Hera Black Labrador Retriever Female 8 Years Old

January 24, 2019

Here I am at my first day of doggy daycare.

January 20, 2019

Greetings everyone.  Today marks two weeks since I joined my foster family, I’m really keeping them on their toes.   FM took me to the school car line again.  On one of the trips, FM got out to talk to one of the other humans, and left the driver’s door open.  Well … I did what any dog would do.  I got out, sat down by the car, and just took in the views.  You had to see FM’s face when she turned around and saw me.  Horrified doesn’t even come close.  But I was a good girl and not only got in again with a little coaxing, I got back in again after our walk; then I got back in after our really long walk with my short human on the way home.

They put me into the car a few more times just yesterday, and I hardly make them work for it now.  Teehee.  Yesterday, we went to Bass Pro, Lowe’s and back home.  Three times I got back into the car, and all they said was ‘C’mon Hera, let’s go!’  Apparently, I am a good girl.

We’re having a good time playing tug of war.  I have LOTS of things to tug on, though my favorite is the bear with the rope inside.  When I’m ready to play, I pick him up and wander around the house seeing if there are any takers.  Not sure how much longer the guy is going to last.  He’s got a bit of a hernia and his guts are coming out.

Don’t know about you all, but I don’t know why people like that cold white stuff on the ground.  My goddess paws do NOT like it.  I much prefer walking on dry surfaces.

This week sounds like it’ll be fun.  I’m going to doggie day care.  I met and made some friends there already, and I start going a couple days a week.  Sure beats staying home alone and rearranging furniture.  There are only so many configurations, ya know?

I’ll bark with you all later!

January 12, 2019

Hello from Hera.  I’m named after the goddess of love and marriage.  Emphasis on love.  I haven’t met a human yet that I haven’t loved.  It took about 10 minutes before I fell in love with my short human who is a mere 48 weeks older than me.  Last night, she and I slept together and we both had The Best Dreams.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.   When I first arrived at my foster home, I showed how well I can counter surf.  There was nothing to interest me, other than showing off my athletic ability.  Some of my other many talents are sneaking into bed when a human gets up for potty breaks in the middle of the night, and I’m a fierce competitor when it comes to snoring.

It took a couple days for me to get accustomed to my foster home.  I’m glad the dog sitter came to take me for walks around lunch time.  After she left, I entertained myself by pulling my spare leashes and collars and a couple toys and scattering them around the living room.  It was quite the party.  Other than that, I’m not mischievous.  Just wanted to keep the humans guessing what I did while they weren’t looking.

And oh!  The walks we take!  There are lots of dogs in my neighborhood and I’m a good girl when I meet them.  I met Dax and Jake and too many to count.  One barky little dog had to be picked up by her human.  She annoyed me.  During one of our walks yesterday, Jack came charging out from his back door to meet me.  We spent a minute sniffing to know each other better, and my family and I continued on our walk.  No big deal.  Then there are Kinzie and Wilbur, the labs who live across the street from me.  I like to watch them and sniff the air.  They did something yesterday that made me bark for the first time this week.  Just a ‘Hi!’ bark.

While Mom was working at home yesterday, someone came up to the front of the house and knocked loudly on the window.  I continued my napping position until Mom got up to answer the door.  See, I follow my humans everywhere.  The doorbell, knocking on windows … I don’t let them bother me.   The only thing that really bothers me is getting into a car.  My silly human thought treats could lure me into the car.  I took it and spit it out on the garage floor and defiantly stared at her.   Does she think I just fell off the dog catcher’s truck, or something?!   I did get in though.  We went on an adventure to pick up my short human from school.  It’s just a quick trip across town.  I got out for a short break and got back in the car pretty easily.  Then we stopped for a long walk on the way home from school.

This morning, while Dad was taking down Christmas decorations from the outside of the front window, my short human told me to bark at Dad.  I obliged.  I’m a good listener.  We’re going on another trip to the pet store today.  I hear there may be dogs and maybe some treats in it for me.  My most favorite treat is my humans, though.  I just love humans.

I’ll write more when I can.  Trying to get my paws on the correct keys is tricky.

Woof,  Hera

January 4, 2019

Hera wants to wish everyone a Happy New Year and if it weren’t bad luck, I’m guessing she’d like to tell you that her New Year’s wish is to be in her forever home.  Hera went into foster care with Brookline yesterday because her owners couldn’t keep her any longer.  While she’s still settling in, here’s what her foster mom had to say:

Hera slept in our son’s bedroom last night and while he’s still sleeping and I can’t fully ask…it seems that everything went well.  We advised him to take Hera out to potty one last time after he was done gaming (he’s a college student so not back to school yet and he does commute when in school so not leaving home) since we were told Hera has a small bladder and needs out every 4-5 hours.  If she’s tired, she will sleep all night with no issues, but the eval said that on occasion she may need to go out once during the night.

She is definitely velcro (but this is a huge change), but is very willing to lay at your feet and rest if she can just be in the room with you.  She knows Sit and Paw and is very good at sitting up on both back legs and putting both front paws on your chest haha.  She looks so cute doing that!!  She does love to chase a ball but isn’t very good at giving it back so you can throw it again lol.  She also likes to walk around with the ball just in her mouth (see picture below).

She has been eating just fine…well for the 2 meals she’s had here so far….but could lose some weight.  Interesting thing…she’s not super interested in treats like my labs are.  She did very much enjoy her doggy ice cream treat last evening with my pups, though.  We also discovered that at dinner time, she is very happy to just lay sleeping on the kitchen floor while we ate (and while our Emma begged for anything and everything lol).

She is much more of a morning “person” than we are.  I did get her to lay back down after a trip outside till about 8:30 but it was 5 or so minutes of crying/whining till she got settled.  That was in my bedroom so it was new location.  Once settled, she slept soundly on our floor for about 30 or so minutes, which allowed me to rest a bit more and be more ready to get up.

Overall, Hera is a very sweet lady and just loves to be with people.  She will really be a great dog for anyone, but a couple or family that is home most often will be best. She takes treats very nicely (when she wants one) and has shown zero food aggression at dinner and breakfast time.  We feed her in a separate room, but when she was done she just walked by the other two dogs who were still eating.  She is drinking often, but I find that normal behavior for a dog new to a foster home.  She is just a giant love bug and I think someone will just love to have her.

December 11, 2018

Meet Hera, a lovely 8 year old female black lab! She is coming from a very loving home where she has lived for the past eight months. Her current owners rescued her from the SPCA, but they do not have the time to give Hera the amount of attention that they feel she deserves. So they have made the difficult decision to re-home Hera.

She is a lovable sweetheart who just wants to be with her people to get as many pets as possible. As soon as you stop petting her, she will paw you for more attention and she puts both her paws on your arm so that you can rub her belly while she nuzzles you. She is still quite youthful and loves to play tug and fetch and she really enjoys her daily walks where she wants to meet and greet everyone she meets, both humans and other dogs. She walks very well on the leash, but does pull when she sees something she wants to get to, but I think she would be fine with a front clip harness. Currently, she is walked with a loose flat collar.

In her current home she lives with another dog and a cat. She gets along and plays with her fur sister. She was curious about the cat when she first came to their home but it sounds like she learned from the cat what is okay and what is not because apparently they do nap together sometimes now.

Hera would do best in a home where someone in the family is home the majority of the day. She did suffer from a bit of separation anxiety when she came into her current owner’s home, but it has improved significantly and I believe it just took her some time to gain trust in her new family that they would not abandon or leave her. She also does have periodic accidents if she is not taken outside about every four hours. She does signal to her family that she needs to go out by whining at the door. I think she would do equally well in a house with or without another dog, but she does take cues from the other dogs so she might settle in a bit faster in a home with another dog. As for cats, she does get along with the cat in her current home, but Hera does have a prey drive and will chase rabbits, squirrels, and birds, so there is no guarantee that she will get along with all cats. Her current home does have a physical fence, but she does go off-leash in the park near her home when they go for walks and she doesn’t bolt or try to run-away.