Tina7-18-07


	Age & Sex: Approx. 5-8 yr old Female


UTD: Yes


	Weight: 70 lbs.


Other Dogs: No


	Color: Brindle


Cats: No


	Ears: Cropped


Children: Under 5: ? Over 5: Yes


	Tail: Docked


Professional Training Required: No


	Spayed: No


Microchipped: No


	Owner Surrender to Shelter


Location: Reading, PA

Adoption Donation $150

1/22/07 - Hi, just wanted to give a quick update on Tink. She has decided that she is royalty and should not get her paws wet so this weather has been a challenge. The cold does not bother her at all-good thing because winter has just begun. She continues to love every person that she meets or happens to see. Tink is a clown and is pure entertainment. I now have to keep my bathroom door closed because if she sees herself in the mirror, she goes nuts! Once I put her out of the bathroom, she runs into the kitchen to look for that other dog! She is down to 65 pounds and is such a beautiful dog. Wishing everyone a happy and healthy holiday season!

11/07 - Tina has been adopted

9/20/07 - Tina is pending adoption

9/12/07 - My neighbor stopped over to visit with her 2 girls-the older one is almost 3 and the little one is 18 mos. the older one was afraid of tink because she had heard her bark. The little one absolutely loved her and tink returned the sentiments. I took her outside to meet them just holding her collar. (her leash was away because it wasn't time to walk.) She laid her head on the little ones lap (she was in a stroller). never licked her even though I warned about the boxer kisses. The older one had climbed the steps because she was scared. Well, tink never even made a move in that direction! Total mush ball-great with 80 year old ladies and little ones. She was showing improvement with other dogs but went a little crazy on me last night. However, I got her to stay sitting and had to keep repeating, "leave it." Tonight was wonderful! We didn't run into any dogs but I kept her really close to me and she did well. I have tomorrow off due to the Jewish holiday so I'm looking forward to spending most of the day with her. I'll be calling about getting her spayed too. She is usually asleep and snoring on the floor by now but tonight she has decided to make it a late night! She's loving on her toy monkey right now.

9/11/07 - Tina did wonderfully today. I gave her a new toy on my way out the door and she didn't seem to care I was leaving! I just got home and she came to the door, carrying the same toy. she apparently spent all day chewing on it. Kim told me she was feeding her the weight control so that's what I am giving her and she won't be getting any people food. I think she has realized that already because she seems to have given up! Andthings went much better tonight on our walk. Kim really did wonders with"Miss Tina." There was a German short haired pointer on our walk and boy was he a spazz. I got her into sit and only had to say "leave it" once. She was fine. We took a longer walk because it was much cooler and less humid tonight. Now she is asleep at my feet.

9/10/07 - Tina arrived at her new FTA home this weekend. Here are some comments from her new foster mom:
Tina loves people and seems to sense how they feel about her. There was an elderly woman outside and she was scared of Tina - oh she endeared herself real quick. She was calm and gentle. Unfortunately she hates other dogs, but the tips her former foster Mom shared with me are working. We are doing fine. Tina is asleep and snoring like my grampa used to on the floor behind me. Tonight on our walk she saw another dog and it took her almost an hour to calm down (once we got back). I don't like her being upset for that long. It could also be because this is so new. I'll keep track of it. She is doing wonderfully. Tomorrow will be the first big test-I'm back to work. The best thing is the way she greets me when I return. It doesn't matter if I've been gone for 10 minutes or an hour. Just wanted to let you know that I've met more people in my complex in the past 3 days than the whole 2 years I've lived here! everyone just loves "Miss Tina". I've perfected my mean teacher voice over the years and she responds instantly to that. Right now she thinks that she would like a banana-on top of the dog kibble she just had. Too funny. Thanks and I'll keep you updated!

9/7/07 - Tina is moving to an FTA home this weekend. Please wish her well.

9/5/07 - Tina is a very sweet & lovable boxer whose goal in life is to please humans. She is willing to play, go on a walk or just sit at your feet. She is on guard around other dogs but is learning the phrases “be nice” and “leave it”. I can walk her and my male foster, Bo, together without a problem but it took a week for her to get use to him. I can NOT let them be together in the house. Tina feels that the living room is hers and she needs to guard it. Then again, I don’t blame her for being grouchy around Bo since he is constantly in her face. She is fine around my female dog since she leaves Tina alone. She will and has fought with Bo on several occasions so when they are together outside I supervise the interaction and as soon as Tina gives me the look of anxiety I will remove her from the situation. She loves to give kisses and I get them all the time. She is filled with Boxer wiggles and has a lot of love to give to someone special. She needs a little time to trust someone new. She growled and stood in front of my mom when one guy approached them during there walk. I had some friend over and she was fine after 10 minutes of studying them closely. After that she will act as your best friend. She loves the car and constantly asks for car rides. She stopped pulling on our walks and is walking very nicely on the leash. She will try to chase cats or rabbits so during the walk I need to spot them before her and I have her sit. Like I said she REALLY wants to please so a firm NO is all she needs to listen. The antibiotics have helped the swelling of her face. She is drooling less and is blinking once in awhile. The most amazing thing to me is that she is also on prednisone which makes dogs urinate more but not her, she holds it all day! I am out of the house for 9 hours a day and she is excellent. She stays behind a baby gate in a room that is 13’ x 15’. I leave toys, a bed and water for her and she is all set for the day. She is a really special girl who deserves a loving home.

8/31/07 - I took Tina to the vet yesterday because I was concerned with her left side of her face. The left side is drooping and slightly paralyzed. She doesn’t have a blink reflex in her left eye. The vet said it was due to an infection that was never treated. The infection has cause slight paralysis in her jowl which is why she drools on that side. She is on antibiotics and hopefully that with help the reverse the problem. She was an excellent patient and gave everyone tons of kisses to everyone. She is a sweet dog who loves people. She is 70 pounds now thanks to her previous fosters mom placing her on a diet. The vet said that weigh is fine for her but not to let her gain any weight. The vet suspects 5-6 years old not 8 years old. She is very playful too and loves to please. Although she is aggressive towards dogs and cats, she will accept a correction and give you a kiss in return. She met some kids last night and was extremely gentle. Her ideal home would be someone who doesn’t own other animals and could provide her with a lot of love and attention!

8/29/07 - Tina is doing well. She is a very sweet girl. She loves people and is very playful. Her previous foster home left her with a monkey toy that she absolutely adores and she brings it everywhere she goes. She is eating well and does NOT have any food aggression issues. She takes treats very gently. She knows sit but her boxer wiggles sometimes prevents her from getting her butt all the way to the ground. She is a great walker but needs a harness because she does pull a little out of excitement. She is a real sweetheart and is happy to play or cuddle. She is completely housebroken. The previous foster home had her crate trained but I have her in a room behind a baby gate. She is well behaved and doesn’t cry when she has to stay behind the gate.

Tina’s only down fall is that she does not like cats or other dogs. I introduced her to Bojangles and she went after him. I can now walk her on a leash in the back yard while Bo is loose but she is on guard and growls at him. She understands my correction and I will eventually teach her to just ignore him. It is obvious that she was over bred. My guess is that she has a strong protection drive because she was always carrying for puppies and that is why she wants to be in charge of Bo. So far she has ignored Scarlette, my female dog because Scarlette won’t go near her. I will continue to work on this and hopefully she will realize she can relax around other dogs.

I have set a vet appointment up for her since I would like to have her mouth examined. She doesn’t have control of her left jowl so she does drool a little. I will let you know what the vet says during the next update.

8/27/07 - Tina is not getting along with the male Boxer in her foster home so she is moving temporarily to another foster home who can only keep her for one week. So we are looking for another foster home for her ASAP. Please consider fostering this cute senior girl.

8/20/07 - Greetings from Ms. Tina. She has been so spunky this past week of so. She runs circles around me while we go for our walks on the leash in the yard and tries to play with me. She gets down in a play bow and then jumps straight up in the air. I must not be enough fun for her since she does this a couple of times then gives up and we continue on. Tina is such a delight with people. My niece was at the house the other day and wanted to meet Tina. I was worried about this as she is so exuberant when new people come around, but she was a perfect angel. She was very gentle with Brooke and sat on her command for cookies-- she took the cookies from her hand very gently and gave lots of follow up kisses as a thank you. Now Brooke is going to be five this week and while she a very mature child (she did not get in the dogs face, did not take anything from her or sit on the floor) she is still small and makes some quick movements-- none of which bothered Tina. So I would say that Tina would be absolutely fine with kids. She listens very well and I think would look to any adult in the room for direction if she was not sure what to do. She rarely gets surprised or flustered. I sometimes test her by jumping out of the bedroom and into the door of her room suddenly. She either looks at me like I am crazy and goes back to what she is doing or she gets into a play bow and wants to play. A lot of the time I find it hard to believe that she is 8-- she does not have one grey hair and loves to play.
Unfortunately, we do not have a fenced in yard so I am unable to really let her rip and tear outside. She continues to behave poorly with my dog, however, so I have not been able to allow them together and don't think that I would ever be able to. So, Tina is going to stay at another foster home starting next week and she has a female dog and more experience then I so she may be better with females or a different training technique.
But at this time the best living environment for Tina would be, in my opinion, a home without dogs or cats. But I think she would fit into any family if these needs are met-- kids, no kids, active or quiet. She is such a sweet heart and has had a hard life and therefore deserves to have a good life. All she wants is to be loved, petted and well taken care of. There must be someone out there that wants to give that to this sweet girl... get your applications in!!

8/9/07 - Tina continues to do well here.  She gets more and more spunky by the day.  She must be feeling

 better as she shows much more interest in her peanut butter kong and bounces around when the new one

 comes- but nothing can hold a candle to her new monkey toy.  Tina is so in love with this stuffed

 monkey that has rope arms/legs/tail and makes noise.  She throws it for herself to fetch and

 insists on taking it out of her crate when she is not in there to keep it company.  I have been letting

 her stay out of her crate more and more to spend free time in "her room" (aka the office), she

 has yet to touch anything.  Tina has also received two baths and toe nail clippings since she has

 been here and has been a champion for both.  To do her toes I needed help, but I think it is only

 because she loves to be near people and I needed a second person to help hold her under control.

  She has also been spending more time with Jack while she is in her crate.  There is no more growling

 when he enters the room and yesterday I sat next to her crate with him and gave them both treats.

  She had no problem with this- she did not even give him the cold shoulder as she has done in the

 past.  I hope that ultimately she will be fine with him-- but I do think this same process will

 have to be taken in any new household that she is in.  I have found that with every new thing there

 must be a 10 minute training session-- but with new dogs...much longer.  Although, she is very

 smart and catches on quickly.  Lastly, at this time I am going to say that she is not good with

 cats.  She went after my cat last week, although Puma is a little skittish and will run so you can't

 really blame Tina.  But when we went out for the final potty outing last night she literally drug

 me across the backyard after a stationary bunny in the pitch dark.  So I am going to guess that her

 small prey drive is pretty strong.  More to come on pretty TIna...

8/1/07 - Tina came to stay with me two weeks ago today. She was Coco's mate, who is also listed on the site. Her name was Tita, but I changed it as it was difficult to say and she did not really respond to anything anyway. She is still recovering from her heartworm treatments and is doing rather well. She never appeared to be sick or uncomfortable. Recently she has been actively letting me know that she is feeling much better. She is really trying to convince me that she is fine and is ready to go out and explore her surroundings like Jack, my dog, does. Even though she spends all of her time upstairs she still seems to know that Jack comes everywhere with me and definitely does not think that this is fair. Unfortunately, she does have to spend more time relaxing before she can begin to do fun and exciting things.

Tina is a beautiful dog and really enjoys people. At times she can barely control her excitement. When we let her out of her crate she is like a pin ball and we have to make sure we quickly calm her down so that she does not get too overly excited. She is also very smart. She has mastered that she has to sit before she is petted (because she gets so excited that you can't get to her body anyway, because she is attacking your arm with kisses), before she eats or gets her leash put on. We also had to teach her how to master the stairs. It seems to me that she has never lived in a house before. Among other things she had no idea how to maneuver the steps to the top floor of the house and until I could spend some time with her had to carry her down more then once. Heaviest 60-some pounds I have ever carried!! She has not had one accident in the house or in her crate and can wait eight hours in between bathroom outings. She sleeps through the night and is not a early riser:) I have also allowed her to stay in the office out of her crate is for several hours at a time and she has not touched one thing, although you know where she has been as she does drool a bit.

The only issue we have had, thus far, are her interactions with my dog, Jack. The first night she was here they accidentally met as Jack invited himself into the office before she was in her crate but everything was fine-- not one hair was raised. However, my fiancé and I got too comfortable with this too quickly and on a bathroom outing or two they got into some scuffles. So they have been separated ever since. It was a case of overload topped of by the fact that I believe this dog was only used for breeding purposes and just does not want anything to do with men any longer. I don't blame her-- it takes a strong women to be pregnant for all eight years of her life and still like men. We are now beginning the introduction process again and I
am sure that she will be comfortable with him at some point. It might just take until she is spayed. But as I am writing this Jack is asleep at my feet and Tina is lying quietly and calmly in her crate-- so we will continue to take things slow and hope for the best. She is a great dog and I will keep everyone posted on her progress. New pictures to come too!!