| In addition to LOVE this dog has the following requirements: | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entered Foster Care | Fence | Kid Friendly | Another Dog | Cat Friendly | |
| 6/5/14 | Yes | minimal test-seemed friendly | preferred | yes | |
| This is the most recent information available; however, it may change as we learn more about the dog. | |||||
Desiree is a sweet, little “honorary” Golden – honorary because she may not have any Golden Retriever in her makeup. We don’t know much about her past. She was in a shelter in Indiana, and then moved to the Humane Society in Golden Valley, MN. (Golden Valley? She MUST be Golden then! … just kidding.) The transfer papers from Indiana to Golden Valley and from Golden Valley to RAGOM listed her breed as “smooth-coated collie mix”.
The Humane Society asked if RAGOM could help with her as she was very frightened and not doing very well in the shelter. My husband picked her up to take her to a boarding facility that RAGOM sometimes uses when they don’t have a foster family ready for a dog. She was shaking when he picked her up, but before he started his car she laid her head on his shoulder, leaned against him and melted into him. He made a phone call to get the ball rolling, and we were assigned as her foster family right then and there.
She has moved seamlessly into our home, and has to be the easiest dog we have fostered so far. She has been friendly to us and gets along fine with both of our resident dogs – a 2-and-a-half year old Golden Retriever and an almost 8 year old Shih Tzu. The latter is kind of crabby sometimes, and Desi, as we call her for short, appropriately backs away from him. She has become the best kind of playmate for our Golden, Lucy – running, wrestling, never too rough. We are going to hate to see her leave.
Desi is a little more focused on Lucy than on us. However, she enjoys being petted and she is quick to jump up on the bed and lie quietly there. She does have some hesitations – seemingly fear based. Often she will not go through a doorway until our Lucy does. Or, if Lucy is already past the doorway before Desi sees her go out, she will not go through until I go out. If you are coaxing her to come to you, she will sometimes just freeze and stare at you – not in a playful, keep away fashion, nor threatening – but looking very wary. As soon as you turn your back and walk away, she will follow. She has met a few people. Women she greeted just fine, but she barked at the few men she has met so far. With the men, she settled down after a short while and then came in to sniff the offered hand and accepted petting. FD was the exception so far, no hesitation on her part when she met him.
We were at a Meet and Greet last weekend and a family with three young children came in. They were all hugging her and she was very friendly with them. She was friendly with every dog she met there, also.
We are not positive if she lived in a house before. We had several potty accidents in the first few days, but not recently. She doesn’t have a ‘tell’ to get outside, but goes out whenever our RD does and takes care of business then. She knows to wait for her turn for her food bowl to be set down, and she is the last to receive her bowl. She is extremely gentle taking treats – no worries about your fingers!! We had a thunderstorm one night and she didn’t blink an eye.
Desi was 31 pounds when we took her to a RAGOM vet. She got a clean bill of health except for intestinal parasites – giardia – for which she is being treated. She is up-to-date with her shots and currently on heartworm and flea/tick preventatives.
She jumps like a gazelle – all four feet lifting off almost simultaneously. She is speedy and loves to tear around the backyard, which is securely fenced. She is not really responsive to her name or to being called. She does come most of the time, but I think that if she took off outside of a fence, we would not easily get her back. For that reason, at this time we are thinking she would do best with a physical fence. Also, since she relies somewhat on another dog for confidence in going through doors, and because she seems to live and breathe for playing with Lucy, we are thinking that she might do best with another young, playful dog. Or at least a dog that is young enough to enjoy playing and romping. She is definitely a follower. She does enjoy chasing a ball, so depending on circumstances we might consider placing her as an only dog.
If you think Desiree might be the dog for you, contact your placement advisor.
| Mixed Breed | Born: October 2012 |
| Female | 40 lbs |
Status: Adopted
| In addition to LOVE this dog has the following requirements: | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entered Foster Care | Fence | Kid Friendly | Another Dog | Cat Friendly | |
| 6/5/14 | Yes | minimal test-seemed friendly | preferred | yes | |
| This is the most recent information available; however, it may change as we learn more about the dog. | |||||
Desiree is a sweet, little “honorary” Golden – honorary because she may not have any Golden Retriever in her makeup. We don’t know much about her past. She was in a shelter in Indiana, and then moved to the Humane Society in Golden Valley, MN. (Golden Valley? She MUST be Golden then! … just kidding.) The transfer papers from Indiana to Golden Valley and from Golden Valley to RAGOM listed her breed as “smooth-coated collie mix”.
The Humane Society asked if RAGOM could help with her as she was very frightened and not doing very well in the shelter. My husband picked her up to take her to a boarding facility that RAGOM sometimes uses when they don’t have a foster family ready for a dog. She was shaking when he picked her up, but before he started his car she laid her head on his shoulder, leaned against him and melted into him. He made a phone call to get the ball rolling, and we were assigned as her foster family right then and there.
She has moved seamlessly into our home, and has to be the easiest dog we have fostered so far. She has been friendly to us and gets along fine with both of our resident dogs – a 2-and-a-half year old Golden Retriever and an almost 8 year old Shih Tzu. The latter is kind of crabby sometimes, and Desi, as we call her for short, appropriately backs away from him. She has become the best kind of playmate for our Golden, Lucy – running, wrestling, never too rough. We are going to hate to see her leave.
Desi is a little more focused on Lucy than on us. However, she enjoys being petted and she is quick to jump up on the bed and lie quietly there. She does have some hesitations – seemingly fear based. Often she will not go through a doorway until our Lucy does. Or, if Lucy is already past the doorway before Desi sees her go out, she will not go through until I go out. If you are coaxing her to come to you, she will sometimes just freeze and stare at you – not in a playful, keep away fashion, nor threatening – but looking very wary. As soon as you turn your back and walk away, she will follow. She has met a few people. Women she greeted just fine, but she barked at the few men she has met so far. With the men, she settled down after a short while and then came in to sniff the offered hand and accepted petting. FD was the exception so far, no hesitation on her part when she met him.
We were at a Meet and Greet last weekend and a family with three young children came in. They were all hugging her and she was very friendly with them. She was friendly with every dog she met there, also.
We are not positive if she lived in a house before. We had several potty accidents in the first few days, but not recently. She doesn’t have a ‘tell’ to get outside, but goes out whenever our RD does and takes care of business then. She knows to wait for her turn for her food bowl to be set down, and she is the last to receive her bowl. She is extremely gentle taking treats – no worries about your fingers!! We had a thunderstorm one night and she didn’t blink an eye.
Desi was 31 pounds when we took her to a RAGOM vet. She got a clean bill of health except for intestinal parasites – giardia – for which she is being treated. She is up-to-date with her shots and currently on heartworm and flea/tick preventatives.
She jumps like a gazelle – all four feet lifting off almost simultaneously. She is speedy and loves to tear around the backyard, which is securely fenced. She is not really responsive to her name or to being called. She does come most of the time, but I think that if she took off outside of a fence, we would not easily get her back. For that reason, at this time we are thinking she would do best with a physical fence. Also, since she relies somewhat on another dog for confidence in going through doors, and because she seems to live and breathe for playing with Lucy, we are thinking that she might do best with another young, playful dog. Or at least a dog that is young enough to enjoy playing and romping. She is definitely a follower. She does enjoy chasing a ball, so depending on circumstances we might consider placing her as an only dog.
If you think Desiree might be the dog for you, contact your placement advisor.
Sweet little Desi has been adopted. It was kind of bittersweet to pass this little dog over to her new family because she had become such a part of ours. But that is the cycle of a foster family. We are confident that she has been well placed and will be well loved and cared for. She has a fenced yard and another young dog to play with, and we are very happy for her. Good luck to Desi and her new family.
First, I want to thank Desi’s dog-sitter for watching her while we were on vacation and for the nice update he provided above. We were so glad to get such confirming feedback on how well she gets along with other dogs and with cats. I loved the pictures of Desi with his cats!
We have been back from vacation for a while now and it is time to get busy again trying to find the right family to adopt Desi. She is such a sweetie and has been so easy to take care of that we are really not all that anxious for her to leave. :-) However, the whole idea here is to find that special forever home for her and just be happy that we helped send her on her way to enjoy that Golden Life. Yes, we know she is not a Golden Retriever, but we are still going to find her a family that will love her and enjoy her and thus she will live the Golden Life. :-)
Nothing much has changed. We have brought her into the pool a few times and she can swim very nicely, but she is not interested in coming in on her own. We have pushed the point so that she knows where the steps are to get out if she is knocked in by one of the bigger dogs. I don’t know what she would be like by a lake, where she could wade in by herself.
Here is a summary of Desi – or at least what I can think of right now:
I want to tell you about one particularly interesting behavior we have seen several times. We had a second foster dog for a while, Jimmy 14-178, who has pretty bad storm anxiety. He is now our daughter and son-in-law’s foster and is over quite often. He is on anti-anxiety meds, but during a storm, he still wears a Thundershirt and needs constant attention. (He is on a hand-held leash to keep him from going into a total panic.) Desi, when Jimmy is suffering from this fear, hangs close to him, and lays down with him – right over him – and we have no other explanation but that Desi is trying to comfort him. The first night Jimmy was in our home as a foster, he was restless and very unsettled. He was up and down on a dog bed that came with him, and at one point, Desi laid down right beside him. He settled down then and they both slept. I have included a picture of Desi comforting Jimmy during a recent storm.
She has a big heart for a little dog. Does your heart have room to love this little sweetie?
Hi Desiree fans,
Desiree came to my house for a vacation for a week while her foster mom and dad took a vacation.
Desiree met my 2 senior resident dogs, 3 house cats and my young [15 month old] foster dog with no real problems. It was a lot of new things all at once but she handled it all very well. After maybe a hour, My young foster dog, Skylee 14-136 was best friends with Desiree and the play took off. They played until both of them collapsed. Skylee weighs almost twice as much ad Desiree but Desiree can hold her own in a wrestling match. Desi could also out run Skylee in a game of chase. They also played "take away" with toys and bones. It was fun to see 2 dogs enjoying each other so much.
Desiree was interested in my 3 house cats. She always had to check where they were if she came in from a walk or trip outside. It took a day for the cats to adjust to Desiree. They learned if they didn't run, she wouldn't chase and if the stood their ground, she would back off. It ended up, the most dog crazy cat of the 3 would play and sleep with Desiree. I don't think Desiree would hurt a cat especially once she gets used to that cat.
Desiree was very affectionate with me. She would often come and bump my arm with her cold nose to get some pets. She would also lay in my lap while I watched TV if she wasn't busy playing with Skylee.
Desiree was a very nice guest at my house and I would welcome her any time again. I know Skylee would also.
It is time for an update on little Desi. We are quite surprised that no one has adopted her yet. She is a wonderful little dog. Most rescue dogs have a little baggage, and she does too, but her issues seem very minor.
We have taken Desi to a few Meet and Greets lately. For the most part, she does very well around all the people and other dogs. She has had three children petting her at one time and she stood very calmly. One time a toddler came up and before either I or his mother could stop him, he patted her fairly inappropriately – smack smack smack (not very hard) – but right on her face. Desi just blinked. Like so many rescue dogs she sometime is a little nervous about men. At the Meet and Greets she has barked at and backed away from some men. Given enough time she will settle down.
We were having some potty accidents in the morning before we could get her outside. We crated her at night for a few nights, but then started just shutting the bedroom door and keeping her in the room not crated. Foster Dad’s schedule gets him up very early and he takes her out right away, then he leaves the bedroom door open when he leaves for work. We haven’t had an accident for over a week.
Desi is a wonderful playmate to our 2 1/2 year old resident Golden. She leaves our sometimes-crabby Shih Tzu alone for the most part. We are perfectly comfortable leaving the three of them alone and with free roam of the house. She has shown no resource guarding, no counter surfing (might be a bit tall for her), no inappropriate chewing. She loves toys, nyla-bones and chew sticks. She loves to run and wrestle with playful dogs. She has no storm anxiety, and wasn’t at all bothered by the sound of fireworks in a near-by park this weekend. She lifted her head and listened a bit, then went back to snoozing.
She gets her exercise in the fenced backyard running and playing, so we haven’t had her out too often except for the Meet and Greets, and a few walks around the neighborhood. She walks well enough on the leash. Mostly she doesn’t pull, but when she does, she isn’t really very strong :-) She is still a little nervous about some things. For example, she doesn’t always want to jump up into the car, so we lift her in when she balks. But once in, she is a good rider.
Desi enjoys being petted and usually follows you from room to room. I work from home most days, and she will often lie at my feet. She sometimes crawls up on my lap when I am in our recliner with the foot part up. She will rest quietly there – it is kind of sweet. She sleeps on the bed much of the night, curled up close to FD. She doesn’t take up much room or get restless.
We think Desi would benefit from having another playful dog in her forever home, but it is not a firm requirement. We think she will be ok with cats, although our cat-test was pretty minimal. Soon another foster will be dog sitting her for a while. He has resident cats, and by the time she comes back to us we will know for certain how she responds to cats. As for children, the only exposure she has had while with us is at the Meet and Greets where she has been very calm with them.
Does this cute little peanut sound like she might be the dog for you? If so, please contact your placement advisor.
Here is a quick update on Desiree. Very little has changed since her introduction. She continues to be friendly to people and playful with other, playful dogs. She hasn’t turned into a Golden Retriever, but she is a sweet 30 pound bundle of fun.
We do still have the occasional potty accident, as she hasn’t come up with a way to tell us she needs out – or if she has, we haven’t been able to tell what it is. We have not once caught her in the act, so there hasn’t been a chance to try to correct it. There is really no choice but to just clean it up and to praise her when she does it outside. Her last fecal test came back clear of parasites, so she is clear of the Giardia that she was being treated for.
She has not overcome all of her fear-based behavior, but we can’t put our finger on what triggers it. It is pretty mild, though. Most of the time she goes in and out of doors on her own, but sometimes she hangs back and acts afraid to go out – even when the other dogs are going. You can coax, but she is adamant and will back away from you. Other times I will lean over to pet her and all of a sudden she gets a wary look and backs away, and you can’t seem to convince her that you mean no harm. If you ignore her for a few seconds, then things are right back on track. Also, when we took her to the State Fair grounds for the Pet-a-palooza event, she was VERY scared of all the noise and commotion on the way in. Lots of people, dogs and flapping flags. (I could hardly blame her.) I couldn’t walk along with my family but had to keep stopping, petting her, coaxing her along. As we settled into the RAGOM booth, however, she relaxed and seemed to enjoy being petted by new people. She was fine walking out when we left. I don’t think she has had a lot of life experiences. I am sure that she will become more confident over time.
I said she was playful with other playful dogs. For a while we had a second foster dog in our home, and although he was great with people and did ok with our resident dogs, for some reason he was very testy around Desi. Maybe she got in his face too much. Whatever the reason, he would sometimes growl and lunge at her, and she didn’t back down and would growl and lunge back. It usually happened around someone’s feet, so maybe she would have moved away if she had more room – I don’t know. This happened several times, but I don’t put the blame on her – unless it was something about respecting another dog’s boundaries. The second foster is no longer here, and she gets along great with our dogs.
We did have a successful, albeit short, cat test which she passed. We had her at our daughter’s, and the guys took Desi and a cat into a room together. At first they held the cat and Desi sniffed. Later the cat was on the floor and went under a desk. Desi didn’t seem unduly interested, so she could likely live with a cat.
Although she has started to respond more to her name, we still wouldn’t trust her without a physical fence. She loves to run and chase with our and our daughter’s dog, and she also will run willy-nilly around the yard all by herself. She has a lot of spunk and energy!