Lucky

Lucky has been adopted! As a former commercial breeder dog, Lucky came to us shy and unsure of new people—especially men—but she hit the jackpot with an incredible couple who are showering her with patience, love, and understanding. She’ll also have two wonderful dog siblings to help show her the ropes and build her confidence along the way.

And for a Golden Retriever, it gets even better: Lucky will spend time at her family’s lake cabin, where she can enjoy one of her favorite things—swimming! With her new family, Lucky will continue to learn, trust, and blossom into the happy, carefree dog she was always meant to be.

Lucky continues to make steady progress in her foster home.  We can confidently say she is housetrained—no accidents in almost two weeks!  What a good girl she is.  And it’s wonderful that as she’s become more comfortable in her foster home, she is more frequently initiating play with our dogs.  When our two golden retrievers begin a game of chase, Lucky is quick to join in the fun.  She also loves the water.  While Lucky was recovering from her spay surgery, we had to limit her activity and the lake was taboo.  Her restrictions have been lifted so yesterday she made up for lost lake time and games of chase.  Lots of running in and out of the lake with the other dogs.  Lucky also swam for the first time to retrieve a ball!  I don’t think she was planning to have her feet leave the sand bottom.  Let’s just say it wasn’t the most elegant swim.  But she’s getting better with practice.  Lucky has also enjoyed hanging out on the dock with us and observing passing waterfowl.  

Lucky also enjoys morning chipmunk patrol (see photo).  After a trip outside to do their business, Lucky and her foster brother like spending time looking out the bedroom door to watch the chipmunks scurry around.  Lucky tends to be a bit anxious when she first wakes up.  Observing the happenings outside seems to be calming for her and her panting will stop.  While she calmly watches the critters from the inside, she does want to chase the chipmunks when she encounters them outside.  I guess you can’t blame a girl for trying.  On that note, she has met our neighbor’s toy poodle on two occasions and did just fine with her.

Once she gets through a bit of first thing-in-the morning nervousness, Lucky is fantastic in the house.  When inside, Lucky is content to play with her toys or snooze.  When I work from home, she spends most of the day sleeping at my feet in the office.  A continued area of focus is walking on the leash with Foster Dad.  Sometimes she does fine and calmly walks with him, other times it makes her nervous and she’s hesitant to move forward or will do circles.  With me, she walks beautifully.  As previously stated, Lucky is also hesitant to go to the bathroom while leashed (especially with FD).  

Lucky has made wonderful strides and is looking for that special someone/family to help her continue her journey to become her best self.

Hello big, new world! My name is Lucky, and I’m a former commercial breeder dog with the emphasis on “former”!  Now that I don’t have to worry about being a good mommy to puppies, I can focus on becoming my best self.  When I first arrived at my foster home, I was very nervous.  The big, tall guy in this house still makes me a bit leery but I’m learning he’s pretty ok and I love when he gives me pets and belly rubs.

None of the sights and sounds of the home scare me—even the machines the humans call a vacuum and hair dryer.  I find this home thing pretty darn amazing and have discovered the toy basket chock full of dog toys and find joy in the cushy dog beds.  I’m especially fond of the soft, plushy toys and think it’s the bomb to destuff one.  Foster Mom has some indestructible toys for me too but does allow me the fun of a good destuffing session now and again.

While strangers (especially those that approach me too fast) can be scary, once we meet each other, I can accept love from them just like my foster parents. This foster house also has three other resident dogs and a cat.  I was slowly introduced to the dogs as I was a bit overwhelmed when I first arrived.  I like the three dogs, especially the calm Golden Retriever.  Although, I am beginning to enjoy a little roughhousing with the high energy Golden Retriever youngster.  He’s a pretty good boy, so I’ve learned some stuff from him too, like how awesome it is to play in the lake, enjoy a Kong filled with peanut butter, get toys out of the toy basket and play tug-o-war.  The third and elderly dog just ignores me, so I do the same with her.  The cat intrigues me-probably more than makes FM comfortable. I pretty much ignore him when FM and FD are around.  But, left alone with him and I make no promisesJ That’s it for now.  I’ll share more updates as I figure out more about living the “golden” life.  

Foster Mom here. Lucky has been with us since early May, and she’s already made significant progress.  She was very anxious for the first few weeks—barely eating and struggling with potty training. I can’t blame her—it’s a big change to go from what she’s always known to a strange place where everything is new. Our vet did start her on anti-anxiety medication to help her with the transition and she’s doing much better now.  

While not highly food motivated, Lucky is now eating well and beginning to show interest in treats. Housetraining started a bit slow, but she’s catching on and hasn’t had an accident in over a week.  Lucky has likely never been on a leash. The leash makes her nervous when FD is at the other end of it.  She, however, is walking comfortably with FM.  We think doing her business on a leash was the impediment to getting the hang of housetraining.  Lucky will need additional work on leash walking.  While I’m not ready to call her 100% housebroken, she’s reliable enough now that she has earned free roam when we’re home to observe.  And I’m confident she’s on her way to being fully housetrained.  Yay, Lucky!   Lucky has been left alone (in our mudroom)for up to four and a half hours with no accidents or destructive behavior.  

Lucky gets along great with our three dogs.  Because she was so nervous at first, we went very slow on the dog introductions.  They first met outside, one by one, while on leashes—no problem.  We then kept them separated by a gate for about a week.  She got growly twice with our elderly English Springer, but that was the worst of it.  Lucky now is part of the pack and they all get along great.  She engages our two Goldens in play and it’s so fun to see her running around with them.  Lucky also loves chasing our youngest Golden on the beach and into the lake.  I’m guessing she’d never encountered a lake before, and we can now officially say she is a Lake Girl!  Can’t wait to get the pontoon in the water to see what she thinks of that!

Lucky is trained to sleep in a crate at night.  She sleeps as quietly as a church mouse all night and has never had an accident in her crate. 

Lucky has a beautiful and amazingly soft reddish coat.  She is 4.5 years old and very healthy.  She is being treated for an ear infection (seems to be clearing nicely) and initially was not very food motivated.  She now eats well and we’ve found a few treats that she seems to enjoy. Lucky was spayed last week and is recovering well.  No cone required as she never tried to lick her incision-bonus! She has been very tolerant of brushing, nail trims, application of ear medicine and ear cleaning.  

One unique aspect of Lucky is she is missing a toe on her back, right foot.  It doesn’t slow her down, but the pad on the adjoining toe can become irritated if she walks too much on rough surfaces.  So, we take her for short walks on asphalt/concrete surfaces and have her do most of her exercise in the yard or on softer hiking paths.  Again, she’s very active and fit, but not someone’s running parter.

The biggest challenge that remains for Lucky is overcoming her tentativeness around new people, especially men.  She REALLY loves attention from all humans, but does better when it’s on her terms, meaning she can approach them, or the person is sitting or down at her level.  She is a genuine sweetheart and will take all the snuggles she can get.

We live in a rural area with lots of weekend ATV traffic. Interestingly, she doesn’t even flinch when an ATV whizzes by or startle with loud noises in general.  But everything in our environment is new to Lucky, so she is very attentive and alert when we’re outside.

So, what do we think is the right adoptive home for Lucky?  First and foremost, an adopter(s) who is patient and understands that Lucky will need time to blossom into her best self.  She would do best in a home with only adults or with dog-savvy children.  While we don’t require another dog in the home, Lucky enjoys the company of other dogs and would do great with a confident, calm resident dog.  A fence is not required, but a plan for Lucky’s safety is paramount and a fenced yard makes potty time easier for Lucky.  Lucky does bond to her humans and therefore shows great potential for training recall behavior.  Speaking of training, we haven’t spent a lot of time on it, but she does know “sit”, “give” and we’re working on “leave it”.  It’s best that Lucky go to a cat-free home. 

Lucky is looking for that special someone with patience, love and willing to put in a little effort to help her blossom into the beloved companion dog she was meant to be.