Hi RAGOM friends and William M, it's me, Ava, checking in. I haven't written my own update in a while because I've been SO busy doing SO many new things... like learning to walk on a leash, and to ride in the car, and to play with toys, and to chew bully sticks and bones, and to chase tennis balls (and guess what else I figured out? if I bring them back to foster mom, she will throw them again and again... she tells me I have real "potential" as a retriever, whatever that means). Oh, and I've been meeting some new people, and even though I'm a little shy when I first meet them, I'm not as scared as I used to be, and hardly ever want to turn and run back into my crate anymore. Plus I spend all day playing with my fur brothers, and getting lots and lots of petting and belly rubs from foster mom. I also love it when she squeezes a little bit of goo in my ears and then rubs them for me, it's the best! She said she was afraid I wouldn't like it, but I LOVE getting my ears rubbed, and it's not like the goo hurts me or anything. Mom says it's making my ears all better, so it must be good for me. I just hope the ear rubs don't stop when we don't need the goo anymore.I went on another trip to the vet, but this time it wasn't for me -- hooray! My foster bro, Zach, came with me last week when I had to go (and I was pretty scared and forgot to trust foster mom for a minute when we were in the parking lot), so this time she said I could come with Zach, just to see how fun it is to have everyone pet you and give you treats when you don't even have to get poked and prodded by anyone. I did so well the whole time, I could tell that foster mom was really proud of me. Even when we were leaving and a man came in the door rolling a big huge machine on a cart, I only ran behind foster mom's back for like a second, then I got brave and came right back out again. It really wasn't so bad, I guess. But I was still really happy when we got back home. You see, this is the only home I've ever known and I'm getting pretty comfortable here. Mom says not to get too comfortable b/c we have a special family to meet next week when they get back from a trip. I am so excited, I hope I can be brave and show them all the new things I've learned... I wonder if they could be MY family? Well, it's getting late and Zach is chewing on my ear to go play, so I guess I'd better wrap it up. I'm wondering if tonight is the night foster mom will break down and let me sleep in bed with her. I'm totally potty trained now, and don't really use my crate that much, and this week I learned how to jump up on her bed for snuggle time, so now I like to do that a LOT, and I figure it's just a matter of time before I actually get to sleep up there. I promise to be real quiet and just lie still and sleep... unlike another fuzzy little boy I know. Thank you RAGOM and William for my GReat new life! Cheers! - Ava the Brave (when I'm shy)- Princess Ava (when I'm hogging all of mom's attention)- Aves or AVA (when mom wants MY attention)- Miss Ava Marie (when I'm prancing around the house with my stuffed animals)- Avey Bear (when I'm snuggling)- sweet little Ava (when it's time for bed)  Princess Ava!   Such a pretty girl :)  She's now quite the retriever!

Oh my gosh, where do I begin? I knew from the moment I met Ava, the night they arrived from North Dakota, that this girl was special. She was so matted, and dirty, and scared, as she cowered in the corner of her crate, but she was brave enough to look me in the eye, instead of turning away in fear, and seemed to ask me for help. She was supposed to come home with me that night to foster, but the vet determined she was in heat, and I have a 5 month old puppy who had yet to be neutered (he is now), so we decided it was safest for her to go have her vetting and spay done before coming into foster care.She finally arrived here on Monday night, and is just as wonderful and brave as I knew she would be. She has changed so much in 5 days, I hardly recognize the scared girl in the crate pictures from her first night here (check out the new 'Happy Girl' pictures below). Princess Ava has adapted to living in a house as if she'd always known that was where she was supposed to be. Sure, things are still new to her, and she still startles, or reverts back to the slinky walk (you know, with belly low to the ground) on occasion, but she goes into her crate for a "recharge" less and less every day, and her tail is always wagging. I actually sometimes have a hard time getting her to go in the crate when I need to leave the house. I have to keep upping the ante with better and better treats (which she takes from my hand with no problem), so I'm guessing that once she is fully potty-trained there won't be much need for it. She has only had one accident in the house so far, and seems to be catching onto everything very quickly.Ava doesn't seem to have a lot of the typical puppy mill fears. She is perfectly comfortable with doors, doorways, and stairs, and rather than the common "take flight" reaction to something scary, she tends to want to become invisible by clinging to me. It is very heartwarming, and has made it easy to bond with her, but it also makes me conscious of how important it is for her to get into her adoptive home, and develop that strong bond with her new family. She adores people, and wants nothing more than love and attention. Oh, and a few toys, which she will carry around the house 24/7. For now, I still think she should go to a home with another dog, but that could change. She really wants 100% of my attention, and although she is very comfortable with my dogs, and plays great with my puppy, she really is most focused on me. I can take her out in the yard to potty without either of the other two dogs, and she does fine. Next step is to try a leash walk without them, so I'll report back on how that goes. One thing we are working on is jumping up. In her desire to be close to me, she will often jump up against me, as if to say "hey, I'm right here, why aren't you petting me?" She is also a born counter surfer, apparently, since she's never had the opportunity to learn this behavior before this week, and yet she wasted no time in checking out what was up there. Unfortunately my gas stove has dials on the front top panel, so when Ava jumped up to check out the stove earlier today, she turned the dial for one of the burners, enough to turn the gas on, but not light the flame. Thankfully I walked into the kitchen shortly after and noticed the smell of gas. Perhaps it would be best if Ava's forever family had a stove without dials on the front! :) However, in the event that's not possible, we are working diligently on the "off" command.Guess I should share a few of the specifics on Miss Ava Marie (yes, that is one of the nicknames that has stuck... Ave Maria became Ava Marie). Our best guess is that she is about 1 year old. She certainly has the exuberance and playfulness of a puppy, and her pearly whites also suggest she is quite young. RAGOM tried to match registration papers to dogs, via tattoos in their ears, and USDA numbers on their chainlink collars, but it was somewhat of a guessing game, and many of the dogs had no papers. The registration document we ended up with does not match the tattoo in Ava's ear, and I'm also quite sure she is not almost 5 years old. My guess is that the paperwork belongs to her mother, but we don't know who that is. I have a hunch her father is Bismarck 07-194, only because she has the same deep, brown pools for eyes, which are incredibly gorgeous!Ava has had all of her vetwork completed and has been spayed. We will take a trip to the vet on Monday to remove her sutures, and should hopefully return with a clean bill of health. She is finishing up some antibiotics for a slight rash on her tummy/groin area, but tested negative for mites, and the vet didn't think it was anything serious. She has already been brought up-to-date on her shots, is heartworm negative, and has been microchipped. As you saw in the first set of pictures, Ava has some almost bare spots where her beautiful coat was shaved due to horrible matting. Most of her back end has a crew cut for the time being, but it will grow out quickly, and she also has a short spot on her chest that you can see in her new pictures (just below her collar, near where her tags hang). Other than that, her coat is a gorgeous, lighter gold, and very silky, despite her previous poor nutrition. She is eating very well here, and has finished her bowl at every meal since she arrived. She is a petite girl, and her weight seems just about perfect to me, at 54 lbs, but we'll verify that with the vet on Monday. I could go on and on about this girl, she really is a gem. Although Ava has not been in foster care for very long, I would encourage families who are interested in her to inquire now. Medically speaking, she is ready for adoption, and I think she is outgoing enough that if she finds her perfect family sooner rather than later, they should be able to share in this wonderful discovery and growth time for her. Of course they will need to understand that there will still be setbacks, and they will always need to be patient with her, and let her progress at her own speed, but she is so willing and eager to trust and bond with humans, I want her new family to be the ones to experience that. Email placementragom [dot] org if you are interested in learning more about Princess Ava Marie.