Molly, Yellow Labrador Retriever Mix, 2 year old

June 15, 2019

June 2, 2019

Molly is ready to find her furever digs.  You can find her Petfinder listing here:

https://www.petfinder.com/dog/molly-44867640/pa/warrington/brookline-labrador-rescue-pa06/

Molly loves loves her people and is very well trained and ready to take on more.  She loves to play with you, but she will also occupy herself playing with her toys (she’ a little rough on soft toys though) when you’re busy.  Molly is doing better with leash reactivity but she is a work in progress.  Towards that, Brookline is willing to reimburse Molly’s furever family for some private training lessons (contact maggiewp21@gmail.com for details).

May 16, 2019

Things with Molly have settled into a nice routine. At night she sleeps in my bed and sleeps quietly and soundly until morning. If I turn my back to her when she wakes up (because of the alarm), she’ll let me hit the snooze. But after a while she basically lays on top of me to get me up. We go on a walk in the morning. She walks very nicely on the leash but is definitely interested in all the birds and squirrels. She doing a lot better about not lunging every time she sees one, but it is a work in progress. For the morning part of my work, I keep her crated where she normally just sleeps even though I give her the nylabone she loves (cheesesteak flavored!). When I come home around 10am for her walk, I leave her uncrated the rest of the day. She loves her squeaky toys and pulling out all the stuffing and squeakers (but thankfully she doesn’t eat). She did destroy both of her dog beds and pulled all the stuffing out while she was crated at some point. However, the third dog bed seems to be lasting, so hopefully she is beginning to realize that having a comfy bed in her crate is in her best interest!   I have some doggie cams to watch her while I’m at work. And I’ happy to report that for the most part she just chills at the bottom of the steps near my front door. She’ll wake up and take a few laps, but she’s not very active, even with all the toys laying around the house. She definitely sniffs at counter tops and will inspect anything new she finds, so there are things I’ve had to rearrange and put out of sight.

 In the evening I’ve been leaving my front door open more often to try to get her used to people and dogs coming and going. She still reacts to dogs, but she’s doing a lot better at turning her attention to me faster (with a treat of course). We met with a Brookline adopter with 2 dogs that were very chill. They walked on the other side of the street from us. Molly did react, but once I got her to sit and look at me, we would continue walking and she was better. She would be good for a while, but then randomly get worked up with seeing them across the street. When we got to a grassy area we hung out with some distance between us. I kept slowly trying to get closer. She would be good for a while and then all of a sudden she would get very excited and start jumping and barking again. It’s interesting to see her sit and look at me, but also be very aware that those dogs are still there, she’ll then start to whine/scream at me like she’s mad that I’m making her sit and be nice when she really wants to jump and bark. It’s a work in progress! And like I’ve said before, this is something Molly will need to continue to work on with her fur-ever family.

 Molly walks very nicely on the leash at my house but once we got to the new place she pulled a lot.  We will have to continue going to new locations so she doesn’t think she only has to walk nicely at my house. Although it could have also been the stress of the dogs around us that made her want to move faster. Speaking of “going to a new place” this is the first time I’ve had Molly in the car in a while. She did a lot better since I think she’s more comfortable with me, but she would still get excited and almost start to whine/scream until I pulled out some treats and made her sit. We didn’t go very far but I would consider the ride successful compared to the last car ride.

May 6, 2019

Molly had her second training with a professional trainer on this past Wednesday. After practicing the indoor commands, most of the training took place outside. First we discussed her jumping and I said she’s been better except when coming out of the crate. She comes out, we do some belly rubs, and then when I stand up she amazingly leaps from laying on her back right up to my face. We worked on crate commands where she will not come out unless I say okay. This only took a few tries and by the next day, I almost forgot before I realized she was sitting back waiting for me to say okay. We are also doing a “sit, down, sit, belly rubs” to keep her engaged so she doesn’t jump. Although after belly rubs, I have to immediately start walking out of the room so she doesn’t have a chance to jump. This is working out really well.

While outside, we worked on walking better on a leash. She was already pretty good but we’re working on being able to have zero pull and also have her relax so she’s spending less time on alert. I asked a neighbor of mine with a relatively calm dog to come outside so we could work on Molly. Molly did her normal reaction- jumping and barking. The trainer kept moving her back until she could get her to sit and pay attention to the treat. After she got far enough away, we slowly moved closer. We probably got about 20 feet anyway without another episode before we thanked them for their time and they went back inside. Molly was definitely alert and kept looking at the other dog, but she also didn’t bark, and kept looking back at us. This is the closest I’ve had her to another dog without her reacting. The next day we ran into 2 dogs during our walk. I was able to control her and have her sit and look at me, even though she did keep turning around to look at the other dog and was definitely interested, but no barking and no jumping. They weren’t as close as we got the day before, but it was a definite improvement. Although over the weekend, we saw the same dog and she did react again. This is something that will absolutely need to be addressed for a new home. Molly learns very quickly and I think she will do a lot better with constant training. Her new family will need be on board with continuing this training.

We also worked on door commands and her not jumping on guests. Conveniently, I had guests on Thursday evening. I warned them they were going to have to wait outside while I got her to do her door routine. She did amazingly well. I am able to open the glass door without her moving, but when the person comes in, she just gets so excited it’s hard to get her to stay in position, but I was very impressed with how far she’s come so quickly. When my friends got inside I let them know not to give her attention until she sat. She did jump, but it didn’t take too long before she remembered she doesn’t get any pets until she sits.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at this story), I now know that Molly will not bolt if she gets out. This is not exactly something I thought she would do because I truly believe she wants to be at home, but you never know. Thursday evening I went to get something from my car and I left the front door open a crack, and it does take a long time for my glass door to shut. By the time I got to my car I heard a jingling behind me. I turned around and there was Molly standing on my front step. While my heart skipped a beat, I knew I had to calmly walk back to her so she didn’t think we were playing and start running. She didn’t move a muscle until I got about two steps in front of her and called her name and she came right to my hands. I was upset that I even let that happen knowing full well my glass door doesn’t shut immediately, but it’s also nice to know she won’t go anywhere.

I also purchased an indoor camera and left Molly uncrated a lot over the weekend. I was actually surprised to see most of the time I was gone she laid by the front door. After she took a stroll through the kitchen sniffing at the counters and doing a lap through the living room, she retreats back to the front door. I thought she’d at least play with some toys while I was out!

April 28, 2019

Molly is a very smart girl. She’s great at “paw” now. I also taught her to stay on the other side of the room while I eat dinner. I was impressed that even with the Easter break interruption, she went and laid on the other side of the room without me asking as soon as I sat down to eat (not that I don’t have to remind her sometimes).

I am also trying to teach her “off” both for off the couch and no jumping. Molly loves being on the couch with me and I am completely ok with it. Working on inviting her onto the couch will be hard for me because sometimes I don’t remember that I was supposed to invite her until she’s already leaned up against me for belly rubs.

I don’t actually think Molly will be destructive with anything in the house if I left her uncrated during the work day. But she is definitely a counter surfer and very curious about every surface and I worry about her getting into something that could hurt her (even though I made an attempt to put everything away and high up). But I do think she’ll eventually be fine in the house during the day without crating.

April 23, 2019

Molly’s foster mom had a previously scheduled trip so Molly stayed with friends of hers over Easter weekend, one of whom just happen to be a vet tech.  It’s clear that Molly has some anxiety moving place to place, but overall she was very good for them, and she loved having the big fenced in back yard to play in.  Molly was a bit velcro and followed her new people around and stuck to them like glue.  It’s no wonder, as the poor girl has had a lot of change, and this is resulting in some anxiety moving place to place.

As much fun as she had, Molly went absolutely nuts when foster mom came back to pick her up, but then when she came home late morning to let her out of her crate and walk her, she was surprisingly calm.

Stay tuned for updates on Molly.

April 19, 2019

Molly is settling in well.  Her foster mom works during the week, but is able to come home once or twice a day to take Molly for walks.  Molly hasn’t had a single accident and is good in her crate, and in fact seems to prefer to be there when foster mom has to leave.  Foster mom is also happy to report that the mouthiness that she was experiencing at first has been replaced with Molly’s licking her instead.   Molly gets excited when people visit, and her foster mom is working on having her not jump up to say hello as this could be a problem with little children, who she could unintentionally hurt.

“Molly sleeps in bed with me at night and will sleep soundly until the morning. However, she only lets me get one snooze button in before I get a cold, wet nose in the face nudging me to get up. She still goes into her crate on demand during the day. I leave the door open when I’m home and she’ll go in and out at her leisure. I’ve tried leaving her in a small room with toys and a water bowl, but I heard her jumping on the door and running around and barking it seems like she was more anxious so I continue to crate her where she seems to be most relaxed.

I’ve left her alone a few times unattended. The first time I left for an hour and it went well. She didn’t eat anything but she did jump on the counter while I was out (she knocked over some empty water bottles I left out). The second time I only left her alone for about 20 minute and she knocked over the trashcan. I’m fairly confident she did not eat anything out of it as it looked untouched, but I also am not sure if maybe I got home just in time. The third time it was a short trip again, maybe 15 minutes, and again the only thing was the knocked over water bottles left on the edge of the counter.

While Molly previously had good reports of car rides (even on the initial ride to my house) she has become very anxious in the car. I have a feeling every time we get in the car she thinks we’re going back to the shelter:(  I have taken her on some short rides around my neighborhood with treats and for longer rides I sat with her in the backseat. I’m hoping she’ll start to relax in the car again and realize she is not going back to the kennel.

Molly is good on a leash. She seems to know the difference of when we’re on the grass, I’ll let her walk around and sniff, but when we’re jogging on the pavement she’ll stay right by my side and does not make sudden stops or turns.

She has shown some leash “reactivity” to other dogs and we have a training session scheduled this Friday to see what’s going on since she previously has had good reviews when playing with dogs off leash.  

Although she initially shows a little shyness when meeting new people, once she decides she likes you (and she likes everyone), she gets very excited and jumpy. We are working on the jumpiness, but it is taking some time.

When she first got to my house she was pretty mouthy, but she is very easily distracted with toys and reacts to a high pitched yelp where she will then continue to lick your hand until you give her something else. Her “sit” is still perfect and she’s getting better with “stay” which I always work on during feeding time.

April 12, 2019

Molly is a 1.5 year old yellow lab that Brookline pulled from a Delaware shelter.  The files say that she was terrified when she arrived and wouldn’t let anyone approach her, but eventually she settled in and was very happy in dog play groups.   Molly went to a foster home in a rural area, and she was very happy there, and was not destructive in the house and also slept quietly in her crate.  The foster had another dog and while the resident dog didn’t want to play at first, she finally came around.  Molly was working on learning to respect cues when the resident dog didn’t want to play, so the foster parents had to play referee a bit and help Molly not be a pest.

Molly then got matched to a family who unfortunately she proved to be too much for.  This was a surprise to her foster parents because she was not particularly high energy with them (except when she got the puppy zoomies), but the decision was made to move her to a foster in an area closer to more of our volunteers and in a neighborhood where Molly could work on her leash skills.  Apparently she was getting way too excited on leash, so we felt we needed to work on this before trying too place her again.

Here’s the first report from her foster mom:

“Molly is very happy to be here. I initially saw a lot of the zooming around the house and she has destroyed a few squeaky toys, but when she got up on the couch she fell asleep within a few seconds. I woke her up for one last visit outside and when we came in she went immediately into her crate and slept soundly until morning. Overall she has been great about going into her crate when it’s time for me to go to work, and she is even choosing her crate when she doesn’t have to.

She’s a very playful puppy and has a couple bad habits to break. She “sits” nicely but we are going to continue working on “stay”. I see her getting better and more behaved every day. On Day 1 it seemed like she didn’t even know her name, but this morning she listened nicely on our walk. She comes when I call her and most of the time will “leave it” if she gets too interested in something on the ground.

We haven’t seen many dogs or people on our walks surprisingly. We saw one dog yesterday morning but they were pretty far ahead of us. She definitely perked up and watched them for a little, but then eventually just turned around and kept sniffing.”