Greta 10-028

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Sponsored by: Anonymous

Greetings from North Dakota! My name is Greta and I am somewhat of a mystery. I came into the RAGOM life a week ago, my foster mom came and picked me up in her town of Grand Forks, so I didn't have far to travel in the car. That makes me a bit sad, because I sure did like the car ride to her house! I sat very nicely and quietly in the back and just took in my cruise around town. Foster mom was impressed that I didn't try to climb in the front and "help" drive like her dog does. Foster mom said I should tell you about myself a bit before I get too much into my story. I am a very pretty Golden if I do say so myself, but I could use a good groom - my golden red hair is thick and healthy and without mats. I have awesome feathering on my tail, legs, and even between my toes! I'm a tall girl, I can sit on the floor and rest my head on FM's king size bed without having to reach - that really helps me in the "pleaaaaaaaaaase can I get on the bed" game. My previous owner guessed that I was about 8 years old, according to the vet that she took me to, but we have a surprise about that in a minute. Not much else is known about my past because my previous owner found me wandering around her neighborhood last year and was kind enough to take me in and give me lots of love for the past year. With a new job and longer hours it was hard for her to give me all she felt I needed so RAGOM is who she contacted, and I couldn't be happier!

After the first few days, FM put me in the car again (YAY!) and away we went to the vet. I had blood work done (all negative!), got weighed (a healthy 68 lbs thankuverymuch!), and got lots of scratchies on the head. I love All Pets Hospital, they treat you like a Queen! FM had the vet look in my mouth because she says I have "stinky" breath! Hmmmpf! The vet said my teeth really tell my story and that I'm not really 8 or 9 years old, I'm closer to probably 10 or 11 years old because of the amount of wear on them. She said it's hard to tell a dog's age but based on the tooth wear, that was her best guess. She also said that for being 10, I am super healthy and in really great shape. FM says I sure don't act like I'm 10!  Today we're going back to the vet because (shhhh) FM forgot the microchip on her kitchen table when we went the first time! Ooops!

Right now my current house is kind of a full one! I live with FM and Foster Dad, two foster brothers who are 8 & 5, and then they have 3 resident pets - a 1 year old Sheltie/Bichon mix and 2 cats. I love all of them so much! They love to play with me and laugh when I can give their puppy a run for his money when we play together! The cats and I get along really well too, I don't mind at all that they are here but they are nice to snuggle with sometimes. I didn't even mind when one of them reminded me this was "his" house and gave my nose a swipe with his clawed paw! The boys and I get along great, they sneak me dog treats when they don't think their mom is looking and don't mind if I come lay on them when they are on the floor. (Hey, if I can be used as a pillow, so can they!) My best bud though is definitely Toby, the resident dog. He is full of energy and always wants to play - and boy do I give him a run for his money! FM says it's about time someone put him in his place! FM says she has video of us playing that she'll see if she can get RAGOM to put on my page! Cool, huh? She says that whoever sees it won't believe that I'm "really 10."

I really LOVE to be outside. There is a lot of snow here in North Dakota and I don't mind it at all. I love to go outside and roll in the snow and play with Toby. Toby and I have lots of fun outside and FM says she is so impressed with me because she can trust me to be out without the leash on, which is a big deal since she doesn't have a fenced yard. I really know and like my name and I come to you when you call but I'm also never very far from you. I like my people too much for that! I am a bit of a puller on a leash though - I'm just so excited to GO! FM says we are going to work really hard on being a GRReat walker so when my forever family arrives we can go on lots of walks together. She has a sneaky suspicion I might even like to be a jogger!

I'm quirky! The first thing I did when I met FM was jump up and give her a great big hug! That totally melted her heart, I could tell because she kept "oooohing" and "awwwing" about it! I also have a stuffed bone I like to carry around in my mouth, or Toby has a 'special' stuffed duck that he lets me carry sometimes too.

I'm housetrained too, I nose your hand repeatedly or whine to be let out. FM works school hours and she can trust me to be a good girl and stay out of things while she's gone and not come home to a potty mess either. She says Toby could do well to learn some of my manners! HE still has to be crated while she is gone! I'll have to work on that with him I think. I also respect baby gates and rarely get on furniture. When I first met FD, I surprised FM because I jumped on the couch for the first time to sit ON top of him and get snuggles! She even wants me to sleep on the bed, but I prefer my floor blanket!

FM and I sat down and thought long and hard about what kind of 'furever' family I would like and here are some of our thoughts:

A family with another dog would be awesome, but I could definitely be okay with being the only dog too.
A family with kids who are over 2 - I like ALL kids but I'm a little big and could easily knock over little ones and well, my feet are big and hurt when I step on toes of all sizes!
A family with kids isn't a requirement either, I would be great in a one or two person family as well!

A family who likes to be outside and has a yard. I don't *need* a fenced  yard, but one would be awesome.

A family who understands that even though I don't act like it, I am a senior dog and I may have some health issues arise in the next few years.

If you believe you are the family for me, please contact your placement advisor and they will get you on your way to meeting and learning more about me! FM says more updates and pictures are on their way soon!! :)

At a Glance #10-028

Golden Retriever Born: June 2001
Female Weight not specified

Status: Deceased

Profile

Sponsored by: Anonymous

Greetings from North Dakota! My name is Greta and I am somewhat of a mystery. I came into the RAGOM life a week ago, my foster mom came and picked me up in her town of Grand Forks, so I didn't have far to travel in the car. That makes me a bit sad, because I sure did like the car ride to her house! I sat very nicely and quietly in the back and just took in my cruise around town. Foster mom was impressed that I didn't try to climb in the front and "help" drive like her dog does. Foster mom said I should tell you about myself a bit before I get too much into my story. I am a very pretty Golden if I do say so myself, but I could use a good groom - my golden red hair is thick and healthy and without mats. I have awesome feathering on my tail, legs, and even between my toes! I'm a tall girl, I can sit on the floor and rest my head on FM's king size bed without having to reach - that really helps me in the "pleaaaaaaaaaase can I get on the bed" game. My previous owner guessed that I was about 8 years old, according to the vet that she took me to, but we have a surprise about that in a minute. Not much else is known about my past because my previous owner found me wandering around her neighborhood last year and was kind enough to take me in and give me lots of love for the past year. With a new job and longer hours it was hard for her to give me all she felt I needed so RAGOM is who she contacted, and I couldn't be happier!

After the first few days, FM put me in the car again (YAY!) and away we went to the vet. I had blood work done (all negative!), got weighed (a healthy 68 lbs thankuverymuch!), and got lots of scratchies on the head. I love All Pets Hospital, they treat you like a Queen! FM had the vet look in my mouth because she says I have "stinky" breath! Hmmmpf! The vet said my teeth really tell my story and that I'm not really 8 or 9 years old, I'm closer to probably 10 or 11 years old because of the amount of wear on them. She said it's hard to tell a dog's age but based on the tooth wear, that was her best guess. She also said that for being 10, I am super healthy and in really great shape. FM says I sure don't act like I'm 10!  Today we're going back to the vet because (shhhh) FM forgot the microchip on her kitchen table when we went the first time! Ooops!

Right now my current house is kind of a full one! I live with FM and Foster Dad, two foster brothers who are 8 & 5, and then they have 3 resident pets - a 1 year old Sheltie/Bichon mix and 2 cats. I love all of them so much! They love to play with me and laugh when I can give their puppy a run for his money when we play together! The cats and I get along really well too, I don't mind at all that they are here but they are nice to snuggle with sometimes. I didn't even mind when one of them reminded me this was "his" house and gave my nose a swipe with his clawed paw! The boys and I get along great, they sneak me dog treats when they don't think their mom is looking and don't mind if I come lay on them when they are on the floor. (Hey, if I can be used as a pillow, so can they!) My best bud though is definitely Toby, the resident dog. He is full of energy and always wants to play - and boy do I give him a run for his money! FM says it's about time someone put him in his place! FM says she has video of us playing that she'll see if she can get RAGOM to put on my page! Cool, huh? She says that whoever sees it won't believe that I'm "really 10."

I really LOVE to be outside. There is a lot of snow here in North Dakota and I don't mind it at all. I love to go outside and roll in the snow and play with Toby. Toby and I have lots of fun outside and FM says she is so impressed with me because she can trust me to be out without the leash on, which is a big deal since she doesn't have a fenced yard. I really know and like my name and I come to you when you call but I'm also never very far from you. I like my people too much for that! I am a bit of a puller on a leash though - I'm just so excited to GO! FM says we are going to work really hard on being a GRReat walker so when my forever family arrives we can go on lots of walks together. She has a sneaky suspicion I might even like to be a jogger!

I'm quirky! The first thing I did when I met FM was jump up and give her a great big hug! That totally melted her heart, I could tell because she kept "oooohing" and "awwwing" about it! I also have a stuffed bone I like to carry around in my mouth, or Toby has a 'special' stuffed duck that he lets me carry sometimes too.

I'm housetrained too, I nose your hand repeatedly or whine to be let out. FM works school hours and she can trust me to be a good girl and stay out of things while she's gone and not come home to a potty mess either. She says Toby could do well to learn some of my manners! HE still has to be crated while she is gone! I'll have to work on that with him I think. I also respect baby gates and rarely get on furniture. When I first met FD, I surprised FM because I jumped on the couch for the first time to sit ON top of him and get snuggles! She even wants me to sleep on the bed, but I prefer my floor blanket!

FM and I sat down and thought long and hard about what kind of 'furever' family I would like and here are some of our thoughts:

A family with another dog would be awesome, but I could definitely be okay with being the only dog too.
A family with kids who are over 2 - I like ALL kids but I'm a little big and could easily knock over little ones and well, my feet are big and hurt when I step on toes of all sizes!
A family with kids isn't a requirement either, I would be great in a one or two person family as well!

A family who likes to be outside and has a yard. I don't *need* a fenced  yard, but one would be awesome.

A family who understands that even though I don't act like it, I am a senior dog and I may have some health issues arise in the next few years.

If you believe you are the family for me, please contact your placement advisor and they will get you on your way to meeting and learning more about me! FM says more updates and pictures are on their way soon!! :)

Updates

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Greta has some awesome news for her fans! She has a FUREVER family!!! The H Family of Iowa made the long journey up here and they all fell in love! Greta has a full family now too! She has a sister and a brother who were also RAGOM dogs! Her sister is Maizy and her brother is Bear. Greta was so happy to meet them all. She was also apparently ready to "go" because as we humans were standing around chatting, she kept pacing and finally wandered over to the van. Her family opened up the hatch and in she jumped!! I would definitely say that she claimed them. I know that she is going to live a FABULOUS Golden life with them and be loved in so many ways.

I would again like to thank her anonymous sponsor, your kindness helps RAGOM do so much for Greta (and other dogs) and it is greatly appreciated.

My family will miss Greta a great deal - the house already feels empty without her. She is the foster we have had the longest (since January) and she truly was a part of our family. Greta will also likely be our last foster because the military has our family moving within the next year. Perhaps we'll foster again, I'm not sure yet.

Thank you to all of Greta's fans for following her page, I'm so excited to be writing this happy ending for her. Attached are some pictures of her new siblings and our goodbyes.

We'll miss you Greta Lou Who! We hope you have a wonderful time in your forever home.

Foster Mom & your North Dakota family


I've found my forever family...Let's GO!!!!
Greta and her new siblings; Bear (in front) and Maizy (on left)
 
One last snuggle with her best bud!		  
One last belly scratchie from her other best bud!

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Hello Greta Fans!

Not much to say but here is an update with lots of pictures and a video clip on YouTube! She loves to be outside!  Here is the YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVCEdhKaQA0

There are also a couple pics of her giving me a hug - it's sort of hard to capture it, but you get the idea!
Also, thanks again to our sponsor!! We appreciate your support SO much!!!

Keep your fingers and paws crossed for Greta, she is meeting with a potential forever family in a couple weeks! We hope that things will work out, she is SO deserving of a forever family!

~ FM & Greta Lou

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Hello Greta Fans -

Not much has changed here, so this will be a quickie update.

Greta (and us!) are loving this gorgeous ND spring! She loves to lay out in the sun while I read a book on the patio, or give Toby a good chase around the yard for a bit.

For the most part, Greta is a very quiet dog, she lays around the house and sleeps but  she loves to play with Toby and be petted. She doesn't seem to be "into" fetching. However, she loves to go for walks. I have to rescind my previous statement when I said she'd be a good jogging companion. She does like to go, but unless you're more of a power walker instead of a jogger, you'll leave her in the dust. My husband went jogging a couple weeks ago and she wanted to go, but he couldn't due to his back injury, so they took a brisk walk and came back. I took her last week for a run, and I'm NOT a runner. I left her in the dust - I felt like I was dragging her behind me. So we alternated walking and jogging and she did pretty good. We probably went 2 - 3 miles and I feel terrible because I noticed about 3 blocks from home that she was limping a bit from her back legs. SO.....walking at a normal pace is probably best for her. Greta is so lively that I think sometimes we do forget that she's about 10 yrs old!

If you've been gone for a few hours, Greta can become sort of clingy when you get home.. She'll pester you to death until she gets the attention she wants. (Who wouldn't? :) ) Also she and Toby seem to have a bit of a friendly 'competition' going on...if you're petting one of them, the other will budge in front to be the one getting the loving! But if  you spend a good 10 - 20 minutes concentrated on her when you get home from work or shopping, she's fine. Also a quick walk helps in there too.

She still has pancreatitis but it is very manageable. Right now she is on a prescription low fat dog food to see if her blood levels even out. She can have NO treats and NO human food. Although - she is a sneaker! She has gotten into my garbage twice w/o me knowing because she's so tall she stuck her head in the can w/o me knowing because she didn't tip it over! So....you have to be careful with that - I've started putting my cans in different rooms when I leave because I won't know if she's nosed in there or not, so better safe than sorry! The only other thing we have started to notice is that she is seeming a little stiff in the mornings. She gets up fine, but has started walking kind of stiff legged for the first half hour she is up. I'm a trained massage therapist, so I've been giving her a good rub in the mornings and that seems to help. Our vet tech also recommended glucosomine tablets to help with her joints so we are considering that as well. I think also she would do better sleeping on a dog bed, but I can't get her to even stay on the 3 blankets I have for her - I think she prefers the coolness of the floor.

I've said it before - Greta is an awesome girl, just waiting for her forever family to snatch her up! If you think it's you, she'd love to meet you!

Until next time - here are some pics from the last few weeks. Forgive the quality, they're from my cell phone!


Relaxing after a long day of playing and sleeping!
Taking in the sights around Grand Forks

One of my favorite things - doubling as a 'pillow' for my Foster Brother, we do this a lot!

 

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Hi everyone!

I hope you are all enjoying this nice spring weather! We sure are, and Greta is loving it! One of the first things she does when she runs out to potty is to roll around on her back and then lay in the nice sunshine! Right now, I can't get her and her fur brother Toby to come in the house! They are sunning on the patio!

Not much has changed here for Greta, she is still being the same great girl! She has been accident free in our house for several weeks now, so I think she's pretty used to our routines of potty time. Also while I'm gone at work, she has complete free roam and can be trusted not to jump baby gates (provided they are at least as tall as she is - she has jumped my knee high one) or to destroy anything. She has gotten into the garbage a few times, but for that I blame myself. I'm pretty sure I would find the temptation of steak smelling plates in the garbage a pretty difficult one to resist. I should have taken the garbage out or put it away and for that I blame more human error than canine! ;) She's also SO tall that she can literally just stick her head in the garbage, she doesn't knock it over, so she's a bit sneaky too!

Also, we have to make sure the litter box is constantly gated off or she and Toby attempt to go in there for a so-called "tasty" treat. YUCK not to mention completely terrible for them. So, if you are interested in Greta, and do have cats (which she is fantastic with), you are going to have to be diligent about making sure she CANNOT get into the litter box.

Greta is SO fantastic with kids! My own two love her so much. She is calm but loves to play and is always willing to be petted, scratched or loved on. As you can see by the pictures below, she doesn't mind anything. In fact, she sleeps on that bed until my husband and I go to bed and then she sleeps on the floor by us.

Greta loves walks but needs some help to learn not to pull. We're working on this but she's pretty set in her ways! I think we're going to try using the Gentle Leader and see how that goes.

Greta also is under going training to NOT set with her head in your lap during meals. She wants to be under the table, have her head in your lap, be petted, etc while people are eating. She's great about leaving you alone during the cooking, just not so much the eating. We usually feed both dogs while we eat, but obviously, they are done much sooner than we are! So we are teaching "place" during those times. I'll keep you updated!

Greta would love to meet a potential forever family, she is such a gentle and patient dog that she really deserves a special forever home. Perhaps it is yours! Please contact your placement advisor or email if you would like to learn more about her. Our family is getting ready to sell our home and move to parts unknown with in the next few months (we are military) and we would love to see her in her forever home before we leave. It would be a shame to make her have to go to another foster family - it's hard on these sweet dogs to be bumped around so much.

Happy Easter everyone! :)

Greta Lou & her gang 


I make an excellent pillow!


Ya gonna eat  yet? I'm getting kinda bored waiting for you!

 

 

Monday, March 15, 2010

   
   

Hi Everyone!

Greta here! FM sends her apologies that we haven't written in awhile. We've had some sad stuff happen here and had a road trip to South Dakota thrown into our schedule because of it. On the bright side I got to see a FARM for the first time and I thought it was pretty cool! I had a great time riding in the car too, I snoozed almost the whole 4 hour trip! I sure do like riding in the car a lot!

FM is sending a lot of pictures this time because she says...well I shouldn't brag...but she says that I am "such a gorgeous girl." With the exception of some white ..."highlights" around my eyes, I don't show my age one bit. I have really soft golden fur and pretty feathering on my legs and tail too. Even my toes have the feathering!  FM has a nickname for me - "Greta Lou Who" because she says my feet remind her of the "Who" characters in the Dr. Seuss movies. Kinda funny, huh?

I sure would like to meet my forever family soon! I love my foster family, but I know that this is just a stopping place for me until I discover the perfect family! Maybe it's your family! Won't you contact your placement adviser and ask about me? I would sure love to meet you!!

Until next time,
Greta Lou


I love having my tummy scratched!!!
Okay....I know, I'm not a chihuahua but that doesn't mean I can't sit on your lap too!!!

Foster Mom said I couldn't lay on the couch (even though Toby is!) but she didn't say I couldn't lay on her!!!
zzzZZZzzzz Wake me up when we get to South Dakota!!!


A Greta quirk - the black spots on her tounge. 
Maybe they're Golden beauty marks!