Darcy 15-144

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Profile

In addition to LOVE this dog has the following requirements:
Entered Foster Care Fence Kid Friendly Another Dog Cat Friendly
6/20/2015  Physical fence required Ages 10+ Confident, medium to large dog required Definitely
This is the most recent information available; however, it may change as we learn more about the dog.

Another beautiful redhead has entered the RAGOM family. Darcy was released from a local breeding facility on June 20, 2015, and a few hours later was in our home. She is being fostered in rural Rochester. Her birth date is 10-09-10, so she is a relatively young gal. Since her upbringing was less than desirable as a family pet, Darcy is in the process of learning everything associated with being a good companion. She has been somewhat skittish and scared, but is gradually coming out of her shell. She very much wants to join the family activities and is curious and watchful of all that we do. Since her kennel is very centrally located, she can see the kitchen, living room and dining room and keeps an eye on all the activity around her. Now, instead of sleeping facing away from us, Darcy has turned around so she can keep tabs on what is going on around her. The kennel door is always open and she can come and go as she likes. She does have another "safe spot" in the dining room that she will retreat to occasionally. This morning was the first time she ventured into the living room alone. She checked out the toys on the floor, sniffed the toy box and headed back to her kennel. She likes to be brushed and is enjoying all the head pets and tummy scratches as we pass by her. She does not shy away from us when we give her attention. Yesterday, Darcy spent several hours in the yard with me while I worked in the garden and flowers--I saw her gradually exploring the different nooks and crannies and even resting on the grass in the shade. Her usual procedure is to potty and then rush to sit on the porch to come back in. She will come to the door to go out and comes back in when I call her--she seems to prefer to be inside rather than outside.

During the first few days we had her, she would not eat at all. Then she must have started to get hungry, so she decided to eat only once a day and tip her dish over to cover the portion she didn't want to eat. She is now eating well twice a day with a small dressing of canned food over the top to tempt her to eat everything. We have not had any potty accidents in the house, but she hasn't been wandering around much either. She is good about doing her business when she is outside--since we are retired, she is let out every few hours during the day.

Darcy's vet visit was an interesting experience. We had only had her a few days when she decided not to walk into the vet clinic and laid down splayed out like a turtle. The vet did her exam on the floor in the room and found her overall to be quite healthy except for several issues we are working on: 1) she weighed in at 7l.7 pounds and he would like to see her around 60 pounds (now on a portion-controlled diet of high-quality, grain-free food); 2) she had an ear infection affecting the right ear more than the left ear (I cleaned her ears and started some medication, so he said to continue what we were doing--her ears look cleared up now); 3) she had 3-4 small, what the vet believed to be, mammary cysts which he will check out closer at the time of her spay operation; and 4) she has two bald spots, one on each hip, which could be due to poor nutrition and living conditions, low thyroid, or what I believe may be the fact that I've caught her rubbing against the fence posts in those same spots. You can see new hair just beginning to grow there. All of these issues are not significant problems that can't be overcome, considering this was probably her first vet visit ever. She was heartworm negative, parasite-free, a dental cleaning may be in her future, microchipped, and had her immunizations given (she needs to return in three weeks for her second DHPP). Since Darcy was overweight for her more petite frame, the vet would like to see her drop a few pounds before her spay operation.

Over the 4th of July holiday, we babysat my RAGOM-foster daughter's two dogs. Zelda is her RAGOM foster failure, along with her Black Lab/Golden Retriever cross, Sadie. Zelda is from the same breeding facility that Darcy came from. Darcy did fine with the additional dogs and tried to initiate play time with them. She was able to entice Sadie to run and chase her several times, so I think a playful Darcy is hiding in there, just waiting to emerge when the time is right. She did very well with my daughter's children, ages 13 and 10, when they were here. Darcy seems to be more relaxed in the yard when we let her out in the evening--I don't know if it has to do with the fact that it is dark and she thinks we can't see her, or perhaps her pen at the facility was not so bright and that is what she is used to.

This little gal is moving along at her own pace and, considering her upbringing, doing quite well, I might add. Since she had never been exposed to people, any household noise, farm equipment, power lawn mowers, etc, we feel she is progressing well. With patience, time and love, this little girl will be a great companion and friend--time is on her side since she is still young enough to make changes in her lifestyle. Darcy is safe and loved here, so it will be fun to see the new Darcy evolve.

At a Glance #15-144

Golden Retriever Born: October 2010
Female Weight not specified

Status: Adopted

Profile

In addition to LOVE this dog has the following requirements:
Entered Foster Care Fence Kid Friendly Another Dog Cat Friendly
6/20/2015  Physical fence required Ages 10+ Confident, medium to large dog required Definitely
This is the most recent information available; however, it may change as we learn more about the dog.

Another beautiful redhead has entered the RAGOM family. Darcy was released from a local breeding facility on June 20, 2015, and a few hours later was in our home. She is being fostered in rural Rochester. Her birth date is 10-09-10, so she is a relatively young gal. Since her upbringing was less than desirable as a family pet, Darcy is in the process of learning everything associated with being a good companion. She has been somewhat skittish and scared, but is gradually coming out of her shell. She very much wants to join the family activities and is curious and watchful of all that we do. Since her kennel is very centrally located, she can see the kitchen, living room and dining room and keeps an eye on all the activity around her. Now, instead of sleeping facing away from us, Darcy has turned around so she can keep tabs on what is going on around her. The kennel door is always open and she can come and go as she likes. She does have another "safe spot" in the dining room that she will retreat to occasionally. This morning was the first time she ventured into the living room alone. She checked out the toys on the floor, sniffed the toy box and headed back to her kennel. She likes to be brushed and is enjoying all the head pets and tummy scratches as we pass by her. She does not shy away from us when we give her attention. Yesterday, Darcy spent several hours in the yard with me while I worked in the garden and flowers--I saw her gradually exploring the different nooks and crannies and even resting on the grass in the shade. Her usual procedure is to potty and then rush to sit on the porch to come back in. She will come to the door to go out and comes back in when I call her--she seems to prefer to be inside rather than outside.

During the first few days we had her, she would not eat at all. Then she must have started to get hungry, so she decided to eat only once a day and tip her dish over to cover the portion she didn't want to eat. She is now eating well twice a day with a small dressing of canned food over the top to tempt her to eat everything. We have not had any potty accidents in the house, but she hasn't been wandering around much either. She is good about doing her business when she is outside--since we are retired, she is let out every few hours during the day.

Darcy's vet visit was an interesting experience. We had only had her a few days when she decided not to walk into the vet clinic and laid down splayed out like a turtle. The vet did her exam on the floor in the room and found her overall to be quite healthy except for several issues we are working on: 1) she weighed in at 7l.7 pounds and he would like to see her around 60 pounds (now on a portion-controlled diet of high-quality, grain-free food); 2) she had an ear infection affecting the right ear more than the left ear (I cleaned her ears and started some medication, so he said to continue what we were doing--her ears look cleared up now); 3) she had 3-4 small, what the vet believed to be, mammary cysts which he will check out closer at the time of her spay operation; and 4) she has two bald spots, one on each hip, which could be due to poor nutrition and living conditions, low thyroid, or what I believe may be the fact that I've caught her rubbing against the fence posts in those same spots. You can see new hair just beginning to grow there. All of these issues are not significant problems that can't be overcome, considering this was probably her first vet visit ever. She was heartworm negative, parasite-free, a dental cleaning may be in her future, microchipped, and had her immunizations given (she needs to return in three weeks for her second DHPP). Since Darcy was overweight for her more petite frame, the vet would like to see her drop a few pounds before her spay operation.

Over the 4th of July holiday, we babysat my RAGOM-foster daughter's two dogs. Zelda is her RAGOM foster failure, along with her Black Lab/Golden Retriever cross, Sadie. Zelda is from the same breeding facility that Darcy came from. Darcy did fine with the additional dogs and tried to initiate play time with them. She was able to entice Sadie to run and chase her several times, so I think a playful Darcy is hiding in there, just waiting to emerge when the time is right. She did very well with my daughter's children, ages 13 and 10, when they were here. Darcy seems to be more relaxed in the yard when we let her out in the evening--I don't know if it has to do with the fact that it is dark and she thinks we can't see her, or perhaps her pen at the facility was not so bright and that is what she is used to.

This little gal is moving along at her own pace and, considering her upbringing, doing quite well, I might add. Since she had never been exposed to people, any household noise, farm equipment, power lawn mowers, etc, we feel she is progressing well. With patience, time and love, this little girl will be a great companion and friend--time is on her side since she is still young enough to make changes in her lifestyle. Darcy is safe and loved here, so it will be fun to see the new Darcy evolve.

Updates

Monday, August 24, 2015

Darcy has been with us for the past two+ months and has made good progress in a number of ways. She goes outside when called to go out and comes back when you let her know it is time to come in. She stayed with a RAGOM foster when we went on vacation at the end of July and she did not use a kennel for Darcy during the workday. Therefore, when we returned from our vacation, we also removed the kennel from our home. That seemed to be the place she wanted to hang out all the time, but we wanted to push her a little bit for more socialization. She has picked a new safe spot in the living room where she can monitor the action. With free roam, she has never gotten into a thing and has not had an accident since she arrived at our home--except for an early episode of submissive peeing shortly after she arrived.

Darcy is now eating dry kibble regularly without any wet dressing over the top. She will not take a treat from our hand, but boy, does she ever love popcorn! She takes the popcorn from our hand without any problem. She does not seem to have any resource-guarding tendencies of any kind.

Our evenings have become the most fun time of the day. Darcy gets very wound up in the evening and starts to empty the entire toy box. She plays with the fleece ropes, fuzzy toys, and has a ball just getting one thing out after another. She has been known to sneak over and take a toy that one of the other dogs has just put down. During the daytime hours, she is rather quiet and you can find her asleep on her blanket in front of the toy box.

We took her over to the camper before our vacation and Darcy did fine. She riode well in the car, but still needs to work on her leash-walking. I was very surprised to see her wade in the water without hesitation, since it was probably her first time doing so.

Darcy had her spay operation on August 12 and did very well. Her weight that day was 68 pounds. The mammary cysts were just that and expressed while she was under anesthetic. At the same time, a thyroid test was performed because of her heavier-than-normal weight for her size/build and hair thinning/loss. The thyroid test was normal, so the vet suggested fish oil tablets and we will assess her hair situation in about a month. The thinning hair is from the nape of her neck to approximately the top of her tail--she is not bald, but the hair is very thin. This could be a combination of all the recent changes in her life too--better quality food started, new environment, different house temperature (air conditioning), and also stress. The skin itself is in good condition with no red spots or sores since she doesn't do any scratching--the vet did not think she was suffering from allergies.

We have grown so attached to this sweet little girl that we are going to make her a permanent member of our family. She will have our resident dog as a playmate and my daughter's two dogs (Zelda is the darker red dog in front of Darcy from the same puppy mill) and Sadie as occasional house guests. Darcy and Champ go to their place when we are gone. We will help her bloom and blossom into the best dog she can be--we are excited to add her to our family!!!

Monday, July 20, 2015

Our little redhead is gradually settling into our routine. She usually comes in and goes out when I ask if "anyone wants to go out" or say "time to come in now." If she doesn't come when I call her to go out, I usually clip the leash on her and lead her to the door. I have noticed that she will crouch down and occasionally have several drops of submissive peeing before we get started. Sometimes she takes a very looong time to find just the right spot to do her business--as long as 25-30 minutes, especially at night. She is still very skittish and it doesn't take much to send her scurrying back to her kennel if she is frightened. Darcy is still adjusting to the sights and sounds of everyday living since her puppy mill environment was very quiet except for the activity of other dogs penned with her. Anything out of the ordinary will make her stop to reconsider if she should continue on her path--a jacket over a chair that hadn't been there before, a lawn chair placed near the area that she needs to pass to go into the yard, or even if I approach her with a towel or object in my hand that she doesn't recognize. One day while doing laundry, without even thinking, I set several pieces of clothing on her kennel while I went to get a piece of clothing I had forgotten--that was all it took to send her flying out of the kennel to her new safe spot in the entryway of the living room.

This past week, Darcy made several huge strides for her. She decided being in the kennel was not to her liking all day and picked a new safe spot in the living room. That took a lot of courage for her to leave the kennel and settle in another area. She will also approach me at arm's length so I can pet her. Darcy has even taken several steps to get closer if I pull my hand back and she has to advance a step for a pet. Darcy is slowly absorbing what living in a house is like, along with all the sounds that go with a household. It may seem like baby steps to us, but I'm sure in her mind, it was a huge leap of faith and trust with her human family.

We did take Darcy to our camper last week for the day. She rode very well in the van and settled down beautifully with our dog in the back. Our attempts at leash-leading were different since she would walk about 6 feet, lay down, need some coaxing to get up, and then walk another 6 feet before she laid down again. After doing this for a while, she sort of got the hang of following our dog so we could take a short walk with her. Since this was probably her first attempt at leash-walking, we are working on this in the fenced yard.

We again had my daughter's dogs with us for a long weekend. Darcy enjoys their company and acts like she would like to engage them in play, but both our resident and the Golden Retirever/Lab are rough and barky players and this scares her. The other Golden has not engaged her in play yet, but she loves the companionship their presence brings.

Darcy's previous life in the puppy mill was less than desirable, so she is now learning the skills to survive in a house as a friend and companion. In her own time frame, as her trust level builds up, things should get easier for her and she will begin to relax and enjoy the benefits of home living.

Darcy has a vet appointment on Thursday to complete her immunizations, have a weigh-in, and hopefully set a date for her spay operation if she has dropped enough weight. She has some mammary cysts (?) the vet will check out during her spay operation to see exactly what their consistency might be. Since we will be on vacation shortly, Darcy will stay with my RAGOM-foster daughter. I do believe the experience of new people, new house, and older kids will be good for her. Hopefully, it will be a confidence builder for her in a new environment with more activity than our home with just two people.