Jojee 13-179

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Profile

Sponsored By:

Anne S.
"Get better soon, little one!"

From Anonymous

June 18, 2013
Please welcome Jojee to RAGOM!  Life started pretty rough for this kiddo...  Within days of being born at a commercial breeding operation, he suffered frostbite which caused him to lose toes on his back right foot.  In addition to the foot injury, he came to us malnourished -- weighing about 9 lbs when he should be more like 12. He has been wormed and is on a special food to try and put some much needed weight on his little frame.  That's the bad news.

The good news is he is as handsome as they come and twice as sweet!  Jojee loves to snuggle up with his peeps and trail around the yard at our heels.  He is fascinated with the big dogs and runs right up to them for attention.  He likes balls and carrying things around in his mouth (Shocker!).

Jojee will come with all the normal puppy "stuff" both good and bad -- puppy breath and kisses, soft fur, sweet eyes, sharp teeth, a need to chew and some work to do on his potty training.  He needs a family ready to handle all of his puppy needs and willing to work hard to help socialize him into this amazing new world he is learning about!

At a Glance #13-179

Golden Retriever Born: March 2013
Male 11 lbs

Status: Adopted

Profile

Sponsored By:

Anne S.
"Get better soon, little one!"

From Anonymous

June 18, 2013
Please welcome Jojee to RAGOM!  Life started pretty rough for this kiddo...  Within days of being born at a commercial breeding operation, he suffered frostbite which caused him to lose toes on his back right foot.  In addition to the foot injury, he came to us malnourished -- weighing about 9 lbs when he should be more like 12. He has been wormed and is on a special food to try and put some much needed weight on his little frame.  That's the bad news.

The good news is he is as handsome as they come and twice as sweet!  Jojee loves to snuggle up with his peeps and trail around the yard at our heels.  He is fascinated with the big dogs and runs right up to them for attention.  He likes balls and carrying things around in his mouth (Shocker!).

Jojee will come with all the normal puppy "stuff" both good and bad -- puppy breath and kisses, soft fur, sweet eyes, sharp teeth, a need to chew and some work to do on his potty training.  He needs a family ready to handle all of his puppy needs and willing to work hard to help socialize him into this amazing new world he is learning about!

Updates

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Hello:

I wanted to finally write and give an update on Jojee, who we adopted about six months ago (although it feels like he's been a part of our family forever!). He has adapted to our family so wonderfully, and we think he is the best dog in the world (tied with big sister Lexi, of course).

Jojee is such a happy, friendly and mellow dog--visitors can't get over how calm he is for such young guy! He loves his big sister, Lexi, and she loves him too (although she took a month or two to really warm up to him!). They are now inseparable.

Jojee also loves walks, playing outside, and stuffed toys. He took (and did great at) level one obedience and we are planning on taking him to level two in a few months.

Even better, Jojee seems to have totally recovered from the health issues that he suffered as a puppy--he is totally healthy and has gotten so tall and strong! He weighs close to 65 pounds now and has a beautiful fluffy coat.

We are so lucky to have this boy in our lives! Thanks to RAGOM and to foster mom Denise (and foster siblings Jimmie, Rocco, Raven and Willow) for giving our boy such a great start to life. We love him so much!

;

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Hey everyone, it's me Jojee sending in my final update as a RAGOM foster dog!! Yup, that's right, I've been adopted!!  How lucky am I??  It's been a busy week for me.....

Foster mom took me to the doctor so I could get fixed and have a baby tooth pulled.  When the doctor saw me, she could not believe I was the same skinny, little guy she had seen a few months ago.  I weighed in at 45 pounds!!  I made it through my surgery just fine and foster mom picked me up the same day. She took a photo of me on the ride home, I was snuggling with one of my toys.  I was kind of groggy that night but did just fine and by the next day I was back to my normal self.  

I got to go to work one more time with foster mom as she wanted to keep an eye on me after my surgery.  See the photo of me at work wearing a very special bandanna.  That night my new family came to pick me up.  I have a mom, a dad and a canine sister in my new home!!  My dad is a veterinarian, which made foster mom very happy as she knows if I have any additional medical issues my dad will know what to do to help me.  I also get to go to work with my dad!!!  My mom is great and my new sister is too....I think I hit the jackpot for sure!!

I emailed foster mom already to tell her how great I am doing.  I had a good first night and in the morning I took each one of my toys into the living room and then sat down in the middle of them with a big smile on my face.  I love toys but at my foster house I did not get to play with soft toys very much as a couple of my foster siblings destroy all of them so I brought some of my favorites with to my new house and my new family bought me some toys too!!   I am so lucky!!!  I get to come back to visit with foster mom and my foster siblings in just a week or so as my folks have an out of town vacation and foster mom said she would be more than happy to dog sit me.....I think she will miss me!!

I want to say thank you to all the folks who helped me on my journey to my forever home.  I am very grateful for all the wonderful care I received in my two foster homes.  I met some of the best people and dogs in the entire world and I am just so happy that everyone helped me so I could get healthy and find my forever home.  

Bye for now, your friend Jojee....watch for happy endings updates from me at my forever home!!  

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Hi everyone, it's me Jojee sending you a few photos and an update on what I've been doing in the past few weeks. Whew, that foster mom has been keeping me so busy!!

I had a photo shoot for Goldzilla. Prime Photographers took my pictures along with my buddy Ruby. They used the photos for Goldzilla. Here I am in a sleigh!!

Last weekend was really busy. On Friday I was on TV. My good friend Kathy G was visiting from Idaho and she took me to a promo for Goldzilla. I had fun and behaved like the good boy I am.

On Saturday foster mom and Kathy took me to an all volunteer meeting at Stone Mountain. I had a great time and hung out with a bunch of dogs and humans. When we were leaving it started to rain so I jumped into the trunk of Kathy's car so I would not ruin my hair do....I just had a bath earlier that day!! Don't worry, I rode in foster mom's lap on the way home not in the trunk of the car!! Slept the entire way home.

On Sunday I went to Goldzilla. Boy was that a ton of fun. I saw so many people and dogs and again I behaved great. Foster mom was very proud of me. I also got to see my first foster mom Trace and her mom....they could not believe I was the same sickly, skinny guy they had fostered. Here are a couple of photos of me in the foster parade. Look how handsome and fluffy I am!!

Foster mom says I grew a couple of inches taller last week and seem to have filled out a bunch, guess I had a growth spurt. I will go to the vet this week for more blood work as foster mom could not get me in last week, the vet was busy and so was she.

Well, that is all for now, time for some more wrestling with my best friend Willow and then time for bed. Tomorrow I will go to work with foster mom....yup, she is still keeping me really busy!!

Your friend, Jojee.

Monday, September 2, 2013

Hi everyone, it's me Jojee writing to you from my foster home.  I have been a very busy boy the past couple of weeks.  I've gone to work with foster mom a couple more times.  Each time I have been very good, no accidents at work and I've not chewed on anything.  Everyone says how handsome and big I am getting and I get lots of snuggles and attention from everyone.  I play nicely with the two dogs that go to work every day, Dudley and Abby (she's older like foster sister Jimmie). I really love going to work with foster mom.

Last weekend I worked at the RAGOM garage sale.  I wore a bandanna that says "Kisses $1".  I raised a few dollars for RAGOM and charmed everyone that met me.  I played hard with Hank another foster mom's foster dog.  I was a bit intimidated by the big girl dogs but also played with my friend Ruby 12-416 .  Iwas very tired by the end of the day and slept all the way home. 


Kisses, anyone?
Jojee and Hank

Jojee and Ruby 12-416

This weekend I had a sleep over at Cindy's house and got to spend the night with my friend Ruby 12-416.  She and I played a lot and then we got to go to a photo shoot for Goldzilla.  Foster mom can't share my photos from the photo shoot yet, but she said they are really cute.  Everyone said I was a very good boy and they all really like me.  I had lots of fun at Cindy's!!

Today I went to a celebration for Larry/Shane 13-173 and the RAGOM Lost Dog Rapid Response Team (foster mom is a member of the team).  Shane came from the same puppy mill as me, so we knew each other from that place and from when we both came into RAGOM together, we were on the same transport to our temporary foster family.  I was very glad to see him again as foster mom told us all that he was missing for 13 days after he ran away from his temporary foster home.  Every night she told us to pray for him to come home safely and finally he did.  I think he is very happy to be back with his foster mom.  I also had to stay home for a really long day last weekend as foster mom had to help look for another lost RAGOm dog, Toby.  I was very good, even though I did not get my dinner until the wee hours of the morning on Monday. We had a friend come over on Monday to let us dogs outside when foster mom had to look for Toby again. Thankfully he got back to his foster mom early Tuesday morning.

I'm almost done with all my medication and foster mom says then we have to wait and see if my digestive issues are cleared up.  If they are, then I will have one more round of blood work.  If those tests are normal, I will be able to be neutered and then I can find my forever home.  Foster mom says I get to go to Goldzilla with her this year.  I'm not sure what that is all about but she says there will be tons of dogs and tons of people so I think it will be fun.

Well, all for now, I have to play with Willow again and then time for bed and more snuggles with foster mom.  I really like snuggling with people and sleeping in the bed with foster mom and my foster siblings.  

Your friend, Jojee

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Hi everyone, it's me Jojee sending in my own update today. Foster mom said I am getting to be a big boy so it's time I started pulling my own weight around here. Speaking of weight, I am now up to 30 pounds!!! I have tripled in size since I came here. I am doing pretty good. I eat all my food and am working on my potty training. I love playing with Willow, Rocco and Raven. I know not to try and play with Jimmie as she is older and does not play with puppies who like to play bite and jump on other dogs. Last week I went to the doctor again. This time it was for a routine appointment, I had the rest of my vaccines so now I am up to date on all my shots. I was very good at the doctor, was fine with all the poking and stuff. The doctor told me I am now at a normal weight. I still have to take pills twice a day and have to eat a special food from the doctor but since all this stuff is making me grow and feel good, I am ok with it.

Last week I also got to go to work with foster mom. That was very fun!! I did really well at work and did not have any accidents and did not chew up anything. Foster mom said since I did so great, I will get to go with her to work again this week. Foster mom wants to say some stuff so I will go and play with Willow now.

Foster mom here, Jojee is doing well. He is growing a lot, gained almost 6 pounds in the past week. He tested positive for giardia and once we treated him for that, he really seemed to gain weight and his stools have improved a lot. We had tested him several times before but the tests were always negative, giardia is tough to diagnose so it is likely he had it the entire time and this is part of what was going on with his failure to thrive. He is now on just one medication, which he will need to stay on for three more weeks. If he continues to do well after we stop the meds and if his blood work is normal, he has been anemic, we will then be able to have him neutered and he will be available for adoption. He will need to stay on the prescription dog food for at least 3 or 4 more months due to the rough start he had but hopefully he will be able to move to a normal, high quality food after that. I am very hopeful he will have a normal life and all of his health issues will be a distant past. Jojee is a very sweet, happy, smart puppy. He loves to chew on stuff and has gotten in most of his adult teeth. He is also working on his potty training, so that is a work in progress. He loves to sleep in bed with me and the rest of the crew and is a very affectionate puppy, loves to snuggle and be carried around. He loves to fall asleep in my arms and loves to play. Jojee is very grateful to RAGOM for helping him recover from his health issues and is looking forward to a long, happy life with his new family once we get the all clear from the doctors.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Hi everyone, it's me Jojee writing to you from my foster home.  I am enjoying my time with my foster siblings and foster mom.  We've been keeping busy with doctor appointments and stuff.  A couple of weeks ago I scared foster mom pretty good by refusing to eat anything for a few days.  She bought me all kinds of canned food, dry food, human food and even cooked stuff for me....nope I would not eat anything at all.  Finally she tried some samples of freeze dried raw food and I ate that so she had to go buy me some of that stuff and took me to the doctor so they could try to figure out what was wrong with me.  My lab tests came back ok, some tests had improved a little and some stayed the same so the doctor did not know what was going on.  They gave me more medicine to get rid of any worms in my tummy, in case that's what was going on.  Within a couple of days I was back to eating my normal hard food but kept having digestive issues....runny poop.  Foster mom tried giving me some pink stuff and some other stuff but it really did not help so today I visited a special doctor lady to see if she could figure out what was going on.  They did more blood work and took a picture of my tummy to make sure I did not eat anything I shouldn't have.  Most of my test results are a little bit better than a couple of weeks ago and the picture did not show anything wrong with my tummy other than it was full of food!!  Now I have to take 2 new medications and have to eat a special food from the doctor.  I'm very good at taking my meds, foster mom doesn't even have to hide them in food, just puts them down my throat.   We are waiting for some more test results and there are still more tests the doctor can run if the new meds and diet do not help me.  Foster mom says I am running up the medical bills again but thankfully RAGOM has folks who donate to help with my bills. We can always use more donations, so if you have any extra money, please donate so RAGOM can help more dogs like me.

I have gained weight and am now almost 22 pounds.  I am getting tall but am still pretty skinny.  I still love to play with Willow and the rest of my foster siblings.  I also love people and attended a RAGOM board meeting last week and went to work with foster mom today.  I'm still working on my potty training, foster mom says work in progress. I have gotten in a bunch of my adult teeth already, foster mom says that is great news cause the adult teeth do not hurt as much as those baby teeth do when I play bite.  I still sleep in bed with foster mom and the rest of the crew, really like to sleep on top of the pillow right next to foster mom's head.  I am learning to walk on leash, foster mom says another work in progress.  One of my favorite things is to chase fire flies around the yard at night.....Willow and I love to do that.  I also like to eat apples from the apple tree.....Willow pulls them off the tree for me.  Oh, and I helped Willow and Rocco chase down a bunny in the back yard the other morning.  Willow caught it and brought it to foster mom.  I only got to smell it.

Well, all for now, have to go play with the other dogs and then off to bed.  Thanks for following my story.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Hi everyone, it's me Jojee and I am doing my own update today because I have some important stuff to share with everyone.  First of all, I want to say thank you very much to my sponsor Anne S.  Thank you for thinking of me and helping with my bills.  I'm sending you my famous puppy kisses and snuggles.  Secondly, I want to thank my first foster family for taking such great care of me.  Thanks, Trace H and family, I miss you guys but wanted to let you know that I am doing ok here in MN.  Sending you some puppy kisses and snuggles too!!

I had a big day yesterday as I had a very special visitor who came over just to see me!!  Can you guess who it was??  My sister Annie (Brandy 13-143) and her adoptive mom came over to see me and we got to play a lot.  Annie is much bigger than me, weighs almost 6 pounds more than me!!  I am now almost 16 pounds and Annie is just over 21 pounds!!  We played really well together and ran all over the back yard.  The big dogs just let us play and play and play.  Foster mom said she can really see how much my growth has been affected by my health issues but my development (motor skills) are not delayed....I just look about a month younger than my sister.  I am hoping she will come back for more play dates.  Sorry the photos are not very good, foster mom had a tough time taking photos of two busy puppies.  Annie is resting by the kiddie pool in the one photo.  

I am being a good puppy, well at least I think so.  Foster mom might not agree as I chewed the cord off a lamp, chewed the sleeve on her shirt, chewed up some magazines and put a couple of teeth marks on her cell phone.  Yes, I am a puppy and love to chew on everything!!  I am doing well with my potty training as I do 90% of my dog business outside.  I sleep through the night and either sleep in the bed with everyone or sleep in my most favorite place, in the bathroom behind the toilet.....it's nice and cool there!!  I love playing with Willow 12-112 and love to play bite her all the time....she is my buddy!!  The other dogs are nice to me too, but they don't let me bite them as much as Willow does....don't worry, she bites me back too!!

All for now, I have to take a nap, whew, this computer stuff is hard work.  Later, your buddy Jojee.  

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Jojee moved from Johnston, Iowa to Golden Valley, MN late last week so he could have further tests done in the hope we could figure out what was going on with this sweet guy.  He seemed to be improving slightly before he left Iowa and continued to make progress at my house.  He is slowly gaining weight, is now up to 13.6 pounds (should be 15 - 16) so still underweight but headed in the right direction.  His energy level has improved and he is enjoying playing with the 4 dogs at my house.  He really likes my other foster, Willow 12-112.  They are both from MO puppy mills so they share a common bond.

Because Jojee seems to be improving we decided to wait on doing the biopsies as surgery is very risky for this young, frail pup.  We did repeat his blood work and some of his test results have improved, but others remain abnormal but slightly improved.  Since he has gained weight, has a normal temp and normal white blood cell count, we did give him his first round of vaccinations and microchiped him.  He tolerated the vaccines without issue and was also dewormed again.  We will repeat his blood work in another two weeks and continue to monitor his weight and energy level. 

He continues to be a very sweet puppy, who just today mastered going down the stairs in my house.....he knew how to go up but would cry once upstairs and I'd have to pick him up and carry him down.  He enjoys sleeping in bed with us at night as I decided early on to let him sleep with us as long as he did not have any accidents in the bed.  I was originally very concerned he would not survive surgery and had decided to give him as much love and attention as possible for as long as he would be with me.  I am happy to report that he sleeps through the night without any accidents and will also sleep quietly in his crate if needed.  He does spend the work day in his crate with a noon time potty break, no accidents in his crate either.  He is doing pretty well with house training, foster mom just needs to be a bit quicker when he first wakes up!!

Jojee will remain unavailable until we see normal blood test results and are sure his medical issues have been resolved.  He will need to be neutered but that too will need to wait until we know he is well and able to have surgery.  Please keep this handsome little guy in your thoughts and prayers.  For a little guy. Jojee has already run up some pretty good medical bills so if you are able to make a donation to help cover some of his bills or sponsor him, we would be very grateful.  It is because of donations and supporters that we are able to continue to help pups like Jojee.  Thank you for following his journey.