Hannah is a smallish female shepherd I took from the Lynchburg Humane Society a few months back. This first picture is Hannah in the shelter. Her coat was dull, dirty, full or dead hair. She was terribly thin and she had heartworms. We did the heartworm treatment and she had no problems.
Although she ate like a horse, she was tough to put weight onto because she was rather neurotic in the kennel and would run the fence line constantly. I finally gave up trying to kennel her and just gave her the dog yard and pasture instead. She never jumped or tried to get out and she was good with all the other dogs. She was really a pretty easy keeper, but she was contantly covered in mud. A couple rounds of wormer began to help the weight problem, but she was still showing ribs.
What Hannah needed was to get into a home where she could learn to be a companion animal. I had Hannah indoors for a few weeks after her heartworm treatment and she was fine being crated, but the stairs and the whole indoor experience was new to her. I'm sure she had always been kept outside, which of course increased her chances of picking up heartworms. With six of our own dogs, and two indoor fosters now, I really couldn't offer Hannah what she needed most at this point. The heartworm treatment and spay were done here where it's much less expensive than northern Virginia, but on Monday she moved to a new NoVA foster home where she can get what she most needs now. Also, with it being winter, she's much better off being indoors and it's one less outdoor dog I have to deal with in the cold and the mud.
Hannah's new foster home has a male shepherd named Buddy who was adopted from me a while back. She also has retired but active foster parents, who are very experienced and dedicated. In short, it's the perfect home for her to develop what she needs to be adopted. She will learn to be a house dog, to walk on a leash, and to live in a community of people as well as dogs. She will get a great home and it will happen much sooner than it would if she had stayed with me.
Hannah is a smallish female shepherd I took from the Lynchburg Humane Society a few months back. This first picture is Hannah in the shelter. Her coat was dull, dirty, full or dead hair. She was terribly thin and she had heartworms. We did the heartworm treatment and she had no problems.
Although she ate like a horse, she was tough to put weight onto because she was rather neurotic in the kennel and would run the fence line constantly. I finally gave up trying to kennel her and just gave her the dog yard and pasture instead. She never jumped or tried to get out and she was good with all the other dogs. She was really a pretty easy keeper, but she was contantly covered in mud. A couple rounds of wormer began to help the weight problem, but she was still showing ribs.
What Hannah needed was to get into a home where she could learn to be a companion animal. I had Hannah indoors for a few weeks after her heartworm treatment and she was fine being crated, but the stairs and the whole indoor experience was new to her. I'm sure she had always been kept outside, which of course increased her chances of picking up heartworms. With six of our own dogs, and two indoor fosters now, I really couldn't offer Hannah what she needed most at this point. The heartworm treatment and spay were done here where it's much less expensive than northern Virginia, but on Monday she moved to a new NoVA foster home where she can get what she most needs now. Also, with it being winter, she's much better off being indoors and it's one less outdoor dog I have to deal with in the cold and the mud. 
Hannah's new foster home has a male shepherd named Buddy who was adopted from me a while back. She also has retired but active foster parents, who are very experienced and dedicated. In short, it's the perfect home for her to develop what she needs to be adopted. She will learn to be a house dog, to walk on a leash, and to live in a community of people as well as dogs. She will get a great home and it will happen much sooner than it would if she had stayed with me. 
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1 comment:
Hannah looks beautiful now, well done!
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