Freda #2 Yellow Labrador Retriever Female 8 Years Old ID #3128

August 19, 2022

It’s been a minute since my last update.  FM took me this past Tuesday to get spayed. I didn’t know what that meant but I do love the car and hopped right in for the nice ride.

She picked me up later and they said I did great.  I was pretty out of it when we got home and FM had to pick me up to get me out of the car.

Today is day 4 after surgery and I’m healing well.  Plenty of naps – naps are great for healing!

FM says I’ll be ready to find my forever home in the next week or so. She says I’m really an amazing ex farm dog and that I love my person and follow her around everywhere. I do well with the other two resident dogs. We all peacefully co-exist and don’t really interact very much. Oh, and I do love my stuffed toys 😉

August 5, 2022

Happy weekend!  Freda reporting in from the beach.

Guess what?  Foster Mom actually snuck me on the beach  I just stared at the big body of water and felt the sand in my toes – it was nice.

I saw a cat meandering by my deck and guess what?  I freaked out – I barked and tried to get at it.  It ran away and the gate stopped me but FM says that I should not live with cats.  I definitely have that prey instinct in me for cats.  I do love dogs and get so excited always to say hello on our walks. I whine a bit and sometimes bark but she can easily distract me by saying leave it – and I do 😉

I’m loving all the beds here and even the couch.  FM sleeps on the couch because one of the resident dogs can’t do stairs and she doesn’t want me to follow her up and then the other dog to follow so she sleeps on her comfy couch.  I think it’s pretty comfy too.  I don’t like Thunder or fireworks so if I hear them, I quickly jump up with her to snuggle and then I’m good.

July 29, 2022

Happy Friday from Freda!

I’ve been living at the shore (that’s what FM calls it) for over a week now with the nice lady and nice man together with the brown and black dogs for over a week.  It’s cooler here than in the city but it’s still been a bit warm!

Guess what I discovered?  Toys!!!  It’s like Christmas here.  There is a big basket of stuffed toys – that squeak!

I love them soooo much but I can’t stop playing with them.  So, FM has to hide them from me so she can sleep and work.  I also started destroying them a bit and she said she was nervous that I could be sneaking and eating parts of them.  I get excited when she goes to put them away – like, don’t take my babies from me!  But, once they are hidden away, I let it go. I’m a very good girl.

FM said I need to learn commands like drop and sit.  Let’s see how that goes 😂

July 22, 2022

“I’ve got that peaceful, easy feeling”

Freda here! My name means peaceful and my FM says it fits me perfectly.

I’m living my best life since I left the farm 10 days ago.  I’ve been back and forth between the city and the shore and I don’t miss a beat.  I love riding in the car – I share the backseat with recent foster fail Crinkles.

We mostly lie down nicely together while princess Trixie has the entire back to herself but we don’t mind.  We are super easy!

All the test results came back from my vet visit this weekend and my FM gave me two pills which I chomped up -yum!  I’m a lab and LOVE food.  She said I had worms – sounds gross, right?  They never bothered me but they will be fully gone after the next doses.  She said I’m getting spayed on 8/16 – not sure what that means either but I’m enjoying my time with my foster family.

Yesterday, I realized I like squeaky things!  I love this baby but it didn’t stop me from getting the squeak out of its head. Thanks, Brookline, for sending this in my care package!

FM and FD are so impressed on how well I walk on a leash. I don’t pull.  I do get super curious when I see other dogs on a walk. I love to say hi but sometimes we just keep on moving as walking 3 dogs and saying hi is a lot for FM.

I am all lab according to FM.  I love food and if you leave the trash can open, I will check it out.  FM now knows this so she has ruined my fun and keeps it closed.

FM is working on my crate training and a bit of  whining. See, I really like being near this nice lady so I cry a bit when she goes upstairs. Oh, I have also mastered stairs!  I can go up and down both wooden and carpeted stairs.  She blocks them most times as Crinkles can’t do flights of stairs so we hang out together.

FM says I’m a gem and she can’t believe that I’m doing so well.  They call us Charlie’s Angels 🥰

July 16, 2022

Freda has been with us five days.  She’s an amazing dog!

She walks well on a leash which is remarkable as she hasn’t walked on one the first 8 plus years of her life.

She’s settling in with my resident dogs. Her and Trixie (alpha) have a couple of growls or barks but nothing escalates. It mostly happens when they are all trying to get close to me.

Freda is not a Velcro but she does love people.  She also loves other dogs.  When she hears another dog bark in the neighborhood or sees a dog on our walks, she is very interested and always wants to say hi.  Cats are another story.  When we see cats, she is overly interested and seems to want to chase them so probably a home without cats is best for her.

We took all the dogs to a concert in the park. She took about 20 mins to settle down but mostly because there was so much to see – she’s a very curious girl.

Freda went to the vet yesterday. The vet was so impressed with her.  She is in wonderful shape – you wouldn’t guess she is 8.  Her teeth have been ground down on the top – probably from years of boredom in her kennel on the farm.  That being said, the vet said they don’t need extraction or anything at this time.  We are awaiting her blood work and other tests but a spay appt has been scheduled for Aug 16 (vets are soooo busy right now)

After the vet, we drove from the city to my beach house.  Freda didn’t skip a beat!  She’s really such an easy going dog (and beautiful)

July 15, 2022

Freda had a good night’s sleep.  Settled down around 10 pm and woke with me at 515 am.  She alternated next to and in her crate as Foster Dad slept on the couch to supervise all the dogs.

She’s been great all day – walked well with Crinkles and we ventured into a park.

She eats slow but finishes her meals. She can definitely stand to gain a few pounds.

She cries a bit when I go upstairs.  I block them as my resident dog shouldn’t do flights of stairs but when I went upstairs to shower, the two of them conspired and broke thru to the second floor.  Bad news is that neither of them can go down – Freda doesn’t know how and my resident dog due to hip and leg issues.  I have a plan B so I leash them up and we can walk down the 5 steps out front and around the block to my back entrance with no steps 😉

All in all, a good start. She’s such a sweet dog.

July 12, 2022

Freda is a female yellow lab. Weighs about 65 lbs. Will confirm at the vet Friday.  She is intact.

Freda had her freedom ride from a beautiful farm in Lancaster County to Philadelphia today.  After 8.5 years, with her last litter in January 2021, her breeding days are over after having ‘plenty’ of litters according to the farmer.

She was quiet in the car and alternated between looking out the windows and lying quietly with the exception of a few sighs.

After over an hour drive (most likely the longest in her life), she promptly did all her business in our fenced yard.  Not only is she now in a city but our stone yard didn’t seem to phase her at all.

She ran around and explored and then we promptly had a bath to wash the farm from her and remove a bunch of old scabs. She didn’t like it but she has an awesome temperament and just let me massage her and rinse her. 

After she settled a bit, introductions to my two resident labs began in the back yard – one at a time.  First was Crinkles who was my first foster in late March who I foster failed with.  Freda was super excited to meet her. She lived with at least three other dogs on the farm. The intro went great – all tails wagging.

Next came Trixie, my 14-year-old who is a diva.  Her hair was raised but Freda just wagged her tail and seemed happy to meet her.  Trixie has growled at her several times since then when Freda goes near her bed or her dad.  Freda doesn’t react and we redirect Trixie.

I took all three dogs for a walk and they did great.  Freda needs to learn leash manners but she doesn’t pull – she really enjoyed smelling all the new smells.

Freda ate her first meal from a bowl like a champ.  She is definitely food motivated!  I heated up some pizza and she was super excited by the smell.  She’s a typical lab 😉

She’s settling in now. She goes in her crate when prompted and she cried when I went to walk Trixie alone.

She is a wonderful dog who will make a family very happy.  Her name means “peaceful” in German. So far, a fitting name for this lovely girl.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s update.