Molly

Molly #01-194

Molly 01-194 is a 4 year old spayed female turned in by her owners because they didn't have time for her. She is a tall dark red girl. I would guess she weighs around 70 pounds. She is house trained and takes treats nicely from our hands. Molly was hit by a car several months ago (unknown exactly when). Her last vet visit was on 04/24/01 and the vet records say that the injury was old at that time. It looks like both of her back legs were injured, but she was never taken to a vet to have her legs looked at. She limps slightly and her left back leg is slightly deformed. Molly lived with teenagers and was reported to be good with kids age seven and up.

UPDATES:

8/4/01: Molly has been doing great with her minor dog aggression. When Rascal came home, Molly met him in the yard with nothing but wags and sniffs. There was no growling at all, not even softly. Molly must have become bored with her toys this week and decided that my work shoes (my only pair of course!) were much more fun! When I caught her with them and scolded her, she just looked up at me and wagged her tail. I don't think she understood that she was in trouble! Molly met a potential "Mom" last weekend and earlier this week she called to say that she has decided to adopt Molly. Molly's new mom is currently on vacation, but will be picking Molly up on Wednesday. Hooray for Molly!!

7/29/01: Molly has begun to really relax and be comfortable here. This past week is the first that we have seen her even wag her tail and not have a scared, nervous look on her face. Molly has gotten much better at "sit" this week, but "stay" is a real challenge for her as she would just like to follow us around and be close. Molly gets so excited when we mention going for a walk. She dances in circles and wags her tail like crazy!! Molly walks like a perfect lady unless she sees a rabbit or squirrel, but she doesn't get too out of line and is easily distracted however. We met several kids on bikes/roller-blades/scooters on our walks this week. Of course they all had to pet her and she sat very nice and loved every minute of it. We even met a couple of dogs that were not leashed. They came right up to Molly. She growled a little bit, but was wagging her tail as she growled. We had thunderstorms three days in a row this week. Poor Molly just hides in a corner or her crate and just trembles. :-( One day it started to storm before we woke up and stormed until early afternoon. Molly didn't even want to eat breakfast or go potty until it the storm was over and the sun was shining. By the third day she was coming out of her crate/corner much quicker after the storm was over. Molly is definitely ready for her forever home.

7/20/01: Molly continues to do very well in our home. She is becoming a playful dog now that she is getting comfortable here. She likes to carry tennis balls around the house and will retrieve them once in awhile. She gets along great with our dog, no more growling at all. They can "share" a toy with an end in each of their mouths and not be growly about it at all. One of our cats can walk over Molly and snuggle up to her while she is sleeping and she doesn't even move. Molly went to the RAGOM meeting on Wednesday night and got to meet several other dogs. She growled a couple of times, but after a short time ended up smelling the dogs and wagging her tail! We are working on some basic obedience with Molly. We are teaching her to sit and wait until we say o.k. before she goes in or out a door and that she needs to keep all four feet on the floor if she wants to be petted. She is getting much better on both. It stormed today from about 1:30-3:00. I got home from work around 4:00 and Molly was still panting and pacing. She has been sleeping in her crate since I got home (about an hour). I didn't find anything destroyed in the house, just a nervous Molly. Molly behaves very well in the house and paces by the door when she needs to go out. Molly loves attention from everyone she meets, including kids.

7/13/01: Boy can Molly run!!! We were getting ready to go for a walk one night and I opened the door into the garage to let the dogs out there to get ready. I didn't realize that the personnel door was open. Molly took off running and didn't look back. I put Janus back in the house and took our Abbey with us as a lure. Molly had made it two blocks down the street and was halfway back by the time Abbey & I got back out in the yard. She came right up to us and let me put her gentle leader on her. I guess her back legs don't bother her that much! Because of Molly's eagerness to run she should go to a home with a fenced in yard.
Molly had a bath last weekend. She sat nicely in the tub and enjoyed it very much. She didn't complain at all when I cut her toe nails either. Molly also went to the vet this week. She weighs 75 pounds and she could actually stand to gain a few pounds. She has a minor ear infection and we are cleaning her ears and giving her drops for this. The vet looked at her leg and did x-rays. There is no evidence of a break, but she does have a torn tendon. The x-rays were sent to the clinic in New Ulm to see if anything can/needs to be done with the leg and I won't have information until Monday. It's like she has severe arthritis. Molly gets along just fine with the two dogs here. She hasn't shown much interest in the cats though. Right now she and Abbey are both tugging on each end of a knot rope.

7/5/01: Molly DOES NOT like fireworks!!! I ended up hanging out in the garage with her on my lap for the 20 minutes that they lasted. She was panting, drooling, shaking and was just terrified when we were outside. She did much better in the garage even though they were still very loud; we were only a block away. She was also reported to be afraid of thunderstorms and likes to hang out in the bathroom until they're over. We haven't had any storms yet to see if this is accurate or not. Molly let us clean her very DIRTY ears with not one complaint. Molly is very hungry for attention and will nudge our hands aggressively until we pet her. She also jumps up for attention, but it's not very often. She loves to snuggle on the couch. Molly has been absolutely fine with our dogs since the second day she was here and has earned free time off the tether in the house with the other dogs when we are home. She might have just been on overload when she first met them and couldn't handle it.
Molly got to go swimming yesterday. She couldn't wait to get to the water! Once in, she just laid there. She didn't really swim around, but she was on a 20' leash and couldn't go far. She seems to like tennis balls. She carries them around in her mouth, but since we don't have a fenced in yard we haven't tried to play fetch yet. Molly enjoys walks, but limps very badly after only a few blocks. We are keeping walks very short until we know more about her legs. Molly will be going to the vet on Saturday morning and we will find out more about her legs then.

7/2/01: We picked Molly and Tanner up in Iowa yesterday afternoon. She rode in her crate with no problems at all (2 1/2 hour drive). She wasn't crazy about the other two dogs when she met them. We have been slowly introducing them and letting them smell each other. She doesn't mind the cats at all. Molly was last seen at the vet on 06/25/01 and was treated for tapeworms at that visit. Molly is up to date on all of her vaccinations, but she does need a heartworm test. She had a bath, toe and ear hair trimmed and toe nails clipped prior to us picking her up so we haven't tried any of that yet. She does love to be brushed and doesn't mind if we handle her, even her back legs. We went for a walk tonight, myself and the three dogs, and she walks pretty well. Gentle leaders are the greatest thing ever invented!!! She started to limp and walk a little slower toward the end of our walk. She seems interested in toys (especially if they're in Abbey's mouth) and she loves rawhides. Right now all three dogs are sleeping at my feet. I will get more info on Molly's legs after we've been to the vet.