Nina

Profile

Nina is an approximately 4 year old female Golden Retriever. Nina was surrendered to RAGOM along with 3 other Golden Retrievers (Libby 10-139, Doc 10-140, and Sally 10-141) from a South Dakota breeder who was getting out of the dog business. Nina and Doc were transported together to the cities on the 16th (Thanks to Rona D. and the transporters, and Jeanine M who temp fostered Nina for a day!).

Nina is a shy/scared little girl. She weighs 55 pounds and this is a good weight for her. She has a beautiful deep dark red coat. What you don't see is that this poor little girl has endured a number of battles. Her little body is riddled with many scars (likely from fights with other dogs). Most of her scars are hidden underneath her beautiful coat. However she has a big abscess on her front left shoulder. Foster Dad brought her to the vet to have this looked at and she was sent home with a 14 day antibiotic to help reduce the swelling and inflammation of this injury. The breeder had used a medicine that is used for cattle and horses to treat this injury. Nina will always have a scar from this injury. Our hope is that her beautiful red coat will grow back in and cover most of this.

Through all of this Nina is just about as sweet of a girl as you could ask for. We have taken her for several walks in the neighborhood and I have to say she is doing well very quickly. Of course it helps that I use my 2 golden foster failures (Indy 07-253 and Lauren 08-498) as book ends with Nina in the middle. Nina does stop from time to time to try and wiggle out of her Gentle Leader but has not succeeded. She also stops if a loud car/truck/motorcycle drives by. She has attempted to join in play bow play with Indy and Lauren in the backyard. She shies away quickly as Lauren gets a bit too enthusiastic in play for Nina's tastes.

In the house Nina is a busy body with moving toys/bones/shoes/slippers from room to room. I bought her a new toy duck (without the stuffing) on Friday night at the pet store and so far it has not been ripped to shreds. It is so cute to watch her move her things. She is starting to learn her name. She was called Nub by the breeder as she has a short tail, about half the length of a normal tail. When I volunteered to take her as a foster I asked if we could give her a name that had more dignity than Nub, hence the name Nina.

We had 2 accidents in the house within the first 24 hours. Since then there have been no accidents in the house. The only problem is that Nina is very shy and FD has resorted to carrying her outside for her business (good thing she doesn't weigh 100 pounds). She is now starting to come in on her own will by following the resident dogs. Everything takes time with these shy/scared mill dogs. In time Nina will gain the confidence both by watching my other former mill girls and also by experiencing love and good rewards for her behavior. She has already beaten one of my former mill girls by giving me a gentle kiss on my chin while I was brushing her.

Nina will go back into the vet in 10 days to see how the antibiotics have worked on her shoulder abscess. We hope to find out then what time frame it will be before she can be spayed. She supposedly had just miscarried a litter of puppies before being surrendered to RAGOM. Nina's future home will require the following:

• Another resident dog to guide her.
• No small children or teen aged and older.
• A physical fence would be ideal. I will let you know if this is absolutely necessary in another update.

Thanks for reading up on the many wonderful rescue dogs that RAGOM serves! Check back again for future updates on this beauty!

XOXO
Nina

FD
Kelly