Thursday, April 4, 2013

Today is Thursday!

If you've been following Annie's story since she arrived at Fluffy Dog Rescue, you will remember that she was dumped at the shelter for being "hyper".  She's been here at The Lodge for a little better than a week now, and I've got to tell you that the dog laying flat out on my living floor at 7:06am without a walk, is anything but hyper. 

Let me tell you a little secret about Annie. 

She's a five year old Labradoodle. That's what they doo. 

She's fun loving, sweet, wonderful, sorta cuddly, and a clown. She and Lincoln Winkleman have been tearing up the house, and each other, for the past three days.

A few minutes ago, Lincoln found a toy in hopes of getting her to play with him. Now they are wrestling and running through my house playing keep away with that toy. Yesterday I walked the boys - Lucky and Lincoln - and the girls - Mocha, Te'a and Annie - separately. My walk with the boys was much nicer but Annie is learning how to walk nice on a leash. I employed a few of Cesar Milan's techniques and we're getting there. (If you have Netflix, you can search for Cesar's "Best of" Videos. There are about 17 or so - I thought they were informative and we gleaned a some info about discipline and training from them.)

Each pack of gender specific dogs got about a mile and a half walk. After we got back and I was getting ready for work, Annie and Linc wrestled and rolled and ran through the house. When they were all tired out from jumping and flying and playing, they laid on my bed and Annie cleaned Lincoln. She groomed him like a mother dog grooming her baby.

She's also teaching him not to be such a snarkly little jerk. Sometimes Mr. Lincoln gets a little too big for his naughty boy britches and needs to be taken down a peg... or three. As a human, I'm not about to play quite that rough with him but Annie, with all of her fluffy curls that naughty puppy teeth cant penetrate, has no problem disciplining our little man. YaY Annie! I'm listening to them wrestle in the other room and when Linc gets too wound up, Annie makes sure he understands that he cant. She even walks away from him.

An extra bonus to Annie teaching Lincoln Winkleman how to be a decent dog is that they BOTH get tired. YaY!! 

Two more added bonuses: 1. Lincoln is so busy playing and trying to dominate Annie that he forgets to try to dominate my old girl, Mocha. And, similarly, B. Lincoln is so busy doing all that that he has no need to eat the cat. The cat, Hawk, is also quite grateful.

Annie and Lucky are both completely housetrained. Lincoln is 98% housetrained (which is better than Te'a was at this age). I think Linc would be 100% if my darling children would pay more attention and take them out more than once while I am at work. But that's a different blog story.

Hope you are all enjoying your spring break. 

Thank You for Thinking Rescue! Thank You for Reading!!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are you sure she's a doodle, not a parti-poodle? I've just never seen that coloring in a doodle before but it's increasingly popular in poodles.

Anonymous said...

Now I also have to ask why her adoption fee is so high - I've never seen a $660 fee before.

Michelle R. Grade said...

When Annie was rescued from the shelter, we were told that she was a Labradoodle. The family who relinquished her told the shelter that Annie was a Labradoodle. The reason her adoption fee is $660 is because she is a Labradoodle. They are a very popular designer breed and the greater majority of Labradoodles and Standard Poodles are $660. Is it possible that Annie is a Parti-Poodle? Perhaps. I've been telling people that I think she is a Parti-Labradoodle. Thank You for Reading!

Anonymous said...

i have a standard parti poodle and she looks exactly like Annie! We adopted her from North Carolina and her name is MISS KITTY......Don't ask.
Your blog writing is very humorous and I enjoy reading it. Annie sounds just like my dog who will be 6 this summer, tons of energy and exuberance.
I wish I could figure out a way to send a picture of Miss Kitty to you, you would think they were sisters. You are right on with the adoption fee, as these are expensive dogs.
Bless your heart for the loving work that you do, I love the comments about Annie and Lincoln.......so funny! Thanks, Karen

Michelle R. Grade said...

Thank You for the kind words. We have a lot of fun here at The Lodge. I guess what makes me, personally, think that Annie is a Labradoodle, as opposed to just a Standard Parti-Poodle, it that her face and head are broader, wider than the Poodles. We had Zootee here a few years ago who was a standard. It seems that the Poodles are finer boned than the mixes.

It doesnt matter though, really. I couldnt love her any more, or less, if she were the other breed. She is a wonderful girl and such a comedienne. :)

She is in Desparate need of a good grooming. I'm tempted to pull out the thinning shears as her curls are quite unruly.

Thank you for the kind words about the blog. I have published a book about the first 20 dogs that were here at The Lodge. It's called A Foster's Tail and is available at Amazon.com as both a paperback or a kindle.

If you wish to email me pix of Miss Kitty, iwannahelpdoggies@gmail.com is my eddress. I'll post them on here if you ok with that.

Thank You for Thinking Rescue! Thank You for Reading!

Shelly

Anonymous said...

Im not a tech wizard, but will attempt to send a few pictures. We adopted Miss Kitty 4 years ago and two years ago, we adopted a small toy poodle mix named Clarence. He THINKS he's as big as Miss Kitty.

I used to work in a nursing home and would bring Kitty with me, but she became too interested in the squirrels outside the residents windows. Last visit was when she hurdled herself right up on the bed to get closer, that did not bode well for a return invitation!

I'm up in Marinette Wi. Some day if I ever get down to visiting in your neck of the woods, I'd love to stop in and see your set up and what you do for these wonderful loving dogs.

Hope my email pix. come through. Thanks again, Karen