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Dog Stories

Our Journey with Bella – Day 6

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Bella had a very naughty day after the kids came home yesterday.

She is still trying to figure out where she belongs in the pack and unfortunately, is testing her boundaries by nipping at our children, albeit playfully.

Both Greg and Jas have never dealt with a 9 week old puppy before so I think they are bit afraid. We are teaching them how to exert gentle dominance over Bella to establish proper pack order and get rid of her nipping.

Otherwise, she has been really good with her elimination, peeing and pooping outside. Fortunately, we both work from home so that allows Bella to be on an hourly bathroom breaks.

The only thing that concerns me is that she seems to be developing a kennel cough. It caught me off guard when I took her out around 3am and she made a pig snorting or honking sound (check out some YouTube videos to see what it sounds like).

What is Kennel Cough?

Kennel cough or canine cough is a highly infectious disease, usually affecting puppies and adults dogs exposed to crowded conditions like puppy mills, kennels and shelters.

The disease itself has multiple pathogen vectors with common culprits being Bordetella bronchiseptica bacteria, Mycoplasma, canine distemper virus, parainfluenza virus and the canine adenovirus type 2 (similar to hepatitus virus).

Though not fatal in most adult dogs, untreated puppies may end having under-developed lungs and/or develop pneumonia.

Bordetella Bronchiseptica incubation period is roughly 3-10 days so my Bella probably contracted the disease while at the shelter.

We will schedule a vet visit to take care of Bella.

PS. By the way, adopting a shelter dog that has kennel cough is not that unusual since most shelters take in all kinds of pets, including strays. Kennel cough is not a reflection of shelter’s cleanliness practices.

Our Journey with Bella-Day 1

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It was bit of a tiring trip where everyone had to get up around 5am to prepare for our 2+ hour journey. To boot, a long journey did not guarantee that we would bring home Bella, Roxy or Grace from the Humane Society of Atlantic City.

If you are looking for a shelter pet, I highly recommend that you checkout the Humane Society of Atlantic county (Facebook link; Website link). Not only did we found the facility to be very clean, warm, inviting and comfortable for the sheltered animals but the staff at HSAC were very friendly and made our kids feel welcome at their “home”.

The Human Society of Atlantic County

When we got to the facility around 9:30am, we were disheartened to find that few people were already waiting by the side door near the parking lot.

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Fortunately for us, those folks were waiting for the vet clinic to open. Apparently their side door was used for the Vet’s office and the front “green’ door in the middle was used for adoptions (there are three doors facing the road) .

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Relief that I was the only one, I settled on the concrete patio for the shelter to open.

If you are visiting during winter, make sure to dress in layers. The facility lies behind the Borgata casino separated by a marshland. Although the temperature was around 48 degrees, a constant breeze made it much, much colder.

When we entered the facility, we were greeted by couple of staff members who were smiling. The facility inside had a charming and personable fee to it, making a positive impression on all of us.

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We then proceeded into a medium sized holding area (I believe some cats and mostly small breed dogs were housed here) where we met Bella (Roxy as it turns our had already been adopted) and kids fell instantly in love with her.

Although Bella had been spayed the day before and was wearing a “cone of shame” (this funny reference is from Disney’s UP movie), she was very outgoing so we decided to adopt on the spot.

happy-oodles-bellas-life-day-1-ride-home-flWe felt bad about leaving behind two other available puppies.

Because HSAC had a policy of not adopting out 2 puppies to a same family, we would not have been able to take home a 2nd puppy but we were assured by the HSAC staff that they were going to be adopted that day as well.

Ride Home

For the ride back home with Bella, we simply brought a small box lined with bunch of towels. We were able to place the box between out kids’ seats so they all ended up entertaining each other which worked out great.

Thankfully she did #1 and #2 at the shelter prior to leaving so we had no issues during the car trip.

Instead of a box, we plan on purchasing a dog seat with a seat belt (like this Kurgo Skybox Dog Booster Seat) to better secure Bella.

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First Day at Our House

Bella’s first day at our house was as expected with few peeing accidents. But to her credit, as soon as we placed some newspapers on the floor, she went on them instead.

Unfortunately, we no longer subscribe to a newspaper so scrap pieces of paper are hard to come by! By laying down 1 or 2 sheets did not prevent Bella’s pee from penetrating to the floor so we will go ahead and buy some basic puppy pee pads (Like this item which is $17 for 100 count at Amazon; At 17 cents per pad, I think the price is quite reasonable).

After an exhausting day, Bella complained in her crate for about 40 minutes before passing out.

PS. We did wake her up at 11:00pm, 2AM and 5AM for bathroom breaks.

After trying for so long, it was exciting and gratifying to see our kids playing with their new friend!

Our Journey with Bella – Day 0

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After searching for a shelter and/or rescue dog for what seems like eons, I think we finally found a very cute mixed breed puppy at the Humane Society of Atlantic County (HSAC).

We were originally searching for a light-colored puppy but this group of 50% Poodle + 50% Rat Terrier mixed breed puppies were too cute to pass!

Apparently, Bella, Roxy and Gracy and their mom were transported up to HSAC from Georgia about week ago from a shelter. With their mom being adopted first, these three beautiful puppies were available for adoption starting tomorrow.

After missing out on shelter puppies in the past, my wife and I decided to make it a family day and get to HSAC early, which meant leaving the house by 6:30am for our 2+ hour trip to Atlantic City, NJ.

With estimated arrival time of 9:30am and HSAC opening at 11am, would that be enough time for us to secure a spot #1, 2 or 3?

We’ll find out tomorrow!

Meeting Katy – The Puppy Mill Rescue

happy-oodles-adoption-ava-katy-a-side-bar-flWe had been searching for a Wheaten Terrier rescue for about a month when we came across this beautiful girl on PetFinder.com which we wrote about here.  We were looking for an allergy friendly dog and wheatens are supposed to be easier to live with for people with allergies.

Katy was listed as a very sweet 5 month old Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier that was good with children, cats and other dogs. It went on to say that she did not know how to walk on a leash but was very eager to learn and be loved.

We had previously found other Wheaten Terriers listed on rescue sites but none could be adopted by families with children. Since Katy was still a puppy and non-aggressive with kids or other animals we thought she could be a good fit.

As soon as we spotted Katy’s picture we sent in an application. We didn’t expect to hear back. We knew we were not the ideal family for a rescue dog in the eyes of most rescue organizations. Although we own our house, have a large backyard, experienced with shelter and puppy mill dogs and the means to care for a puppy, we still did not meet all the requirements for most rescue organizations. Our large yard is not fenced in, we do not currently have a dog, and we have young children with one under the age of 10 years old. In fact many of the rescue organizations we found would not even look at our applications because of those things.

happy-oodles-adoption-ava-katy-meet-and-greet-email-v2-flSo you can image our surprise and delight when we heard back from the rescue granting us the chance to meet with Katy. In the response from the founder of the organization we discovered that they had rescued four wheaten terrier sisters. We were given the option to meet Ava, one of the sisters, who was being fostered closer to our home. We were also informed that there were at least 50 other applications for the dogs and there were no guarantees that we would be chosen.

The first step to meeting the pups was a phone interview with the foster family. It was on this call that we found out how Ava and Katy came to the rescue. They had been purchased at a dog auction in Missouri by the rescue’s founder. The pups found themselves in the auction after their owner became overwhelmed with the responsibility of caring for the dogs and in violation of the Missouri State Laws. Rather than rectify the violations the owner decided to auction off the dogs. The sisters who were living in one cage and never let out were being kept as breeding stock. Had the state not intervened, the dogs would have spent their life in a cage giving birth to as many puppies as they could before their bodies wore out.

happy-oodles-adoption-ava-at-fosters-b-v1-flWe also found out that Katy had moved to a foster home close to Ava so we would have a chance to meet both pups. We set up a visit with the foster parents the very next Saturday. We wanted to meet the dogs as soon as possible to make sure we stayed in the running. From our perspective the call went well with us mainly asking the questions, but we were again reminded that there were a lot of people interested in the dogs and that having a chance to meet them did not guarantee we would be chosen.

happy-oodles-adoption-ava-at-fosters-v3-flWhen Saturday came, we woke up early and made the long drive to the foster homes which were about 2 hours away in a neighboring state. We first met with Ava. She was being fostered in a home with 8 other dogs. A 5 month old German Sheppard who shared a space with Ava, a beagle with 7 puppies and the fosters’ two adult dogs. The German Sheppard and Beagles all needed homes.

When we first saw Ava, she was excited to meet us and competed for our attention. Though after a few minutes and a lot of competition from the German Sheppard puppy the excitement wore off and she took a back seat to the dominant Sheppard puppy. Overall she was quiet for a young Wheaten who are known for their energetic greeting. We then took the dogs outside but unlike the other dogs who romped around the yard, Ava didn’t seem interested in playing. At times she seemed lost, not knowing what to do. After about a ½ an hour we left to go visit with Katy.

happy-oodles-adoption-katy-at-fosters-b-v1-flWhen we entered the second foster home, Katy kept her distance. She was too afraid of people to greet us or even come within petting range. When we tried to approach her, she ran away and urinated as a sign of submission and fear. There was a noticeable difference between Ava and Katy’s behavior. The time spent with the other dogs made Ava more outgoing. Even as reserved as Ava was, she was more of a puppy and playful then Katy.

happy-oodles-adoption-katy-at-fosters-v4-flWe all sat on the kitchen floor and waited to see if Katy would feel more comfortable around us. It was my husband who Katy first approached smelling his hand. Eventually she allowed us all to get close enough to pet her and eat from our hands.

On the drive home we asked the kids which puppy they would like. My son who was looking for an enthusiastic playmate picked Ava. My daughter who wants to save the world one animal at a time picked Katy, stating that “Katy needs us.” We reiterated that in the end it was not our choice. Although we could decline to adopt Katy or Ava it was the rescue who would decide where the pups were placed.

As soon as we came home we sent a note to the head of the rescue to tell her how we thought the visits went and to thank her for the opportunity to meet the puppies and also for saving their lives.

happy-oodles-adoption-ava-katy-rejection-email-flIn the end we did not get Katy or Ava. We don’t know why but the rescue decided that different families were a better fit. Our kids were very disappointed as were we.

It was our first experience with a rescue organization. Looking back we question if we should have done things differently. Maybe we should have asked to see Ava without the other dogs around? That might have allowed us to bond with her a little. Maybe we should have tried to be the last family to see the dogs? Katy was just coming out of her shell when we left. Was she more comfortable with the next group because of her experience with us? We will never know.

We will continue our search for our new family member, but will be more thoughtful in dealing with rescue organizations in the future.

We think we found a Perfect shelter dog!

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We originally started looking at purchasing a Goldendoodle / Labradoodle / Soft-Coated Wheaten Terrier (SCWT) puppy from a reputable breeder.

We started shying away from Goldendoodle and Labradoodle puppies but because they were extremely popular (i.e. high demand, limited supply), we felt that a lot of breeders were being careless about breeding their dogs.

In contrast, we found many SCWT breeders to be deeply involved with the breed (i.e. breeding for show dogs, extensive health testings, etc.) so we switched gears to see if we can get a SCWT puppy.

Unfortunately, responsible breeding programs mean you most likely will have to wait a few months to get a puppy.

Having adopted a Golden Retriever from a shelter before, we always had a soft spot for shelter dogs so we started looking through PetFinder.com and AdoptAPet.com sites and found Katy!

According to Posh Pets Rescue’s Facebook page, she was among 50+ other dogs rescued from a puppy mill in Missouri. Katy has 3 sisters and couple of them are in foster homes, adjusting well to other animals. The only drawback is that they all have severe anxiety and at the moment, cannot be crate-trained (understandable considering what they went through).

We have a call scheduled with a foster parent today and meet-and-greet on Saturday so wish us luck!

  

FOLLOW UP: Meeting Katy – The Puppy Mill Rescue
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Happyoodles is a free resource that offers real life experiences and researched information on finding and caring for your perfect pup.

We publish dog stories, dog news, tips and product buying advice for dog parents.

Happyoodles is owned and operated by two dog lovers and one cute pup named Bella, a poodle mix we rescued from a shelter.

 

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