More of Harry

Isn't Harry handsome!

Here he is with our gang, he loves the tennis ball :-)

Puppies - My new Auntie K!

Not really rescue but exciting news in our family!!

My little girl K, has just become an auntie :-). Look at these gorgeous new pure bred Brittany pups fathered by her Champion brother!

Can you believe there are 7 boys and just one little girl !

Congratulations Auntie K ;-)!

Old Harry

Look who joined our family today !

Sweet old Harry was recently rescued from a local pound and is estimated to be 10-12 yrs old. He has arthritis in his back, elbows, knees and hips. Ouch! It's really beyond me how someone can leave an old fellow in such poor health at the pound to be put down. He's given someone the best years of his life and then this is how it is repaid! There is perhaps not much time left for the poor old fellow but he'll be able to rest comfortably in our home or another if someone will take him in and spoil him rotten for his remaining time.

He has the most beautiful head and face and the most gorgeous temperament. He and my partner are already in love ;-)! He's nervous of our stairs and the tiled floor. We've lain down blankets, dog beds and old carpet on the floors to help him out.

He enjoyed helping us in the kitchen tonight

and peeping out from under the kitchen stool
 

Keeping 'dad' company on the computer

We love you already Harry!

The Dog Park - is it a good place to socialise and exercise your dog?

I must admit I'm not a big fan of dog parks. I went to a new one near my place when it first opened and read the guidelines before going in. Wow, I couldn't believe how little notice people took of the guidelines. I was especially concerned to see a big group of owners standing still talking to eachother while their dogs had formed one massive milling pack, I'm talking more than 10 dogs! I really didn't feel comfortable when they all moved in our direction so we left as quickly and safely as we could!

I know quite a few people in my circle of dog friends who are also wary of dog parks. I certainly don't take my new foster dogs to a dog park as I don't know my foster very well and how he/she might react in different situations and I don't yet have the obedience control I feel is necessary for that environment.

I found an interesting article you may like to read regarding dog parks:

http://leerburg.com/pdf/dogparks.pdf

and while there check out lots of other dog training/management articles

http://leerburg.com/dogtrainingebooks.htm

Enjoy the challenge!

One of our new boys looking for a new wonderful home - 10 yr old Calvin

Another Lucky!

Katherine's dilemma

I have had a call from Animal Welfare League in Sydney. They have a 12 month old male called Lucky. They keep their dogs in kennels and don’t run them together so they have a problem with him. When he sees other dogs, he play bows, wags his tail and growls. Talk about mixed signals! They are 99% sure he is not aggressive but has just never met another dog before so is unsure of what to do. But since they don’t put their dogs together, they have no way of knowing for sure and therefore can’t rehome him.
Do we take him or not ...?

... Well you know us, we said yes, with a little trepidation.

We found a volunteer carer who was willing to take him on, yay! The volunteer foster carer drove from Canberra to Yass on Thursday night with her dog Ari. Lucky came in on transport and was picked up by Katherine. All her dogs and Ari were locked inside and Lucky given time to sniff, stretch his legs and explore his new surroundings. Then one dog at a time was let out to meet Lucky. It became apparent quite quickly that he was only about 9 months old and had no problems at all meeting other dogs, phew! He wasn't even concerned when Katherine's 13 yo arthritic foster boy Harry tried to hump him :-). So he happily joined Ari in the car and waved K good bye - off for his wonderful new adventure!

Guess what - we have an update from his lovely foster carer:

Lucky is doing great! He's a sweet little boy. He needs some training but is responding well to our routines. He has heaps of energy but can also lie down and chill out inside when he is tired. He's eager to please & just wants love and attention. He & Ari get along great & as you saw he doesn't have any aggressive tendencies at all. He's a beautiful boy! Thanks again for your help yesterday. Cheers

Sasha the Cheeky Labrador!

Hi Linda (and the lab rescue gang)
              Oh wow, don't mind at all. Was lovely to see the unseen pic of Sasha with three balls in her mouth LOL. You'll be be happy to know she STILL does that. LOL. As soon as I saw the pic I knew yep that's definitely her hahaha.  Thanks for the congrats too. We have been working really hard and it's hard for Sasha to concentrate and focus on me sometimes cause she just thinks that it's playtime every time she sees dogs at school hehee. Was pleasantly suprised but soo proud of her too. I took her out to Petbarn where she got to pick out a new toy (of course she chose the squeaky dumbell LOL).

Please see attached pics, and one with her and Mischa chilling one evening in the lounge room. They have touched noses too but on Mischa's terms of course.

Hope you enjoy the pics (one of Sasha with her toys/balls, one of Sasha and Mischa, one of Sasha and her best friend Honey and at the beach pics. She has now been down the coast twice and LOVES it. Thank you for all the hard work you all do. It truly takes special, caring people to do what you do and I definitely appreciate it. :-)

Cheers for now but I will keep you updated on any more achievements of this gorgeous girl.

Love from A, Sasha and Mischa

p.s. Apologies for the amount of pics, I couldn't help myself LOL

Hi A
Your new photos are too gorgeous not to share!
Many thanks
Linda


Look folks Sasha still loves to collect balls, LOL...!

and surf ...

 and just chill out :-).

As I remember Mischa was a very timid rescue cat that needed a lot of patience and care to settle in. It must have taken the same amount of patience and care to help her accept Sasha into the fold too :-).



Awesome!

Happy Ending - Penelope - now Sasha

Thanks for the awesome update on Sasha! Congratulations on the blue ribbon!

Sasha's new mum had a kind heart and actually applied for shy little Ccelli but after chatting I knew she would adore the wonderful Penelope (now Sasha) who was also staying with me. Sure enough it was a match made in heaven.

Hi Linda,
              It's been a while but thought I would share my excited news about lil miss sasha. On sunday we had her obedience training and well she got a blue ribbon first place. Couldn't believe it, every report card she has had says, "sasha is too social, Sasha needs to learn to focus " LOL " she is quite the social butterfuly and just has to say hi to everyone and wants to be everyone's friend. Sadly not everyone wants to be her friend all the time but YAY Sasha. She did so well. Misbehaved when we got there cause it was overwhelming with all the other dogs there but she eventually desensitised to it all and was like, yep whatever.  Am also please to report that Mischa the cat is no longer scared of Sasha "the big yellow thing" LOL. While she's not best friend's with her and I don't think you will see her curling up next to Sasha it seems that she has known shown Sasha that she is the boss " when she figured out that she wasn't going to be eaten by the big yellow thing LOL"

I've attached a pic of us and the blue ribbon. heheee

Cheers

A  

 Here's a funny photo at our place of Penelope (now Sasha) holding 3 balls in her mouth at once asking for another to be thrown. She was such a hoot!

Also in the photo are
BW (short for Beached Whale!) who is now called Gus and is much more trim and is a wonderful companion for two little children,
and shy litttle Ccelli who went to a home with a loving poodle, three gentle children, a mum who had worked as a vet nurse and a loving grandma.