Carley met a cat last week. I took her to another foster's home to see how she would react to the cat. Carley was scared to be in a new place. She was shaking and nervous. At first the cat was in a crate and Carley did not look at it at all. Once the cat came out and walked by her, she raised her head and was interested.

It is a good sign that Carley did not show aggression to the cat, but I would not say that it proves she will be good with cats. If she were feeling comfortable, not fearful and the cat ran by, it is still possible that she might want to chase and catch it. If Carley is adopted by a family with a cat, the introductions and interactions will have to be carefully managed to ensure safety.

I am sharing two photos of Carley relaxing on my bed to show that she can adjust and feel safe in a home, it just takes her longer than other dogs. Based on her reaction to visiting the cat's home, her adoptive family will need to expect a period of adjustment when she will need extra patience and love.

Carley went to her first Meet & Greet last Saturday. It was a big step for her. I brought one of my resident dogs along to give her courage. Carley was nervous and when we first arrived; she was too overwhelmed to take a treat.

She sat next to me for the two hours that we were there. She accepted petting from people who approached her, and after about an hour she was calm enough to accept and eat treats.

You will see in the first photo below that she hung out with another former breeder dog (Emily). I think that Carley did very well for this first time. She is not an extroverted dog like many Goldens and will probably always be introverted. She has shown that she is adaptable enough to handle this type of situation, which is a big step for her.

I have also included a photo of Carley licking one of Abby's ears. Red and Abby are girlfriends and enjoy licking each other's ears. A perfect adoptive home for Carley will have a confident resident dog as a new friend for her.

Ideally, Carley will be in a home where her humans will not be gone for more than four hours a day. She does well roaming free for that long, but if it goes beyond four hours she may have an accident.

I was gone for about four hours on Saturday, so I gated Carley in the bathroom. She had her big bed and a Kong with food in it. She did fine, no accidents! When I expect to be gone for longer than two hours, I will be putting her in the bathroom.

I had some visitors on two different days this last week. We sat in the living room to talk. Carley would come a few feet into the room and then go back to the bedroom. I put the "leash of courage" on her and led her to the couch. She jumped up and was calm through the whole visit.

Her girlfriend, Abby, joined her on the couch and Carley rested her head on Abby's back. They were very content. They stayed there even when I left the room for a moment. Carley still prefers the bedroom to the rest of the house, but is becoming more comfortable in other areas. 

Carley is such a lover! If you have a confident resident dog and are looking for a loveable, furry addition to your household, she might be a perfect fit for you.

Yesterday while we walked, a friend of mine took Carley's leash for the walk. She knows this man as he frequently walks with us. She also knows that he brings little peanut butter sandwiches every day. She walked nicely with him. This shows that she is getting braver and more confident as long as she has the time and incentive to learn.

She had a couple of accidents while I was away from home. I am going to make a point of putting her outside more often and see if that helps. I might have to confine her to the bathroom while I am gone, but would like to avoid that if possible.

Carley will make a wonderful and loving addition to a home with a confident resident dog!

Carley saw the vet yesterday and we discussed her medications. She is currently taking Trazadone and Alprazolam. We are going to adjust the dosages and possibly change the medications. This process may take a few weeks to complete.

We want Carley to be comfortable on the lowest possible dosage of medication. Carley was very scared at the vet, shaking at first and calming a bit after we had been there for a while. 

She has been doing better on walks. She will walk farther away from me and sometimes walk ahead of me. Around the house she is bolder. She will come out into the kitchen while I eat breakfast and sit next to me. She is very fond of peanut butter and so I reward her with a little bit when does something brave.

Carley is very quiet and I have not yet heard her bark. While she is making progress, she has a  long road ahead of her. Patience, love and reasonable expectations will help Carley find her happiest life.

Carley is enjoying life! She has a new foster dog to play with who loves to play chase and run big circles in the yard. Carley couldn't be happier!

We've started Carley on a new medication to try to make her a little less anxious. Although the medication takes about five weeks to be effective, we think we're already seeing some nice changes.

Carley warms up to company a bit more easily and, most importantly, finally is comfortable with Foster Dad reaching down to pet her as they walk the yard, watch TV or just hang out on the couch. Carley may always be frightened of quick movements and loud noises but she's starting to ever so gradually relax.

Last night while I was grooming the dogs, she quietly got in line to see what it was all about. I carefully started to comb her and she temporarily lost her courage. But in half a minute, she was back and ready to savor the moment. Turns out she "likes" to be groomed!

Along with the rest of our dogs, Carley has just gone through a major shedding period and seems to have lost most of her deep red fur, but we're confident that it will return when fall arrives.  

The perfect home for Carley will be with a family who has experience with dogs who are easily frightened and who need routine. Carley is a sweet, affectionate girl who is easy to love. She craves a chance to cuddle, but balances that out with a joyful romp in the backyard with the rest of the pack.

She's a small girl with a coat that is easy to maintain. And although she's timid, she's growing in confidence each week!  

It's been a while since we shared an update about Carley. She's spent most of summer in the house, keeping cool but enjoying the time early in the morning to do some exploring in the yard and sometimes, if she can find a willing play partner, she still enjoys running in the yard in big wide circles—with such lovely expressions of joy.

She went to the vet last week and got refreshers on the necessary vaccinations and had her nails trimmed. She has had a few guests lately and she's slowly (very slowly) becoming less timid.

Carley is quick to alert us if there is something wrong—yesterday the "wrong" thing was a motorcycle in the front drive. This morning she let us know about the deer that wandered too close to the front window. 

A new behavior that we've noted is her willingness to go in and out the door regardless if you're present. For quite some time she's been able to go outside and return, but her preference would be that people stepped aside.

Now she really doesn't care—she's passed that hurdle entirely. Nothing slows her down when she wants to go out and explore or come back in to partake in treats with the rest of the dogs. 

Carley is still looking for just the right family. If you have experience with dogs like Carley and think she's as cute as we do, please consider adopting Carley.

Carley/Red is loving Spring—she's out in the yard enjoying the smells and running big circles of joy. Red is still learning how to enjoy life but she's made great progress. She is still easily frightened, but recovers faster. She prefers eating in her safe spot but she now enjoys watching the dog food being dished out with the rest of the dogs.

She is learning the command sit, although she can easily be distracted if there is an unexpected noise. She is showing a new side of herself with our new fosters, actually helping them learn the routine and welcoming them to our household. It's taken a while to get to this point and it hasn't always been easy, but it has always been rewarding.  

Red still has a lot to learn and she needs an experienced family who has worked with dogs like Red to help her continue to feel safe and happy. She has moments of pure joy and then can easily panic and retreat to her safe spot. But even when she's uncertain and looks worried, she is still very gentle. And now her eyes have a soft expression and you can see she has learned what it's like to be happy. 

Carley has been taking it easy, enjoying her time playing with her dog buddies and loving her time outside. She doesn't seem to care about the temperatures—she's willing to go outside and run, run, run as often as you'll let her no matter what.

The one big change for Carley is that we have changed her medications, and it has made a truly significant difference for her. She gets one pill with breakfast and another with dinner, and she takes the readily in a slight disguise of cheese. We put them on top of her food and she wolfs them down.

We decided to try different medications because we felt Red (as we call her) was still too easily frightened and still spent too much time in her safe spot. We wanted her to be able to enjoy life more and that's just what's happening. With only three days on the new meds, we're seeing a more adventurous side of Red/Carley.

She was the first dog this morning to come up to my office to see what I was doing. This is something way different than before. She interacts with us more—way more—and I still use the word brave to describe her.

The difference is that it doesn't take her as long to try something new. She's in the room with us most of the time (she still enjoys a good nap in her safe spot upon occasion) and wants to be petted, wants to be groomed, and enjoys both of those activities immensely.

We've not been able to really teach Red/Carley any basic obedience commands up to now, but we think in a few more days that we'll be able to build that kind of relationship with her. She seems to be trusting us more, and expecting a bit more out of life, and we could not be happier for her.

We'll keep you posted as we get to know this brave girl even better!

This is just a great time for Carley—she's enjoying her time outside, loving her new chew toys and best of all—she has a new buddy! She's made friends with our newest foster dog, Karla 18-233, and has welcomed her into our household. 

Carley has shown her new buddy all the best places in the yard and was Karla's buddy dog to help her master stairs. So great to see how Carley has connected with this foster.  

Carley has an amazing internal clock and is consistently the first dog up in the morning ready for the day. She's particularly happy in the morning and I think she looks forward to our routine massage time.  

Here are some pictures of her running in the backyard and showing Karla her best moves.

It's been quite a while since I shared an update about the lovely Miss Carley, and there's much to tell.

First, she has totally mastered the stairs—while she was tentative before, she's all about going upstairs with me and sitting close by while I work. She's been known to go upstairs on her own, for no particular reason other than to nap in the sunshine.

Next, we've continued to work on getting her in and out the doors to the backyard. This was something she had mastered and then, for reasons unknown, she regressed a bit and we've been trying new strategies with her. 

Just this weekend we believe we've learned to think like Carley and we've been very successful. She's still very hesitant to walk back into the house but if we go in the backyard with a leash visibly in our hands and say "Let's go in the house" she typically will head to the house at a nice pace.

And then, when she's in the house we give her a quick reward (she loves cheese!) and make a big deal about the good behavior. This will give us a good foundation to build on.

Third, this girl walks like a dream on a leash. She is very watchful of where you're going and almost walks at heel, not lurching ahead or dragging behind. This is something she taught herself, we can't take any credit for it but we certainly do appreciate it!

She loves, loves, loves her buddy dogs. She enjoys chase, doesn't really care about chasing a ball, just likes to chase around the yard with her dog friends.

Carley has developed a steady appetite and still enjoys her meal in bed. We were doing pretty good getting her to eat with the rest of the dogs but she's holding out to have quiet meals away from the pack. That's just fine with us—we like seeing that she enjoys her meals and eats every last piece of dog food. She's also learned the special joy of pizza and Sunday waffles as well!

Carley is on some new meds that have really helped her enjoy life a bit. They're easy to give to her in a small piece of cheese and right now she does best if she gets meds in the morning and then again mid-afternoon. We're going to continue to work on the medication issue as we know it would be easiest for most households to give her medications at breakfast and dinner. 

We'll keep you updated, but these particular medications have made such a difference in her. She's learned to appreciate being with her people and can stand perfectly still for the longest period of time while we pet and talk with her. Maybe the best description is that the medications have calmed her down and helped her build some trust in the world.

There's still more that Carley needs to master before she's going to be ready for her forever home. We need to work on the timing and dosage of her medications and we want to have her completely trained to come back into the house before she is adopted. She's made great progress and when she gives you a quick kiss, you know it's all worth it!

Carley has been enjoying summer—her very favorite activity is still playing in the yard with our resident dogs. She is at her happiest when she's sniffing and playing chase.

She's just starting to understand the concept of retrieving. She's good at chasing after the ball and sniffing it when it lands in the grass but she hasn't gone all the way to picking it up. She does really enjoy running after the ball though so that's a great start.

Carley has started medication to help reduce some of her anxiety, and it's starting to make a difference. We know there will be some adjusting to do to get this just right, but the medications are very cheap ($4/month) and she thinks the hot dog we hide them in each morning is the perfect way to start the day.

Miss Carley still enjoys a predictable routine, likes to get up at the same time each day, likes to eat the same food, likes playing and napping.

This summer routine has been really good for her. She's had a chance to go for rides in the car and she does very well in the car, particularly if one of the resident dogs goes with her—that really makes all the difference in the world. Carley really isn't all that excited about getting into the car so we continue to work on that with her.

We know for certain that when it's time for Carley to find her forever home, her new family will need to have a playful, confident dog to be her buddy and mentor. We laugh at some of the things that Carley has learned this last month—things that other dogs would have grown up knowing.

She now loves her dog bed; she has a favorite and is willing to share it. She likes her dog bed so much that we now make sure there's a bed for her out in the sunroom during the day, and she will pace a bit until we remember to put it out there for her. I think it's time to buy a permanent bed for the sunroom...

Life with a retired breeder dog is very rewarding; it's so great to see them learn new things, develop trust and enjoy the Golden life. Yet there are also times we need to remember that with progress there can also be challenges.

Right now, for reasons we're not sure about, Carley is back to being very cautious about coming back into the house after she's been outside. So this is our focus now, helping her regain her confidence and continue to master the fine art of household living!

Carley still has a perfect record in the house—she has not had a single accident and only barks if she hears a suspicious noise in the middle of the night.

She enjoys being combed, let's us look in her mouth, check her ears, and now takes treats from our hands although she's still pretty cautious about that.

Carley wakes up each morning with gusto and has developed a dance around the perimeter of the bed to encourage us to hurry up and get going with the day. She is just so darn happy!

She enjoys her toys and being with the pack but occasionally you can find her in the bedroom all by herself enjoying the solo delights of her new dog bed.