Shadow (Betty 10-074)

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Sponsored by:

Mark & Melissa M.

Shayna M.

Paul & Mary T.

Judith C.

Mike B.

 

Betty is a seven year old breeding gal, now retired! She came from a puppy mill in Tennessee so she has a bit of an accent, but tells me that I talk funny! So far Betty has been nothing but a total sweetheart of a girl, a true Southern Belle!

Betty is very shy right now, but is coming out of her shell more and more by the hour.She was super reserved when we picked her up yesterday, but she has already decided that she should be allowed to sleep in our bedroom even though it means braving two flights of stairs in the dark!  Honestly, I didn't think she had ever seen stairs. She is not terribly coordinated when climbing them, but she does like to follow us from room to room and won't let a few stairs get in her way.

I took Betty for a walk this lovely afternoon.  I think it felt good on her legs to stretch out after such a long road trip.  She is a champ on a loose lead.  She only got frightened twice by strangers we met on the way, but she got over it pretty well.  The more we do this, the less frightened she will be.

Betty has a few health issues that we are getting checked out tomorrow.  Hopefully we can schedule her spay really soon and get her on the road to recovery.  I really think that Betty will adjust quickly to the golden life.  Heck, she was taunting Leroy when I came inside to write this!

Please visit this page frequently as Betty has lots of adventures planned for her!

 

 

 

At a Glance #10-074

Golden Retriever Born: February 2003
Female 66 lbs

Status: Deceased

Profile

Sponsored by:

Mark & Melissa M.

Shayna M.

Paul & Mary T.

Judith C.

Mike B.

 

Betty is a seven year old breeding gal, now retired! She came from a puppy mill in Tennessee so she has a bit of an accent, but tells me that I talk funny! So far Betty has been nothing but a total sweetheart of a girl, a true Southern Belle!

Betty is very shy right now, but is coming out of her shell more and more by the hour.She was super reserved when we picked her up yesterday, but she has already decided that she should be allowed to sleep in our bedroom even though it means braving two flights of stairs in the dark!  Honestly, I didn't think she had ever seen stairs. She is not terribly coordinated when climbing them, but she does like to follow us from room to room and won't let a few stairs get in her way.

I took Betty for a walk this lovely afternoon.  I think it felt good on her legs to stretch out after such a long road trip.  She is a champ on a loose lead.  She only got frightened twice by strangers we met on the way, but she got over it pretty well.  The more we do this, the less frightened she will be.

Betty has a few health issues that we are getting checked out tomorrow.  Hopefully we can schedule her spay really soon and get her on the road to recovery.  I really think that Betty will adjust quickly to the golden life.  Heck, she was taunting Leroy when I came inside to write this!

Please visit this page frequently as Betty has lots of adventures planned for her!

 

 

 

Updates

Friday, April 9, 2010

From Shadow's (formerly known as Betty) forever family...

It's official, we have the only non-black dog in town going by Shadow - that's her new name. We spent the weekend thinking on it and in truth, she is simply Amy's shadow, my shadow, Blondie's shadow...you get the picture. So Shadow it is.

Shadow has really settled in. She eats well, sleeps well, and has taken to barking to protect her yard from passing neighbors of all kinds. She visited Rockford Road last Saturday because they wanted to see her big fluid lump next to her sutures. Dr. B. tapped it and removed some fluid - no concern in the end. He says her body will absorb the fluid as part of healing. She gets her stitches out Saturday and will get a bath after that, her skin is still itchy so we want to give her another scrub.

By the way, we have seen something new: the other night while she was sleeping Shadow had a dream. Now we are used to moving feet and eyes, barking, and other movements, but I have never seen a dog wag her tail - thump, thump, thump - while dreaming, but Shadow did. And we had a family dinner here last night - picture seven people making lots of noises, even squealing over the new arrival, but Shadow just lay still and accepted the pets.

Shadow's stitches are out, she has had her first bath here, and she is becoming more regular outside - all good. Her lump is re-absorbing as expected, but her itching continues. If not improved in a few weeks we'll take her in for a look-see. Good news on that front, though, she does not hurt herself with the scratching as some dogs do.

All in all, transition is going well, and we love her. Thank you for letting her come to our forever home!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Betty is adopted!  She now has two fur sisters - one a RAGOM golden - and two cats to keep her entertained.  She will have the golden life she has always deserved, but never knew existed.

Thank you again, sponsors!  Betty's new life will be happy and healthy because of your generosity.  In a few months, we will post some "after" pictures of Betty so you can see what your donation really does.  I'll bet she looks like a Westminster champion!

Maren and I have to go have another cry over this girl.  It's never easy sending a foster dog off to a new home, but this one was particularly difficult.  Goodbye, Honey Bear!  We love you!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Old news and new news with Betty.  As usual, she gets sweeter and sweeter every day. Her recovery continues to go well - we can't get her to stay put for too long.  We still never call her Betty, she has always been and always will be Honey Bear to us!

On the new news front, I finally got a face kiss from Honey Bear!  It happened a day or so before her surgery.  She really gives nice kisses if you can tolerate her breath.  In the interest of full disclosure, Honey has horrible breath because of her teeth.  Now that she is down 15 rotten ones, we really haven't noticed her breath at all.  Bring on the kisses, Honey Bear!  (Maren wanted me to point out that she gets woken up every morning by Honey's wet nose.)

The other day I looked at H.B. and thought about her past and her present.  I felt so good for her.  Try to imagine your own dog living like Honey lived for seven years and then being plopped down in your home.  This is why we rescue dogs!  After pondering this, and getting a little teary, I started thinking about Honey Bear's future.  What kind of family would be best for her?  She will need lots of love. She'll need patience.  She'll need confident leadership.  She will need another confident dog to show her the ropes.  She'll need someone who will keep exposing her to new experiences all the time.  Sounds like Maren and me!  Maybe we should keep her.  We just lost our Zoey (07-572) so we have room for a third dog.  She already loves us! Let's keep her and be "Foster Failures!"  So Maren and I had a little heart-to-heart.  After lots of discussion and lots of crying, we decided that we should have just two dogs and continue to foster.  We love our Honey Bear, but we know that she has to move on to a forever home so we can help other dogs like her.

With this in mind, we found a great family that has adopted other RAGOM dogs and has experience with puppy mill rescues.  They came over to meet Honey.  She was very shy, but went for a little walk and loved getting her pets.  Tonight she will visit their home and their pets - including cats.  If all goes well, she will have found her forever home.  Let's hope she likes cats!

Enjoy the new picture of our Honey Bear!  Isn't she beautiful?

Maren and I would like to send our thanks to Honey's sponsors.  Her expensive surgery cost more than the original estimate because of the extensive dental work and sedation that she required.  Honey Bear is a new dog thanks to your generosity!!!!

 

Monday, March 22, 2010

Betty had her best weekend ever!  She met lots of wonderful people at PetSmart.  She was a bit shy at first, but came out of her shell and greeted people who came to pet her.  Lots and lots of people had seen her on the web and said that they were following he story.  After the big day at PetSmart, Betty took a long nap and was all ready to go Sunday morning when she got to go to her very first dog park!  She sniffed all the smells, followed all sorts of new dogs and people, and had a genuinely wonderful time.  I can't express how good it felt to see her RUN for the first time in her life.  She was all smiles and we were all tears!  You can see from the pictures that she made a lot of new friends and really proved herself today.  She was great at following our pack on ourselves.  Way to go, Betty!

Now, this morning, Monday, Betty goes in for her surgery.  She is having her hernia repaired, her teeth cleaned and extracted, and having her spay.  Hopefully it will go smoothly for her.  But in the meantime, keep your paws crossed and keep our little Betty in your thoughts!  It's a big operation, but we think she is up to full strength for it.  This little girl is doing so well so far, we sure hope that the surgery and the recovery go by quickly and without incident.

We love you, Betty!  Good luck at the vet's!

(Betty wishes to thank her sponsors again!  Without your support, Betty's surgery today would not be possible.  Feel free to line up for some post-surgery Betty kisses!)

PS - There are a few more "adorable" Betty stories to share later, but we have to get this girl to bed.

 

 

 

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Betty had a great weekend and enjoyed the sunshine very much.  She got her first taste filet mignon tonight.  (We made beef tenderloin and she got some of the trimmings!)  Not bad for a puppy mill girl!!!

She got another bath and a nice long walk.  Betty has started to notice the squirrels in the yard and on the other side of the fence - she will be a good backyard critter hunter, that's for sure.  All is good in Betty's world.  She has one more week before her big surgery so we are spoiling her as best as we can.

Enjoy the new pictures!  I told you she smiles a lot now.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Betty has decided to stop being the perfect foster dog.  She now has one bad habit, barking at her reflection!  It is actually quite cute, bordering on adorable.  Unfortunately she chooses to do this after midnight while the rest of us try to sleep.  Otherwise, she is quite a wonderful dog. 

Betty is learning the ropes around here.  She now runs in and out the door with the other dogs.  I even got a play-bow out of her this morning when she wanted to get in the car to go to Auntie Jane's!  Getting pets is becoming one of her favorite things.  She doesn't actually come to us for pets, but she doesn't duck away as much!

Now I hope Betty does not read this part:  In the week that we have had this puppy mill dog who spent her whole life outside and not once was allowed in the house, Betty has never even sniffed around to potty inside!  No piddle accidents.  No poops.  Nothing.  I hate to say that she is housetrained at this point, but sometimes dogs that have never been indoors know only to do their business outside.  Sure seems to be the case for Betty, our little Honey Bear.

If you are interested in meeting Betty to make her part of your loving household, please contact your placement advisor.  If you'd like to make a donation for Betty's recovery expenses, please do so.  She could use a sponsor or two!

 


She slept like she'd never been scared