World, Meet Kiwi.

Below is your first look at Kiwi. Kiwi is staying with us as a foster sister until she can find her permanent, forever home. At 14 months, she is a healthy, energetic and active young lady.
Kiwi has been abandoned more times than she can count. Only 14 months old and her life has been a revolving door. Her first owner took her to the pound and surrendered her. Several days later she had second thoughts, went back and reclaimed her. Then she was surrendered again, same result, after a few days she was reclaimed again by the same owner. The third time the pound called Golden Retriever Rescue and gave her over before her owner could change her mind again.

Several days later, Golden Retriever Rescue received a call, her original owner wanted her back again. It took some talking and some counseling, but finally the Rescue relented and adopted her back to the owner. They were assured that the problems were behind them and that everything would work out this time. There was some pressure from the pound who felt that a dog should always be reunited with it's owner if possible. But then the owner returned to surrender Kiwi back to the rescue, for the fourth time. This time rescue spirited her away and is not returning phone calls from the owner. It is no wonder that poor Kiwi has more problems than a high school math test.

This time we are going to find her a stable and permanent forever home. Kiwi does have a few issues. For one she hates car rides, she thinks car rides all end in being abandoned somewhere. Getting her in the car is a major task. She has never been trained to do anything. She is well housebroken, but that is all the training she has had. She is very timid when meeting new people, and she still views a hand reaching towards her as a possible threat. She does not sit, come, lie, stay, walk, or anything else. So we are having to give her some basic education classes. The three cats are helping her, they are teaching "Respect for Cats, 101". She is ready to get her diploma in co-existing with cats, as soon as the scratch on her nose heals. Napping on furniture is a problem, she is learning to stay off of the couches.

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She is in her chewing stage of life. She is demolishing all the toys that Clyde dd not have time to rip up. Clyde, where ever you are, be assured that Kiwi is carrying on your tradition. She loves to chew on anything that fits in the mouth.

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Kiwi is very timid, she jumps at any loud noise. She barks at the dogs and humans in the park, but instead of running out to the fence to bark, she does her barking from the safety of the back steps. She is also timid when it is feeding time. She likes her food bowl out of sight of everyone else, she is afraid one of the bigger dogs will take it away from her. She does not even understand treats, she threw her first few around until someone else grabbed it away and ate it. We have never before had to teach a foster how to eat treats. She does like attention, she will cuddle as long as she can and once the petting starts, she can enjoy ear scratches and tummy rubs all day long.

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The good news is that we all get to join in the training, so we all get more treats as she works on sit and stay. She is a very fast learner and will master it all quickly. The bad news is that we don't get to go for car rides because she has car trauma. The human says that a few trips to the dog park will give her a new view of car rides. I suggested that a trip or two to the ice cream shop will help her get over her fear.

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Meanwhile Muffin is still here. She has met with three different families and not been adopted by any of them, for one reason or another. She has settled in and unpacked her bags. If a special family calls she will listen to their story, but she is not waiting for anyone, she is living her life right here, right now. The humans keep saying that having a third permanent dog is going to interfere with their fostering and there are dozens of dogs that need foster homes. But Muffin is older and not many people want a wonderful, sweet, well behaved, 10 year old lady. So she is enjoying laying in the sun, running in the grass, and sleeping on her new bed beside the human's bed in the bedroom. She says she just as well make the best of it while she can.

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Thanks for reading,

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Mogley G. Retriever