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

Meeting a new friend at lunch

In the car

With my dogs Miles (top) and Winnie (left)

Met another new friend in our town

Snuggled next to Dad is a favorite place

Closing time at the brewery

Car ride home.  So tired!  

At the brewery

She got comfortable at lunch and laid out on the patio

Introducing Callie

 Meet Callie!  She's a 2 yr old terrier mix with personality, playfulness and sweetness to share.  Callie came to us about 2 months ago as a foster.  Like so many of the Fluffy Dogs she was a stray in Alabama and had a rough start before coming to the rescue.  She was underweight and heartworm positive.  Heartworm is spread by mosquitos and it's very easy to prevent with a monthly chewable from the vet but who ever had her must not have given her any.  She's now gone through heartworm treatment (a two month process while the heartworms die) and ready to find a forever home of her own.  

We have two dogs of our own and have had several foster dogs and even a friend's dog with us over the months and Callie has done well with all of them.  She is a sweet girl and has gotten along with everyone.  She loves to play and makes fast friends if the other dog is willing to play with her.  Playing is her most favorite thing.  

In the time she's been here she's learned "sit" and has learned to ring the bell on our back door to let us know she wants to go out.  (See the linked videos below).  She wants to please and has been fun to train.  

She does well on walks and sleeps quietly in her kennel all night.  She is not food aggressive and shares all the toys and chews with the other dogs.  

She rides well in a car.  

She's a great size at about 25 pounds.  She's a little under knee height (I'm 5-5)

Callie would occasionally have accidents in her crate which I thought was odd because she was good about letting us know when she needed to go out.  I worked with the vet and we ruled out a UTI and surmised that she might have lost some of the urinary muscle control after her spay.  This can happen with female dogs (happens with female human's too).  Estrogen helps control the urinary muscles and after a spay those estrogen levels plummet.  So, we tried putting her on a low dose of estrogen and she's had no accidents since.  Yay!  Incurin is the med and she will eventually only need the lowest effective dose which could be one tablet every few days.  I'm so happy we figured this out for this sweet girl!  

Please see the pictures and video links below.  

Thanks for thinking about adopting a rescue!  

Click the links to see videos

Callie doing Sit

Callie Ringing Bell

Callie Playing

Callie walking

Callie getting pets

More playing

Scrappy Available for Adoption

 Hello everyone....I am Scrappy's former foster mom.  Scrappy was with me for about a week and a half back in December.  She was adopted by a family who had another small dog and my understanding is that Scrappy was dominating their other dog.  So, after about 1 month in her new home she's being returned to the rescue.  We'll make sure she ends up in a home that works for her.  

While she was with me she was great with my other foster dog, Coki.  But, I did see that she would "posture" when around my other female dog.  They would stand up straight when around each other.  There were never any tussles but what I observed made me think they both wanted to be the lady in charge.  

Scrappy is a great girl and very adorable.  We'll make sure she ends up in a home that works for her and for any resident dogs.  

You can see pictures and videos from the time she was here by looking at prior posts in this blog.  

Thanks for thinking rescue!  

Another Field Trip With Coki

 It's a good idea to socialize dogs at Coki's age by introducing them to new experiences and new people.  So we decided to take Coki to a local dog friendly brewery and she did great.  She rode well in the car on the way there and pottied in the grass like I asked before we entered the place. The brewery is in an office park and on the Friday evening we were there there wasn't much commotion around except for the brewery.  As we walked to the door she put on the breaks....she backed up and put her butt down.  She wasn't sure where we were taking her and it was dark outside so I don't blame her.  So, I picked her up and carried her over the threshold and then she started to walk again.  To my surprise there was a guitarist there that night which made the noise level louder than usual.  We found a table and sat down and Coki immediately had admirers come over to say hello.  She was a little shy at first, maybe 10-15 seconds but then warmed up.  She also met another dog that was there and greeted her politely.  We were there about 90 minutes in total and Coki did great.  She was curious and did a lot of smelling around our table, but was calm.  I brought a bag of treats so I could reward her for her good behavior which made it an enjoyable positive experience for her.  We plan on going again.  

Here's a video of Coki playing outside

Photos below didn't load in a great order.  I'll add subtitles to explain

Shout out to Church Street Brewery in Itasca.  A neat place!  

Chewing a bone by the fireplace one night this week

At the brewery

Checking things out at the brewery

Waiting for a treat at the brewery

We just got there and she looked a little nervous still

Zonked out on the sofa one night this week.  She is a puppy with a lot of energy so this was after several walks this day

Hey...where are those treats! 

Coki goes on a field trip

 We needed to get some more puppy food for Ms Coki so we took the opportunity to make it a field trip and take her to the store with us.  It's a great idea to socialize pups through a variety of different experiences when they're young.  Going to the pet store if one example.  She did great.  She did great in the car and great in the store.  I didn't get pictures of everything but she met another dog, a beautiful collie wearing a service dog vest.  She met some employees who fawned over her and gave her scratches and hugs (she loved it).  She got to sniff many new smells and got to see some little hamsters in their cages.  She was polite and well behaved the whole time.  A little timid (hey this is all new for her) but with just a little encouragement she did great.  I brought my fanny pack full of treats and rewarded her for every positive interaction she had.  

Some pictures and videos are below.  There is one video of her practicing "sit" and "touch" (her nose to my hand).  You can see she was excited and was jumping up at first.  She's a smart girl and it will be really fun to train her on proper manners.  

Video- Working on sit 

Video- sitting at the store

Video- exploring the store

Video- sitting outside

Sitting outside on a sunny day with my dog Winnie (Coki is rolling on the right)

On the way to the pet store

Heading home after a successful shopping trip

Smelling all the smells!  

Scrappy and her new family

Coki and my dog Winnie sharing a bed (Coki chewing a bone)

Thanks for reading and thanks for thinking rescue!  

Another update (smile)

 These two are a hoot!  Coki is a typical puppy who loves to play and Scrappy doesn't eventually relent to Coki's requests.  They play tug, wrestle and chase.  I think Scrappy would be equally happy just chillin' by herself or getting some tummy rubs but she's good about indulging Coki.  Coki is a typical lab puppy.  She's energetic and smart.  Are they housebroken?  Well, they have both rung the bell on my back door to let me know they want to do out.  I have only known them for three days and they're both doing well.  Coki has had a few accidents but she's smart and like any puppy with a schedule and positive reinforcement she'll get it.  She knows how to let me know she wants to go outside but isn't yet consistent....like I said it's only been three days.  Scrappy didn't have any accidents today so that's good.  Some more time and I'll be able to confirm.  Both sleep in a crate at night and are quiet until we get up in the morning.  

Here are some pics and a video from today.  See prior posts for more info.  

Video

Quick update

Just a quick post today to share that the girls are doing well.  They've been here about 2.5 days now and are settling into the routine.  They do play together and will play tug or lay on the floor and wrestle.  

Both girls are good about gently taking treats from me.  Coki is really doing well with sit and I've also worked a little bit on "touch" with her.  This command is used to have a dog target their nose on your hand.  This can be even better than "come" because the dog is literally going to be by your side.  She's really getting it quickly.  

Here are a few pictures from today.  

Keep reading prior posts for more info.  

Thanks for reading