From puppy mill to paradise

Lake Oswego’s Leslie and Doug Pope give American Eskimo puppies a perfect romping spot in there backyard dog park while waiting to find them a home

By Cliff Newell

The Lake Oswego Review, Jul 16, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

VERN UYETAKE / lake oswego review

From left, Ramsey, Radnor, Ventura and Tulsa happily race up the stairs to Leslie Pope’s backyard dog park.

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Paradise should be as good as Pope’s Paws Park on “Esky Day.”

Five rescued dogs, including four American Eskimo Puppies, simply couldn’t stop romping around in the backyard of Doug and Leslie Pope on Iron Mountain Boulevard.

Appropriately, there is a sign hanging on a tree that says “Pope’s Paws Park,” because Leslie Pope has made sure it has every dog amenity possible. Even a fire hydrant.

But what the puppies liked most of all was simply all the space; the room to run, run, run.

Take Ben, for instance, who kept racing around and around in a circle.

“There goes Ben!” said Krystyna Schmidt of Oregon Dog Rescue. “He’s race-carring!”

The Pope’s pool was even welcome to dog swimmers, and the bold Ben decided to take a brief dip to cool off after all of his running around.

One puppy even took a lick of wine from Schmidt’s glass as she was looking in another direction.

It was about as happy a scene as could be imagined. Just as joyful as the dogs were the volunteers for ODR, who made Esky Day possible. Founded two years ago by Schmidt and Debbie Bowen, ODR pulls out all stops when it comes to rescuing dogs and finding them new homes.

“This could not have happened three weeks ago,” said Nancy Truax, the ODR’s director of public affairs. “These dogs have come a long way.”

“Now they’re learning to be real dogs,” Bowen said.

Seeing how happy these puppies are on Esky Day, it strains belief to hear what shape they were in not long ago.

“Two weeks ago we had to give them eight baths,” Bowen said. “Most of them were yellow or brown and their fur was matted. When we first got them we couldn’t even touch them. If we tried, they would scatter.

“They huddled in a pile and seemed to beg, ‘Don’t kill us.’ “

One of the Eskies has puncture wounds on its sides from being kept inside a tiny crate. Radnor, the “baby” of the bunch, still bears injuries from a dogfight.

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