Betty #3 Chocolate Labrador Retriever Female 4 Months Old ID#3192

Meet Betty!  Betty came to Brookline through a collaboration with Justice Rescue.  She came from a breeder who had too many dogs and has lived her life so far in a kennel.  Betty turned 4 months old on November 16.  She is now in a Brookline foster home learning what life is like in a house.  Please read her blog from the bottom up.

December 2, 2022

Betty had her re-check for her leg today.  The vet said that she looked great and could come off of her exercise restrictions!  Yay for Betty and foster Mom because keeping this jumping bean at a walk only was definitely a struggle.  After about 3 days of anti inflammatory and nightly icing, Betty felt that she could run and jump and chase with the best of them.  We had a week of constant supervision, and being attached at the hip by leash but it paid off.  Sammy and Betty still got to play but they had to do it inside with no jumping or running around.

Betty is doing fabulous with her house training despite being put on a different antibiotic as she is still having discharge after a week on the other.  My daughter went back to college last Sunday so Betty lost her sleeping partner.  Betty instead has been sleeping in a crate in our room.  We have the crate on two chairs so she can see us and has been sleeping all night in the crate without a peep!  Good girl Betty…Betty enjoys her time playing with Sammy, and they are usually not far from each other except during nap time.  Betty usually sleeps at my feet where ever I may be and Sammy always finds himself a quiet comfy spot where he won’t be bothered.

Betty is very curious and will watch the TV and check out things going on outside of the window.  She was very interested in the crackling fire, and then fell asleep in front of it.

Betty is coming up on her 2 week mark with us and is ready to find her forever home.  Stay tuned for her becoming available real soon!

November 27, 2022

Betty has been with us for a week, and has been doing really well here despite dealing with a couple of medical issues.  Shortly after she arrived, I noticed that she was having some yellowish discharge when she was urinating so I dropped off some urine to the vet on Wednesday and scheduled an appointment for Friday.  Unfortunately the poor girl had a UTI.  Despite the diagnosis, she has done really well with house training and only had one accident in the house.  Now that she is on medicine, she can go longer in the house without potty breaks.We were lucky that we had the vet appointment scheduled on Friday. On Thanksgiving morning, the big dogs went down the uncarpeted front stairs instead of the usual descent on carpeted back stairs.  Betty went a little too fast trying to keep up with the boys, and slipped just as she was reaching the bottom of the stairs.  She seemed okay and we went out to potty with no issues.  After breakfast, we went out again and Betty and Sammy were running around playing chase, and she was tackled by Sammy.  Again, she seemed okay, and we went back inside.  Everyone took a nap but when Betty woke up, she had a limp.  As the day progressed, she was putting less and less weight on her rear left leg, and was doing more laying down instead of her usual playful puppy antics.On Friday, Betty got an x-ray.  They saw some swelling but no obvious injury which was good news.  They gave Betty antibiotics for her UTI, and some anti-inflammatory, and she is on exercise restrictions for a week.  No running, jumping or rough housing with Sammy.  She is only allowed to walk.  Now that she is feeling better, it’s hard to keep this jumping bean down.  We are doing leash time inside when needed, and she took her first slow paced walk today to burn a little energy since she hurt herself. She will get a follow-up sedated x-ray this Friday to get a better look at her growth plate to make sure it was not injured.  She is improving every day, and is back to putting weight back on her foot when she walks.  We have been icing her 1-2 times a day when she is napping too to help reduce any swelling which seems to be really helping.Despite not feeling the best on Thursday, Betty did great Thanksgiving day at our annual flag football game.  She met lots of people who immediately fell in love with this sweet and friendly girl, and she watched the game on a blanket with Meaghan at her side.  Betty continues to be a joy in the house!  We have discovered she loves stuffies, and squeaky toys, likes to play tug and chase, and is an avid stealer of shoes and dirty laundry.  She makes the cutest little grunts and squeaks when she wants someone to play with her. She rang the bell a couple of times to go out but I’m not sure if it was on purpose or if she just bumped into it when she was at the door. Betty goes crazy for paper and has a blast ripping it up.  She loves it when we get an amazon delivery, paper stuffing and a box! She is doing much better at not counter/table surfing now.  She follows the big dogs lead of hanging around the kitchen but patiently waiting for a treat for sitting or laying down.  Betty will make any family very happy!

November 22, 2022

Puppies always amaze me with how quickly they settle in.  In just 3 days, Betty is starting to feel really comfortable here.

Her house training is going really well and we are on a regular schedule for meals, walks, playtime, and pottying.

The twice daily walks really help her to settle.  Today after the walk, she found the dog bed and settled in with some toys and then a good nap.  The nap was at the perfect time because I got about an hours worth of Thanksgiving food prep done!  Good girl, Betty.
She is doing really well not pulling on the leash on our walks.  Now that she knows she gets a kibble after good girl, the offered behavior training is starting to work.  Meaghan has been working on getting her to sit, and after 3 days, I think Betty has got it!  Meaghan and I cheered and Betty happily gobbled up kibble when she sat with a “sit”!  On walks, she now mostly walks along side of us with a loose leash checking in for a good girl and a kibble. I like the naps she takes at least twice a day! LOL.
We are still working on making fetch with the tennis ball a fun game.  She go after it a couple of times.  Today, she found a new exciting thing to do outside.  She is quite the little digger.  I think Sammy was impressed.

She is a very brave girl when it comes to the vacuum.  She just watches it with interest so I reinforce her bravery with kibble.

Last night, she had another good night sleeping with Meaghan.  She loves to rest her head on someone when she sleeps. She is a big love bug! When I woke her up this morning, she jumped off the bed and ran downstairs with the other dogs, and she went right out to do her business.
Looking forward to seeing how much she learns and grows over the next week!  Stay tuned…

November 21, 2022

Betty did great overnight.  She was not a fan of the little crate in my daughters room so Meaghan had her sleep in the bed with her.  She slept soundly all night, and held her pee and poo until we got outside in the morning.  Betty has a great appetite, and eats all her meals right up in the big crate we have set up downstairs.  Sammy and Max also go in there looking for crumbs.  Betty doesn’t mind at all, in fact she’d love to have it more like the picture below. LolBetty had a bath in the morning, and then when she was all dried, she went on her first walk with Sammy and Max, and did really well.  It was about 10 minutes of criss crossing leashes with a lot of starts and stops but she soon figured out where her spot was in the group walking and the last 20 minutes went much better.  When we arrived home, we had a little ball time in the yard.After all the exercise, Betty feel asleep next to me while I was working.  She settles the best when she is right next to someone and can lean her head on you, so I set up a bench next to my chair.Sammy and Max are much more happy with Betty today.  She has learned that 1 or 2 quick licks works best with the boys.  Her and Sammy even played some tug.  Sammy did a great job not being too rough when he was playing with her today.We are still working on teaching her sit now that she has figured out how to take treats gently when she hears Good Girl for doing something right.  She’s food motivated so I don’t think it will take too long for her to get some commands.  She is also doing much better settling down herself today after a morning and afternoon walk and playtime in the yard in between.

November 20, 2022

Betty arrived at our house today after an hour long drive.  She did great in the car and was full of licks for her travel companion in the back seat.  She even took a few selfies with matching smiles!She did great meeting foster Sammy and my resident 11yo lab, Max.  The two boys felt like she had too many kisses to share and let her know that enough was enough.  She listened very well to their cues and decided that she keep all her kisses for us humans and we don’t really mind.She explored the yard, and chased after the tennis ball.  She hasn’t figured out that she needs to bring it back every time to us yet.  Betty and Sammy did have a little chase but she is still not quite sure how to play his favorite game yet.

When my son came home from work, she didn’t hesitate to run right over to him.  She greeted him with a wagging tail, and gave him lots of kisses too. After playtime in the yard, Betty explored the house and had no problem running right up the stairs and back down again.  We introduced her to the toy box, and she tried everything out.  It was hard to get a picture of her because she didn’t stay still for very long.

Finally after about 5 hours of exploring and playing, Betty fell asleep next to me on the couch. It wasn’t long until something caught her attention and she was up playing again.  She tried out all the different spots in the family to take quick cat naps in between playing. During dinner, we found out she was not a fan of the crate, even with a stuffed bone to chew on.  She just want to be out and with us.  We kept her in through dinner because she still needs to learn her manners when it comes to jumping up on the counters and tables.  The rest of the time, she has been on free roam with lots of potty breaks, probably every 1-2 hours.So far so good!  Betty is super sweet, super busy girl who is full of love.  Looking forward to getting to know this sweet girl better!