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.

 

New homes for Joey and Jarvin

Joey

While with us Joey absolutely loved playing with a ball (and found balls on our property we didn't even know we had!) and was really interactive with people. I was thrilled when a family with 4 older boys (with ages all in double figures) was keen to meet him. I'm sure this is the kind of home he'll be happy and well stimulated in, hope his new family are just as happy with Joey. Here's a quick report of their initial meeting:

Meeting went great.  Joey is such a good dog isnt he?  Such good manners :)  He met H and two of her boys who really seemed to take to him.  The boys told me he's got lots of toys waiting for him at home and it sounds like he's going to be a very busy boy taking everyone in the family for walks!  

Jarvin

Jarvin was a young boisterous boy looking for a loving home that could enjoy his energy and continue his training. One family on our waiting list had been keen on quite a few of our Labs but missed out each time for different reasons. Then they saw Jarvin and expressed interest in him and we thought it might be the right match this time (ie. a woman with previous Lab experience with two grown children living at home, one studying and one working) and a meeting was arranged. He is now on trial and the first report sounds really promising:

Just to let you know our beautiful boy is settling in really well. He is certainly bringing a lot of joy into our house. My daughter has fallen instantly in love with him and he certainly knows how to charm the girls. We have decided to call him Harvey. Thanks again for bringing him to us, will let you know how things go after our 2 week trial.

A younger Jarvin in the middle



Changing providers

Hey, I'll be offline for a week as I change internet providers so see you later!

More puppy photos to enjoy:

Mad Max & Buddy

Mad Max & J

Mad Max

Princess the Kelpie pup greeting E

Prince and Princess with J

Prince and Princess with the family

Catch you later!

Sweet Stella

Stella is now in foster care, a pound rescue who was left in one of the outside cages with a note saying not good with other dogs and children. We decided to rescue her and test her and if she was not suitable for re-homing would have been prepared to put her down.  Thankfully this won't be necessary. She came up in the same transport as Arti last weekend but fortunately had been vaccinated the week before travelling so is expected to be protected from Parvo and is showing no signs of illness.

She's estimated to be 18 months to 2 yrs old and is possibly a Lab cross German Short-haired Pointer with the looks and characteristics of both breeds.

She just loves playing with balls! She will even play ball alongside another ball loving dog without any altercations regarding ball ownership :-). In fact she walks well past other dogs on her daily walks as well. She met Katherine's four Labs today and was a little overwhelmed but showed no aggression, once greetings were over she preferred playing with a ball than socialising with the other dogs. 

She's been tested with a 7 yr old child and just showed signs of frustration when being teased but soon settled as the child was managed to help reduce the dogs frustration levels. She then really loved playing with the child and vice versa. It is as important to manage children's behaviour around dogs as to manage dogs around children. Children need to be taught how to treat dogs well. Always supervise dogs and children together!

Stella has been offered to a lovely home on our waiting list.

Indoor Swimming Pool

Well our place smells like we have an indoor swimming pool. We've been disinfecting all the surfaces we can with a chlorine bleach solution (1 part bleach to 5 parts water) as recommended by our vet.

A little sad that we're unlikely to be able to foster baby pups for Lab Rescue for up to a year now that we've had the Parvo virus on our property.

Our vets have assured us our dogs are fully vaccinated but I am still worried and probably won't relax until the incubation period has passed.

Here are some happy puppy memories:

Another Vale for Arti

A touching farewell from another friend of Arti who is also caring for a rescue fighting Parvo

I am really sorry Arti.  You were a beautiful boy.  I wished I'd given you some more cuddles and not rushed you both in so quickly to get on the road.

You were such a sweet boy - happy, exuberant but not over the top - just the perfect blend of a loving family dog - anyone could easily fall in love with you.  The world will be poorer without you - I hope you are safe and well now.   You will be missed.

I'm so sorry Linda, Katherine and Mary - he was a beautiful dog.  Nothing I can say will make it any better or the pain go away - just know I am sad for him too - so wrong and such a waste of a beautiful dog.  Curse on his former owners.

Please cross your fingers for my girl Amelia - she is still on the drip fighting.  Hugs to you all.

Hugs for Amelia, keep fighting little one.

Vale Arti

Very sad to share that Arti succumbed to Parvo an hour ago. He seemed well yesterday afternoon on arrival but overnight he started to throw up and then refused breakfast, wouldn't drink any water and just kept hiding in a corner of the garden looking miserable. We booked him for a morning appointment at my local vet, observing his first bout of bloody diarrhoea just before leaving. He grew worse during the appointment, had a fever of 41 and tested positive for Parvo. We decided to try to give him a chance to live. He was put on a drip to keep him hydrated. His blood count and protein levels were normal but his blood sugar was very low 1.7 (normally about 3.5) so he was put on a glucose drip and started on antibiotics. The afternoon update phone call was encouraging, he had eaten a little during the afternoon. We were hoping for a better update phone call at 8pm. Alas, he had deteriorated to the point where blood sugar level was zero, his gums were pale and he was unresponsive. I decided to go down to see him before making the heart wrenching decision of whether to let him go or keep trying by transferring him to emergency.
Arti really looked much worse than I was expecting, totally unresponsive, and the vet checked and confirmed that he was indeed gone.

Arti I will remember you wanting to play with our big coward Gus last night, and Gus hiding under the dining room table while you paced around waiting for him to come out again :-).
I remember introducing you to the cat, her growling at you and you deciding to growl at her!
Thank you for the hugs you gave us, they were the best loving puppy hugs!
Thanks for helping me in the kitchen last night :-).
Arti we thought you were a gorgeous natured little boy with a beautiful life ahead of you.
I hope you're enjoying rainbow bridge free of the pain and distress you went through today.
Forgive us.

Artie - the new boy

Bye Jet...

I took Jet to meet his new volunteer foster mum yesterday, a home with no cat! Such a relief for our cat who finally came out of 'her' wing of the house last night after a week of hiding, LOL. Here's a good bye shot of Jet with my daughter E who wanted to adopt him!

Hello Artie...

A volunteer rescuer has had a very long day driving from Canberra to Wagga to Goulburn and back to Canberra today. Thankfully she was able to bring two Labs from Wagga pound for us. I picked up Artie and another Lab Rescue volunteer picked up the black girl now called Angie.

We were expecting a 3 yr old but I think he looks and acts like a baby, isn't he a cutie!  His dangly bits are pretty small too which confirms my suspicions - Katherine made me do it ;-) LOL. We'll see what the vet thinks when he goes in for his vetwork. Poor little mite appears to be suffering from Kennel Cough.

Typical of all our Lab fosters - he lay down in the kitchen to keep me company while I cooked dinner. Gotta love 'em.

Artie - trying to avoid the annoying paparazzi! He kept looking away as soon as he saw the camera coming - I think he learnt his lesson after the first blinding flash! 

Artie had a practice run in the crate during dinner and Dr Who. He was quiet as a lamb and very settled.  This photo shows him tucking himself into the crate later of his own accord (the door is open). Hoping for a peaceful sleep tonight :-).

We have him here for just one night, tomorrow he moves to another available volunteer foster carer with two fun dogs to play with!

Our poor old cat is in a very bad mood again, LOL!!!