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YUKI (SIERRA) 10/9/04
 

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Sierra's Foster Journey - Adopted 11/7/04

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4 month old  DEAF White  Boxer
   20 lb. Owner  Surrender
Natural Ears and Docked Tail
Not yet spayed, but UTD
Being Fostered near New Haven, CT
Adoption Donation $350 + $50 spaying deposit
Obedience Training Required

7/20/05 - Just a brief update on Yuki, she continues to be a happy, loveable dog. We wanted to include the lastest picture of her.

5/8/05 - This is Yuki's 6 month update, she is now a happy 10 months old boxer at a playful 45 lbs. Everyone that meets her says she's an adorable sweetheart. She has her mischievous & demanding moments :) In the last few weeks she's been spayed & completed the advance level obedience course. She recovered beautifully from the surgery with no complications. We have been very happy with her training and response to hand signals. She'll do just about anything for a treat. We've been going regularly for walks in the park and she loves to meet new people & animals. Yuki does wonderfully in the car whether it's a short or long trip. Her favorite game is to chase the laser. She enjoys a game of fetch now & then. Her favorite is playing with her Boxer friend, Dakota. They'll playing until it's time to sleep. If you drive past our house you may see her looking out "her" window watching for passers by. We're so happy to have her in our lives.

1/29/05 -Yuki is doing very well. The instructor of her obedience class thinks she's the teacher's pet. :) She very willing and obedient. Yuki catches on to new signals quickly. She's on her best behavior when she's had plenty of exercise. Lots of walks and chasing the laser are her favorites. Overall a very happy dog. She's happy to meet new dogs and people alike. Today we have plans to play with Dakota and Maureen, she'll sleep well this afternoon!  We've had a few growth spurts, but I'm guessing she'll be on the petite side. I have a funny Yuki story, the other day I heard her in the
kitchen crunching on some cat food, which she knows is off limits and had been ignoring for a while at that point. I walk into the kitchen, she sees me & spits out the cat food all over the floor with a guilty look about her. It was very funny visually, I'm not sure it translates to the page very well. We'll see you next month!

12/2/04 - Yuki had a very good Thanksgiving weekend. She did very well traveling and visiting. She made friends with a pug, named Gonzo. They had a great time chasing each other around the table for hours. We are very pleased at how easily she adapts to new environments. She made considerable progress in the potty training area. I think the hearing loss may cause her to have a bit of separation anxiety. Hearing dogs know you're in the next room are content to chew on a toy, but Yuki needs to be in the same room with us always. She's not to happy when the baby gate is up & she's supposed to be eating breakfast while I take 10 minutes to get a shower & dressed. Even when she lays down to take a nap, she's sure to be touching one of us so she'll know when we've tried to get up. I'm sure that with time and maybe even another another dog would give her a feeling of more security. She is growing like a weed! My computer at home should be up and running this weekend, we'll see if we can put some pictures up next time.

11/21/04 - I happy to report Yuki is doing very well. She visited the vet this week, I was concerned with the amount of phlegm she would cough on when we'd play & she had also developed diarrhea. Upon her exam the Vet gave her a clean bill of health, but she did prescribed a small dose of antibiotic as a precaution & something to firm up her stool. I had mentioned what I knew of her history and she thought that was best. The Vet said the diarrhea was typical to the change in her environment. It all seems to be working. Yuki weighed in at 25 lbs. She's filling out nicely. The Vet told us to call back next week to make the appointment to have her spayed in December. She's had a great week we're working on hand signals, for sit, stay, down & come. They're all coming along nicely. It looks like an obedience class begins in December, I'm sure she'll have a great time making new friends. This weekend she had a great time with walks around the neighborhood, everyone was so happy to meet her. She walks very well on the leash and is making progress in the house breaking department. Now if I can only get her to sleep past 4 a.m. ;) I try like crazy to keep her up but by 10p.m. she can't keep her eyes open. She gets cut off from water by 8p.m. hopefully her bladder will let me sleep until 5 a.m. soon :) We wish everyone a safe and Happy Thankingsgiving.

11/12/04 - Yuki is a great dog! She's been visiting with new friends and having a wonderful time. She'd follow the big Newfie's and do exactly what they did. Yuki is settling in to her new home. She been pretty good about house breaking, there's still room for improvement. Her deafness isn't much of a handicap, she's very attentive and is quickly picking up with the hand signals Michelle had taught her. Her good nature is a real asset, she gets along with everyone she meets. She can hang in for the rough and tumble play and then she's a real cuddle monster. Michelle is to be commended for doing such a wonderful job with Yuki. She seems well adjusted and in good health. Yuki had a cute moment last night, she had her first pressed chew stick and chewed on it for hours! She carried it around, it looked like a cigarette hanging from her mouth. :) I think she was afraid the cats might take it. Everyone seems to get along, it one big happy family.

11/7/04 - It is a bitter-sweet day as our little white foster puppy has gone onto her new forever home. Kathryn and Susan have chosen the name Yuki which means snow in Japanese - How PERFECT is that!! Even our 3 year old started calling her that right away - and he's not good with new names.
Kathryn came to pick Yuki up and they hit it right off! The collar she bought was a bit big, so she is borrowing the one Yuki came into rescue with and will mail it back to me. Yuki looked a little confused as to why I wasn't going for the car ride with her, but I know she'll do great with his new family!!! Max our boxer is already
in withdrawl and was lying in front of the door looking out as if to say, "when is my playmate coming back", you could practically hear the sighs. Typical for him - he's always depressed for about 48 hours before he starts returning to normal.
It was wonderful having a puppy around - yet COMPLETELY EXHAUSTING!! With our over-packed life right now, we realized that having a 2nd dog around and a puppy at that is just too much for the mix! But we are so glad to have had the chance to send another boxer onto a happily ever after!! I know Yuki is going to add so much love into their lives and I know they'll give it back ten-fold to Yuki!!

11/6/04 - Sierra is pending adoption

11/4/04 - Sierra is still doing wonderfully! She was waking up like clockwork at 7am and since the time change it is now 6am. So one of us goes down, brings her out so she can pee and poop, then put her back in her crate while we sleep for a few more winks. She is perfectly happy with this routine. One of us gets up about ½ hour later for feeding time. She has such a great routine down. From her 6am wakeup until we leave for work she will poop 3 times and pee twice!! And she’s fine till I get home on lunch when she will pee again. She won’t poop until we are home from work then it’s 3 poops and usually about 3 pees from the time we get home until bedtime! We still have to say that her deafness is definitely not a problem for her, only for us! We have to retrain ourselves to the fact that if we call her name or give a verbal command, especially when her back is turned because she can’t hear us! A duh!!! We laugh at ourselves every time we do it!! It’s amazing that I think WE need more training than she does! Our 3 year old is having a tough time though – Sierra loves to jump on him a lot and play nip him – so we are diligently working with her on NOT jumping and nipping. With her hearing loss – we are finding that to be the only difficult part in her training. But I know with the proper training, she will learn, as she is one smart cookie! Even our boxer Max is learning a lot from her. He has picked up that she can’t hear and is learning to take on a new role as her “ears”. It’s interesting to watch this new dynamic develop in their relationship as Max tends to be submissive – even to Sierra – but he is figuring out that she needs follow his lead when he hears sounds inside or outside the house. Having a hearing companion for Sierra would definitely be beneficial for her. Although Sierra is hysterical outside – she loves the autumn leaves. She chases the ones falling or blowing in he wind. We even raked a small pile for her which she LOVES dive-bombing into all the time. We are going to the vet today to get Sierra UTD on shots. She is a feisty, fun little girl and as long as you have the time and energy to keep up with her as well as the willingness to give her and yourself the proper training, you will have a wonderful new addition to your family.

11/1/04 - Hi There! Sierra here!! Foster mommy said it would be okay for me to chat first! I am having a GREAT time here. They finally let me get in some playtime with the Big White Boxer who lives here. I love playing with certain stuffed animals and will even carry them outside when it’s time for me to go potty. I’ll just drop them on the front stoop, and then pick them back up to bring them inside when I’m done. My foster parents think it’s hysterical. I’m getting along great with the other boxer here!! But I just LOVE EVERYBODY!!!! I get so excited when I see someone – anyone!!
Hi From Foster Mommy! Sierra is doing wonderfully. This weekend was the first time we let her and Max have some time together. They both really enjoy the playtime. She is amazing considering Max is 10 times her size physically!! But she certainly matches him pound for pound in ATTITUDE!!! However, their together time has given us some new insight into Sierra. We hadn’t realized it before now, but she does have hearing loss. When we wanted the pups to take a break from playing and I’d say loudly “Sierra, Easy” there was no response. Then I’d say “Max, Easy” and he would stop and then Sierra would take his lead and stop. This seemed a little unusual to me then I also realized that after 3 weeks she still wasn’t responding to her name. She was learning some commands from us, but we always give a visual hand signal along with the verbal signal – she is one smart cookie and was learning them anyway! We’ve done some “at home” hearing tests and know there is loss and it does seem extensive – we just aren’t certain yet how extensive. We’ll have further evaluations to determine this. Sierra has given us some wonderful insight into dogs with hearing loss.
She is just doing great with everything! So great that it took us 3 weeks to figure out there was a "problem" with her hearing. If you could even call it that, as it doesn't seem to be a problem to her at all!! She's coming right along with her housebreaking (any accidents are our fault) and she’s got a great routine down. Now that we know we need to communicate with her a little differently, I can’t begin to imagine how much further we’ll get with her training. The sky is the limit with this extremely smart and spunky little girl!!
 

10/27/04 - Sierra is just doing so well! She is an unbelievably great puppy. She is still sleeping through the entire night in her crate and doesn't get up or start making any noise until she hears we are up! WOW!! That's great. We did have a problem with her last week doing a lot of barking when she was put in her crate for the night, but putting a blanket over her crate solved that problem immediately. She is so playful and looks so forward to playtime with us, our 3 yr old or our boxer. It doesn't matter who. She also really loves being a "lap cat"!! So if you are looking for a snuggly dog - she'll definitely fit the bill! She has learned to become vocal when she has to go out, which is helpful for us to know when she has to "do her business" at times other than the usually scheduled potty break times. She is such a great gal and is growing so fast!! I forgot how often puppies have growth spurts! She has a few stuffies which she just completely loves to play with. I'll let her tell you about them on her next update!!

10/23/04 -Sierra is doing so well!! Her tummy troubles are disappearing - whoo! hoo! and it sounds like her cold/congestion is almost all gone. She isn't as much of a pooping machine, as she is learning to go a few less time during the day. She really loves to play with Max, our BIG white boxer. She's a tough cookie and will always initiate playtime by jumping up on her hind legs and batting at him a few times - it's real cute as he is literally 10 times her size. But he really is a gentle giant. As much as we will miss her, we are anxious for her to get started on life with her new forever parents.  She is
growing up so quickly. She’s already gotten so much bigger in the two weeks she been with us!!

10/15/04 - Hi! Sierra here!! Foster mommy is letting me have a try at this update writing. So I am here to tell you about how wonderful I am!! And I really am! I went to the vet yesterday because I was feeling under the weather. I have some medications to take for some tummy troubles, a fever and a little congestion. But I'll be all done with those in about a week - and I should be just fine by then. In the meantime foster mommy keeps reminding me to take it easy. She won't let me play with the other boxer in the house because she does want me to get too worked up as it will delay my getting all better. But he's a great big white boxer - and we really like each other even with the very little interaction we get. We look very silly standing near each other - he's so big and I'm so tiny! But he's a real gentle giant! When I'm outside I love pouncing on leaves and I do so good at going potty outside!! Foster mommy and daddy have already trained me down to a few less potty runs during the day. And I'm getting better at letting them know when I have to go. I had a great car ride yesterday to the vet. For about 3 minutes I sat in the passenger seat, but I couldn't resist plopping into foster mommy's lap while she was driving. Normally, she wouldn't let me sit there, but she said at the time it was safer to let me sit there quietly than to mess with getting me back into the my seat. Everybody who sees me just ooohs and ahhhs - I guess I'm even more adorable than I think!! Well it's time for me to go take another nap!! Talk soon! Love, Sierra!

10/13/04 - Sierra is just a fabulous puppy! She is pretty low maintenance -- well, except for having to bring her outside a dozen or so times a day for potty breaks! She is such a darling. She sleeps through the night, in her crate, the ENTIRE night!! That's a big accomplishment for a 3 month old. She enjoys her playtime, but enjoys her nap time just as much. She is absolutely fabulous with my 3 yr old skin kid and is even starting to obey some commands from him. She is quickly picking up on off and sit. We're working on come and stay - but those take time. Last night she was playing in her room before bedtime and it was suddenly very quiet. I looked in to see that she had gone into her crate on her own and gone to sleep for the night. What an angel!! If we were in the position to bring a 2nd boxer into our home, she would be the one. I know we'll miss her terribly when she moves onto her forever family! But I know that special family is just waiting for her.

10/11/04 - Single, white female seeking loving, responsible family!! This little girl came into rescue with the name of Jaimie, but does not respond to it, but we are going to change it to Sierra.   She is sweet, energetic, eager to please, but a definite puppy! You have to be prepared for a time consuming routine with her. Feed her - take her outside. Give her water - take her outside. Quite often, in the middle of a meal - take her outside. Play with her - take her outside. If it's been a little bit since you've done anything with her - take her outside. She is a pooping and peeing machine as most puppies are. She is doing great in the housebreaking area, but has had a few expected accidents - after all, little puppies can't always hold it in and when they figure out they have to go -- they have to go NOW!!! She is doing well in the crate at night, keeping it dry and staying there quietly, but during the day unless it's naptime, she wants to be out playing.
She has lots of love to give!! All you need is to be willing to give her lots of love back along with the time, willingness and discipline to mold her from a playful mischievous puppy into a playful, well-behaved grown up girl! We will have more stories to come this week as we get to know her a little bit better!