Princess

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7/24/05: We received Princess from and elderly gentlemen who, due to retirement and upcoming absences from home, thought it was in the best interest of Princess to give her up. He adopted Princess in December, 2004 from another gentleman, and was unaware that Princess was pregnant. She gave birth to 8 happy healthy babies in January, 2005. All of her offspring have been adopted out.

Princess is 2 years old, d/o/b 6-22-03. She is very shy and very timid of strangers. She had not been socialized much at all. We are unsure if she originally came from a puppy mill. She stayed in the house with her owner under a table, from where she never wanted to come out. The owner wrote for help with the surrendering of Princess, which is how we became aware of her situation, so we did an assessment and are now fostering her.

When we got Princess, she would not come up to us, hunkered down, gave a very sad look and would not eat. She did walk well but was very aware and scared of her surroundings. When we brought her home to our brood, she did quite well. We have an 8 ? year old Golden name Cheyenne, a 9 ? year old Pembroke Corgi named JJ and a 2 ? year old Border Collie, Maggie. We also have 3 kitties: Lexie, a Calico about 1 year old; Roxie a 3 yr old DSH and Rowdy, a 3 year old gray DMS. All get along great. Princess seems comforted by other animals, and especially our Golden, of course. She is quite the ?step-mom!? It has sort of been ?monkey see?..monkey do?, and that is the whole idea. If one critter wants attention now, so does Princess. She does follow me around a lot. Noises always startle her, however, we go about our business as she needs to get used to every noise, animals going in and out, cooking, telephone rings, etc. She has greatly improved on this. She has her spot underneath the kitchen table as we are in or around that area the most. Otherwise she does have a corner in the living room. I have introduced her to some chew bones, and she's tried a couple of Nyla bones, too.

We have made great advances in the feeding department. At first she did not eat at all, then only chicken we boiled or hamburger we browned and mixed with white rice. She did test positive for ringworm and the vet stated her appetite should increase with medication , which it has. Not a ton of food, but fairly normal now. I do feel her 4X a day rather than the 2X I do the rest of the clan. I try to keep it as calm as I can, but yet she has to get used to others eating as well.

This really warms our heart to see her eat as she is so very thin, only 36#!!! She is a smaller Golden and will probably top out at 50# at the most. Maybe she was the runt of the litter when she was born? Princess has the most beautiful face, great coat, clear eyes and nice teeth. She does have a heart murmur which may require meds when she gets older. The person adopting this dog should be very aware of this and watch for symptoms such as coughing, hard breathing or labored breathing, etc.

She does sit very nice by me and has even licked me! She loves kisses on her cheek, too. She loves to go for walks and is getting better. Still very timid around strangers (hunkers down and always has her tail in between her legs!). I am trying to socialize her more by taking her out in the front yard and just letting the neighbors come by. They know the situation and are very good about it. Socializing will really take time and patience, but she is very willing, I think. She really knows how we love her and shows small signs of trust. She is good about going to the bathroom and stools, etc. are fine. We walk Princess with a harness and leash, matching of course :) She is curious, too.

We are attempting to get her to come upstairs and sleep with the rest of the crew. We have one dog on the bed, two on their large pillows on the floor and kitties wherever. She has come up, popped her head around the corner, and then leaves. I believe she sleeps at the end of the steps. We also have a doggie bed for her in the living room, but she seems to do fine. I have slept down on the main floor in the extra bedroom and she will not come up on the bed, but rather lies on the floor next to the bed.

In time, I think she will jump up and snuggle like the rest of them. For the first time today (7/24) she ?humped? our Golden who was wrestling with the Border Collie! Was very cute to see and great that she ?stepped out? as well! We see her making small strides every day. We are just very patient. I don?t want to do too much for her, either. She has to learn nothing and no one will hurt her and noises and things are just a part of every day living.

I only go to work for 4 hrs in the morning, usually 7-11 am. This works out great for all of them. Then lunch and a walk(s), so no one is home for a long period of time. We generally never go anywhere much. Also, Princess was VERY good around our 7 month old granddaughter. Very good, and not too shy either!