Belle

Age: 5 months

Available Date: Nov. 1st

Updated 10/4/11

As the info-mercials always say…

“But wait – there’s more!!”

More what? More Goldens, of course! The very same day that one GRR team was motoring north for the Lockney puppy mill rescue, Jeanae was heading far south to pick up five MORE Goldens. One of them, baby Marigold, is a likely sister to our “Flower Girls” Buttercup and Sweetpea; somehow, she showed up at the shelter a few days later. As for the others—a few days earlier, Lisa had spotted a Craigslist posting featuring four pretty 5-month-olds. “I have 3 females (Summer, Belle, and Faith) and 1 male (Rocky) .  Unexpectedly, this litter crept up on us.  We really are just looking for a good home for these puppies.” When we contacted him, the owner was so relieved! He couldn’t support all those pups properly on his own (he had several more Goldens, too) and agreed to hand the quartet over to the same shelter where Marigold was staying, so that we could collect everyone at once.

While Marigold was a confident little busybody and shoelace-destroyer from the start (and she has already been matched to a home!), the older pups were scared stiff at first—too many changes, too much travel had just made them shut down, shake like leaves, and cling together as tightly as they could.

But it didn’t take long for them to relax and start acting like puppies. The day after they checked into their “stash” home with Donna, she had them all corralled in the sunroom and—

“OK, I took about a 20-minute break from the puppies.  My bad... I walked back in to discover that they had found the roll of paper towels we are using to clean up messes.  It was on a bookshelf about 4 feet high.  I really didn't think they would get it.  It was a full roll when I left, and when I came back there were about 10 sheets left on it, if that!  The rest was in inch-size pieces all over the sunroom floor.  You could tell how proud they were of themselves! When I came up to the baby-gate they all scattered, assuming they were going to be in big trouble. But when they discovered that they weren’t in the ‘doghouse’ after all, they proceeded to pitch in to ‘help’ clean up the mess!  What would have taken about 5 mintues took 20.  But boy did they have fun!  The remaining 10 sheets have been tucked away for safe keeping, and they have resorted to playing with their Nylabones and each other.  I am just no fun at all - taking their toy away.

When we put their collars on for the first time, they were rather uncertain about them.  And when we added the leashes, they were scared of them.   It took them about half an hour to figure out that the leashes weren't going to hurt them.  I think they’ll get used to them quickly, I would guess that they'd just never had a leash and collar put on before! All four pups have met our cats, and they’ve done well with them; they are interested but don’t try to chase. Of course, close supervision is key here.”
  

Donna made some notes on the individual pups,too:

Belle s the largest of the girls, and she’s already showing a relaxed and very self-confident personality.  All of them were just basket cases when we got them on Friday, but she was the first girl to start asking for reassurance from us; she is very people-oriented and will seek out attention.  She loves being with her siblings, too, but doesn't seem quite as dependent on them. She is very good with her food bowl—loves her chow, but isn't protective of it at all.   She loves playing out in the yard, just loves to wander around sniffing things.  At first, she couldn't figure out how to get up and down the stairs for the life of her, but caught on pretty quickly. 

Belle is content to sleep in a crate by herself.  The two crates are side by side, so she is still with her siblings, but is ok without lying with fur touching fur.  She sleeps great through the night.

Belle has just moved to a new foster home, so we should have more details soon.