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LUCY (OCEAN) 9/18/03
#318

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Ocean's Foster Journey - Adopted 12/13/03

 

 

Pertinent Information
1 yr. old White Female
48 lb. Owner Surrender
Natural Ears and Docked Tail
Spayed and UTD
Good with children and other animals
Obedience Training Required
Being Fostered in Nassau County, LI
Adoption Donation $250

 
1/24/05 - I apologize for not sending an update on my Lucy. She is wonderful, couldn't imagine our lives without her. We don't even like to go on vacation because we have to leave her with someone, we always have someone come and stay at our house to make it easier on our dogs. We have put in a doggie door which has been a blessing as far as having to let Lucy out during the late evening/early morning hours. She is still a huge barker/growler when she hears a noise or someone comes to the house. I guess for alerting us its ok, but we do have a lot of visitors, kids, family, etc. so it does get annoying. We have two dogs and they definitely take up a lot of time, and we have almost thought about adopting a third, but feel that it is too much work. Lucy is the most cuddly dog, as opposed to our other dog.

6/22/04 - I apologize for not updating for the past couple of months.  So what's been happening with our Lucy.  Where to begin....First let me knock on wood, she has only had one accident in the house in the last month.  We put her on the medicine for incontinence and it really seems to have helped.  She has really filled out, very, very solid build.  She is so funny, loves to dig, don't know what she is digging for but seems to be on a mission to find whatever it is.  She and our other dog Butch really have a great time together, I don't think I could imagine only having one dog now, we believe, especially with boxers, that they need to have a playmate.  We are still working on her growling, and barking when someone comes to the door.  The poor person who comes to our front door, she rushes the storm door & doesn't stop barking - we will never need a security system at least!  We are really enjoying walking the dogs, we figured out that the harness system works the best, a very enjoyable walk.  For now that's about all.

4/4/04 - Our cuddly, lovable Lucy that was scared of everything & everybody, and never made a peep, has become a big barker & growler. God forbid if she hears a door bell, whether it be on TV or the real thing, she slams the front door & is smart enough to be able to open the door if given enough time. We do not mind the barking because it is what a dog does, but the growling is a little scary to anyone who comes over. We are trying to work on this with her. She is the best when it comes to cuddlying with you, she lays on us with her back legs still on the ground - its soo funny. We are still having issues with her urinating in the house, it seems we go through good periods and bad. And she sometimes has drops urine. We have had a urine analysis that detected crystals in her urine, so we had an x-ray which came out with clear - no bad results. We are now giving her special presciption food, S/D, which means we need to feed our dogs separately and not let one get the others food, for a month and then we will get another urine analysis done and possibly we might then treat for incontinence (spell??). It seems that she has to urinate very, very frequently and has many, many accidents in the house. It has almost gone as far as us putting in a doggie door, but I want to be respectful of neighbors so that if she sees anyone out doors she barks up a storm unless I am with her to tell her its ok. We are so on top of her to let her outside and I can't imagine when we go on vacation how our dog sitter will be on top of her as much as we are. As far as the peeing, barking & growling goes we still love her to know end.

3/1/04 - I don't believe my last update went through because the website was done. So I am sending over another update. Lucy is doing great. We have been continuing with the dog obedience and we are making some progress. She is still very scared of everything. She does play very well with other dogs which is great to see at the end of the training session. We will sign on for another training after this one is done, to the next step up class.I wanted to report that we have not had any accidents in the house but thats not true. We constantly need to let her out. I'm not sure if it is a female thing. We brought her to the vet's the other day for a physical and she and our other boxer Butch had some eye problems, but they checked out very well and we got medicine for there eyes. She is very happy and we are very happy to have her as part of our family.

1/13/04 - We are loving our girl Lucy. She has the most adorable face that makes you melt even if she does something wrong. She is still having some accidents in the house but it has definitely improved tremendously. We are taking our second obedience class this evening and will see how it goes. She is very good with other dogs which makes going to the class much easier. She is definitely still very timid but we are working on this with her, We praise her all the time when she allows someone to get close (someone other than our immediate family) and when she hears loud noises.

12/20/03 - It has been one week today since we picked up our precious little girl named Lucy (we changed her name from Ocean) and she is responding very well to her new name. We love this little girl. She has the cutest face, her coat is so soft and she gives us all boxer kisses, including our boxer Butch. She is eating very well, and has only had a couple of accidents in the house. She is still very skittish towards strangers, but that is ok because our other boxer does not hesitate to greet people that its a nice change of pace to not have to worry about her running to the door. We have a great yard for her to play in and she goes out about 7 to 10 times a day (no kidding) - she loves exploring, playing with her toys, all of us and especially Butch. When her and our other boxer play in the house, watch out - we have rearranged the furniture so that don't get hurt. It is very comical to watch two boxers play. She fits in very well with our family. Thank you BAR for taking such good care of her and for helping out other dogs that you have rescued, fostered, etc.

12/13/03 - Well, the day has finally arrived when ocean can go home to her new family. Stacy and mike came and picked her up at 10am. They have been waiting a LONG time for their girl.

 As expected, she was VERY shy around mike, but with a bunch of cheese and cookies, she came out of her crate, and went over to her new mommy 1st. They have 3 kids and a 4 yr old boxer boy, so ocean will warm up quickly.  She took a day to warm up to me when she came here, and we all know how lovable I am .
 They were also nice enough to bring Kristy down here for a cat less foster stay, and she is relaxing nicely downstairs. She ate beautifully, and is settling down.

11/29/03 - We went to the vet today for Ocean's 2 week update.
Well, little Ocean's leg, in the vets opinion, has healed enough to go to her forever home. His exact words were "let her be a dog again". This is great news, and I must admit, I was a bit surprised. She has been spending more time out of the crate, and being the excited pup she is, she has been going a bit hard, and has been limping and favoring her leg a bit. I was afraid I had let her go too much out of the crate, but I did want her to start getting more exercise, and use the leg more, as the vet had instructed.
Well he said the leg is improving, he said it is straightening out nicely, no sign of infection, and she has been off antibiotics for 3 weeks now. The bump/lump he says will take up to 6 months to go down. He is not concerned with the limping, and said to let her do what she wants.
We had already scheduled her spay for Dec 10th, before today's visit, as my
vet, who will do the spay wanted to also make sure the leg was healed. So, we will do the spay on the 10th, although we will call on Monday to see if she can be gotten in sooner.
She is doing great, and we love her lots. But trust me, she is ready for a more active home then ours, and as soon as she is spayed, she will be going to her forever home who has been waiting a long time for her.

11/16/03 - We had our appointment for Ocean today, and I must admit we are frustrated. The infection is all gone, she has been off antibiotics for over 1 week, and that is very good news. The vet feels, however, that Ocean still has 2-4 more weeks before she can be sent to her new family. The leg is "bridging" (healing) nicely, but she is still favoring it, which tells the vet she is not yet ready to go full force on it.
We are crating Ocean to keep her pretty quiet, and she is doing very nicely with this routine. When we let her out, we try to keep her on leash in the yard as much as possible, because if she realizes that no one is holding her leash, the puppy in her takes over and she is off looking for a playmate, and in this house, they are not hard to find :o))) So we limit this until the vet feels she can go harder on it. The vet also recommended we start giving her 1 buffered aspirin a day, to help with the discomfort.
Ocean weighed 48 lbs at the vet, so she has really not gained to much weight since coming to the Wings and Halo Haven. She looks totally great, and has the personality to go with the looks. When we were at the vet, she sniffed at a crate that had a cat in it. The cat hissed and "spit", and Ocean was startled. She wanted nothing further to do with that cat after that.

So, we have an appointment at the vet in 2 weeks, and we'll see how far Ocean has come, and when she will be able to go to the family who is so eagerly waiting for this sweet little girl.

11/3/03 - We took Ocean to the vet on Saturday, and they removed the cast for further examination. Things are looking pretty good. It appears the infection is just about gone, and the vet was debating out loud whether to put a light wrap on it, or to leave it totally open. After some discussion, we decided to leave it totally open, so that the healing would be a bit faster. Ocean quickly cleaned up the spot, and then left it alone, so she will not even need the cone anymore. This is a good thing, because little miss Ocean was destroying the cones we were getting for her. When she had the cast on, she so desperately wanted to get to the cast, that a cone was totally necessary.  Well, the little bugger figured out a way to lean the cone against the crate (when she was inside), pressed the cone against the wall of the crate so that it would "pinch" toward her mouth, and would proceed to eat the cone edges. This was pretty annoying, as she destroyed one cone, and was working on the next. So now that she doesn't need one, as she is leaving the leg alone, I am very happy.

The vet says that she needs to do "light" walking, and that is it. He explained that the bones are healing well. When you look at it, there is this bump on one side of where the fracture was. He said because the fracture was so "complete", completely separated the bone from one end to the other, they were able to get the 2 broken ends only so close together.  Because of that, the bone has healed by "filling the gap" between the 2 broken ends, and that is the "bump" we are seeing. He says, in time, the bump will get smaller and smaller, with only a slight irregularity to it when it is completely healed. In other words, the leg will not be totally straight when healed, but it will be almost unnoticeable. He said this is quite normal for the injury she received. He assured me she will be able to do everything on her leg when it is healed. He wanted to see her in 1-2 weeks, so we will make the for next weekend.

I started Ocean's light walking  (he said once or twice daily) on Saturday,
and again on Sunday. She puts her leg down abut 60-70 % of the time and
walks normally. I called the vet, and he said that was fine, and that I will see her put the leg down more and more as she gets more comfortable. He wants us to take it slow, and not overdo it, so after the walks, ocean goes back in and rests in her crate. She is very good in there.

She does pull a bit on the leash, and appears a bit nervous when she gets a
small correction of "no pull" (a slight tug on the leash, with a regular collar for now). I don't know if she is expecting to get hit (maybe her previous owner didn't take to the pulling very well?) I constantly tell her "Good girl Ocean", and she seems to relax a bit when she hears that. She is improving though during the walks, cars going by do not seem to frighten her like they did when she 1st came to me.

Her appetite is good, and she is finishing her bowl consistently now. Perhaps foster mommy has spoiled her a bit with added hamburger and such in her bowl.

This girl is really a super pup, and the family who is waiting patiently emails me regularly, and I update them also, as they cant wait for her to come live with them. We are getting closer to that day, and I know Ocean is going to be one little spoiled baby girl.

We'll update again by the next vet visit.

10/26/03 - Ocean has been with us for another week. While we are keeping her activity low, we have been letting her spend more and more time out of the crate. Saturday was a very nice day, and while I was out doing yard work, I allowed ocean to explore the place for ours. She was pretty calm, as she had been out for a while, and I didn't have many of the dogs out with her, so she was mostly into exploring. She was a good girl, no bother at all.
She continues to eat well, but she needs to be reminded to eat, as she is easily distracted. We make sure all the dogs are out, so she can focus on eating. Typical young pup.
She continues to show what a lovely personality she has. A sweet, sweet girl, she is a pleasure to have around. She only whines a bit in the crate, for the most part she settles down and relaxes.

We were told to finish up the meds, then take her back to the vet to have her leg looked at again. He meds will finish up mid week, so we will see how she is doing by the weekend.
I will update again after her next visit, but I thing we are entering into the home stretch of her fostering. I have kept the family updated on her progress, and they are getting very excited that Ocean will soon be joining their family.

10/20/03 - I took Ocean her to the vet on Saturday, and they decided that the healing process has progressed enough to take the pins out and put her in a cast. They kept her over on Saturday, and I picked her up at 3pm yesterday.
They put a very pretty pink wrap over her cast, looks very nice against her  white leg. When Ii picked her up, and they took her out to me in the lobby, she was so excited to see her foster daddy that she did have a tinkle accident. No problem, we cleaned it up and off to the house she went. She is pretty good in the car, after I nudged her back, she settled right down in the back seat.
When she got home she was all happy again, I definitely think she recognizes the place she currently calls home. My guys were happy to see her too.
They had taken the cone off her head at the vet, but when I got home tonight I see she has chewed some of the top of the cast, so luckily I had an extra cone and put it on her. I will call the vet in the morning and describe the area and see if he wants to see her again.
I just finished feeding ocean, and she did a very nice job with her food. She is still on 2 antibiotics, and the vet feels that now that the pins are out, what little infection is left should clear up.
I will let you know more as we learn more, but right now the vet feels 2-3 weeks and she should be very close to as good as new.

10/18/03 - Ocean is just a super girl. Upon 1st meeting her, she is a bit on the shy, scared side. That lasts for about 2-3 minutes, and with a bunch of "good girl", she is a kissy boxer baby. She gives sweet gentle kisses, not the wet, sloppy kind.

 Ocean gets along with any dog immediately. We have some pugs as well as boxers, and she is great with them. A very good girl, she presents no challenges to any of my dogs.
 She settles in the crate very quickly. We are keeping her crated for longer periods of time, per the vets recommendation. She has pins and rods form her surgery, and it needs daily maintenance/cleaning. My wife in a RN, and has taken her to the weekly vet appointment last week, and was told what to do. I am taking her tomorrow for another follow up. The site looks good.
 We have limited the playing, being she is a young girl, she likes to play like a typical boxer, and that kind of activity is not recommended for now. She needs to heal up before she can be allowed to be a typical boxer. There is no doubt this girl is gonna love living with another boxer. She is really great.
 As far as submissive wetting, i have seen none of that. When she met my wife and 18 yr old daughter and 22 yr old daughter, she was just wiggly. She seems to be shy when 1st meeting men, but does not seem to react that way with woman.
 She does give nice gentle kisses. I spend 3-4 hrs with her each nite after i come home from work, when she starts getting too active, we put her in the crate, and she settles down right away.
 I have fostered over 30 dogs, and oceans personality is A++++. It is very easy to love this girl, and i have no doubt she will have a wonderful home when she is ready for her forever home.
 She is eating beautifully. We are giving her 3 1/2 cups split into 2 feedings along with cold cuts, vanilla yogurt, and she polishes it off once she keeps her attention long enough. She has had no accidents in the crate or house. She does her business outside, and comes in when she is done. The cone on her head is a bit clumsy right now, but she is getting around pretty well with it on.
 I will update you more after the vet appointment tomorrow.

10/13/03 - Ocean is pending adoption.

9/23/03 - Ocean has not moved on to her foster home yet so I thought I would do a short update on her. She is doing well here in our home and is on limited activity...she can play but isn't allowed to get to rough. She gets around very well with her cast on. She is wonderful in the crate. Barely hear a sound from her. She has had no accidents in the crate and only one outside of the crate. Ocean is a shy dog, when someone enters the house, Ocean will sit down the hall and watch...or if in the kitchen and she gets nervous she will go right into her crate to wait for you. She will definitely need socialization to which I am taking her to obedience class tonight just to be around other people and dogs...not to attend. I think she will make some family a GREAT dog and will be looking for a home for her, as of right now anyway, in the country without much traffic. Please watch for further updates on this special girl coming soon

9/18/03 - Ocean is a one yr old female (birth date of 8/15/02) out of a shelter in NYC. She was hit by a car and we had to rush her to a vet for repair.
She is just the cutest white boxer I have ever seen. Very petite at 45 pounds.
She is very happy and wiggly to be here. She is getting around great with her cast on and is fine with my Shih Tzu.
She is only here temporarily as she will be moving on to another foster home soon.  But we wanted to get pictures up to show everyone how cute she is.