Lilly went to the vet today and as I already knew she is in heat and very skinny. She has ear infections, she had ear mites, and she needs her teeth cleaned when she is spayed. I brought in a fecal, he recommended I continue using Revolution but in 2 weeks instead of a month...he thinks she must have had fleas (who knows what else) and he found dead mites in her ears, then finish the heartworm season with it. Use something better next spring for heartworm. He also said she could be pregnant as she is just beginning to come out of heat and she has been fertile for a week or more and her tits are more enlarged than he might expect at this stage of heat cycle (I am clueless on this part as I have always owned males). But we will spay her in two weeks regardless because he doesn't think s! he's in good enough shape to have puppies even if we wanted her to. Plus her coat is like straw so he quizzed me about her current nutrition...he was satisfied with California Natural, vitamins E and C, plus fatty acids, plus yogurt.

Lilly has had quite a week so far. She has been on several walks with either both of my dogs or with just my younger dog. She does very well, but I have notice that she takes cues from my dogs, especially my younger dog. She tries hard to match his pace and she does better on each walk. They are a cute pair, him being dark red and her being fairly blond, walking side by side, both watching for squirrels along the way. She touches either him or comes back to me and rubs on my leg if any loud noises scare her...(or not so loud noises).

She went to the vet on Wednesday evening. She weighs 54 pounds and she did fairly well with the whole experience. Although she was definitely terrified, she didn't belly crawl or pee, although she wouldn't let anybody get too close to her. The vet did very well with her and was able to give her a thorough exam. She is in heat (as I already knew), she is very, very skinny, her coat is like straw, she has ear infections, she had ear mites, her teeth need cleaning and she has some bug bites that are healing up. Because of her general condition and the stage of heat the vet estimated she was in, we have a spay scheduled in a couple of weeks. The vet quizzed me on her current diet and said it sounded fine, so between a good diet and lots of supplements he thinks she will be doing a bit better by the time her surgery is scheduled. She also needs to have her teeth cleaned at that time. Hopefully the blood tests we did won't show anything else. In the meantime we will continue to introduce her to as many new experiences and people as possible and keep teaching her that life isn't so scary.

She is doing very well at my house, she sleeps all night in her crate, she has been eating fairly well and she is learning that those things scattered on the floor are dog toys. She has never picked up anything inappropriate, but my house is pretty dog-proofed. She doesn't look so scared any more when she picks up the dog toys and if nobody is looking, she has even been known to toss a toy in the air and pounce on it when it lands. She also can watch television for long periods of time, her facial expressions make you believe she is really watching it. In the yard, she will actually come right up to me now, instead of staying just out of arms reach. She has made so much progress in only four plus days!

Lilly is blossoming more and more each day. She is walking daily and even when alone, she now leads the way. She has met more of the citizens of St. Paul than any other foster dog I've had (because I have been asking anybody I see to pet her) and she is becoming more confident. She is still shy, but she is doing so much better than I ever imagined she would be doing at this point. She LOVES toys and tries to play with each and every toy we have every day. She loves her peanut butter stuffed kong most of all! Some of Lucky's babies (stuffed toys) are now in need of medical care, so they are put away until Lilly finds her new home. She loves the stuffed toys...until she starts to rip them apart. She loves to play and run around with toys in her mouth...she's very funny. She loves to cuddle and she likes to be where she can see people.

Lilly continues to make huge strides towards being a normal dog. She now eats with my dogs in the kitchen instead of in her crate, a huge breakthrough. She loves to go for walks and to play in the yard. She loves tennis balls and has even managed to beat Lucky to the ball a few times. She continues to try to play with each and every toy in the dog toy box each day.

She is getting better at getting in and out of my SUV, but she still gets panicky in strange places. She has two responses to fear, she either runs like a streak or she cowers down and cringes. Thank god for the gentle leader or we would have lost her more than once. These dogs have the ability to wiggle out of any collar when they are scared. She is comfortable enough at my house and when on walks in my neighborhood that she no longer gets panicky. She hardly ever cowers anymore when in her normal environment, it is only when introducing her to new situations that she gets scared now. She can meet new people at my house and on walks without being scared, another huge improvement. It is very cool to watch her gain confidence with each new experience. She is well on her way to being a normal dog.

She gets spayed on Friday the 20th, and after a couple days recovery, I will start looking for the perfect home for her. If you think you are that home, contact Ragom. She is looking for a home without children and with people that are patient and loving and willing to spend time teaching her that life is good. Another dog would be good but not necessarily a requirement. No electric fencing. She is a beautiful, sweet dog that deserves the best life possible.

Lilly was spayed last Friday and had her teeth cleaned at the same time, she still has ear infections so we got more medicine for another 10 days. She has not gained any weight since her first check up so we did another fecal which came back negative so the vet suggested we increase her food a bit. She loves to eat and now sits with my dogs when it's treat time. She takes treats so gently and she chews very thoroughly...as if she's not quite sure yet. She waits in line for her yogurt and vitamins as well. She doesn't even mind that she's third in line, she just waits patiently.

She let me brush her teeth with her own pink toothbrush...I think she liked the poultry flavored toothpaste. She was pretty quiet this weekend but has rebounded wonderfully. She was good at the vet, but they said she was scared and hard to get out of her crate...she sure was glad to come home on Saturday, she checked out her yard like she'd lived here forever, said hello to my two dogs, kissed the cat and went and took a long nap under my computer desk.

She has become a normal dog at my house, no more running and hiding, no more cringing or cowering. She is completely at ease and acts like she has lived here forever, she is gradually learning how good life can be. It is only when new situations arise that she gets nervous, but now she has learned to trust me enough and she still takes cues off of my dogs and if they are okay, she tries to be okay too. They all love to go for walks, it is really cute, all three dogs walking side by side down the street with me, Lilly likes to be in the middle, with my older dog on her left and my younger dog on her right. It's amazing how quickly she has adapted. Lilly is totally ready to find her forever home and I have no doubt that in a couple of months nobody will even believe she was from a puppy mill.

Lilly has been adopted by Kurt & Diane. They bought her a ton of new toys, a new bed, a gentle leader, her own dishes, ordered her a collar to match Jo's. She's going to be well loved and taken care of by people that really understand the puppy mill dog. If they return Lilly for any reason, I will have to adopt her...even though I will be walking past their house most days on our walks, and I will see Lilly, this was the hardest adoption I've done. It was hard to leave her. She learned to trust me and now she will have to learn to trust them.

From Lilly's new family...

Dear RAGOM,

Thank you for the great picnic on Saturday. It was so fun seeing so many golden retrievers all together. We can't wait until the next get-together!

We adopted Lily on Friday night and she is doing great. She and Jo are already best buddies. They play together like they've known each other forever. Jo has been wonderful alone, but is still very timid with people other than Kurt and I (she must have had such a bad experience before RAGOM rescued her) - already Lily is more outgoing and is making Jo a bit jealous enough to search out some petting from other people so Lily doesn't get all the good stuff. We think Lily is going to help Jo grow socially. Jo is also helping Lily learn some manners a little at a time. We're working on sit and every time we work with Lily, Jo 'sits' and looks at us like she's the one who deserves a treat each time. It's very cute. They are sharing a water dish and drink out of it at the same time (and the food dish, treats, beds, etc.), they clamp on to one tennis ball or toy together and drag each other around in a fun game, Jo has welcomed Lily into 'her' home like her new best friend. Kurt and I are so happy to have both girls and will send another update with pictures soon.

Thanks for all you do! We pass on the web site to many people who are thinking of getting a dog or puppy hoping to find more good homes for RAGOM goldens.

Sincerely,
Diane K. and Kurt B. and Jo and Lily