GiGi

Update 04/06/10

GiGi is really coming along! Her latest report:

I really don’t have any concerns about GiGi at all right now. She’s just working on getting healthier. And we know she is so much happier. She wants to be wherever my husband or I are all the time. That’s a change—at the start, she was content to be in another room by herself. She loves everyone, men and women alike, as well as children. In fact she adores kids and wants to say “hi” by jumping up, but we are working on that, and she is getting better.

At the start, she would sort of bark or growl a bit at other dogs when we were on our walks, but now that is all gone. And as far as our own dogs go, now she LOVES to play with them. In fact, I think the biggest step she’s made is that she’s learned how to play. She had no clue when she first came to us, and now she loves to get into little dog tussles, and play ball, etc. She is still pretty awful at catching the ball, but tries with her whole heart. She uses her feet to help get the ball, which is really cute. Her head bobs all over while the ball is coming at her, and sometimes she actually connects with it which always surprises her. Then she runs around so excited!

She is learning to sit, and will now come when you call her name. She’s interested in cats, but just to play with them, not to chase.

Her fur continues to grow in beautifully. Many of her bald spots are covered with peach fuzz at least, and some of them with actual short hair. The two spots on her ears that were really bad—they were open wounds—remain completely hairless, but we’re hoping in time they’ll grow hair back, too. Her tail is starting to show signs of getting feathers, and she might be starting to get feathers on her hind legs, too, though at the moment they're just little growths of hair in the middle of large bald spots. Pretty cute! Even her feet are starting to get some fur on them, and they aren’t as itchy at all as they were—she is chewing on them much less than she did at the start.

GiGi just needs a home where the people will love on her and spoil her. Now that she has had a taste of that, I could never have her lose that again.
 

Update: 03/19/10

GiGi is  doing so well! She eats well, and her energy level is picking up as her nutrition improves. She’s been a great indoor dog, and she is thrilled to be around any people of any size.  The only thing we are need to work on is her tendency to jump up on people to say hi—but she does that lightly.

GiGi didn’t interact at all with our two dogs for the first week.  Now she enjoys being around them, but really she would rather spend time with people!  When she meets strange dogs, she is a bit nervous—on walks, she whines if another dog barks as we pass their yard, and tries to growl just a bit as we approach another dog out strolling.  But once we get close to it, she is wagging her tail and is happy to meet & greet. She has no reaction to cats at all.  She walks right past them.

We don’t think GiGi had ever played with toys or balls before.  We have been throwing her the ball a little because one of our other Goldens is a ball fanatic.  She really puts her heart into trying to catch it, but she’s really terrible at it!  When she actually does connect with the ball, she doesn't close her mouth around it so it still drops out.  Whenever  she makes contact with it, and manages to keep it in her mouth, she is so excited! She is starting to think this is a fun game. As far as stuffies go, she has decided it’s a blast to shred and destuff them… though she hasn’t quite  got over her fear of the squeaky ones yet. The first one she grabbed scared her to death!   She  gives toys up easily, has no problem letting the other dogs have them.

It's wonderful to see her skin and coat improving.  You can see that she is already feeling better, though of course it is going to take some time for her to heal.  She still has many bare, very tender spots.  The sores on her ears are healing, but are still raw, open areas which will bleed at times.  Her feet are a mess, and must be very sore.  But it’s a riot to see her personality start to come out!  She  is starting to play like a puppy. 

GiGi loves to be loved on.  She is already starting to become another shadow, following me through the house.  She will stay lying down if she is tired and is comfortable, but if I'm out of sight too long, she comes and looks for me.  She has spent so much time on her own, with no luxuries in life,  that I couldn't imagine her going to a home where she would be anything other than a pampered indoor Golden!  She needs to be in a family where she will get a lot of love, but also have responsible people watching over her.  I don't think she would ever try to escape, but if she got out on her own, I fear that she might just take off because that's the life she's known—she was a little street dog, used to fending for herself. She has loved everyone that she has met so far, kids and adults alike.  She hasn't shown any aversion to men or anything.    I just want her to be able to enjoy life as a little princess now.  She deserves it.

It’s not every Golden who arrives in GRR  care with a police escort, but GiGi did! On patrol in a tough part of town, a caring police officer had noticed a skinny young Golden loitering near an empty house. A few weeks went by, and she was looking thinner and scruffier than ever: patches of fur were missing, and an ugly, raw gash appeared across her nose. It was clear that nobody was caring for her – and a door-to-door  with the neighbors turned up two witnesses who had seen the young Golden dumped. “Time to take this one into custody,” decided Officer Robert. Volunteers Tracy and Donna agreed to meet her, but “not on our own. We’ll go just about anywhere in town by ourselves, but not there.” Say no more! The two ladies were accompanied by several policemen, who not only provided security but also blocked off the street at both ends with their vehicles, in case the little dog turned out to be skittish and tried to flee…but far from running off, “She was so happy to see us and ate the whole package of bologna I brought her. Her tail never stopped wagging. She is a sweet little thing, tiny (just 40 pounds), one of those  pocket Goldens we see sometimes.”

Much to our amazement, GiGi turned out to be negative for heartworms, and the vet thinks her skin issues will resolve with good food and love. It wasn’t long  before  she settled into her foster home—with Donna, who helped to bring her in:

Just wanted to let you know that GiGi is sleeping like a baby on the couch at the moment.  She lay in my lap all the way home. She ate a good dinner here - I have her on a Nutro food which is great for the skin and coat.  We gave her a bath (with her spay sutures covered) to try to make her feel better (and smell better!).  After that, she just wagged and wagged her tail while we toweled her off.  She is just a sweetheart.

She really hasn't paid any attention to our two dogs, just stood there and let them sniff her over.  The cats came up and checked her out, no reaction at all.  She came right in the house without any hesitation.  Her reaction to the inside of the house certainly makes me think that at some point she was a house dog.  No idea yet whether or not she is housebroken, we've been taking her out back frequently.  

My husband just keeps looking at her and shaking his head.  She is in such rough shape.  I just hate to think of how she has been existing out on the streets.  Thank heavens she is now in a safe environment.  Her personality would never give anyone a clue as to how rough her life has been.  She loves everyone, and doesn't have an aggressive bone in her body. 

I'll keep you posted on how she does over the next few weeks.

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