Update on Willow

Here is a note from Lisa on Willow (below) and my response (above)…

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Lisa, this is wonderful news. I know that the readers will like to know about her life. Thank you for keeping up with her and hanging in there. Rescuing isn’t easy – in fact the kind of rescuing you did with Willow is the hardest – you got her in the throws of such huge transitions – just into rescue, having pups, loosing her pups to their new families, and all those accompanying hormones! And then she had those persistent illnesses, and needed to be spayed. Really, you took on a lot. It has been really helpful to hear of your struggles during this time – I have learned a lot that I will be able to use with the next mama that needs a home. I’m still learning and I am sorry I wasn’t able to foresee all that you were taking on. Again, thank you so much for hanging in there with her. I am so pleased she is loved, cared for and may be an international dog some day!! Wow.

Keep me posted and photos would be great.
-Kristin

Hi Kristin. I love the web site. We loved seeing all of Willow’s puppies. They are absolutely adorable. Willow is doing great. She just got spayed finally a few weeks ago. Between the infections and then her going into heat, we couldn’t get her spayed until now. She has really come a long way since we got her. She has calmed down a lot and she is very loving toward me and the kids. She finally let my husband pet her in January before he left for Germany. He is coming home for a visit next week so we will see how she does with him after him being gone for so long. We are still undecided about whether we will take her with us. They really love dogs in Germany and Switzerland and they go everywhere including restaurants and stores. She is definitely not trained for that! But we will see as the day draws nearer. We will not leave until July, so we have some time. We have to figure out where we will be living and if it is suitable. Also we will have to find someone to take care of her when we come home for vacations. That may be a challenge. If we can work out the details, we will take her with us. We love her so much in spite of all her anxiety issues. It sounds from the descriptions on the web site that her puppies have all turned out well. I think the one person was right about their being bloodhound in their lineage. I have always thought that about Willow with her somewhat droopy eyes and her insistence on smelling everything persistently for long periods of time ! Thanks for checking on her. I’ll try to find some pictures to send on to you, but rest easy and know she is being very well cared for and has evolved into her role as queen of the house!

A Sugar filled slide show

We received this update on Sugar (Sugar Maple of Willow’s litter):

Hi, Happy Holidays!

I think I finally figured out how to attach some pictures. Sugar is doing great, her mange cleared up and she was spayed a couple weeks ago. We used the animal hospital in Glendale Heights, they couldn’t have been any nicer and were only charged for her meds. She had no problems and was back to her old self the next day. Sugar has graduated out of her crate, she goes back and forth between my room and my sons room at night and wakes me up between 7 and 8 with kisses all over my face. She is really a loveable dog. She loves to be close to everyone and loves to cuddle. She does not have a mean bone in her body, my son plays crazy with her, taking her bones and bothering her when she eats and we never heard her growl. Sugar has really brought alot of joy to us. Thanks again, have a happy new year.
Donna

Here is a short slideshow of Sugar…

[flashvideo file=images/sugardogslides.flv /]

Update on Birch

Birch in October 2009An update on Birch (one of Willow‘s litter)!!  Her family wrote me tonight to say that she had her spay surgery and it went well.  She is a whopping 49 pounds!!   She looks so much like her litter mates it is crazy.  All the pups are really similar and also really favor their mama, Willow.  Seeing this picture made me really happy.  I hadn’t heard from her family in a long while and I always worry when I haven’t heard much from an adoptive family.

Update on Jackson

Here is an update on Jackson (formerly Jacob of Chloe‘s litter)…

JacksonIt’s been a while, so I thought I would give everyone a quick update on how Jackson is doing. He has grown to be quite the big boy, weighing in at about 40 pounds at 18 weeks. He really doesn’t look that big, I guess he’s just solid. He is still good natured and loves to see new people and places. He used to cry and whine in the car, but now he goes and sits next to the van sometimes and is happy to go just about anywhere with us.

He loves playing outside, and lately he can spend a lot of time romping in the yard trying to chase moths. He has recently gone through a phase of hiding his bones & rawhides outside. If we are in the house he will sit by the door and whine softly. When we take him out he runs to the base of a tree, sets the rawhide down, then with his paws he digs a hole in the mulch. Then he’ll pick the rawide back up and gently put it in the hole and press it in with his nose. Then, using his nose again, not his paws, he covers up the rawhide and fills the hole. It’s pretty interesting to watch.

Yesterday he got his “big snip” at the vet’s office, so there won’t be any little Jackson’s running around in the future. They sent us home with a cone so he can’t lick his stitches, but it is WAY too big for him, so on the advice of a friend we fitted him with a custom t-shirt which I put over his head, his front legs through the sleeves, and then gather up the shirt over his butt and between his back legs and rubberband it off on one side of his tail. We have to undo it every time we take him outside to go, but it does keep him from getting to that area, and it is much more comfortable than the dreaded cone.

He is slowly getting used to the back to school routine, but hates to see the boys leave in the morning. I hope you and your pups are all doing well.

Adoption Process Underway

Annie and her no-nursing shirt

Annie and her no-nursing shirt

Yesterday was a busy busy day for everyone. We had numerous viewings of the puppies as well as a few families who came by to play with and cuddle their new family members. The puppies are now 7 weeks old and aren’t ready to leave just yet. I like to wait until closer to 8 weeks to give them as long as possible with their littermates and mama. Annie continues to be a stellar mother, nursing them whenever they ask for it. I have to keep chasing her out of the puppy room to stop that as she will be leaving soon. I was up until 11:30 last night sewing her a little shirt to keep her teats in and away from the puppies. I was using an old t-shirt but the pups were climbing into the shirt through the arm (more…)

Eight Pups for Annie

Annie & pups on day 2

Annie & pups on day 2

Finally, she emerges!! She refused to leave that tiny crate all night. But at 9am she needed to potty badly enough to go out with me. And then she was starving. As she ate I moved the pups from the crate where she whelped them to the plastic turtle sandbox where there’s more room to nurse.

I gave each pup a cursory look over to make sure all was normal. We have four cream pups, three black pups, and one brown one. Eight pups…sigh. We were hoping for less. But at least there are fewer than Bella’s eleven. That was INSANE.

Annie is starving and her pups look really skinny for pups. It is so hard for stray dogs to get the nutrition they need. I’m amazed she did as well as she did. All were born alive, alert, and so far seemingly healthy. Had she delivered this group outside they would all be dead shortly I fear. The cold temperature and her depleted condition would have been too much of a stress. It is so sad. PLEASE SPAY AND NEUTER YOUR DOGS! Don’t keep letting this sort of thing go on.

November 17, 2008 • Tags: , , , • Posted in: Annie, pups • No Comments