Comy 18-214
At a Glance #18-214
| Golden Retriever | Born: October 2014 |
| Female | 43 lbs |
Status: Adopted
Profile
Updates
Sunday, January 20, 2019
Comy has arrived at her forever home. She has been adopted by a wonderful, active young couple with a 3.5-year-old daughter and Lincoln, an exuberant 2-year-old Golden Retriever.
Comy arrived in the U.S. about three months ago exhausted, shy, and withdrawn. With the reassurance of three mellow resident Golden Retrievers, Comy is blossoming into a happy, increasingly confident girl whose playful side emerges more and more.
We have every expectation this will continue in her new home. Lots of love goes with you, doll.
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
Hi, everyone. Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year from Comy and all of us.
Comy, along with the residents, had the best holidays ever. We began our family day with blueberry pancakes and ham and progressed to holiday ears and presents. Comy enthusiastically participated in finding the "treat" and "bone" presents and calmly modelled some of the holiday ear collection. She is such a go-along girl!
And Comy has given herself and all of us the best present ever this holiday season. As of today - 1/1/19 - she has reached Day 12 of NO BARKING when Foster Mom is gone from the house!! Kudos to Comy! Foster Mom thinks we've rounded the power curve on her anxiety!
Before the holidays, we attended the Shakopee Meet-and-Greet. Comy happily met lots of people - adults and children - and was also delighted to socialize with lots of other Goldens.
Cubbie, one of the resident dogs, accompanied us. Cubbie revels in every opportunity to meet people and spread Golden love. Long after everyone else was tiring, Cubbie was still smiling, wagging his tail, and sharing hugs and kisses. What a terrific day!
Comy has been successfully cat-tested. She showed only mild interest in the cat and generally seemed to say, "I know you're not a dog - what are you?"
It's difficult to not have any idea about Comy's background and her experiences. The good news is that she is slowly and steadily continuing to blossom.
She is still somewhat reserved around strangers, but has become quite affectionate with Foster Mom She obviously takes cues from the residents ("Oh, is that how I'm supposed to act?") and has started to be at the front of the line when hugs and pats and kisses are handed out. Every step forward brings such joy!
Thursday, December 6, 2018
Comy is now available for adoption!
She has been unavailable for the last month because she started to exhibit signs of separation anxiety. Fortunately, Comy's anxiety could be characterized as relatively mild, confined to barking when Foster Mom goes out to do errands and the like.
When Foster Mom recognized what was starting to occur, she decided to concentrate on helping Comy deal with her situation. Thus, it made sense to change Comy's status to temporarily unavailable during this time.
With RAGOM's support, Foster Mom consulted with a behavioral expert who recommended taking steps in two general areas to help Comy.
Firstly, we wanted to desensitize Comy (and, as it turned out, the 3 residents also!) to those cues that increase her anxiety level when Foster Mom is getting ready to leave the house. Foster Mom quickly realized how predictable she herself is: doing the same things - in the same order - every time!
We tackled "getting the car keys" first. Would you believe it took us almost 2 weeks to go from a state of high alert/avid attention in 4 dogs to mild interest on their part now when I pick up the car keys. Much repetition has led to this result!
We have now moved on to the next step: putting hat, gloves, and jacket on. One step at a time!
Secondly, we have worked on counter-conditioning. Interestingly, studies have shown that if a dog with separation anxiety is occupied for the first 20 minutes after his/her person leaves the house, the odds are very high that the pup will relax and go to sleep after that initial period.
Being occupied in our house means supplying Comy with a Kong and two shinbones filled with frozen peanut butter in her crate when I leave the house.
Lastly, we consulted with Comy's vet, and she is on a medication to help reduce her anxiety. And the good news is - our efforts are paying off!
A month ago, Comy was barking whenever I left the house and continued until my return home. Now, she's busy with her treats when I leave the house, and the frequency of barking when Foster Mom returns is under 25%. Terrific progress!
Other news is that Comy has been fully vetted and is 100% A-OK. She is fully healed from her spay surgery also. Foster Mom was just amazed that Comy had no interest in her incision after the surgery. We never had to bother with the dreaded cone of shame or a doughnut. Yippee!
A funny little story highlights once again the fundamental changes that have occurred to Comy's world in the last month and a half. All of the guys jockey for who will be first out the door in the morning. After our first snowfall about a month ago, however, Comy hung back and was initially reluctant to go out.
Why would that be? A check of Seoul's climate reflected that although there are several cold months each year there, snowfall is rare because the climate is so dry. It may well be that Comy had never seen snow before!
She, however, has rapidly adapted with great enthusiasm to our Minnesota winters and loves playing catch-me-if-you-can with resident Cubbie.
Comy continues to be an absolute sweetheart. She is a go-along gal who is happiest snuggling with the residents, playing outside with Cubbie, going on walks (she's shown great improvement on the leash), and just hanging out.
In her Forever Home, Comy would do best with a person/people who are home a good part of the day and a household where there is another dog. Obedience training will help greatly in the bonding process.
Her Forever family will need to continue working on the steps to desensitize and counter-condition her. With our combined efforts, Comy will continue to feel increasingly secure and grow in confidence that her family will always return to love and cherish her.
Thursday, November 8, 2018
Comy arrived in the Twin Cities on October 24, 2018. She flew from Seoul, Korea, to Chicago where she spent the night with a volunteer, and then on to Minnesota the following day by private plane.
Comy was scared, tired, and confused when she arrived here. Comy met the three resident Goldens with little growlies and mutterings. No surprise - everything was strange and threatening. So, we took our time with the introductions.
When Comy realized that the residents were welcoming her and wanted her to be part of the group, her demeanor completely changed. Her tension level declined noticeably, and she started to relax. Amazing! Comy rapidly progressed from scared to shy and reserved over the next few days.
Comy is not the prototypical, outgoing, loving Golden yet, but she clearly wants to be that Golden! For example, initially she would move away when I tried to pat her. But when I patted and loved one of the residents, Comy would be right there, too - wanting her fair share of love and attention.
Finally, after about 8 days, Comy independently approached me and asked for some love and pats. Wow! Every day, there are signs that Comy is settling in and adapting to her new world.
Some observations about this sweetheart are:
- After a restless first night, Comy now sleeps through the night.
- Comy has not had any accidents in the house. (Whether that is due to Foster Mom's outstanding house training ability or because Comy was house trained when she arrived, who knows. More to the point, who cares!)
- She enjoys car rides: willingly jumps into the car and then lies down quietly.
- She is crate trained. Comy sleeps in her crate at night and is crated when Foster Mom leaves the house to run errands and the like.
- Comy is not used to walking on a leash. We're making slow progress.
- After using a leash and then a trailing lead on Comy for about a week when we went out into the (fenced) back yard, she has free roam with the residents and comes when they do.
- Comy is enthusiastic about meals and treats, and having just been introduced to peanut butter, she immediately decided that she absolutely loves it.
- Comy is now openly affectionate with the residents, and all four frequently sleep snuggled together.
In all, Comy is settling in just beautifully, and her self-confidence grows every day. In her Forever Home, this lovely doll will need, most of all, love and positive reinforcement, at least one other resident dog, obedience classes, and lots of time and patience as she learns English.
