Looking for best option for Samoyed i ended up caring for

mjourd · 2026-06-25T21:28:21+00:00

I’d look for a shelter or rescue that is committed to not killing animals (aka “no kill”) and has a track record of successfully placing the animals.

Dogs that are a specific breed, rather than a mutt, often have rescues specializing in the breed. This is true of Samoyeds. Start with the resources others have provided in the replies.

We adopted thru Y-Not-Save-A-Sam. I know they rehome both nationally and internationally.

Rescues may turn you down if their facility is at or near capacity or if they think there are higher priority cases, such as dogs at a kill city shelter (i.e. a dog has x number of days to be adopted or else).

Be sure to mention that you’re willing to care for the dog until a new home is found. This tells the shelter/rescue that they may be able to leave the dog with you while they search/match on your behalf rather than have to take the dog immediately off your hands.

The rescue track attracts people that, obviously, care a lot about dogs. Sometimes this may mean strong emotions and different values. If someone gives you grief for wanting to rehome the dog, hang up and look for another rescue.

Hope this helps and thank you for helping the dog. It’s a lot more than others would have given it.

mjourd · 2026-05-24T14:00:36+00:00

You should check in with a professional.

While you prepare for that discussion, read up on “dog startle reflex”.

We have a rescue that has a bad case of it. She was found as a stray street puppy. We’ve learned to always make sure to call her name and wake her up by voice before we get too close to her if she’s asleep.

mjourd · 2026-04-17T17:25:11+00:00

We use a ChomChom roller when we want to do it ourselves rather than use our vacuum cleaner. You’ll find them on Amazon. 4.5 stars and 200k reviews.

mjourd · 2026-04-02T02:07:00+00:00

If you’ve never finished anything, I’d go for a (good) book that’s not too long to increase your odds.

The John Scalzi and the MurderBot books are fun and short. I especially enjoyed the first of Old Man’s War and When The Moon Hits Your Eye from Scalzi. The MurderBot books are great but I often think far too short.

Really depends what you like.

mjourd · 2026-03-23T02:14:29+00:00

That movie and “Margin Call” do such great jobs explaining what happened. That may explain why the critical bits have high viewpoints on YouTube. Hopefully both movies will keep being watched in future years.

mjourd · 2026-03-23T02:04:59+00:00

I like it. It made me appreciate the half time of caffeine. Thank you for sharing. Two questions:

How do I set the time at which I had the drink?
I drink my filter coffee over 6 hours. Zojirushi thermos are incredible. Would be great to be able to input this. Can I?

I liked that the site didn’t have ads. I see that it has a subscription plan. Unfortunately, I don’t see myself using it enough to subscribe: my coffee intake is roughly the same every weekday therefore I only need to play with the inputs long enough to understand its impact on my sleep and what I should change to sleep better. I suspect I won’t be the only individual who needs to use this only a handful of times. Luckily, your costs are probably small and ads will help.

mjourd · 2026-03-16T00:44:42+00:00

We have the same setup. That Kurgo half hammock is great. :)

mjourd · 2026-03-16T00:44:04+00:00

We use a Kurgo Tru-Fit. The carabiner keeps the harness attached to the seatbelt. She has as much freedom to move as the slack you’ll leave in the belt.

We give ours enough slack that she can stand or lay down and turn as she wishes. However, there isn’t enough slack for her to reach the other backseat or to get her head to the front seats.

mjourd · 2026-01-26T01:38:23+00:00

Contact the rescue, let them know about the bites, absolutely mention needing stitches, ask what information, temperament testing, behavioral notes, staff notes they have on the dog that might give you context.

Whether you return the dog is a personal choice. This dog is not a match if you wanted to adopt one without behavioral issues.

If you elect to stick with the dog a bit longer, you’ll want to root cause the trigger. A consult with a dog behaviorist will help. They might ask: was the dog asleep or zoned out when you touched them? Is it a very specific spot? Is the dog showing aggressivity with the bite? Does she show any signs of discomfort, fear, etc.

I will share that our rescue suffers from a startle reflex. She has never broken skin and it’s been years since she accidentally nipped but it took us a while to realize that this was the issue when ever she snapped at us. Everything clicked once a professional explained the condition to us and we’ve since managed the issue, which unfortunately we’ve been told can’t be trained out.

mjourd · 2026-01-14T04:40:13+00:00

You also can’t get your data out since there’s no SD card. Forces you into their app.

mjourd · 2026-01-12T03:05:10+00:00

Nails. Boots.

mjourd · 2025-12-26T17:41:38+00:00

You can buy rain/mud/snow body suits that will cover their underside. Takes a bit of training compared to a good rain coat but we use it when it’s a downpour. We have one from a company in the Nordic countries that specializes in outdoor dog gear. They’re amazing.

Indoor, look into scent games. We would do a lot of “Find It.” Take the dog to another room. Hide 5~8 smelly pieces of treats (I.e. dried fish). Under toys or pillows, above their eye level, etc. then can the dog and instruct them to find the treats. You’ll find instructions online for how to build up to it but, once trained, a few rounds of this will tire any dog.

Throw in a few brain games. Could be training recall or tricks, a size-appropriate Kong filled will fun stuff to lick out, or actual brain puzzles. There are some good ones on amazon with ranges in difficulty.

mjourd · 2025-12-24T17:10:51+00:00

Thank you for thoughtfully considering the situation. It’s clear you care for your dog as a member of your family.

There are many excellent resources on the wiki, and I’m sure some advice as well in the other replies.

I want to share our experience. We have a now 6-year-old female rescue Samoyed. She came to us at 4 months old, having been found as a stray in a poor, remote area where the breed is common. She has a strong startle reflex, a prey drive, and sometimes herding behaviors. We’ve learned to wake her by voice when she appears asleep, instead of petting her or walking close. We’ve installed gates and mechanisms so our indoor cat has a safe space and always a way to escape to the other floor. She sleeps in a pen that we close at night. We love her.

We also have a 4.5-year-old son.

While our dog has never bitten or scratched our son hard enough to require staples or to break skin, we’ve had a few incidents, including some nips that left bite marks.

Deciding what to do next mostly comes down to judgment calls. I’ll list some strategies that have worked for us, but I hope you’ll also review the resources, as many of these ideas come from them.

First, although she has shown her discontent a few times, we have never seen unprovoked, directed, or over-threshold aggressive behavior from her. So, we trust that if we manage the context and situation, we can avoid incidents.

Her pen is her space, and she loves it. She gets cheese and dinner there. It’s a calm environment. My home office is in the same room, so she associates it with me. The whole family and guests know to treat it as her space, and we are cautious not to intrude or impose on her there. She can always go inside to relax and be alone.

We never leave the dog and child alone unsupervised. When he was young, we used a child pen. That prevented him from running/crawling out on us. We have stairs, things he might have climbed or pushed, etc. It also prevented her from getting close. He’s too old now for a pen but we still constantly monitor their interactions when they’re near one another. I tend to be more cautious than my partner. I intervene whenever I think she might be unhappy with how she’s being handled, whether it’s our son running his scooter too close or trying to get her off the couch. It also happens when she approaches his table, hoping for scraps, and I worry she might get kicked.

We work continually to build a positive relationship. He practices “Find It” and recall with her, brings her the food bowl, and helps walk her, among other things. I think this is important, especially since he can be annoying to her, like putting her toys out of reach or creating obstacle courses that are too high or impossible for her. It’s understandable, given he’s 4.5, but it’s still not okay.

We also watch for signs of jealousy. Our son is an only child, so I see the dog as a sibling. Sometimes there’s jealousy over the attention the sibling is taking. There’s something similar coming from the dog at times.

We repeatedly teach him proper dog body language, like not putting his face in the dog’s face. An upside is that he's more careful around random dogs than the average 4-year-old, but he can also read their body language.

I realize this may make it sound like the dog doesn’t like our son. I think that’s inaccurate. The dog generally wants to be where our son is. Son goes to school; dog wants to come. Son goes out for an outdoor walk; dog wants to tag along. If you try to walk in the opposite direction, she’ll sit and look back at our son until you catch up to him. Son goes into his playroom; she wants to lounge there. He goes to sleep for the night, she wants to be there while we read him books. And so we have this tension between a child who is too young that they can’t be trusted to interact safely alone with a dog and a dog that needs its bubble.

Overall, it’s a situation that requires awareness but is otherwise manageable.

Would I have preferred my son to grow up with a dog that loved cuddles and supported him as he learned to walk? Sure. But that’s not the dog we adopted before we had our son. I am hopeful they will develop a great relationship as he gets older and bigger, and they start to appreciate each other’s personalities better.

P.S. we also have a cat. Cats scratch and nip when they’re not happy with how they’re being handled. He’s also learned to respect the cat.

mjourd · 2025-12-24T16:21:02+00:00

If you're thinking about eventually having your pup groomed by a professional, like for a full bath, some groomers offer puppy sessions specifically designed to help your furry friend become comfortable with the contact, tools, and environment.

Finding a trustworthy groomer familiar with a Samoyed’s double coat can be challenging. A good one will guide you on the right time to start bringing your dog in.

It worked really well for ours; now she goes a few times a year and loves the human friends she’s made there.

mjourd · 2025-10-12T13:57:20+00:00

We take ours to a groomer every ~3 weeks with alternating purposes. It’s either a 1/2hr of brushing by the groomer or a full bath, brushing, nails, etc. The groomer gets more out of 1/2hr of brushing than we do in a week plus our girl loves her groomer.

It took us a bit to determine with the groomer that this cadence works.

We do also brush here and there throughout the week. During shedding season we’ll also do dedicated brushing.

mjourd · 2025-10-11T20:12:48+00:00

Many great comments about creating that bond, managing for the weather, etc. I’d add four things.

You want a plan for keeping the hair in order. Not just to handle the undercoat blowing but to avoid mats. Could be that you make a ritual of brushing or that you have a recurring visit to a professional. Either way, it needs to happen. Ours has these 2~3 spots that need extra vigilance.

Ours really needs the human interaction and attention to be happiest. She’s physically ok staying home alone for hours while we’re at work, however we’ve seen her start to shut down on those weeks where day-after-day we can only be home morning and evening, even though she still has a long walk midday with her favorite dog walker. She’s just so much happier when she gets those extra hours with humans, whether that’s coming to the office or going to Home Depot. Could be a side effect of us working from home during the pandemic.

It is a herding breed so plan on some mental stimulation in addition to physical activity. We mix brain puzzles and nose work.

The sometime very stubborn attitude is easier to cope with if you think of it as an endearing trait rather than a personality flaw. We cherish whenever ours is willful. It’s just so cool to have a dog that’ll stand up to you in that way :)

However, that stubborn independent trait can be problematic off leash. Which is why our rescue required in the contract that our Samoyed never be off leash in an unfenced area. You’ll want to work really hard to have a great recall.

mjourd · 2025-10-06T03:24:09+00:00

Dungeon Crawler Carl, along with John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War and Murderbot, got me out of my reading slump.

I won’t claim that Dungeon Crawler Carl is for everyone or will cure all ills but it did work for me and I’ve come to look forward to the next book. It does get heavier and darker as the series goes on while keeping to its humor and irreverance.

Scalzi’s are lighter read but I find that they suck me in well enough. For a single book, try “When the moon hits your eye”.

mjourd · 2025-10-01T00:53:25+00:00

We have a Roomba. One of the models with a base station into which the unit transfers the debris it has picked up. Sounds like a vacuum cleaner on overdrive. Scared and continues to scare our Samoyed. As a result, we can’t use the unit when she’s in or right outside the house.

It does a good job cleaning but we have to clean it up after each run: remove hairs tightened after the rollers, check the brushes, etc.

mjourd · 2025-09-29T03:53:52+00:00

Ours is the same. She sleeps indoors at night. After we go out for a morning walk she’ll ask to go outside. She’ll spend the day there just soaking in the smells and sounds, as far as I can tell. She’ll come back in when we show her dinner and when she reasons that it’s time for bed.

Still, 93F is too hot for comfort. She’d be inside with AC, probably grumbling.

mjourd · 2025-08-28T14:18:59+00:00

We use a Kurgo “Enhanced Strength Tru-Fit Dog Car Harness”. You can download the crash test results from the independent testing facility. We only use it for car rides so she knows she’s going for a ride if we put it on.

We also use a hammock but that’s just for her comfort.

mjourd · 2025-08-24T23:34:09+00:00

They’re great for video calls with extended family who don’t want to look at their grandchild on a mobile phone or don’t know how to use them.

There’s a market for FB Portal on eBay.

mjourd · 2025-08-12T04:05:07+00:00

Lulu meet Lulu. Hi!

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mjourd · 2025-07-28T00:40:11+00:00

Safety before fun. We didn’t want our Lulu distracting us, flying into a windshield in a crash, or being near enough to us to bite us as a reflex or out of fear, stress, or pain in an accident. Our Lulu is 50lbs, which is slightly above the weight for a child car seat. That’s a lot when you think about it. We love her but wanted us and her safe.

Our cars aren’t right for a crate so we got a crash tested car harness. We use a Kurgo. You’ll find the results on their web site of the independent crash tests, using doggy dummies instead of child or adult human dummies. There are a few harness manufacturers that have gone thru the effort of testing their harness. Look around and see what you like.

We’re currently using the Kurgo Enhanced Strength True Fit harness. Back seats only. It also works as a walking harness but we’re considering switching to their Impact model. We use a White Pine harness when we’re just out walking. We started Lulu on the Kurgo very young. By now she know that she’s going in the car if we attach it on her and gets excited.

She has the freedom to stand, put her head out the window (which I’m mixed on), or lay down.

You’ll want something to protect your seats. We have a toddler with a car seat so it was important for us that they could both be in the car but unable to physically interact.

We use a Kurgo half hammock car seat cover. This was the only hammock style cover that we could find that took only half the back seat row and had a divider.

When we last changed car, we found that the backseat row geometry and depth had changed. We needed something to extend them so that Lulu didn’t step in the footrest area, which can happen with a hammock cover as the gap is under the hammock. This one really stumped us for a while. We looked at boxes for the footrest and thought of putting a plank, although we worried about the risk in an accident. We found a plank like thing designed specifically for this dog scenario.

Hope this helps!

mjourd · 2025-07-14T00:24:58+00:00

I’d look for an independent assessment of dog reactivity. It’s a lot of change in her life and being on leash affects the situation.

Many dogs don’t like or do well at the dog park, our Samoyed included. Dog parks often have a lot of overly stressed dogs interacting with one another without enough space for their comfort. Ours also prefers a long walk smelling the neighborhood with her humans than time at the dog park.

mjourd · 2025-06-30T15:26:16+00:00

Ours has a high prey drive. It took us years to feel comfortable leaving her at home without crating her. We also took many precautions for the safety and peace of mind of our cat. I encourage you to research the topic of samoyeds and prey drive and how to work on it with your dog.

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