Wishing you an itch-free holiday! Judith C.

 Merry Christmas from Team Hudson!

Meet Betty, our new foster who now resides in Sioux Falls, SD. Betty has quite an ‘itchy’ background as you will be able to tell from the very first photos of her when we got her. What you are seeing is severe staph infection of her entire body, most likely from allergies or perhaps due to something in the environment. Betty came to us in very rough shape; however, in a short time, with immediate vet care, a good ‘recipe’ for her pain, itching/oozing and medicated baths these first couple of weeks, she has come quite far already. Other than the obvious medical issue she came with, the biggest thing we noticed with Betty is her personality. Nothing less than outstanding.

Betty’s DOB is 12/24/2006, so on this Christmas Eve, she will turn 7. She had remained with the same family from puppyhood. Due to changes in family, expenses and her doing so poorly, she came into our rescue care. Once Betty was picked up, which went fine, she came to us without any problems. When she arrived, she made introductions with our pack which consists of 2 dogs and 3 cats. Went great! Betty is amazing. I need to just list her qualities here as she is just so wonderful and amazing.

• Betty will be 7 years old on Christmas Eve this year (2013).
• She is a taller girl, weighing about 76#.
• She, despite her ‘shaved rough spots,’ actually has a very nice reddish coat and a beautiful feathery tail.
• She loves to ride in the truck/car.
• She is great with cats and could care less if they lay on her.
• She is great with other dogs, in our home, on walks, and at the vet's office.
• She is a beauty to walk, does super.
• She is house trained. (A note here is that due to all the steroids we began with, we did indeed have a couple of small accidents. When you are on those, you drink a lot and urinate a lot, so that is getting better and more monitored—so now we know how long she can go. This will of course be great once she is off the meds, but she is fine.)
• She knows sit, stay, down, roll over, come, and shake; just amazing.
• She is great with kids. She met our grandchildren over Thanksgiving, who are 7 and 9, and she was perfect, loved the attention.
• She is crate trained.
• She sleeps on a large dog bed at night and the end of our bed, and all the troops are in the bedroom at night.
• She takes treats nicely.
• She enjoys being groomed and bathed (whew).
• She loves to play.

So here is a beautiful, outstanding Golden girl who is one of those dogs who could adjust to just about any lifestyle. She does not need another dog, but is great with others. LOVES her human. She wants to please, play, walk, and just be a Golden who is loved. She is very agile and in great physical condition, other than we need to clean up this horrible staph infection she has apparently had for a long time. Amazing how good she is at the vet’s office. When she stands, perks her head up and looks at you, she is breathtaking. Once all that fur grows back in, she will look even more amazing.

Betty obviously needed immediate care and if there is someone who would want to SPONSOR her, that would be such a great ‘birthday gift’ for her and for RAGOM! Betty continues to do incredibly well and we just adore her. Again, the personality is one of the BEST ever.

Below, I am showing you some “first photos” of the poor shape she was in when she arrived here in our care. When you see the ‘after photos,’ I think you will be amazed at just how well she is doing and healing up! We have her on grain-free food as we do our dogs. She is fed 2X a day and takes all her meds just fine in her food.

THE BEFORE PICS : (She obviously had to have places shaved from the infection/puss/matter.)

This one is her throat.

This is the top of her head.

This is her hip/thigh area.

Again cleaned/shaved up.

I think perhaps these need to be seen, as this is truly what rescue is about. THE DOG. They come with so many different health and behavioral issues. What is AMAZING is how we can try to help these Golden Retrievers in need, get the help (whatever it is) they deserve and need if we can. This is what makes people like me tick and so love RAGOM, to be able to do these things with the support of others. We can see some, not all, of these dogs blossom in foster care and some like Betty, in a short amount of time. It is also just amazing to many of us, how these Goldens adapt and move forward with their lives. One day/step at a time. Just nothing like a Golden Retriever. ♥

AFTER: Check this out NOW!!!!!!! Pretty amazing! Betty, you are a dream!

Let me add that I have just the best Veterinarian Team/Staff here!!!