Mischa (Michelle 13-101) [1]

April 19, 2013

Michelle, a 7+ yr old golden retriever mix, joined our household last weekend after a long transport from South Dakota where she had spent her entire life tied up outside and she immediately captured our hearts.   With a constant smile on her face, she is so sweet, loving and happy and gets along with everyone she meets. She met our household full of dogs with no problem and gets along with them also.  Honestly, she is the BEST dog and just rolls with the flow.  She was surrendered to RAGOM when her owners moved and did not take her with them and luckily she is now getting to learn what it is like to be an indoor dog, and I can assure you that she is absolutely loving it.  We have had crazy weather the last few days, with over 6 inches of snow yesterday and steady rain the day before and Michelle wanted nothing to do with it - she would run out to do her business and hightail back to the door to come back in.  It was if she was afraid she would be left outside again.  Well never again for this girl!

Michelle's only drawback is that she is overweight (but hey, we older gals will pack on the pounds if not exercising regularly and eating poorly) and she definitely loves her food.  Since she won't touch any of the veggies we have been trying to give her with her kibble to help fill her up, she will need  lots of exercise to get the weight off- not that she is used to it - before all the terrible weather, we were walking and she only go about 1/4 mile before she was exhausted.  Slow but sure and I know she will build her endurance and will lose the weight.  Another thing about Michelle is that she hates the stairs and refuses, despite all inducements, to do them.  Again, I know she will get used to them and will soon be running up and down like a champ.  Finally, and maybe the most surprising, given her background, this little girl is totally housebroken.  Not only has she not had any accidents in the house, she will come up to you and start whining when she needs to go out.  Michelle would thrive in almost any household - she just wants to be loved and taken care of - and she deserves all of that.