These are four dogs (l to r) Cami, Tika, Leia, and Leto rescued by former MVP Susan Daffron and her husband James Byrd.

Every rescue has a story...

Cami (White Samoyed/Aussie Shepherd/Lab Mix): Cami was the cutest puppy Susan had ever seen. And as an animal shelter volunteer and employee, she'd seen a LOT of puppies. (She showed Cami to James and it was LOVE at first sight…he cuddled Cami and couldn't leave without her.) Cami was adorable and well adjusted, until she hit 4 months old. Then she became psycho weirdo dog. After three years filled with vet trips, medications, and socialization classes, Susan ran across a reference to a study indicating that thyroid imbalance can affect canine behavior. So she had the vet do a "full thyroid panel" and lo and behold Cami's problems were a lack of thyroid hormones! Now with her daily thyroid supplements, Cami is a happy, happy little hound again.

Leia  (Black Border Collie Mix): About a month after moving to Idaho, Susan started volunteering at the local animal shelter. There she met a fuzzy little black pup who wasn't healthy. The folks at the shelter said she either had kennel cough or distemper. Susan decided she didn't want that little black pup to lose her chance at a home, so she adopted Leia, and took her to the vet. The problem turned out to be kennel cough and a few antibiotics later, as you can see, Leia is a happy, healthy part of the family! NOTE: Star Wars fans will look at those ears and know just why Susan decided to name her Leia!

Tika (Golden Retriever): Her story starts off badly. Susan adopted her from the animal shelter because no one else wanted her. Tika's previous owners had found her frozen into the ice when she was only 6 weeks old (she was probably dumped after a raid on a Newport, Washington puppy mill). This older couple took her in, but brought her to the shelter when she was 5 months old because they couldn't handle her exuberant nature. Because of her unfortunate beginnings, Tika had a lot of behavior problems and wasn't likely to be adopted. So Susan took her home. Tika (aka Spaz Dog) was completely out of control and James couldn't touch her for the first 6 months they had her. After consulting with a behaviorist and vets, Susan discovered that Tika is hyperkinetic (the doggie equivalent of ADHD in kids), a situation that has been resolved through obedience classes and behavior modification training.

Leto (Great Pyrenees/Retriever mix): The big boy's story is a tale of travels. Originally, Leto was picked up as a stray in Los Angeles, California. Because he was white (sort of) the shelter called Samoyed rescue. He looks nothing like a Samoyed, but because he was SO nice, the rescue folks took him anyway. He went to foster care in Temecula, CA and then later Redding, California. Meanwhile, because of Cami's myriad behavior problems, Susan had been a member of an online Samoyed discussion list (SamFans http://www.samfans.org). The link to Leto's picture was posted and Susan saw it and fell in love with his gentle brown eyes. After much e-mail discussion and applying for adoption, the task of getting him to Idaho presented itself. Enter the Canine Underground Railroad, a network of volunteers who drive dogs to their "forever" homes. So all told, Leto went from Lancaster (LA County) shelter to Murietta, CA: 120 miles; Murietta to Redding, CA: 325 miles; Redding, CA to Vancouver, WA: 430 miles, Vancouver to Seattle, WA: 164 miles, then Seattle, WA to somewhat north of Sandpoint, Idaho 400 miles. For a grand total of 1439 miles! What a guy ;-)

The entire pack enjoys sleeping in the Logical Expressions offices (see!) and their daily run through the forest: http://www.logicalexpressions.com/hound.htm.

Here's an sample article, which also explains more about how Leto and Cami's medical problems were solved. Help Your Vet Help Your Pet.

And as you can see...they're a happy crew! And were even featured in an Office 2000 book!

Susan Daffron has a free, online Pet Magazine, called Pet Tails, where you can find lots of help with your pets. As you can tell, she has lots of experience raising wonderful dogs...who even rate their own bunk beds!<g>