Penny #4 Chocolate Labrador Retriever Mix Female 4.5 Months Old ID#2892

Penny came into Brookline’s care on 11/26/2020 as part of  foster Nora’s litter when Nora started to give birth around 2am in her foster home early Thanksgiving day.  She was 1lb, 3/8oz on 11/28.  Please read her blog from the bottom up to learn more about her.

April 7, 2021

Penny has been doing great since her surgery.  On Friday, she will be getting her stitches out, and should be ready to go to her new forever family very soon! While Penny has been on restricted activity, we have been keeping her busy doing training, and giving her stuffed kongs and bones to occupy her time.  Penny knows when we go out in the front yard, its time to potty.  When the other dogs are outside running around in the backyard, we’ve been letting her watch while sitting in the grass or outdoor chairs with someone.  When she sits and watches without trying to get down she gets some kibble.  Now when we go out back, she heads right for the chairs in hopes of some kibble.

Penny is smart and very food motivated so training her has been pretty successful.  I’ve been using some of Susan Garrett’s training techniques, and she is doing well picking things up.  She knows “sit”, and “catch” really well.  She is getting “drop it”.

This is an important one for Penny to learn because she will eat non-food items outside, like sticks, mulch, and rocks.  I always have kibble handy outside so if she grabs something, I can quickly have her “drop it” for a piece of kibble.Penny knows to go to the dog bed during our dinner time but is still working on sitting instead of jumping up on the counter when food prep is going on.  She’s learned that the crate is a great place to be as well.  We leave the door open and she goes in by herself and waits for the kibble or a Kong to arrive.  The only problem now is that she will go in the crate when we are in another room, and bark to let us know she’s waiting in the crate for kibble.  LOL!

Penny has taken to going in her crate on her own to take a nap or to bring a bone or toy in there to play with so Nora doesn’t steal it.  She has’t been complaining too much when I close the door, and usually settles down for a nap after some kibble.Penny enjoyed seeing her sister, Frankie when we babysat her overnight.  They chewed on bones together and napped together in the same dog bed.  Penny really loves my resident labs, and thankfully my labs are warming up to Penny and let her lick their faces.  Jet still lets her know when enough is enough, and she is good at listening to his cues. Penny would do great with a resident dog, and would love playing with them.  Cats however are another story… She does have a prey/chase drive for squirrels, and birds.Penny does well settling by herself, and hasn’t chewed on any non-dog items.  Rubber, rope and nylon toys are always accessible in the toy box and Penny will go over and pick something out to entertain herself.  Penny really likes tennis balls as well and tosses and kicks them around.  We don’t have any stuffed toys accessible anymore since we know that Penny will swallow large pieces/small stuffed toys and are therefore a hazard to her.At night, Penny likes to snuggle up on a blanket.  When there is a blanket scrunched up, Penny likes to climb on it and lay down to rest.Penny alert barks when she sees new people and is nervous around small kids.  I have been introducing her to strangers and young children, and after a few barks, and treats, she will settle down and is comfortable with them petting her.  When Penny gets scared of something on a walk, she wants me to pick her up so I’ve been squatting down, and giving her loving and kibble, and then we continue on our way.  Penny does well with children eight years and older but because she is still a bit excitable when she starts playing, Penny would do better with older children that are experienced dog owners.  Penny loves to play, and give out licks, and snuggles.

Penny is an active pup that loves her playtime outside, and going for walks.  When Penny gets the exercise that she needs, she settles very well when I’m working or its time to relax on the couch.

April 1, 2021

I thought that I would be listing Penny as available last Sunday along with her Mom, Nora because she had her last vet appointment, and received her final vaccinations, and a urinalysis confirmed her UTI was gone.  Unfortunately, she started vomiting at 2:30am early Sunday morning.  I figured I would give her some time and see if it was just an upset belly.  She continued to throw up through out the day just from drinking water and she was refusing all food.  Early Monday morning, I took her to the ER and it was determined that Penny had a foreign body stuck in her upper small intestine and was taken into surgery. We are three day post-operative and Penny is doing great! She is happy and pain free.  She also has developed a voracious appetite now, and has been good with taking her medicine, and dealing with restricted activity.  She doesn’t love being in the crate with the cone with the door shut but when no one is available to supervise her it’s the safest place for her to be.

Funny thing is that she has decided that when the door is open, it’s a great place to sit because when she goes in on her own, I give her kibble.  Whenever she is hungry, so goes into the crate and sits there until someone gives her kibble. When I’m not out walking the other dogs, or busy on a short errand or task in the house, Penny is with me or another family member on leash so her activity is contained but she can be out and about with the family and the other dogs.  When she is supervised, she can also have her cone off because she doesn’t bother with her incision at all.  In seven days or so, she will be getting her stitches out and she will be off of her activity restrictions.

March 17, 2021

It’s hard to believe that Penny has been back for almost two weeks on Friday!  The time has just flown by.  She is a fun girl to have back in the house.Penny and Nora continue to have fun, and keep each other entertained.  Penny is a good girl with my nine year old resident labs.  She listens to them when they are not in the mood to play, and when they have had enough playing out in the yard.Penny is not picky when it comes to nap time, and will settle down in any comfy spot with anyone who is willing to share a bed, or lay next to.  Max actually let her snuggle up next to him in his bed. Penny is doing great overnight sleeping in my 25 yo daughter’s bed.  She sleeps through the night and wakes up to go out between 5am and 6am.

Penny met my mom’s little shitzu mix over the weekend.  Initially, Penny was nervous around her and kept running away when Jessie tried to say hello.  After Max helped facilitate some face licking, Penny and Jessie soon became friends.  Penny was good at listening at Jessie’s cues and didn’t get too over exuberant with her.  Nora was great too.  She stood back and watched them play without jumping in.

Penny has a couple more days with the ear wash and cream, and then I think she will be ready to find her new forever home!  She is a sweet and smart little girl who is great at entertaining herself. Penny will make a great addition to any cat free home!

March 11, 2021

Penny will be staying with us for a minimum of a week before she becomes available.  When she came back, I quickly discovered that she had an ear infection, and I suspected a UTI too.  The UTI was confirmed on Monday, and she started on antibiotics yesterday that will treat both.  She also got her Rabies vaccination at her vet visit.  Her ear is already looking much better since I’ve been doing a twice daily wash with KetoHex since Friday, and started her on entederm cream on Monday.Even with the infections, Penny has been such a good girl.  She was initially scared of me touching her ear but is doing much better now that it’s not so sore.  She’s really settling in, and is a confident, friendly and happy go lucky puppy who has been super easy to take care of.  My resident dogs like her, Max looks forward to playing with her outside, and even my grumpy alpha, Jet is softening up to her licks.When she’s tired of playing with mama, she finds a quiet spot by herself, and curls right up to sleep.  Her go to place has been on Mama Nora’s favorite couch. Though she has tried out almost all of the couches in the house.She does like to snuggle with people, and of course with Mama too. She even tries to snuggle with Max, and Jet but hasn’t been successful with them letting her stay there – yet… She is doing great going to the bathroom outside. Yesterday, she did pee right in front of the front door.  She hasn’t had any accidents since the first time, but as before I would attribute it to a handler lapse.  I was out so my daughter was doing the babysitting for Penny.  With the UTI, I have been trying to get her out every hour when she is up and playing.  Penny was over her threshold when she went inside.  On the bright side, it happened at the front door so she knew she wanted to go out there.  She just hasn’t learned to tell us yet.  We have a door bell that we are trying to train her to but it hasn’t stuck yet.

Like Nora, she will entertain herself by going to the toy box and picking something out to play with.  She will play with squeaky toys and chew on nylabones and stuffed marrow bones quietly alone. We are working on not playing chase with Mama Nora inside the house.

Since she likes to play chase with Max outside, Penny tries to get him to play inside.  Max knows the rules and lets Penny know that he doesn’t play inside so she is learning a lot from my resident labs about good inside behavior.

Penny loves running, playing and sunbathing outside in the yard.  She is doing better on walks with a no pull collar.  With a regular collar, Penny pulls hard.  We are working on heal, and good walking, and introducing the game of catch on walks that I recently learned about during a leash reactivity Puppyworks dog training seminar.  It’s working really good to distract and have her focus on me when we are passing another dog or person.  I’ve been using it with Nora and my resident dogs, and I’m amazed how well this training method works.

In the afternoon, after lots of playing and walks, Penny settles nicely in my office with Nora while I work, or alone on her own dog bed. Outside, she likes searching for sticks, and playing chase and tug with Nora and Max!  We don’t let Penny keep the sticks very long as she likes to chew them up and we don’t want her getting a belly full of sticks! I got her a chew toy that is made from real wood but doesn’t break apart and splinter like the sticks that she really likes chewing on.

Penny absolutely loves ice and ice cubes!  They are almost like a treat for her.  Nora also really enjoys eating ice cubes so it must be a handed down genetic trait!

Penny is keeping us all busy, including her Mama, but she is definitely bringing us plenty of smiles! She will make any family (without cats) very happy!

March 6, 2021

Penny was adopted out to a family on January 23rd, but we welcomed her back to our house yesterday around 5pm.  Penny’s adopters had two cats, and Penny enjoyed chasing them and didn’t back down from their swats so we decided it was in everyone’s best interest to find her a cat free home.

As you can see, Penny has grown a ton over the last five weeks.  I got her a bigger collar because she had just about grown out of her puppy collar.  She weighed in yesterday at 30lbs.  Her eyes have grown even lighter blue.  I would call them ice blue.  Her right eye has somewhat of a greenish tint as well.Mama Nora is still here, so they were very happy to see each other on Penny’s arrival.  Penny had a lot of energy to burn off, and had a blast chasing around Nora, Max and Jet.

Penny is great with understanding dog cues and immediately listens to my alpha dog, Jet, when he says “enough.” She is respectful to his boundaries, and doesn’t keep pushing.  Max had a lot of fun playing chase, and keep away with a toy with Penny.

Nora and Penny can play for hours!  Nora is very puppy like with her play so they have a lot of fun together and eventually tire each other out.  This morning they played inside and outside for three hours straight before they finally settled down for a nap.

Penny has hasn’t had any accidents in the house, so I’m confident that she understands that she does all her bathroom business outside.  She sleeps through the night, and can wait to go to the bathroom until she gets outside in the morning.  Penny enjoys playing with the squeaky toys, pull toys, and loves chewing on marrow bones.

Penny would love having a younger, playful resident dog in her home.  She follows along with our little pack here, and likes to be near her furry companions.  If she is not sitting on a persons lap then she is sitting along side her Mama Nora or one of my resident dogs. Penny is a smart girl, and is kibble motivated.  She knows her name, does “sit” very well, seems to know “come,” and is getting the hang of  “drop it” and “leave it” already. When she gets tired, she settles well in her dog bed (as long as Mama Nora doesn’t come along to wake her up to play, LOL)  We are working on walking on a leash as she tends to pull a bit, but I think she’ll get it in no time.

Penny is a sweet, smart, and playful girl who gets along great with all the dogs and people in the house.

January 7, 2021

Penny is now six weeks old and getting big!  She is in the middle of the pack weighing in at 9.7lbs.  The puppies are too big to weigh on the table top weigh scale so now I weigh them on a regular scale while I am holding them.  All the puppies got their dewormer on December 30, and have been doing well.  They get another dose next Wednesday, and will be going for their 8 week vaccinations on January 22.

Penny seems to be getting more wrinkly by the day.  I think she is going to go through a growth spurt shortly, and grow into all that skin.  Her eyes are staying that piercing blue color.  Her dad had one blue eye so I think her blue eyes will stay around.  Most of the other pups eyes have darkened but hers are still very light blue.

Penny has a  sweet, but fiesty personality.  She is usually one of the first pups to come over and get picked up for morning cuddles.  She really enjoys tussling with her siblings.  She spends a lot of time chasing and wresting with Frankie and her brother, Sammy.  Penny really likes to get belly scratches.  Penny likes to take a nap with her siblings.  It is rare to find her alone.

January 1, 2021

Five weeks old!

December 28, 2020

Penny is a beautiful girl with very blue eyes.  Her eyes really stand out.  I’m not sure they will stay that way but they seem to be getting lighter blue rather than turning darker like her siblings.  I called Penny the super model during our Christmas photo shoot.  She sat perfectly under the tree and I don’t think she had one bad picture.  I got her pictures done in no time.

Penny continues to be a snuggler but also is quite scrappy when it comes to playtime.  When Penny is not relaxing or napping with a sibling or human companion, she is running around the pen, grabbing toys, blankets, or a sibling’s leg and whipping them around.

Penny does have a quiet side and really enjoys sitting in laps, and getting kisses and belly rubs.  Penny always comes running to the side of the pen to get picked up or to interact with Nora.

Penny also really likes the little dog bed and is usually snuggled up with a sibling or hanging out on her back.  When she is not in the bed, she finds a soft spot to sleep on a blanket, stuffed toy or a sibling’s back.

Penny is a good eater and as of today weighs in at 6lbs, 4oz.  She is usually the first one over to the bowl and keeps on licking until everything is gone. All the pups teeth are getting quite big now. They will be crunching on kibble in no time.

Penny is funny to watch when she is in a playful mood.  She hops and spins and runs full speed around the pen.  My daughter calls her a “terror girl” because she is always trying to wake sleeping siblings, and makes a lot of noise (growls and barks) during play.  Penny, Bianca and Eliza are usually the ones jumping on each other.  They really seem to have fun together.

 December 7, 2020

This adorable pup was born very early morning Thanksgiving day (11/26/2020) to my foster Nora along with her four sisters and two brothers.  I’ll never forget their birthday since it is my birthday too! We decided we would name the pups from our favorite cartoon shows and movies. The name Penny was in the Rescuers and One Hundred and One Dalmations.  In both movies, she is cute, and sweet but still gutsy and brave.  The name Penny totally fits this cute, little brown and white girl.

Penny can alway be found cuddled up to a sibling, sometimes sucking on their ear or foot. She likes to be held, and already gives out soft little licks. Penny was quick to get up on all four feet. When she smells that it’s time to eat, Penny gets right up, and can quickly make it over to Mama.  When we get in the box, Penny likes to come over and rest her head on your leg or hand.

Penny started out at 1lb 3/8oz and now weighs in at 1lb 14 5/8oz.