Molly 11-140 is a light colored female golden between 1 and 2 years old. She came to RAGOM from a shelter where she was turned in as a stray. Unlike with dogs that come from homes, very little is known about Miss Molly's history so it's a discovery every day as we get to know her. What we do know from the 5 days she has been in foster care is that Molly is a bundle of energy. She is happy, affectionate and just loves to be near her people. Molly has an almost endless desire for play and one of her favorite activities is playing fetch. The first day here she spent over an hour chasing and retrieving balls, rope toys, sticks and anything we were willing to throw for her. Molly loves long walks and does pretty good, not pulling much on the leash.

Molly may have been a stray but she came to us in pretty good shape. Her coat was clean and her weight was good. Her first vet visit went well and she is now UTD on vaccinations and had a micro-chip implanted. Molly weighed in at 67 pounds, has not been spayed (scheduled for later in May), and had an ear infection which is being treated. Otherwise she got a clean bill of health.

We have found that Molly knows several commands, such as, sit, down, fetch, come, so her previous owner must have worked with her. She is fully housetrained, no accidents. Molly did not like her crate at first. We worked with her a lot her first day here on becoming comfortable with the crate. We went through a lot of treats and spent time training her to go in and out of her crate. Molly has a strong play drive which makes working with her easy. Since then she has become much more comfortable with her crate and even goes in on her own for a short power nap occasionally.

As wonderful as Molly has been, there are some unknowns and issues that we are working on. We don't know how she feels about cats, other dogs, or children yet. She seems a little wary of strangers and barks at them instead of greeting them which doesn't make for good first impressions. Perhaps she had some bad experiences as a stray, but she does warm up to people after a few minutes. We kept Molly on a long rope for the first few days when she went outside but have we determined she will not jump a 4 foot fence. Molly does have a food guarding issue possibly learned from her time as a stray. We have been hand feeding her and working on getting her comfortable with people around her food bowl. We have turned feeding Molly into a game and she is making good progress.

We're still getting to know Molly but feel she would do best in home with adults and older teenagers because Molly is a big active girl that may be too much for smaller children. We don't know if another dog in her forever home would be fine or if Molly needs to be an only dog. We do know Molly is no couch potato and needs an active family that can get her the exercise and play time she needs. She would do best with someone that is willing to continue working with her on obedience and her food issues and help her become a wonderful addition to her forever family. Someone willing to do this will be rewarded with this special girl.