Olivia and her siblings are from Alabama. Many of the dogs available through Fluffy Dog Rescue are from Alabama. In fact, two of my own dogs, Miles and Missy are Fluffy Dog alums and from Alabama.
Well, how do the dogs make it up to IL and WI you might be thinking? Well, it takes a lot of volunteers and some really great leaders. There are dedicated volunteers in AL who comb the shelters and who network throughout the state to find and save dogs from kill shelters. The dogs are then transported up to IL and WI, again with the help of many volunteers. Today, my husband and I met the transport in IL, loaded our minivan with 12 dogs (and a large stuffy) and drove them up to the rescue in WI. All of them did great. Olivia then hopped back into the car with us for the ride back to IL.
She is a sweet and beautiful girl. We've only known her a few hours and she's been through a lot of change the last day but here's what I can tell you so far.
She is sweet and likes people. She curled up in my husband's lap on the ride back to IL. She did not like the bath we gave her but hey it was probably the first bath she's probably had in her life. She is young, probably about 6 months old. She and her two siblings were rescued in AL and we understand the mother was a doxie and the dad was a cockapoo. She definitely has a long torso...18 inches...and is short in stature...11 inches tall...but she has a longish, fluffyish coat that does shed. I just love the black and white markings on her. Very beautiful.
I think that many things are new to her. For example, walking on a leash appears to be new. She takes a few steps and then stops. Takes a few more steps and then stops. She'll eventually get the hang of it though. She was perplexed by the couple of stairs leading to the back yard but saw the other dogs navigate them and then gave it a try. She's only been here a few hours but so far she's been doing all her potties outside.
She met my dogs just fine. No fusses from anyone. I have a standard poodle (Fluffy Dog), a mini poodle mix (Fluffy Dog) and a sheltie mix (fluffy but not a Fluffy Dog).
She has been following me around so far today. In fact a couple of times my flip-flop could not flop because she was literally at my heels and on my shoes. She's not overly frightened of anything that I've seen but I think that things are new to her so she is staying very close. A few days and she'll be more confident and curious I'm sure.
She is a happy girl and we've seen her tail wagging quite a bit today already.
I will add more info as we get to know this sweet and beautiful girl more.
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| Here is my mini-van loaded with 12 dogs (and one large stuffed dog). Olivia and her two siblings were in the red crate on the right. They all did well on the drive. |
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| She got to sit in my husband's lap for the ride back to IL. She did well the whole way. |
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| Nap time! |
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| Home! Smiling! |
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| And, nap time again. She is curled up on a towel next to my desk while I type this Below is a video of her at home |