Robin #03-115

(Fostered in Twin Cities Metro Area)

I picked Robin up Saturday afternoon in Burnsville and had to take the crate she was being transported in as she would not get out. You see Robin is a puppy mill dog and is terrified of life right now. She was the saddest dog I have ever seen and hides all the time.

When we first got her upstairs, in the crate of course, I opened the door and just sat on the floor with her for almost an hour when I could not stand the stench anymore. We had to take the top off the crate and pick her up to take her to the bath. I am pretty sure they do not get baths at a puppy mill as she is going to need a few more to get rid of the smell. After her bath we let her out into the basement and she went underneath our smaller air hockey table and will not come out. She does peek out but won't come out when everyone is around. I have successfully gotten her to come out a few times if I leave and go sit down somewhere else. She has licked my hand a few times and drank water out of my hand. We have only managed to get her to eat twice since she has been here.

I took her to the vet today and she has severe ear infections and some lesions on her ears and top of her head. She is currently getting meds for the ear infections and ointment on her lesions. We also found out this poor girl has a grade two heart murmur. They grade heart murmurs on a scale of 1 to 6 with 6 being the worst so hers is a little one. Her foster sister Faith 03-087 also has a grade two heart murmur and she is very active.

Robin does not like other dogs at the moment and snaps at our other foster dogs. They pretty much stay away from her but sometimes forget she is there. We are hoping that given time Robin will learn from the other foster dogs that life can be fun and loving. When she is ready for a forever home she will need one with a fenced in yard (not an invisible fence), a family with a lot of patience and no small children. We will update Robin's site once a week to let everyone know how she is doing.

UPDATES:

7/15/03:  Robin has been adopted and will be going to a nice home with a sister to play with who was also a Ragom puppy mill dog and 6 cats to get used to. We took Robin over yesterday to make sure she would be ok with cats as she has never seen them before and she was scared of them. I am sure it will not take long before she is sniffing them and letting them know who is boss!! We are very happy that Robin has found a very loving forever home.

Good luck Robin!!

7/14/03:  Robin is doing well and has settled in quite nicely.

We have had NO guarding issues in quite some time and Robin and Bailee even share the same food dish now although they still eat at different times. I have included a few pictures of Robin and Bailee playing out in the yard as well as Robin enjoying a nice back rub on the grass.

She has definitely come out of her shell and it has been really enjoyable watching her do it. Robin is scared of fireworks and that has set us back a little bit as she is scared to go outside at night alone now. Robin has found out that playing with squeaky toys can be a fun thing and she enjoys throwing them up in the air and catching them. If you think you would be able to give Robin a home in which she could thrive and get all the love and attention she will need please let Ragom know. I am sure she would love to find her forever home soon.

6/30/03:  Some time has passed since we last updated so we thought we would drop a quick line to let you know how Robin is doing now. She continues to come out of her shell and will now sleep out in the open. She gets in and out of the car on her own with no coaxing and rides very nicely. Her and Bailee are always playing together and we have not had any guarding issues. Robin has even allowed Bailee to take stuff that she is playing with or chewing on and Bailee no longer allows Robin to take her bones. I believe they have worked something out between them. Robin is doing great when we take her out however she does still have a problem with big crowds. I cannot blame her for that one! She does fine walking on the gentle leader but will require more training as she does walk right beside you and if you took a step too quickly you could step on her that is how close she is. She is ready to find her forever home and would really like to meet a nice family one day. Robin would do well with older kids, a mellow dog and a fenced in yard. She would not do well with an invisible fence. We are unsure of cats as she has never seen one. If you think you would be able to give this girl the home she deserves please let RAGOM know.

6/12/03:  Well I know not much time has passed since we last up-dated Robin but I had to share these pictures I got this morning. I never thought I would see the day when Robin and Bailee would play together but here they are. It surprised me even more to see Robin on the floor and Bailee over top of her. Robin would love to have a forever home that will allow her the time to come out of her shell. As you can see she does like to play it just takes time. We have only had one guarding issue in the last week and a half so things are getting much better. Won't you give this girl a chance to show you who she really is?? If you think you may be able to give this girl the love she deserves please let RAGOM know.

6/8/03:  Time sure does fly when you are having fun. Robin continues to make great strides with coming out of her shell. She is still guarding a bit but not nearly as badly as before. I think she is finally learning that she does not have to be as possessive as she once did. She definitely wants to be around people and is now sleeping in our room at night. She does still try to hide under things but if you are on the floor she will slowly inch out for a pet. I should not have used "aggression" in my assessment of Robin. She used to lunge and chase the other dogs but now it is just a quick, low growl and then she stops. She is finding life to be a fun experience and does like to run. Robin would probably do better with no other dogs however she is learning all the new things from the other dogs. Robin would really like a forever home soon as she is starting to bond here and I believe it would be less traumatic to her if she found a new home sooner rather than later. So if you can give this gal a chance to show you what she is made of please let RAGOM know. She will need work and time but she is well worth the effort.

5/28/03:  Well another week has passed and Robin continues to come out of her shell. She now goes outside alone and does not require one of us to be out there. She follows Faith 03-087 and Bailee 03-134 around the yard and even goes all the way to the back :-) I was outside with her yesterday and Robin actually barked as she saw a dog in our neighbors yard then RAN up the yard. I have never seen this girl run before and it was a pleasant surprise. She is finding her voice and sometimes she will get a little over vocal but a simple "quiet" works wonders.

We had another dog over here over the weekend and Robin adjusted quite well to her. However she still has some guarding issues when other dogs come near her spot or food bowl. She is not aggressive anywhere else so we feel she still feels threatened a bit about her safe spot and her food.

Over the weekend my husband saw Robin playing with a toy. I could not believe it as I had never seen her even have any interest in a toy but I was outside with her yesterday and lo and behold she picked up a toy and was tossing it in the air and then this morning she initiated play time with both Faith and Bailey. 

Robin will add a lot of joy to the right forever home. Other than her guarding issue (could that be a result of being locked up all the time???) and the occasional counter surfing (which a quick no corrects) Robin is wonderful. We no longer have any issues with her house training and she only goes outside now. Please give this beauty a chance as I know one day she will be a great joy to have around.

5/21/03:  Well Robin has been with us for over a week now and is doing wonderfully. She and Faith had a few moments when we thought it may not work out but they seem for the most part to be over with. Robin has come out of her shell so much it amazes me. It may help that I am home full time so she is constantly with me. She does not like to ride in the car too much yet but we believe that is due to the fact that she did not get to before and it is all new to her. Once we get her into the car she is great.

Robin got spayed yesterday and the vet cleaned her teeth as they were so bad. She did have to have three pulled because they were cracked or broken. She also had an x-ray of her heart to make sure it was ok to proceed with surgery and the vet said it was normal in size and shape which is great. She does have the grade 2 heart murmur, but it does not affect her that I have seen. Robin is going to be on ear meds for the next 10 days which does not surprise me considering the shape her ears were in. Her lesions on her ears are much better and she is now on an antibiotic for her skin because she scratches at it all the time. She did have her thyroid checked to make sure it was not that and it was normal YEAH! They are not hot spots but I would think it would be from sitting in her own waste. My skin would certainly get irritated if that were to happen to me. Robin also had her heartworm test done and it was negative which is great!

Robin is ready to start looking for a forever home. Like we said before she is going to have to have a fenced in yard, no young children (mine are 9 and up and she is great with them) and someone with a lot of patience and understanding. I can already see that Robin is going to blossom into a wonderful girl and I believe she needs to do this in her forever home so there is less trauma to her. Robin should also be placed with someone who does not have an alpha female as Robin is definitely the alpha female here. Robin gets along a lot better with a male dog. So if you think you could provide the home Robin needs and want the satisfaction of watching this purebred beauty blossom into a wonderful dog please let RAGOM know as she would love to meet you.

We caught a few pictures of Robin outside. She has that innocent "Who Me" look in one of them and she was in the process of sticking her tongue out at me in another one.

5/13/03:  I am soooo excited!! Robin came outside on her own and came all the way down to the back of my yard where I was playing with Duke and Faith (that is over 120 feet in wide open territory). She is now eating and drinking and I am going to see if I leave the basement door open if she will come upstairs. I cannot believe the difference in her today!! She is still growling a little at the others but only when they come near where she sleeps. She and Faith were great together outside!!

She came upstairs when I had my lunch on her own and I caught a few pictures of her underneath our computer desk this afternoon. Lets all hope she just continues to make progress and comes out of her shell a little more each day.

Robin will be getting spayed on the 20th then we will go from there. Looks like we will be down to just Faith and Robin so we will see how much more she will come out of her shell this weekend!!