Olsen, the Samoyed Rescue Poster Boy
Other Breed
Rescue Groups:
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by Danielle Buchheister |
photo courtesy of Danielle Buchheister |
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A little over three years ago I sold a puppy to Jeanne Johnson. Two and a half years ago I got a computer and she introduced me to the term "rescue" We became thick as thieves and full time rescue people. This caused me to drive the 35+ miles to her house so we could go to events together since her vehicles have always been 100% reliable.....unlike my old bombs. On the way to Jeanne's house I pass a rambling brick rancher with a perfectly manicured lawn. On the left side of the lawn is a little tree, don't know what kind it is but do know it's taking forever for it to grow up. There are little flowers planted around this tree very neatly. Two years ago something funny happened to the little tree and flowers.....a beagle or terrier plywood dog butt appeared. It made me laugh every time I drove by it and each time I arrived at Jeanne's I would tell her about it. It wasn't until recently that she herself saw this inspiration. I make my living building underwater turbines out of fiberglass and other materials. It can get pretty boring doing the same thing every day so I decided to try to make a Sammy dog butt to bring to the Nationals since they were being held locally this year. I had no idea if it was going to be successful nor did I really know how to start the process but I had a "vision" and began to make it a reality. We have a 2 part foam mixture so I mixed some and filled a box.....that was the body. I also poured a bunch in big ploppers on the floor, 2 for legs and one for a tail. Using a handsaw I started carving the pieces. Tim, my coworker, saw my drawing but not the vision so all he did was give me weird looks until I put the pieces together gluing them with foam. I continued the carving process with a few sanders and smaller saws. The foam was not forgiving if I went too far so I added Bondo to the melee as a filler and smoother-outter! It didn't take long to get a life sized dog butt!! The next hurdle was the "illusion" of hair. The tail was easy but my first try brought too many indentations causing a mess so the extras were filled with Bondo and sanded smooth. I tried to carve hair into the body but that, too, was a flop.....I didn't like the way it looked. Poor Digger just sat there for a couple weeks while I tried to think up a plan. Finally, the obvious came to be, we have a fiberglass fabric that is thin and easy to mold around stuff, if not sanded it has a texture of it's own that is sort of hairlike. I decided this was close enough and gave it a try and it was perfect!! This was working out much better than I anticipated and when it was finished it looked really cool except that it was still gross looking fiberglass green. Tim is the paint expert so when he mixed some white paint for something we were working on he made a little extra for Digger and sprayed him at that time. We were afraid to paint it on with brushes because we might lose some of the texture, unfortunately spraying was inadequate. I brushed the paint on Digger the next day and it was perfect, the texture was still there but softer, no sharp edges to prick your hands when picking him up. We managed not to attract too many bugs into the paint and 24 hours later Digger was ready for display. I took him home and took all kinds of pictures all over my yard and had my neighbors scared because they thought one of my dogs was loose!! The reaction Digger brought was one of laughter.....exactly.....what I was looking for!! We all know Digger was a huge hit at the National, he made people laugh whenever they saw him, I'm glad since that was the purpose intended. The other purpose of course was that of a fund raiser for ALL rescue groups which I hope was successful. Last week I started Digger 2 and Little Digger (puppy size) and I have plans to do a desktop Digger as well. I have located a company locally that specializes in making molds for this sort of thing so will be in contact with them very soon in hopes to be able to make more Diggers....maybe even other breeds....we'll see....... I have changed the tail set on the new Diggers, the original will stay original and one of a kind. 
Photo Courtesy of Scott Vail Rescue Contact Information United States: visit http://www.samoyed.org/rescue_org.html or email samrescue@samfans.org with the area in which you live. Canada: visit http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/Farm/2419/stories.htm or email samrescue@samfans.org with the area in which you live. All Other Countries: email samrescue@samfans.org with the area and country in which you live. Visit our online list
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