Wishbone
Age - 12 weeks and Available!
Updated 2/2/12
What can we say about
Wishbone other than to say that no one could “wish” for a better puppy than this
one! He is a truly remarkable little
guy.
He is such a happy little
boy, and just loves everyone, people and animals alike.
He is living with six adult Goldens at the moment, and sees no difference
between himself and the rest of them.
He loves to be in the mix when playing, and runs as fast as his little
legs will carry him when they get to running in the yard.
He is also living with four cats, and has figured out quickly that they
don’t like to play the same way the dogs do.
He is very good about leaving them alone.
Amazingly, Wishbone
sleeps all the way through the night in his crate.
He was used to sleeping in a crate from his puppy room, although the door
was always left open. He is content
to go in it at night, and cuddles with his stuffed piggy.
We don’t hear a sound out of him until it’s time to get up in the
morning. We have been amazed
He has learned to sit,
and is learning to walk on the leash.
It’s gone much better than I would have expected.
He hasn’t quite mastered a straight line yet, but is figuring it out!
He has the most adorable
little face, just covered with wrinkles.
There is clearly some hound in him, with the wrinkles and the long,
velvety ears. He is just totally
irresistible!
Wishbone is a total
cuddle bug. From the time he was 3
weeks old, as soon as I would sit down on the ground he would be right in my
lap. He is still my lap dog, doing
his best to get snuggled in as close as possible.
With the oversized feet he has, I fear he won’t fit in my lap forever,
but it sure is fun for now! He needs
a family who is willing to allow him to be with them as much as possible.
He follows me through the house all day long, just watching everything I
do.
He’s a very smart little
boy, and pays such close attention when we talk to him, trying to figure out
what we are saying. His little head
tilts back and forth, and he never takes his eyes off us.
He’s noticed the TV and will sit and watch it.
He also noticed himself in the mirror and walked around behind the mirror
trying to find the other dog.
He eats great, and isn’t
food protective at all. He isn’t
protective of his toys or bones either.
Having had the bonus of staying with his mom and siblings for some extra
time, he has learned how to socialize with other animals and has learned bite
inhibition so he now plays with a very soft mouth.
He has a laidback
personality for a puppy. He can get
going full blast when he’s playing with the other dogs, but is content to just
hang out most of the time. He is
just the perfect little buddy. The
only thing he is missing is his forever home.
Just be warned – one look at his little face, and you will be hooked!
Updated 1/29/12
Updated 1/21/12
Updated 1/13/12
Updated 1/8/11 - 7 Weeks
Updated 12/19/11 4 Weeks
It was just a few days before Thanksgiving when we got word of a young mom with eight brand-new pups (about 4 days old!) who desperately needed rescue: she’d given birth in the pound & had been immediately transferred to a vet clinic, but she couldn’t stay there. The Golden rescues closest to hand were full up. Could we help? Of course! Dainty little Hope hardly looked big enough or old enough to be a mom to four boys and four girls—she’s a petite 40-pounder…and a Golden for sure, albeit with a few non-standard “decorations” ( a white star on her chest, pretty white tips on her paws). We’ll tell you right now, though, that we aren’t sure who Dad was! The pups are all the right color, from blonde to caramel-gold, but they aren’t quite 100 percent Golden. (Just 100% adorable!) They all got Thanksgiving-themed names: Grace, Blessing, Pumpkin, and Cranberry for the girls; Pilgrim, Sweet Potato, Butterball, and Wishbone for the boys.
For the first few days the pups seemed to be doing well—but on Thankgiving Day, foster parents Donna and Arne awoke to one terribly sick pup. Little Pilgrim spent most of the holiday at the emergency vet, receiving fluids, oral antibiotics, and a through exam. The vet checked over the rest of the litter, too, but they seemed chipper and healthy. “Since just the one is sick, it’s likely aspiration pneumonia,” she decided. Unfortunately, by the very next day, more pups were displaying the same symptoms, with nasal discharge and a terrible cough. It was back to the vet for the entire pack, mom included. Now all of them were taking oral antibiotics, and we began nebulizing treatments with albuterol as well. Distressingly, though, the pups continued to lose ground, and on December 1, little Pilgrim lost the battle. X-rays revealed “the worst-looking lungs I’ve ever seen, just full of fluid,” said the vet sadly: he had extremely severe pneumonia. There was no hope for recovery, and Pilgrim was euthanized. We were devastated.
To save the remaining pups, more aggressive treatment was in order. The vet came up with an antibiotic cocktail for us to use in the nebulizer. It took the help of several GRR folks and many phone calls to our wonderful vet network, but ultimately we were able to get our hands on the five ingredients for the cocktail (two of which aren’t readily available). Nebulizing treatments—with the pups all piled up in a big Tupperware tub full of mist, as well as being held in a parent’s lap one by one with their little muzzles in a breathing mask—continued three times a day for almost two very stressful weeks. Talk about round-the-clock care from a very dedicated foster family! Fortunately, the mixture worked—by the end of the course, they sounded almost normal. We then moved on to ten days or oral meds to make sure they didn’t back-slide.
… and now, we’re more than thrilled to be able to watch seven happy, healthy-looking puppies playing and wrestling with each other. It's been two weeks since we've heard any coughs, or seen any discharge. We still have them under a microscope, watching for any new symptoms, but at the moment it looks like they’ve made it through their illness, and are now robust little kids. And hungry! (The reason they look so solemn in their holiday duds is that they’d just finished stuffing themselves and were feeling rather drowsy!)
In another three weeks, Mom and pups will be ready for their new, forever homes, and we know that their adorable little faces and sweet personalities will bring so much joy to their families. Yes, they’re Goldens “plus” (as in, plus a bit of something else!), but they have that Solid Golden, cuddly personality.
Wishbone is a very special little boy. He was the runt up until very recently, but has finally started to catch up. At the moment he has dark blue eyes, but they will probably change to a pretty brown with time. His eyes are wide set, and for a while he seemed a bit wall-eyed, but as he grows, they are looking more normal. He is one of the more laidback puppies, is happy to watch what's going on around him, but again, will get right into the action when the playing gets started. His looks just like little elf in the face… he is just too cute!
NOTE: As a general rule, GRR does not adopt out dogs under the age of two to families with children under age five, and we also require that our puppy families have someone home much of the time while the pups are tiny. Long work hours away from home make it very hard to give pups the attention and socialization they need. Thank you for understanding! – your GRR MATCHMAKERS
