Daisy's Blog

We went back to see Daisy again, and she is blooming with health and very happy.

Here is a picture of her showing off her healthy coat:



She adores her new family, including Taffy the Golden Retriever. Here they all are:



We are so pleased! We couldn't have found a better home for this sweet little girl.

Daisy found a wonderful home where she will get the care and love she deserves. We are very happy that she found such a perfect home, but very sad to lose her. Here is a picture of her with her new family, including Taffy, a 10 year old female Golden:



We wish them all many years of joy.

I finally managed to get a photo of Daisy showing her nice smile. The background isn't great, but Daisy is what matters anyway (sorry I accidentally cut off one foot). Here it is:



Daisy is a wonderful girl, and she keeps us entertained. When she wants attention, she will make noises, like talking in their variety. She will also stare at you, willing you to look back. If you respond, she will come trotting up to you and sit nicely, expecting her reward of cuddles.

Because of Daisy's allergies, we have been feeding her a Eukanuba fish and sweet potato food that we get at the vet, since that was what she was getting when she came to us. There is also a Wellness fish and sweet potato food available in some pet stores. In fact, since Eukanuba doesn't have dog biscuits for that food, we use the Wellness biscuits, as well as Eagle Holistix fish biscuits. Since the vet said venison and potato was a second choice (he preferred the fish-based food since it has omega fatty acids), we occasionally give her a small Natures Recipe venison treat. We don't really know if she is allergic to any foods other than lamb, but I have been especially avoiding the foods dogs are most commonly allergic to: wheat, corn and beef. This has been a really bad season for allergies; I know mine have been bad this spring.

We think Daisy looks good, and she seems happy. She bounces up in the morning and wakes up Larry, once I let her. She does that even before going outside to go potty. Larry gives her some morning cuddles, then she is ready to get her breakfast, along with the other dogs. A typical lab, she thinks meals are among the most important activities of the day, along with walks and cuddles.

We got a few more photos of little Daisy. Unfortunately, we haven't been successful at taking photos of her that show her delightful personality. Here are a couple of the photos:

As you can tell, Daisy's allergies are under control, with her special Fish & Sweet Potato diet (plus a few venison treats), her allergy shots (about $200 per year), and a low dose of prednisone. She is a happy girl, and she'd love to have a family to lavish all her love on. Her former owner says she is great with children of all ages, and we know she is good with other dogs and fine with cats.

Daisy is completely healed from her spay operation, and her coat looks really nice now, except for the area on her side where the vets at the Malibu Coast Animal Hospital, who along with Malibu Pet Companions (a volunteer group for the Agoura shelter) took very good care of her, shaved her to do the allergy testing. That area is growing back, but you can still tell where it is, because the hair is shorter than the rest of her fur.

Daisy is extremely cute, and she is very easy to care for! She is a sweet little labbie girl who just wants to be loved. She likes to be near her humans, but she is also good with our other dogs, and she is fine left in her "crate" when she needs to be there (hardly at all, anymore). She really enjoys her walks, which she considers very important business. She also enjoys going on car rides, especially to a pet store or a place to romp. At home, she will play with a toy, chew a nylabone, or just hang out. If she needs to go out, she uses our doggie door.

Whoever gets Daisy will be lucky!

This Friday will be 3 weeks after Daisy's spay, so we are taking her in to the vet for one more checkup (and to have her sutures removed), and she will be ready to go to a new home where she can get the love and attention she deserves. She has been doing wonderfully well at our house, and she fits in with our other dogs very well indeed. In fact, we are in love with her ourselves.

Daisy uses our doggie door whenever she needs to go potty, and she is more comfortable with spending time outdoors, as long as a human is there to keep her company. She really enjoys going for walks to explore the neighborhood, so I take her on a long Flexi-Lead on some of the walks to give her more scope in her explorations. We haven't had a chance to train her out of pulling on lead, though, so anyone who adopts her will have to make sure she gets some obedience training. Also, she is definitely a counter surfer - fortunately, she is small enough that she can't get to anything on the kitchen counter that isn't close to the edge.

Here are a couple of photos of Daisy that we took on today's walk:






Daisy's fur is doing so much better that you can see how nice she will look when it is all the same length. Her allergies are under control, and, although she is still a bit itchy at times, she hasn't scratched enough to cause herself any problems. The allergy shots will need to be continued, but she is easy to care for, so it is not at all difficult. She is a delight to have around.

Someone please come see her and fall in love as we have! We need to let her go to a new home so we can continue to foster dogs, and it will be harder the longer we have her.

Daisy was spayed yesterday. Because of the prednisone she has been getting, she oozed a bit from the surgery site, so they kept her overnight, and we picked her up this morning. She is wearing a cone on her head, and they had to give her a larger one than they started with because she managed to make a small hot spot on her rear end. The stitches will be removed in 3 weeks (they didn't want to use dissolvable ones with her) - a longer time than usual due to the prednisone. I haven't given her any prednisone in a few days, and I may stop if she doesn't appear to need it any longer, since it does slow the healing process. The vet has put her on thyroid pills because her blood test showed she is in the low normal range, and it may help (and won't hurt). The vet told us that spaying will probably help Daisy with her allergies; we hope so!

The vet gave Daisy a Capstar yesterday morning, and dead fleas came off her (confirming my suspicion). We will be giving her Frontline Plus in a few days. Larry sprayed the yard, and I took all the dog bedding out and washed it, and vacuumed the house pretty thoroughly (and mopped the non-carpeted area). I'm giving all our dogs, including Brendan, Frontline again to be safe. We may have to do more, but I am waiting to see if the problem is gone before using Boric Acid in the carpeting.

Anyway, other than banging her cone into our legs and getting it caught on things, Daisy is doing fine. The small hotspot is much better already, but it will be a while before the hair grows back. Since she can't go through the doggie door with the cone on her head, we are leaving the back door open more, and making sure she gets regular trips out. The vet said we could probably take the cone off in a few days (I'll wait until after we put the Frontline on her).

Well, I spoke too soon about Daisy not being itchy. She started to scratch herself again a few days ago. To be safe, I backed off the Duck&Potato treats, but I don't think that is the problem, because I am getting itchy bites too. I am starting to suspect that somehow we now have fleas. Since Larry isn't getting bitten, I think the fleas are in the back yard, where I go out with the dogs first thing in the morning (still in my nightgown and a robe, so they can easily bite my legs).

Tomorrow morning, Daisy goes in for her checkup with our vet and spay surgery if they decide she is ready.

Daisy is now using the doggie door whenever she wants to go out (which isn't all that often, unless everyone else is out as well). She gets along very well with our dogs, so she is loose in the house almost all the time (except at bedtime, when I put her in her indoor X-pen, where she can snuggle on her own soft dog bed). She likes the soft squeaky toys, but Brendan keeps stealing them from her when she drops them. She doesn't seem to mind at all. I make sure she gets a toy if she wants. She also likes to chew a nylabone on occasion. All in all, Daisy is very easy to foster.

We have had Daisy for two days now - she is a really nice little girl! Our dogs have been pestering her one way (trying to mount her - Tristam) or another (giving her a hard time when she "invades their space" - Ellie Mae and Rascal). Larry and I try to calm things down so poor Daisy doesn't get overwhelmed with all the doggie attention. Usually, she will come running to me if they bother her too much, and I put her in her X-pen for a break every once in a while.

She is now using the doggie door, although she doesn't want to go out very often. We aren't sure we can depend on her to go out to go potty, so I still encourage her to go out every few hours by opening the door, going out myself and calling her. That usually works, unless one of our dogs pesters her enough that she goes back in. She did have one very small accident this morning - no big deal.

Daisy is on a fish & potato diet (with the Platinum Performance supplement), which I will continue. I have kibble and treats for this diet. I asked if I could expand things a bit by getting some duck & potato treats, and the vet said that would be fine, as would venison & potato, but he wants to make sure the main food remains fish & potato.

The only other medication she is getting is prednisone - at a low dose. Since she hasn't been scratching or biting herself, I am backing it off to every other day, as the paperwork suggests. If that doesn't work, I can go back to every day.

Daisy is such a cute little thing, I's sure she will go fast (to a carefully screened home, since she will need to continue the shots for at least a year or two) once she becomes available.