Sponsored by:

John and Kate and Charlie

December 20, 2012

Khloe is a beautiful 3 year old purebred Golden Retriever who was rescued last weekend from a commercial breeding kennel by a wonderful group of volunteers. She is a petite girl, weighing in at 45 pounds. She must have whelped a litter of pups in the not too distant past since her underside still shows signs of having recently nursed puppies. Now that she's no longer in the business and she is young, she should look like new in no time.

Khloe met the other four dogs in her foster home with no problem. We gave her a couple of days to chill out and relax. She didn't want her kibble the first night, but we added a little canned to it and she gobbled it down. The first day, I took her outside on two leashes, a regular 6-foot nylon leash attached to her collar and a slip lead collar around her neck. I was worried that she didn't know us yet and if she went out unleashed or slipped her collar with the regular leash, even in our fenced-in backyard, we might have a time getting her back in. The second day, it had snowed and I wanted her to get more freedom, so put her on a 20 foot leash. That was my mistake. The clasp on the long leash was broken and didn't hold. There I stood all dressed for winter with a long leash in my hand, the clasp on the ground and Khloe running around, kicking up her heels having a great time. Very likely the first time in her life that she has been outside of her stall and kennel run and had an opportunity to run loose. It was fun to watch her, she looked like a fawn romping and jumping around. We let her run around, sniff, do her business, get some exercise and then proceeded with the, now how do I get this dog in the house exercise. Happily, she's not nearly as skittish as the other group of puppy mill furkids, and luckily, she was still wearing the regular nylon leash. I got down to her level and she let me get close enough to pick up her leash and she walked in the house with the other dogs. By day three, she was going in and out of the house on her own with no problem. I don't hold any leash.

Khloe's biggest problem at the moment seems to be figuring out where she wants her safe spot to be. We started the first two nights with her in a kennel. That helps with the housetraining. She's doing real well about doing her business when outside, but hasn't quite caught on that one doesn't do their business when inside. We try to let her out often enough that there is no need for inside accidents and when we can't be around for periods of time, we do put her in the kennel. For the most part, she lies in there quietly and rests. The first night, she howled for a few minutes, then quieted down. We haven't heard her bark yet. She hasn't had any accidents in the kennel. When not in the kennel, she was trying out some safe spots, one next to the couch, one on the other side of the end table, one on the couch, a couple of times in the bathroom. We did have a couple of dog discussions as she worked through this process. The "my spot" no "my spot" type of thing. But, they worked it out. She appears to be getting more comfortable all over the lower level which is really nice. She knows how to go up and down stairs but rarely does unless I lead her upstairs. We leave a trailing leash on her so we can encourage her to walk around the house with us and we'll be working on getting her more comfortable with the upper level, but while we are working on house training, enjoying the lower level which is all tile, works well for foster mom..

She appears to like stuffed toys and bones. We haven't tried tennis balls yet. She's a very sweet, gentle dog that will benefit from lots of socialization and obedience training to help her grow into a self-confident, happy dog. Because she is from a commercial breeding kennel, her adoptive family will need to have another dog in the home (to show her the ropes), a fenced in yard (so she is safe) and no young children (they are noisy and can be scary). If your home fits that description and if you want to help show Khloe how wonderful a golden's life can be, please contact your placement advisor. She does need to be spayed, but as soon as that is complete, she'll be ready to move to her new home.