Michelle is continuing to do great and definitely loving her new life. We are continually in awe of how easy she is and how easily she adapts to things. It is going to be hard to give up this sweetie when she finds her forever family.

Michelle went to the vet last week and everything is great. She had a clean bill of health and was brought up to date on all her vaccinations, got micro chipped and is now on heart worm preventative and flea and tick preventive. The thing that really stands out are her great tartar-free teeth. Lucky girl! She wasn’t sure that she liked the vet clinic, but she certainly charmed the vet staff. The only suggestion was to keep up on the exercise and her “diet”. She weighed in at 61 pounds and the vet would like to see her closer to 50 pounds as she is shorter than a purebred Golden. Michelle has accepted the kibble, green bean (only French cut, just like resident Lacy’s preference!) and pumpkin menu. The walking part of the weight reduction regimen, she loves! I will be anxious to weigh her again and see what progress we are making.

Finally, nice weather last week. We were out for a walk, the first really warm day…

Michelle kept putting her nose in the air sniffing and she kept trying to pull me into the yards towards the left. I really wondered what was going on. She hadn’t done that before. Why the big change???? Aha! The lake was on our left, but surely she couldn’t tell there is a lake under all those inches of snow and ice! Must be a coincidence. But, then, I spotted this great big puddle in the park.  I thought, let’s give it a try. Let’s see if Michelle likes the water.

Yep, she sure did – went right in. Upon arriving at home, we went in the back yard to clean up some bird seed and Michelle was eyeing the lake again. So, down we went.

Oh my, this isn’t what she was hoping for. Lots of deep slush on top of the ice – no water to play in. And, this is the dog who is just learning to do steps.

All the way down, all the way up. Oh, that was exhausting……

What a trooper!! It is really amazing how much more stamina Michelle gained in just one week. And, this week, she has even more and we have a whole lot less snow. Yeah! We do our normal walk and she is not ready to turn into our driveway. She is building up those muscles and burning calories! You might have noticed that Michelle is wearing a harness. She doesn’t pull when you walk, so that isn’t why she is wearing the harness… it is because with a twist of her head, she can pop out of her collar. Rather than have the collar so tight, we just started using an EasyWalk harness. Like everything else, Michelle accepted that with no problem….

And, now for the nitty-gritty stuff….

What does Michelle need in a home??

• Lots of love and attention
• Plenty of walks and a reasonable diet to improve her girly figure
• Dog pillows
• Snooze time
• A harness
• A bit more training; Obedience training would be great for Michelle. She knows come and sit. We are working on stay and heel. I don’t think she had any training, so we think she is doing very well. But, instead of being good, she could be great at following commands. She is very receptive and wanting to please.
• Another dog would be very nice for Michelle, but not an absolute necessity

What doesn’t Michelle need?

• To be crated – we did easily crate train her, but have started leaving her out when we go and she is fine, and she and Lacy are fine together alone. Now, she sometimes just goes in the crate on her own for a snooze, and I have encouraged that during mealtimes because she is quite interested in what we are eating!
• A fence. I’m not saying I would trust her off leash until she has had some more training, but she is fine being leash walked to get her duties done and to get her exercise.
• Anyone to throw the ball for her-she’s not interested.

What I’m not sure about yet

• Kids???? I have only had Michelle around twin 5 yr old boys and they were so nice and gentle with her and she loved their attention. I do not know how she would be in a home where there is lots of commotion and/or little children who don’t know the proper doggie ways yet.
• Cat????

So, these are the things that I have thought of to tell you. If I can answer any other questions you might have about Michelle, or if you would like to visit her, please contact your Placement advisor.