Patti 07-548 [1]

09/13/2007 - Patti is a rescued Golden from a puppy mill in Arkansas. We were told that the conditions there were “deplorable”. She has five pups that she is nursing and is a very good mom. Once cleaned up she is a very good-looking Golden – nice size and shape. She is learning to walk on a leash and is doing well. She hasn’t quite mastered stairs or doors but she is well on the way to being comfortable with those, too. All she’s been, all her life (she’s about five years old), is a breeding machine. I’m sure she was expected to “just pop out puppies and don’t cause any trouble”.

Patti is just over 50 pounds and in spite of her treatment she seems to be in generally good health. Her first vet check will be on Saturday. She’s not totally housebroken but if we take her out regularly we have no problems. She’s still a little nervous but that is to be expected. Actually, based on what we know about her life up until now (which isn’t much) we think that she is doing extremely well. One evening she was nursing her puppies when she suddenly jumped up, ran around the corner, put her face into the container of dog toys, grabbed one and hurried back to her litter. She had no real idea what to do with the toy she’d just “scored” but she guarded it so that her pups wouldn’t take it away and rested peacefully with it between her paws. Pretty entertaining.

We have no idea how many litters of puppies she’s had but this will be her last. She’s a good mom but is

beginning to run out of milk for the little ones. We’ve started giving them supplemental food and they’ve taken to it well.