Autumn 07-180

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Sponsored by: Susan S-C.

********************

Debra S. and Gerald N. 

 

 

We are pleased to introduce Autumn, an absolute jewel and survivor of the Bismarck puppy mill.  She is living proof that so much beauty can come from such deplorable conditions.  Even while scared, confused, and sitting in a dirty crate in a strange parking lot awaiting medical  attention, Autumn still managed a smile and a happy wag of the tail for her new foster mom.  Autumn arrived at her foster home in seriously rough physical condition.  Her body is covered with scabs, wounds, and open sores.  Her coat was matted with material we'd rather not think about.  Her enlarged nipples tell of a litter of pups in the recent past.  A chain collar had grown embedded into her neck.  It was removed,  but left behind an ugly throat wound and abscess about the size of a superball.  Most of the inside of one ear is covered by a large fresh scab.  And she has a large fresh wound under her left elbow.

Despite all this, Autumn continues to amaze us.  I doubt that anyone would have blamed her for shutting down and hating humans because of her  ordeal in the past.  Quite the opposite, she can best be described as a ball of love in a fur coat.  The very next morning after coming to her new home, she simply couldn't get enough love.  She follows her humans around like we have always been there for her.  She rolled over  for us (on her own!) and received her first-ever tummy rub.  Rather than cowering and retreating from us, as we would have expected a puppy mill rescue, Autumn breaks into a huge smile and comes running when she sees us.  She loves to be hugged, and in fact has started jumping on us to get them (so she is now petted only with all 4 feet on the ground!)  This is simply astounding for a dog that has known only fear and uncertainty for her whole life.  Her forever home will need to provide her obedience training as she is a counter-surfer and jumps up on people.  Due to her inexperience with house life, she is also not housetrained.  We hope to get this resolved very soon!

Her social skills are quite remarkable.  She instantly bonded with our resident dogs, and has befriended our 8-month-old pup, who is roughly the same size. They are inseparable. She was bathed and tolerated it very well.  A thorough bath left a river of brown sludge running down our drain, and a stunning champagne-colored girl standing smiling in the tub.

Autumn will need some attention from a vet before she is ready to join her new forever family so at this time she is not available for adoption.  She is taking antibiotics to control  infection in her wounds.  Her large throat wound prevents her from wearing a collar, so she instead wears a body harness.  She needs a  thorough checkup and a full course of immunizations.  And she will need to be spayed.  These, however, are all superficial things that can be fixed over time.  Her golden soul is intact, and she will make an incredible addition to someone's lucky household.

 

At a Glance #07-180

Golden Retriever Born: September 2005
Female Weight not specified

Status: Adopted

Profile

Sponsored by: Susan S-C.

********************

Debra S. and Gerald N. 

 

 

We are pleased to introduce Autumn, an absolute jewel and survivor of the Bismarck puppy mill.  She is living proof that so much beauty can come from such deplorable conditions.  Even while scared, confused, and sitting in a dirty crate in a strange parking lot awaiting medical  attention, Autumn still managed a smile and a happy wag of the tail for her new foster mom.  Autumn arrived at her foster home in seriously rough physical condition.  Her body is covered with scabs, wounds, and open sores.  Her coat was matted with material we'd rather not think about.  Her enlarged nipples tell of a litter of pups in the recent past.  A chain collar had grown embedded into her neck.  It was removed,  but left behind an ugly throat wound and abscess about the size of a superball.  Most of the inside of one ear is covered by a large fresh scab.  And she has a large fresh wound under her left elbow.

Despite all this, Autumn continues to amaze us.  I doubt that anyone would have blamed her for shutting down and hating humans because of her  ordeal in the past.  Quite the opposite, she can best be described as a ball of love in a fur coat.  The very next morning after coming to her new home, she simply couldn't get enough love.  She follows her humans around like we have always been there for her.  She rolled over  for us (on her own!) and received her first-ever tummy rub.  Rather than cowering and retreating from us, as we would have expected a puppy mill rescue, Autumn breaks into a huge smile and comes running when she sees us.  She loves to be hugged, and in fact has started jumping on us to get them (so she is now petted only with all 4 feet on the ground!)  This is simply astounding for a dog that has known only fear and uncertainty for her whole life.  Her forever home will need to provide her obedience training as she is a counter-surfer and jumps up on people.  Due to her inexperience with house life, she is also not housetrained.  We hope to get this resolved very soon!

Her social skills are quite remarkable.  She instantly bonded with our resident dogs, and has befriended our 8-month-old pup, who is roughly the same size. They are inseparable. She was bathed and tolerated it very well.  A thorough bath left a river of brown sludge running down our drain, and a stunning champagne-colored girl standing smiling in the tub.

Autumn will need some attention from a vet before she is ready to join her new forever family so at this time she is not available for adoption.  She is taking antibiotics to control  infection in her wounds.  Her large throat wound prevents her from wearing a collar, so she instead wears a body harness.  She needs a  thorough checkup and a full course of immunizations.  And she will need to be spayed.  These, however, are all superficial things that can be fixed over time.  Her golden soul is intact, and she will make an incredible addition to someone's lucky household.

 

Updates

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Well, it happened. Somewhere between bringing home a scared, dirty little ball of matted fuzz, somewhere between nursing her back to health, somewhere between treating open wounds and gently brushing away scabs, somewhere between laying awake on the floor all night next to a bleeding throat wound, somewhere between teaching her the true meaning of life and love as a special dog... Autumn stole our hearts. Autumn has completed her course of immunizations, received the official stamp of approval from her vet, and her paperwork has been submitted. She has now officially found her forever home. A huge thanks goes out to Autumn's sponsors Susan, Debra, and Gerald; to the staff at All Paws Animal Hospital, and to all the RAGOM volunteers that helped make Autumn's dreams come true. Autumn, welcome home.

 

A note from Autumn:

Dear everyone,

I love my new home, my Mom and Dad, and Sierra and Stetson. I'm so happy I didn't have to leave! For all you RAGOM volunteers come see me tomorrow at the volunteer picnic. I got a big girl collar and my neck is healed enough to wear it! I was hoping to show it off. (It's from my grandma!  Sometimes she even sends my brother and sister and I stuff from Dr. Foster and Smith! WOW!)  You can finally meet me and pet my shiny, healthy coat now too! I hope some of my ND PM brothers and sisters are there. I will also be at the RAGOM picnic in September for everyone if anyone else wants to meet me. Thanks to volunteer Christi T. for my new dog pool. I LOVE water and went in it today for the first time. I even stuck my whole head in the water. Then my sister Sierra dug a big hole and we rolled in it and got all muddy. Dad was putting on a new back door so he didn't even notice until it was too late, ha ha :) Then we had to get baths so tomorrow I will be pretty for the picnic. Baths aren't bad though because after bathtime we all get frosty paws dog ice cream! YUM. Thanks everyone for helping me on my journey from ND to MN and into my golden life. I couldn't have done it without RAGOM.

Love,

Autumn XO

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Hi everybody Autumn here. Last night Mom and Dad brought home another golden! Can you believe it? I have another playmate. She is also from a puppy mill and RAGOM told me it is my job to help her come out of her shell. WOW! Can you believe I am important enough now to have a job! I never had anyone until RAGOM. I love RAGOM! I am treated really special now in my new life. My new foster sister’s name is Lily (02-260). I gave her some kisses and brought her a toy last night. She liked that. She also likes my other sister Sierra and my brother Stetson. Well more about ME now since this is MY update.

I am finally settling in here really nice and since Dad is napping by Lily (02-260) I snuck in the den and am writing an update about me in case you were wondering about me. My neck is healing rather well. This morning I chewed my Mom’s shoelaces off. They smelled really good like all the doggies she was helping last night. Hey…It’s her fault for leaving them out, not mine. It has been over 3 weeks and finally the draining and bleeding is done in my neck. Now my incision just needs to heal. My fur is starting to grow back really nice and Mom says some day I get to wear a big girl collar! It isn’t one of those chain ones either, YAY! It looks so pretty with shiny tags and all. I can’t wait! Then I can be like the other dogs here. Sometimes when I lay down I have trouble breathing and make some heavy wheezing noises. So I have to go back to my dog-tor (Dr. Lisa) and she can look down my throat with a scope to see if the chain that caused this mess of my neck, caused internal damage. I sure hope not. The catch is I can’t do that until the outside is healed yet and it will take another week or two. That is why I am listed as “pending” for adopting because my medical treatment isn’t done yet AND (read below!)

In spite of all my neck problems I do have some really great news I wanted to share with everyone. I found my forever home! My foster Mom and Dad decided they love me too much to let me go (and I love them too), so I am staying right here! I love Sierra and Stetson and fit in really well here. I don’t even mind the cats! Yesterday they even took me to the dog park! They give me plenty of love and attention and I can live my golden life here! Thanks RAGOM for saving me and thanks to my sponsors for helping me on my way to this golden life. I couldn’t be happier! I even wag my tail the whole way now! My Mom and Dad said I have to go to dog school for obedience some day this summer. Hmmm…I wonder if that means I have to learn how to stop counter surfing and hiding my Mom and Dad’s stuff in my kennel? Dad couldn’t find his sweatshirt last night, HA HA…I took it and put it in my kennel. It is so soft and snuggly like my blanket in my kennel. Dad says its bath time so time to go. Please keep reading my updates. I’ll let you know more about my golden life and my neck too.

Love,

Autumn

XOXO

 

Friday, April 20, 2007

We are happy to report that the swelling has gone down on Autumn’s neck. YEAH! We’ve gone through tons of ace bandages, gauze, stockinets, cut up t-shirts and even a bite not collar. Luckily with layers and layers of stuff and plenty of things to keep her mind off of it, she hasn’t been able to tear the incision back open, though it is still draining. This week she has had lots of firsts to keep her busy; her first frosty paw frozen dog treat, peanut butter filled kong, chew hoove, and dental bone. She LOVES treats. Autumn has been storing as much stuff as she can find in her kennel. She hid a rope bone, squeaky chameleon, 3 chew hooves, a nylabone, tennis ball and my husbands mesh shorts and work pants. Last week she retrieved our bathroom rugs and put them in her kennel too. We’ve experienced the “golden” side of golden retriever from day 1 with her personality, but now it is exciting because we are seeing the “retriever” side as well. Even if she is retrieving things that aren’t hers, it is fun to see that she is just happy to have toys, bones and anything she can get her paws on.

Other than her neck, her health is coming along. As I mentioned we’ve been buying plenty of dental bones, chewies and other things to improve her teeth since they are in poor condition from chewing on her kennel at the puppy mill. They are worn and have a greenish-gray tint to them, not to mention the bad breath. Luckily our other resident dogs enjoy having their teeth brushed so Autumn comes around to watch them and finally she is comfortable enough with the “hands-in-mouth” thing that she lets us brush her teeth too. Her coat is getting a little shinier as she is offered premium food on a regular feeding schedule and unlimited water, unlike her puppy mill past. She no longer has to fight for food and water and is clearly excited when we get her shiny new dishes out and fill them for her. I’ve even seen her tail wag a complete wag, not just a little wag, a BIG golden tail wag!

Autumn (right) snuggling with sister Sierra

These two can't get enough of each other!

The pack, clockwise from left: Autumn, Sierra, and Stetson

Aren't I pretty??? (Her throat is looking much better.)

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Pretty little Autumn has required a bunch more attention from her veterinarian. The swelling from her throat surgery did not go down as expected and developed into a large bloated hematoma. Plus it was starting to itch. The vet went in and aspirated her neck with a syringe, drawing out a bunch of blood and yucky stuff. That seemed to help, but it was still itching and she managed to tear her incision back open. We had her wearing a formfitting stockinet to hold her swelling in place, but these became soaked in blood. Autumn was slowly but steadily oozing blood from her neck, which needless to say was really scary. Another visit to the vet the next day. Our vet's opinion was that the bleeding wasn't all a bad thing: her neck wound has a chance to drain now since it wasn't doing so on its own. The blood had soaked into the stockinet, making it look far worse than it was. The swelling was aspirated again, and Autumn was fitted with a tighter, firmer bandage under which we are padding her incision with gauze. There's still some leakage, but the swelling has gone way down. Autumn is on antibiotics to prevent infection and some pain medication just in case. She does not appear to be in pain and is acting normally (read: she's still really cuddly!), but wearing itchy compression wraps can't be much fun. A few pictures are included below. We'll keep everyone informed on Autumn's progress.

We'd just like to take the opportunity once again to thank Autumn's sponsors Susan, Debra, and Gerald. Autumn has been through a lot and has needed a lot of medical attention. It's due to your generosity that this little dog with a heart as big as all outdoors is receiving the treatment she needs so she can live the life she deserves. We can't thank you enough... but Autumn sends enough kisses to try!

Sunday, April 15, 2007

This past week Autumn was seen by her vet and determined that Autumn showed no signs of pregnancy. She was spayed and had the three abscesses under her neck (from the chain that grew into her neck) removed. The surgery was tough for her and she is still recovering but we are happy to report that she is doing well. Some of the lumps that were removed from her neck were twisted a little deeper in her tissue; therefore Autumn has a substantial amount of swelling and an incision across her throat about six inches long. She is also wearing a stockinet around her neck that we change every other day due to drainage. We also have to hot pack the area 3-5 times per day to decrease the swelling and help with the drainage. Autumn returned to the vet on Thursday because she was shaking and didn’t appear to be comfortable. She was then given a prescription for a painkiller and it has helped. Autumn is now beginning to leave her kennel more often; in fact she was just sitting on my feet while I type this. She is gaining confidence and every day continues to amaze us. So far she has learned a few commands including come, sit, and shake. The commands don’t always work, but we are proud of how far she has come in just a few weeks. Our resident dogs are helping her learn and taking care of her while she recovers.

Autumn would like to thank Susan, Debra and Gerald for sponsoring her. With your financial help she is on her way to a clean bill of health. She is no longer covered in bloody scabs and open wounds. She doesn’t have to produce puppies anymore and can instead be a puppy herself and learn to play! The years of damage caused to her neck by a chain can now heal and her past can be forgotten. Some day when her neck heals, she can wear a pretty collar that will grow with her instead of into her. Thanks for opening your hearts to Autumn. You will always be in her heart!

Autumn with her new snuggly toy!

Autumn (left) enjoying a tummy rub with resident brother Stetson

Here's a closeup showing Autumn's swollen throat post-surgery. The swelling is going down day by day.