Honey

Updated 12/16/10

Yay!!  Honey’s first ACL surgery is over and she has healed beautifully.  Now, she can have a little fun before she has to return for her second surgery. And that’s great news, because it’s been really hard on her to be restricted. She really likes to run and play!  She could see squirrels and birds through the window, and it seemed like they were taunting her.  She would just bark and howl in frustration, wanting to go outside and play or chase them. Luckily for Honey, her foster mom didn’t give in—she was very diligent about restricting Honey’s exercise, and it’s paid off with a perfectly recovered leg.  Now she can kick up her heels for a while, until the next surgery in January.  For now, she plays quite physically with her “sister” Golden Retriever. And goes for walks! She weighs 70 pounds and can pull hard on her leash when she first gets out of the starting gate!

Honey is great & very sweet with young children.  She hasn’t had any exposure to cats, but she does like to chase small animals like squirrels.

She loves playing outside in the early morning.  She’ll sometimes start barking, but as soon as she is told “Stop barking!” she pipes down immediately.  Her foster mom says it works every time!

Honey is a party girl who makes her own fun.  She’ll sometimes help herself to items on the open shelves that she has no intention of eating.  She has been known to get out cereal boxes & play with them.  She even picked up a jar of pickles & played with it, rolling it around on the floor.  Luckily, it didn’t break. She’s also a great housekeeper.  If you leave your socks lying around on the floor, she’ll pick them up.  She may even turn them into open-toed socks for you.   It could be just the encouragement you need to pick up after yourself.

Honey is really smart and likes to be the alpha dog.  She can be rather stubborn, and when she decides not to do something, it can be a bit of a challenge getting her to comply. She will do best with an experienced owner who will set limits and continue to train her, using upbeat, positive techniques. She has a spunky personality and is a fun, playful dog.  Some family will be very lucky to adopt her!

The photos from an out-of-town shelter showed a skinny little red Golden curled up on the floor in one shot, nuzzling a shelter worker for reassurance in another. “Just got here yesterday or the day before,” said our evaluator. “Sweet, very thin, looks like she has been on the run for a while, a little skittish but that’s understandable given her surroundings. Wanted to go home with me, seemed to be stressing some (surprise, surprise!).” The GRR transport volunteer arrived a few days later, naturally expecting to collect a stray with an unknown history—so you can imagine her astonishment when she was presented not only with a nice little dog, but a medical file and a sheaf of owner-supplied information. Some wires  got crossed in a big way—Honey wasn’t a stray at all. A bigger shock was the reason her original family gave her up to the shelter: she turned out to have torn ligaments in BOTH knees. Yipes! Time to regroup, as we realized we were now needed a long-term rehab foster home instead of the short-term “highly adoptable young female” family we’d been counting on.

First things first, though – a check-up and treatment for Honey’s fever, dehydration and cough, doubtless acquired during her shelter stay. Once that was cleared up and Honey was feeling better, it was off to the orthopedist for an evaluation. The injuries weren’t new, as he discovered, but nonetheless he deemed Honey an excellent candidate for surgery. She sailed right through operation #1, to fix her left knee, and in 3 to 6 months she’ll be ready to have the right knee done. “So far, she is a textbook case of recovery following surgery,” says her foster mom. “There’s been no loss of appetite, diarrhea, nausea, swelling at the site. She’s done great!” But it’s  not just her status as an excellent patient that sets Honey apart. She is outgoing and adorable. She’s perfectly house-trained. She loves to play, and before her surgery (even with two bum knees!) she loved to bounce a tennis ball for herself, then run to get it. She gets along great with other dogs; she grew up with children and is fine with kids.

When filling out the “any worries or concerns?” line in the foster report card, her foster mom said simply, “She’s perfect.”

Can you help Honey? So far her vet care costs, for recovery from kennel cough and for her first ACL repair, total about $1,500. And  of course what we’d like most of all would be to find a forever home who will see her through rehab from surgery #1 and, possibly, a second surgery down the road. (GRR will of course cover all her vet care and give you all the advice you need.) If you’ve  been looking for that rescue Golden “who really needs me,” here she is—a honey of a Golden for sure.