Megan 12-156 [1]

Megan arrived here in Brainerd on Saturday afternoon incredibly scared and confused. She is a beautiful golden mix who has been through a whirlwind of changes since she arrived. She went from living in an outdoor kennel run for the last two years of her life to living in a house. Her paperwork had very little to go by as not much was known about her.

I knew she was not from a puppy mill but she arrived with some definite puppy mill characteristics (or so I thought). She was desperately scared of all people, trying desperately to get away from everyone, totally ignoring the resident dog, hiding in safe spots of her crate and a corner of my kitchen by the back door, and kind of wandered with this dazed look on her face. After spending some time in her crate I sat on the floor and went over near her with hot dogs eventually winning her over and then later hand feeding her her dinner so she knew good things came from me.

Day 2 went better but was still rough. She decided I was okay but no one else was. As people were coming over to put in my fence and I knew they would be coming in and out of the house she spent a good chunk of time in her crate that day but of course everyone wanted to "see her". No one was able to win her over that day. My 8 yo niece and my sister in law sat on the floor with me and we opened her crate and sat back. Megan came out of her crate and went up by them and then would go back to her crate. She did eventually warily take hotdogs from my niece but they were not able to win her over. She seems to be even more leery of men for whatever reason and when my brother and then my father attempted to win her over she only hid in the back of her crate.

Unfortunately Megan stunk to high heaven and I knew that if she was going to continue to live in my house that something would have to be done about the smell. I could also see that with her thick and definite mess of a coat that there was no way I was going to be able to tackle her grooming needs myself. I had already spent over an hour with a furminator on her and was getting no where. I was getting lots and lots of hair but didn't seem to be making any progress. I am thankful that Megan found a fairy godmother in a wonderful lady that was/is a RAGOM foster named Martha Healy from Bear Trax in Hillman, MN who does grooming. She decided to donate Megan the gift of a free grooming. Thankfully Martha had experience grooming some of the dogs from RAGOM's original puppy mill rescue and had some experience with puppy mill type characteristics. It was a long process as Megan did not want anything to do with her at first since I am the only "safe" person. As Martha started to comb out her coat we found many many matts under her big fluffy topcoat. They were all down in her undercoat and there was no way we could get a comb underneath them. Megan had to be shaved. She did shave her as long as she could though so Megan still looks cute with her undercoat. It looks like puppy fluff. So now she has this big blocky head, giant paws, and puppy looking fur. But the coat will grow back looking great with better nutrition for better skin and coat. Martha also got out her camera so we could get some shots of Megan before and during but you will have to wait for after photos until after her next grooming appt on Saturday. This was a long process and very stressful for Megan so we had to split it up into 2 appts. Martha wanted me to be sure to let everyone know that Megan although very scared does not have a mean bone in her body. She said it is very stressful for a dog, especially one this scared, to be shaved and up on the groomer's table and for Megan to just stand there and accept it demonstrates how great she is. Megan did LOVE the bath part of her grooming. She thought it was wonderful to be massaged with that shampoo and had an actual smile on her face as she leaned in to Martha to get her to scratch certain places. After that bath Martha was a pretty good person too.

After her grooming appt. Megan came home a changed dog. I don't know if it was because those matts were hurting her skin so much or if it's because she felt so much better but she turned into an exhuberant, playful, and very sweet young dog. Oh she is still scared of everyone. But she suddenly wants to play with my resident, is happy jumpy, gives me the golden paw, etc. Megan doesn't know what toys are for yet and my resident is not too good about showing her what they are for but we are making progress. Today since Megan has had such a change in personality after her grooming, my Mom and I took my resident and Megan for her first walk today. I used the gentle leader because she can pull with the force of a train engine. Like ALL dogs who start out she hated the gentle leader but eventually we got our walk in and she LOVED it. Especially all the squirrels... she was distracted and tried to go after every single one of them. I really think with all of her energy that she would make someone a great running or jogging partner.

Friday we have Megan's vet appt. and I will update you more after our visit. For now Megan is making great progress. . she even drinks out of the indoor water bowl which is a big deal because all dogs think it's scary at first. It is a drinkwell big dog pet fountain. When she first got here she would only use the outside water dish. I don't know if it looked like hers or what. She is making small steps and what seems to me like giant leaps at times but then the next morning she will be hiding in her crate again. Progress is progress.

If you are thinking you might be interested in Megan my current thoughts are that Megan will need a physical fence and no children under 10. Megan is strong and exuberant and doesn't seem to do very well on a tie out. She gets very nervous on the tie out and paces between her space and the door to go back in the house. I can also tell with absolute certainty that she will need someone to take her to obedience training. She knows absolutely nothing. It's like getting a brand new puppy almost. The jury is still out on whether or not she wants/needs another dog in the house. Based on my experiences so far I am feeling that she would be fine either way but the resident would have to be fine with a dog with her energy level. I will get back to everyone after Megan's vet appt. and next grooming appt!

Megan waiting patiently to go outside

Megan does not like to get her picture taken but this a good body shot

A side body shop of Megan before her grooming -
note that she has an outdoor coat here.

Waiting for her grooming to start... Look at those Giant Paws!

Megan really liked the whole bath part.
She thought the massage was great.

Megan enjoying more of her massage.

Megan leaning in -- get right there. . . Oh right there. Yes!