Pepper #8 Black Labrador Retriever Female 9 Years Old

November 12, 2019

Even though it was freezing today, Pepper and her foster brother, Riley, got a little playtime outside.  Maybe because of the cold, Pepper seemed way more interested in a short jog!  We’re still working on “drop it.”  Good thing is that she won’t hold onto her stuffy for too long and/or is easily distracted, so I can grab it and start the game all over again!

November 9, 2019

Great news…Pepper got a clean bill of health!  Her incisions are healing up very well and she can be cone free from here on out!  The biopsies of the masses removed came back benign, however, she will need to have her rear end checked annually.  She’s still taking the doxycyline for Lyme Disease and will need to be retested for giardia in two weeks.  Looks like she’s just about ready to find her furever home!

November 3, 2019

Pepper is doing great!  She’s healing and recuperating like a champ!  It’s truly amazing to see firsthand how resilient these dogs are!  And stubborn!  I found out just how much she hated her cone the day after her surgery when I found her escaping from the laundry room (which I gated off so she wouldn’t be bothered by the other dogs), cone lying flat on the floor, and blood everywhere!  It was awful!  Thankfully, the velcro on the Comfy Cone is stronger than the little clips on the plastic cone from the vet.  Since then, her incision site is healing up and she is able to be cone free while we’re at home.

Pepper is definitely starting to enjoy life as a pet vs. a breeding machine.  She very quickly overcame her fear of thresholds and doorways, is great on a leash probably off-leash too as she is literally her person’s shadow, and is now figuring out that dogs beds are quite comfy!  She even started playing with the alligator stuffy that Carolyn sent! (Thanks Carolyn for the goodies!)  She is very picky about her food and her treats.  Ironically, she seems to understand “down” or “lie down” and completely ignores me when I ask her to sit for a treat or for meals.  🙂  Who knows.  Hopefully soon, there will be a family that will show her what it’s like to part of a family!

October 29, 2019

Miss Pepper gave her foster family quite the scare.  She was bleeding some and foster mom (FM) knew it wasn’t time for her to go into heat, so FM promptly took her to the vet where they ascertained that she was suffering from pyometra so they promptly scheduled her for surgery.  At the same time they removed two other masses. Poor Pepper; she had a lot going on but she’s in good hands!  The surgeries went well and Pepper is back with her foster family recovering.    Please send Pepper some healing mojo!

October 25, 2019

Yesterday, we met Brian at Smoketown VCA and picked up Hudson’s mom, Pepper who turns 9 in a week. Poor girl had quite a day, but couldn’t be sweeter through it all.  She laid on the floor at the vet and let them draw blood, shave around a wound we found, and trim her nails.  Then she VERY reluctantly let us give her a bath, which is probably the first bath she’s ever had.  The people at PetValu were so nice to her.  One guy even laid on the floor with her!  Finally we made it back to Cherry Hill, where she met her new foster brother, Riley, and our friend’s dog, Chelsea.  The three are now called the “Black Pack”!  We had a very successful evening!  She is very food motivated…so much so that at a hefty 81.5lbs, she tries to jump up!  She’s been eating like she never left the farm!  This morning, she did a little yoga with my friend that’s visiting, went for a LONG walk with The Pack, then spent the afternoon snoring away on the soft carpet.

Hopefully, sweet Pepper, will soon forget life on the smelly farm and only know the warmth and love from here on out.