Simba is a 6 1/2 year old spayed female.  She weighs about 90 pounds, but is not overweight, just a very big, tall girl.  She is a slightly darker red color and has the longest golden ears I have ever seen!  Two years ago, Simba had an aggressive form of cancer on her jaw.  She had surgery to remove the cancer, but also had to have part of her jaw and three teeth removed.  The left side of her jaw droops slightly as a result of the surgery, but it is not that noticeable.  She has been cancer free since the surgery.  Simba was surrendered because her human mom was killed in a car accident about a year ago.  The father has two small children to care for and Simba made it just too much to handle.  Simba lived with the kids (2 & 5) from the time they were born and would do fine with a family that has children.  Simba takes thyroid medication twice a day with her meals.  She is also reported to be afraid of thunderstorms and firecrackers.

9/8/01:  Simba was picked up from her previous owners earlier today and after two hand-offs and several hours of driving she is finally here.  She met Abbey, the lighter girl in front,  with nothing more than sniffs and wags, but she did bark at the cats when she met them.  Apparently she has never been around cats so we'll see how it goes.  After the initial meeting she has only sniffed at them.  Simba ate supper and had a good brushing when we got home.  She could also use a bath, but she's been through a lot today so we will do that in the morning.  Simba is also reported to be housetrained, but we'll see how that goes as well.  Simba LOVES to play ball and will bark when we stop throwing it!  I don't think she's ever had a gentle leader on, but she is adjusting to it very well and has only pawed at it a handful of times.  Simba is up to date on her shots and just had her September dose of Heartguard, but we will go to the vet and make sure she doesn't have any other parasites.  She also has a raw spot on her throat that we will have looked at.

9/14/01:  Simba has adjusted to our home very well in the past week.  She is a very lovable, sweet dog.  Simba knows sit, lay down and sometimes stay...but only when she feels like it.  We are working on enforcing these and she gets lots of praise when she does what we ask.  We went to the vet on Monday and found that Simba has a yeast infection in both ears and a rash on her neck underneath her collar.  Both are being treated and we are leaving her collar off unless we are outside.  She does not like me messing with her ears at all, but I'm sure they're pretty tender.  Simba is also parasite free.  I also asked the vet to translate her vet record regarding her cancer.  She said according to the records, it was a benign lump that needed to be removed because of it's location.  Simba did not go through any chemo or radiation.  The surgery was done on 3/15/00.  Simba eats dry food and has no problems chewing on rawhides and other treats.  Simba loves to ride in the car and loves to meet people everywhere we go.  We met a small child at the vet and she was so good with him.  I'm sure she misses the kids from her previous family.  Simba has not had any accidents and goes potty on command most of the time.  Simba is too big for the crate we have, so we have been baby-gating her in the bathroom when we are gone.  I was a little surprised when she met me at the door when I came home from work on Thursday!  Nothing was out of line except for the garbage can that I took out of the bathroom when we put her in there.  She loves Kleenex!  Simba whined and barked the first couple of times we put her in the bathroom and when we first got home again, but she has learned (very quickly!) that she will not get any attention if she is barking!  Simba has graduated to sleeping on a pillow next to our bed at night.  Because of her jaw surgery her little tongue sticks out just a bit, it's very cute!  The first couple of days Simba was here she went nuts over the cats.  She doesn't really chase them, she just barks her silly head off at them - not exactly ideal in a townhouse!  She is getting much better and has only barked once in the past two days.  I think she's figured out that her barking doesn't phase the cats even a little bit.  Simba is a very playful girl and she LOVES tennis balls.  We were putting them up on the cupboard when our arms needed a break, but she figured out how to get them down, so they are now in a closet.  The other night, she lost a tennis ball under the couch and I thought she was going to tip the couch over trying to get it back!  Simba is a great girl and is anxiously awaiting her forever home, preferably with kids, but no cats.

9/20/01:  Simba has been with us for a little over two weeks now and has become very comfortable in our house.  She has had free run of the house for the past week and has been very well behaved.  She has not had a single accident in the house, but she does not tell us when she needs to go outside.  Simba still LOVES her tennis balls - my arm is becoming as good as a baseball pitcher's!  Simba also loves to go for walks and walks very nicely as long as she is wearing her Gentle Leader.  Without it she pulls like a horse!  Last night I trimmed Simba's toenails.  She just laid sprawled out on the floor while I did them.  Simba lets me play with her food, take it away and just plain bother her while she is eating without even the slightest concern or grumble.  She has learned that she must sit nicely and wait patiently (it's so hard!) for her food.  She is doing much better with sit, but needs more practice with stay.  It's been rainy the past couple of days and Simba sits on the rug and lets me dry her feet before she can go on the carpet.  Simba has caught on to my routine and is snuggled up on her pillow by our bed before I'm even in bed at night.  She could take over as my alarm clock...I know that it's 6:00 AM when she sticks her cold wet nose in my face!  Some mornings she even comes up on the bed to snuggle for a little while.  Simba is a great dog and is still waiting patiently for her forever family.

9/23/01:  Great news to report today...Simba has been adopted!  She was adopted by the K family.  I was originally looking for a family with children because Simba LOVES kids.  This family is in their 60's, but they have a 2 year old granddaughter and a 4 year old golden granddog at their house Monday-Friday.  They brought both "grandkids" to meet Simba.  Simba was very gentle with Grace (granddaughter) and played very well with Camden (granddog).  Simba will even get to spend her weekends at the lake cabin from now on!  They have owned four goldens since 1970.  All of them have had some sort of expensive health problem they weren't the least bit concerned (financially) about Simba's jaw problems.  They will be taking her to their vet this week to learn more about her thyroid condition (this is one health problem they haven't had to deal with) and have her ear infection re-checked.  Simba is a very sweet dog and I am going to miss her very much.  I am going to have to start setting my alarm clock again as well!