Desiree 14-155 [1]

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.