Yolanda #02-255

Yolanda is doing very well today! She is already excitedly climbing the stairs, which she was too afraid of the first two days she was here. Tonight on her walk, she actually jumped over all of the curbs! After her TWO HOUR bath last night, we think she is finally rid of the ticks, mites, fleas, and whatever all the other bugs where that had infested her skin and coat.

She gets along perfectly with our two goldens, even showing some signs of playfulness today, as our dogs ran circles around her. She has a cute little vocalization that she does when she is excited, very funny! Yolanda is absolutely the sweetest girl- so happy, even with all of her issues that resulted from her former life at the mill.

Yolanda is 8 years old.  She was rescued, along with 14 other dogs, from a puppy mill.  Isn't she beautiful?!

UPDATES:

11/12/02:  Yolanda has had a big couple of weeks since the last update we wrote. She had surgery on Halloween to remove 4 masses (1 on her tail and 3 mammary tumors) and came thru with flying colors. Other than not caring too much for the bandage on her tail or the e-collar, she acted like she hardly knew she just had surgery. In fact when we took her on her 1st post-op walk we actually had to hold her back to keep her from running, something she didn't do before the surgery. She just had her stitches out today and the Dr. said she healed perfectly. The not so good news is that the mass on Yolanda's tail showed up as hair follicle cancer. This kind of cancer is low grade, which means that is is very slow to spread, and has shown no sign of spreading at all!!! Other than that Yolanda continues to be the sweetest dog ever. All she seems to want in life is to be pet, go on a short walk, and chew on the occasional bone. She has h! ad! the run of the house and has no problems, she just loves not being in a cage anymore! Everyone who meets her falls in love with her right away. Yolanda still is getting along great with our dogs, especially our 10 month old. One thing we need to be careful about with her is car rides. YoYo gets extremely anxious in even very short rides in the car. We have tried her riding in and out of the crate, and she does seem slightly calmer out of the crate. When we would have her inside the crate, she would panic and bark. Outside of the crate, she is just really nervous, panting a lot, and has a hard time sitting still. Also, she does occasionally get sick in the car. We talked to the vet about this, and she recommended either Dramamine or another sedative, so we are going to try those out to try and find something to relax her a little. Anyone adopting Yolanda should know that YoYo will not be a good traveling companion. But no matter to YoYo, as she is just a happy girl to stay home and nap!

YOLANDA NEEDS HER FOREVER HOME!!! She has been with us now for almost 2 months recovering from her former life, and she is READY NOW to settle in with her adoring new family! We have all become so attached to YoYo- even our relatives are in love with her! Though we hate to see her go, we cannot wait to see her find the happy home she deserves! Please let us (RAGOM) know right away if you think you could lend your hearts and home to Yolanda- she is eagerly awaiting to meet you!!!

10/22/02:  "Sweet Mama Yolanda", as we so affectionately call her, has had a very progressive couple of weeks! She has really become part of the family now, learning daily routines, and finding her place with our other two goldens. Yolanda LOVES to be around kids. Our 3 year old niece spent two entire nights dragging "Lolanda" (3 year old speak) around by her collar, showering her with every toy in the house, feeding her treats from her own hand, and smothering her with tight hugs. Yolanda didn't even flinch. She soaked up every minute of the little girls' lovin'! Yolanda also enjoyed our 5 year old nephew, and has met numerous other unfamiliar children at the park. Every time, she just walks right up to the kids' faces, and waits for pets.

"YoYo" becomes stronger every day. She is running up and down the stairs now, which she could barely take when she first came to us. Yolanda gets extremely excited about our walks at night. She doesn't really pull on her leash, mostly just walks closely to our heels, and wags all the way!

As far as health goes, YoYo has had a total of four visits to the vet so far (We love Rockford Road!) getting all of her shots/boosters taken care of, and checking up on the growth on her tail. It was very infected at first, but now is starting to heal a little. However, that problem will be taken care of once it is removed next Thursday- a Halloween surgery! We are very excited about getting her all fixed up! Once she recovers from surgery, Yolanda will be anxiously awaiting her new forever home!! YoYo will be a very precious, loving, devoted companion to some special family.

9/30/02:  Yolanda has been here for a week now and continues to come out of her shell. She is starting to eat more and she is doing it outside of her crate, a big step for her! Everyday she becomes more playful with our dogs and she is even occasionally starting the playing. This past weekend she started having nightmares in the middle of the night and would panic and bark until we let her out, and then she wanted to be as close to us as possible, so we let her sleep in our bedroom with one of our dogs and she did well. She has slept there for 3 nights and no problems, this is great since she spent the first 8 years of her life in a kennel (obvious because she has no muscle on her legs).

All of her wounds (from large cuts to sores from the fleas and ticks) are healing well and almost gone!!! The mass on her tail is shrinking as the antibiotic are making the infection go away, so she might be ready for surgery to remove both of her masses next week. We got the results from her blood work today and it came back negative for heartworm and everything else looks pretty healthy (she is a little anemic but that is probably from the poor nutrition at the puppy mill) so she is looking good!

Yolanda visited both the flower shop where my wife works and my office last week and loved meeting all of the people and they all wanted to take her home, she is a real charmer. She also met a lot of kids at the park and was a real pro, she would approach the kids, sit down and stick her head out to be pet, it is great to see her interacting with people without any fears considering where she came from. Yolanda is the sweetest pup who just wants as many pets and hugs she can get, she will make someone a wonderful companion.

9/24/02:  We went to the vet yesterday, and they sent us home with antibiotics to clear up all of the sores that have likely developed from all of the insects that she had on her skin. There is a mass on Yolanda's tail, which the vet will remove in two weeks, after the antibiotics have done their job.

Yolanda is not eating a whole lot yet, just a little bit in her crate at night. She won't eat outside her crate, and she won't eat treats yet either. However, she drinks plenty of water! We were very excited to see her decide (on her own) to chew on a bone today! She is obviously familiar with them, and seems to really like them a lot! She doesn't seem to be afraid of noises- the only thing I have noticed so far is that she didn't like me scolding my puppy for barking. When I sternly said "No" to my pup, she got very anxious and whiny, but only for a few seconds.

Yolanda is a little insecure, as she always wants to be right next to me, and if another dog tries to sit closer to me than she is, she almost panics to get around that dog and closer to me. I'm sure that will change when she gets used to her surroundings. Yolanda loves to be in her crate.  She feels safe there, and sleeps all through the night! Yolanda is such a treat to have around here - she will make a loyal, loving companion to someone looking for a friend and a walking partner! Can't wait to get her all fixed up so we can find her special new home!