Welcome Callie: It's Patio Season!

Hello! It's been awhile since I've posted about Callie! We've been busy around here with volleyball, college applications, volunteering at the rescue and working. Callie continues to do great! Here's a summary!

Callie is about 2.5 years old and about 25 pounds. She's about 14 inches to the shoulder. She is a terrier mix with a cute underbite. In the time that Callie has been with us she's learned "sit" and "come" and to ring the bell on the back door to go outside. She loves to play with other dogs. She's been around many new dogs while she's been here and done well with all of them. She and my terrier are about the same size and Callie and she love to wrestle and play chase and tug. My male dog is grumpy guy and particular about the dogs he likes and he likes Callie. She knows he's not playful so she never pushes it with him and leaves him alone.

We usually start our day with a walk around the park and then we eat breakfast. Callie eats in her crate. She races across the kitchen to her crate as soon as I turn around with her bowl in hand. She is not food aggressive and takes treats and food nicely. She and my dog play for a bit and then she usually takes a nap in the family room or in my office while I work. When I get up to take a break I let the dogs out so she gets out several times a day. If I head out I ask her to "go kennel" and she races to her crate. I throw a treat in and she's quiet and content until I get home. In the evening she likes to cuddle on the sofa with my husband. At night she either sleeps in the crate or sometimes in our bed. She's fine with either and is quiet all night until we get home.

Callie has been good with all the typical things that happen in family life. She's not bothered by the storms that have rolled through or by the vacuum. When my daughters have friends over she will bark when strangers come in and will be wary for a minute but soon she's comfortable with pets.

Callie has been on several adventures recently and has done so well with each of them. She's gone to the pet store, to the coffee shop for lunch and to the brewery for dinner. She rides well in the car she just can't jump in yet so needs a little help getting up. She's cautious when we arrive in a new place but soon becomes comfortable. I always bring a few treats to encourage her to explore and be comfortable. It's patio season so this weekend we took her to our suburban downtown area and had lunch at a local coffee shop. We sat outside with her and she met another dog and a few new people. She did great with all of it. Then, the weather continued to be great so we took her to a local brewery that has a large outside area. It wasn't super crowded but there were young kids running around, lots of music playing, a couple other dogs there. Again, she did great. One child asked to pet her and she did great. She met the parents too and some of the other brewery patrons and did great. On the car ride home she curled up in a ball and napped she had had a long adventurous day!

Will take socks and shoes if they're left out. She will take them and chew them a little but typically not enough to do any damage. My girls (and even my husband) aren't so good about getting the socks into the hamper so I often find the socks unharmed and in the back yard (that's where she likes to take her finds). She likes stuffed toys and does like to play tug with ropes and toys with my female dog. On the weekends, if the weather is nice, we take a 2 mile walk each day. She probably could be a running partner if someone was looking for one. She's young, athletic and has energy.

Callie came to the rescue in 2022 very skinny and heartworm positive. We filled her out and treated her for the heartworms, which took several months. I wasn't ready to adopt her out yet though because she was having trouble holding her urine. She would leak urine while she slept. I took her to see the vet. I knew that female dogs can sometimes have trouble holding urine after their estrogen levels drop after a spay. The vet said she was healthy and we agreed to try the hormone medication. It worked! After an initial dose daily for 30 days we tapered her down to the lowest effective dose. She now takes Incurin every third day. I just drop the small pill in her food in the morning and she gobbles it right up. A packet costs about $30 and lasts about 3 months. She is also on monthly heartworm preventative (as all dogs should be) and that is taken once a month and is about $10. She's not had any leaking accidents since. She's had a few potty accidents but those have all been by the back door and because I didn't hear her ringing the bell.

Dear Callie is ready to find a family of her own now. She is a sweet, smart and playful girl. She didn't have the best start in life but we've gotten her on the road to health and is waiting for someone to walk it with her.

Thanks for reading!

Here are some photos