and a couple (when I would see them while walking her) offered to take her with them to hunt deer (which she was interested, but I always declined). And all neighbors and family members learned that Tashichka would let them know when they could stop petting her. She was buddies with a neighbor's three horses, and if she occasionally got out, that was usually where she would be hanging out.

In 2009, I discovered a giant mass in her breast area, and it turned out to be a stage 2 mast cell cancer. I was devastated, but the vet did surgery and excised a giant tumor--he was able to get out a bit beyond all the margins. It never came back; thank God. Then, glaucoma struck, but we were able to preserve her vision another couple of years--even did a radical new procedure when one eye went dark. That worked for about five months, when she went completely blind. Again, I was devastated.

But people who say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, never met a Norwegian Elkhound. She rapidly learned that "Stop" means you are about to hit your head on something dead ahead. After about five bumps on the noggin, when the word "stop" was uttered by anyone, she came to an immediate halt, until a human led her or said it's okay, Natasha. It was amazing. And I never met an Elkie that liked being picked up, and she hated it more than most. But after blindness, (my house has very high steps on one side), she very patiently allowed me to pick her up. All I had to say, was, "sorry, Tash, I have to pick you up", and she would stand up and allow me to do so. She learned the step command, and at the word "step," she would feel ahead with her paws before going ahead.

This was all after she had turned 12 years old. In Nashville's 2010 flood (I live about 500 feet from the Cumberland River, but my house is on a high hill), Water Moccasins (which I had never once come near my house) came up with the water, and did not seem to know to go back home after the waters receded. Anyway, I very nearly stepped on one, not even seeing, it, and it was a huge one. Natasha, being stone blind, jumped in front of me and managed to kill it without either of us getting bitten. I could have died before getting to the hospital (which may not even have had any antivenom on hand for that poison). I had to trade the snake corpse for a treat to take her prize away (which I might add also caused my heart to skip several beats, not being totally sure the snake was dead and utterly hating snakes myself, and she was playing with her trophy as she understood that she was still the mighty huntress).

After age 13, about the only time she barked was when someone she encountered did not pet her right away. Or when someone had something good to eat and did not know to share. At any rate, her other senses certainly took over, and the blindness just seemed to be a slight inconvenience for her. At 14 years and seven months, she went into heart failure (which I recognized as my grandmother experienced the same symptoms right before she died). My vet could not even bear to put her down and wanted to try very strong fish oil and something else. After about a week of that panting and misery, even though my heart was already broken, I knew I owed it to her to let her leave. I kept praying for her to fly away so I would not have to that, but her body was stubborn even though she was suffering so. The whole time, my golden retriever/spaniel mix, Peter (who had been together with his Tasha for 13 years) and my other rescued Elkhound, Elska, guarded her and stayed right with her the whole time, inside and outside--they would not have allowed any creature to harm her, knowing she was defenseless. They cried right along with my family and me. We were all just a big mess. My vet had taken over her care soon after the first vet spayed her (he was winding down his practice), and she was one of his very first patients--and had followed her care for all those years. He really touched my heart although I won't mention his name here. After he put her to sleep, he would not permit a staff member to carry her body to my car. He was crying and brought her, gently placing her in the trunk so I could bury her out by the woods she loved. He is an amazing vet--the same one who got all the cancer out and who fought like mad to save her vision.

I know I am rambling, but I have to say that I am Byzantine Catholic. And my church, at least in the early centuries of Christendom, did not celebrate Christmas separately, but celebrated the Nativity at the same time as the Baptism of the Lord. And this celebration was originally called "The Feast of the Recreation (translated into English)." And yes, that included the Resurrection of all of the Lord's beloved creatures, but since the word resurrection is reserved for humans, the animals being restored were referred to as being recreated. It is more of the modern (last few centuries) theologians who seem to think our pets might not have spirits or be restored. And such theologians seem to ignore the several Scriptures that imply otherwise. Anyway, if God knows "when the sparrow" falls, surely He takes time to pay attention when a Moose dog He created passes.

Anyway, I will never stop missing old Natasha until I see her again! The same goes for her old buddies Peter and Elska.

Dennis Keathley

CHARLIE O
2000 - May 30, 2013

Charlie O was one of the luckiest dogs ever. His life started in a dreadful place. Charlie (then called Buddy) was rescued by Jane, the humane investigator with Illinois Humane Society in Springfield, IL, along with several members of his canine family. Poor Buddy was in the worst shape of all the dogs. He was severly underweight, heartworm positive, had been maced by a child in one eye, and had glaucoma in the other eye which progressed to the point where that eye needed to be removed. Illinois Humane and the John Nelsen Moosedog Rescue Fund worked together to get Buddy healthy while some of his former pack members found new loving homes. Buddy and his sister Sheba were fostered by Jane and eventually Sheba found her new home.

In the meantime, Buddy's story was being followed on the elkhoundrescue.org website by a very special lady in Oregon. Cass had been looking for a house and she decided that her new house should be the perfect home for the now toally blind Buddy. Jane and her husband took Buddy to OR to meet Cass. There he became Charlie O, then and future king of his domain, sharing it with Robbie the cat and, within a year, welcoming three other rescued females, Mandy and Bella - elkhounds from OH, and Sophia, an elkhound mix from the local shelter. Bella was an extremely timid girl who Charlie coaxed out of her shell. They became soulmates and Bella was his queen. The pack was content, the kingdom knew peace, and for 5 more years Charlie and his pack helped Cass weather the ups and downs of life. Almost 6 years after arriving in his very own paradise, Charlie O departed for the rainbow bridge. He is sorely missed as he watches over his beloved family.

Thanks Jane and John for being there when he needed you.
Thank you Cass for giving him love and a wonderful life.

BULLET AND INGA
Unknown - July 2012

Bullet and Inga were two rescues lucky enough to be loved by Nancy, a remarkable lady in Philadelphia.

Nancy adopted Bullet in 2008 after he had been in at least two other homes prior to coming into JNMRF rescue. He was about 8 years old and was companion to a number of other older rescued elkhounds who were with Nancy (Buddy, Scarlet, Sheba and finally Inga). In 2011, Bullet was diagnosed with osteosarcoma and had a leg amputated. He did well after the surgery but in July of 2012, they found the cancer had spread and he was released to the Rainbow Bridge on the July 9, 2012.

Inga, a senior elkhound abandoned at a shelter in VA, arrived in rescue when she was over 11 years old, with several tumors and cysts that needed surgery. She went to Nancy and Bullet in 2010 as a forever foster. Inga was frail when she arrived, but after Bullet passed away, she gave up trying. Just 4 days later, she left to join Bullet at the Bridge.

These dogs were among many lucky elkhounds who knew total love. They got to journey to VA on vacations and walk the beaches. They loved to travel.

Thank you, Nancy, for being their special angel.

PRINCE
Unknown - July 20, 2012

A Prince of a dog who entered our home through Norwegian Elkhound Rescue in Sacramento. His quiet contentment anchored our "Pack". He helped us adopt Sheba, and also with parenting her, and "Jake"--the one she chose to add to our pack. Never one to complain, he would still let us all know when it was his special time in the early evening to get his attention.

His favorite spots are incredibly empty. He is deeply missed.

Debbie and Dan Holmstedt

BIZMARK
Born June 1, 1997 - Died March 5, 2012

Bizzy became our girl on May 14, 2008, flying from Philadelphia, PA to Spokane, WA where we met her plane and drove her back to Montana. She was two weeks shy of being 11 years old at the time. She was the third Elkhound we've adopted from JNMRF. She immediately made herself at home and began bossing Gunther, our male Elkhound. She was a petite Elkhound, but very feisty and stole our hearts.

She was a champion counter surfer, her specialty being snatching roast beef sandwiches and ginger snap cookies. Her best feat was swallowing some spicy cheesy salsa from a Corning ware pan I'd dropped on the floor. Along with the salsa she ingested a half-inch triangle of the broken pottery. We fed her 50 cotton balls dipped in chicken broth which she relished. The cotton balls enclosed the pottery and the next day all came out and all was well. She was funny, loving, sometimes aggravating, and just a joy.

In October 2011, we discovered a lump on her right hind foot. The lump was removed surgically and turned out to be a stage-two, mast-cell tumor. Sadly, the cancer had spread up her leg so could not be totally removed. We enjoyed her for five months after the surgery. She almost made it to her 15th birthday. She was just the greatest little girl ever. So, if any of you hesitate about adopting an older dog, just go for it. You will be rewarded many times over.

Audrey and Don
Kalispell, MT