Darcy

Profile

Another beautiful redhead has entered the RAGOM family. Darcy was released from a local breeding facility on June 20, 2015, and a few hours later was in our home. She is being fostered in rural Rochester. Her birth date is 10-09-10, so she is a relatively young gal. Since her upbringing was less than desirable as a family pet, Darcy is in the process of learning everything associated with being a good companion. She has been somewhat skittish and scared, but is gradually coming out of her shell. She very much wants to join the family activities and is curious and watchful of all that we do. Since her kennel is very centrally located, she can see the kitchen, living room and dining room and keeps an eye on all the activity around her. Now, instead of sleeping facing away from us, Darcy has turned around so she can keep tabs on what is going on around her. The kennel door is always open and she can come and go as she likes. She does have another "safe spot" in the dining room that she will retreat to occasionally. This morning was the first time she ventured into the living room alone. She checked out the toys on the floor, sniffed the toy box and headed back to her kennel. She likes to be brushed and is enjoying all the head pets and tummy scratches as we pass by her. She does not shy away from us when we give her attention. Yesterday, Darcy spent several hours in the yard with me while I worked in the garden and flowers--I saw her gradually exploring the different nooks and crannies and even resting on the grass in the shade. Her usual procedure is to potty and then rush to sit on the porch to come back in. She will come to the door to go out and comes back in when I call her--she seems to prefer to be inside rather than outside.

During the first few days we had her, she would not eat at all. Then she must have started to get hungry, so she decided to eat only once a day and tip her dish over to cover the portion she didn't want to eat. She is now eating well twice a day with a small dressing of canned food over the top to tempt her to eat everything. We have not had any potty accidents in the house, but she hasn't been wandering around much either. She is good about doing her business when she is outside--since we are retired, she is let out every few hours during the day.

Darcy's vet visit was an interesting experience. We had only had her a few days when she decided not to walk into the vet clinic and laid down splayed out like a turtle. The vet did her exam on the floor in the room and found her overall to be quite healthy except for several issues we are working on: 1) she weighed in at 7l.7 pounds and he would like to see her around 60 pounds (now on a portion-controlled diet of high-quality, grain-free food); 2) she had an ear infection affecting the right ear more than the left ear (I cleaned her ears and started some medication, so he said to continue what we were doing--her ears look cleared up now); 3) she had 3-4 small, what the vet believed to be, mammary cysts which he will check out closer at the time of her spay operation; and 4) she has two bald spots, one on each hip, which could be due to poor nutrition and living conditions, low thyroid, or what I believe may be the fact that I've caught her rubbing against the fence posts in those same spots. You can see new hair just beginning to grow there. All of these issues are not significant problems that can't be overcome, considering this was probably her first vet visit ever. She was heartworm negative, parasite-free, a dental cleaning may be in her future, microchipped, and had her immunizations given (she needs to return in three weeks for her second DHPP). Since Darcy was overweight for her more petite frame, the vet would like to see her drop a few pounds before her spay operation.

Over the 4th of July holiday, we babysat my RAGOM-foster daughter's two dogs. Zelda is her RAGOM foster failure, along with her Black Lab/Golden Retriever cross, Sadie. Zelda is from the same breeding facility that Darcy came from. Darcy did fine with the additional dogs and tried to initiate play time with them. She was able to entice Sadie to run and chase her several times, so I think a playful Darcy is hiding in there, just waiting to emerge when the time is right. She did very well with my daughter's children, ages 13 and 10, when they were here. Darcy seems to be more relaxed in the yard when we let her out in the evening--I don't know if it has to do with the fact that it is dark and she thinks we can't see her, or perhaps her pen at the facility was not so bright and that is what she is used to.

This little gal is moving along at her own pace and, considering her upbringing, doing quite well, I might add. Since she had never been exposed to people, any household noise, farm equipment, power lawn mowers, etc, we feel she is progressing well. With patience, time and love, this little girl will be a great companion and friend--time is on her side since she is still young enough to make changes in her lifestyle. Darcy is safe and loved here, so it will be fun to see the new Darcy evolve.