Bailey (Katie 10-341)

Profile

Please welcome sweet and petite Katie to RAGOM! Katie got a clean bill of health from the vet and was declared the perfect weight at 54#. But don't let her small stature fool you, this girl is brimming with energy and personality!

Katie's family sadly surrendered 4 year old Katie to RAGOM after realizing their busy schedule didn't allow much time for a dog. Katie was spending most days crated or on a tie outside.

Because Katie was not used to spending much time in the house we decided it was in our best interest to tether Katie to FM until she got used to indoor living. Katie adjusted to this arrangement very nicely. Tethering actually served two purposes. First, FM could make sure Katie wasn't getting into anything inappropriate. Second, the tether helped enforce our "no wrestling in the house" rule. Apparently resident dog Josie (Lacey 09-048) doesn't think this rule applies when we have fosters. The first night the two girls immediately started wrestling and when FM tried to break it up they decided to run like wild horses around the house with Josie in the lead! FD had left for deer hunting which left FM to rein in the horses on her own. Poor older foster sister Bailey just looked at FM with a face that said "pleeeeeeeease make them stop"! We're glad to report that after a couple of days we're using the tether less and less and the two young girls are doing a better job about minding their manners in the house.

Katie's furever family will have to be committed to helping her learn to live in a house. She is truly like a 54# puppy. All of the things about daily living in a house are new to her. She's a little unsure about home appliances, however she was absolutely adorable when she hid behind the kitchen island and peeked out at me as I vacuumed up dog hair. She's very good about going potty outside and hasn't had any accidents, but I'm not sure she knows how to signal that she needs to go out. She sleeps quietly in a crate in our bedroom. I think she would love to jump in bed with us but with 3 big dogs and a cat that's not an option! She does like to jump, not necessarily on you but right up next to you, so she will need a furever home without small children.

Katie loves to use her nose and she's quite the brush-buster on our walks so maybe there's some hunting in her future? I'm sure FD would be happy to have us tag along pheasant hunting (leashed, of course!) if someone is interested in finding out if she can handle the sound of a gun.

She met the resident cat and I think if the cat ran Katie might give chase, but our cat is dog savvy and holds her ground so they've been getting along fine. She LOVES other dogs, but as mentioned has a hard time "behaving" if another dog distracts her.

Katie walks very nicely on a flat collar. Her "sit" and "come" are excellent, but with her puppy personality things like "stay" and "off" are a bigger challenge for her. She likes to be petted, and even though she has a puppy personality she isn't the least bit mouthy. She loves to retrieve tennis balls and she's actually a retriever! It's been a long time since we've had the pleasure of a Golden that actually brings the ball back and gives it up nicely for another throw!

Let your placement adviser know if you are interested in learning more about Katie!

At a Glance #10-341

Golden Retriever Born: April 2006
Female 50 lbs

Status: Deceased

Profile

Please welcome sweet and petite Katie to RAGOM! Katie got a clean bill of health from the vet and was declared the perfect weight at 54#. But don't let her small stature fool you, this girl is brimming with energy and personality!

Katie's family sadly surrendered 4 year old Katie to RAGOM after realizing their busy schedule didn't allow much time for a dog. Katie was spending most days crated or on a tie outside.

Because Katie was not used to spending much time in the house we decided it was in our best interest to tether Katie to FM until she got used to indoor living. Katie adjusted to this arrangement very nicely. Tethering actually served two purposes. First, FM could make sure Katie wasn't getting into anything inappropriate. Second, the tether helped enforce our "no wrestling in the house" rule. Apparently resident dog Josie (Lacey 09-048) doesn't think this rule applies when we have fosters. The first night the two girls immediately started wrestling and when FM tried to break it up they decided to run like wild horses around the house with Josie in the lead! FD had left for deer hunting which left FM to rein in the horses on her own. Poor older foster sister Bailey just looked at FM with a face that said "pleeeeeeeease make them stop"! We're glad to report that after a couple of days we're using the tether less and less and the two young girls are doing a better job about minding their manners in the house.

Katie's furever family will have to be committed to helping her learn to live in a house. She is truly like a 54# puppy. All of the things about daily living in a house are new to her. She's a little unsure about home appliances, however she was absolutely adorable when she hid behind the kitchen island and peeked out at me as I vacuumed up dog hair. She's very good about going potty outside and hasn't had any accidents, but I'm not sure she knows how to signal that she needs to go out. She sleeps quietly in a crate in our bedroom. I think she would love to jump in bed with us but with 3 big dogs and a cat that's not an option! She does like to jump, not necessarily on you but right up next to you, so she will need a furever home without small children.

Katie loves to use her nose and she's quite the brush-buster on our walks so maybe there's some hunting in her future? I'm sure FD would be happy to have us tag along pheasant hunting (leashed, of course!) if someone is interested in finding out if she can handle the sound of a gun.

She met the resident cat and I think if the cat ran Katie might give chase, but our cat is dog savvy and holds her ground so they've been getting along fine. She LOVES other dogs, but as mentioned has a hard time "behaving" if another dog distracts her.

Katie walks very nicely on a flat collar. Her "sit" and "come" are excellent, but with her puppy personality things like "stay" and "off" are a bigger challenge for her. She likes to be petted, and even though she has a puppy personality she isn't the least bit mouthy. She loves to retrieve tennis balls and she's actually a retriever! It's been a long time since we've had the pleasure of a Golden that actually brings the ball back and gives it up nicely for another throw!

Let your placement adviser know if you are interested in learning more about Katie!

Updates

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Hi!

Katie here doing my own update today. I wanted to let everyone know how much I like living at my foster home. Actually, I like almost everything so thought I'd make a list of some of my favorite things for you!

  1. I like my big foster-sis Bailey, she's almost 10. I like to give her a big kiss on the nose when she wags her tail at me. She's old so she's not always the friendliest. If she gives me "a look" instead of a tail wag I just go about my business and leave her alone.
  2. I like my little foster-sis Josie, she's 2. However, FM calls us names like "double trouble" and "peas in a pod" because we both like to wrestle and we both like to play the zoomie game. We're only allowed to play those games outside, but that's OK with us because we both like being outside too!
  3. My fosters sisters are showing me the joy of chasing squirrels. They say we'll have better luck if we work together. We haven't caught a squirrel yet but I think we've sure scared a few!

    Bailey, Josie (standing), and Katie
  4. I like my foster folks. FM was the only one home for a couple of days while FD went deer hunting. FM was wondering if I'd have an issue with men, but nope! FD's home and I like men too!
  5. I like hanging out with my foster family. When I first moved in I spent a lot of time exploring every nook and cranny of my foster home because I wasn't used to living in a house. Now that I've seen everything I think it's nice to just hang out with the foster folks while they read or watch TV.
  6. I like walks.
  7. I like to retrieve my tennis ball.
  8. I like treats, especially the good ones! FM said she thinks if she had enough time she could teach me to do somersaults for a treat, that's how much I like them. FM has two kinds of treats, the every day ones she carries around in her pocket and then the really good ones that we don't get very often. The other night she tried to give me an every day treat for going into my crate at bedtime. I knew that wasn't right so I ran out and sat by the cabinet where the really good treats are stored. FM followed me and took a really good treat out. I ran back and jumped in my crate to wait for my really good treat. That made her laugh really hard, she says I'm a very smart girl!

There's a family that's coming to meet me this weekend, and I bet I'm going to really like them too!

Love,
Katie