Riley #7 Yellow Labrador Retriever Mix Female 9 Years Old ID #3444

July 4, 2025

Riley has really settled in well with us. She seems to thrive in a quiet household. She became a television star last Saturday, June 28 when she was featured as an adoptable pet on Paws and Pals on WGAL in Lancaster.

This girl absolutely loves her daily walks. The four of us do a pack walk at the end of each day. We have been using a Freedom harness on her which has helped with her pulling. While she loves to sniff along the way, this girl walks at a brisk pace. It is hard to believe she is over 9 years old.

If someone is looking for a water dog, Riley is not your girl. She has shown zero interest in joining us in the pool.

Riley and our Annie Mae continue to peacefully coexist. In fact, they are lying together at times.

Although, we also believe she would do well as an only dog. We feed them separately in different rooms on different floors since Annie Mae loves to eat. We want to keep her away from Riley’s food. Riley eats her breakfast and dinner at a nice pace.

She would do best in a home with children over the age of 13 or without children.

June 14, 2025

Yesterday marked Riley’s first week with us. She is doing so well. We felt she just needed to be given a chance. She now seeks pets and belly rubs from us, enjoys relaxing on the sofa, is very excited when breakfast and dinner are served, and LOVES her multiple daily walks. She has been pulling a bit more on the walks, which Mark is working to control.

We are really enjoying having this sweet senior girl around. We left both dogs alone for an hour on Thursday and Friday nights while we went out together. We tried a longer period of time (2 1/2 hours) today. Riley is completely reliable. We still keep most of our doors closed, but this is because Annie Mae has been known to get herself into trouble (e.g., retrieving shoes from our closets).

Riley has not had a single accident in the house. She will signal if she needs to go out, but we routinely take both dogs out in the yard or for a walk several times a day. She sleeps through the night. She seems to prefer hanging out downstairs in our family room, where we have had a week-long slumber party.

Riley was diagnosed yesterday with Giardia and started on Drontal Plus. She will need to be rechecked in four weeks. This most likely explains her 6-pound weight loss since late April. Although we believe she is starting to gain some weight. Mark said if anyone can put weight on a dog, I am up for the challenge.

We were hopeful Riley would enjoy the pool, but she has shown zero interest in it. While Annie Mae seems to love using the pool at doggie daycare, she doesn’t leave the top step of ours.

June 10, 2025

We had two breakthroughs with Riley today. She actually wagged her tail several times, and she sought out pets from both of us.

She had a veterinary appointment today for a 4DX and fecal testing. Our veterinarian recommended having a senior panel done, which included these tests. They were able to obtain her records from the previous veterinary practice. She had only been seen once in the past 8 years. She was extremely nervous at first, but she started to relax by the end of the examination. They provided us with a supply of probiotics, which should help with her loose stool.

She continues to look forward to several daily walks with and without Annie Mae.

We did observe on Saturday, when our neighbors’ two young children were playing in their yard, that she found her voice by barking at them. It seemed to reinforce the requirement that she should not be placed with children under 12 or 13 years old.

We are truly enjoying our time with her. Riley and Annie Mae are doing well together. She most likely would also do well as an only dog.

June 8, 2025

We are continuing to get to know this sweet senior girl. We have found Riley really loves her multiple daily walks. We do at least one pack walk where Mark will take Riley, and I have Annie Mae. They definitely have two different “walking” styles.

considers a walk to be one big sniffari, whereas Riley likes to keep it moving at a brisk pace.

I originally had a bookend on each side while eating, but this morning they were sitting together to my left, intently watching every bite I took. They did enjoy some leftover eggs for breakfast. It seems that the kitchen is their favorite room in the house. I now have two sous chefs helping with food preparation.

Riley has a vet appointment tomorrow to have a 4DX and fecal testing done. We will get her started on preventatives. She has had some intermittent GI problems, which seem to be lessening. We started her on a probiotic this morning.

We were invited back to appear on Paws and Pals on WGAL in Lancaster. We planned to feature Casey on the segment being taped on June 20, 2025. Since he appears to have landed in his forever home, we plan to take Riley instead.

We are really enjoy having her here with us. She has fit into our home so well.

June 7, 2025

Riley had her Rescue Ride into a foster home with Brookline yesterday. She had been boarded at a kennel with another Rescue since late April. She was struggling in the noisy kennel environment. She hopped right in the back of our SUV for the one-hour-plus ride from the Reading area to the Harrisburg area. She was a good passenger.

She has now been in her foster home for a little over 24 hours. We are allowing her time to decompress, and we plan to establish a consistent routine with her. Our home is on the quiet side with two adults and our six-year-old fox red former breeder dog, Annie Mae. We are hopeful she will thrive in this type of environment.

Her previous owners said she would most likely have a problem navigating stairs, and she also barks frequently. When we brought her in the house for the first time, Riley immediately went up the stairs. In fact, she continues to go up and down our stairs with or without Annie Mae on a regular basis with no problems. I have only heard her bark once, which was this morning when she was watching some squirrels scamper across our deck. She doesn’t seem to be a fan of these pesky little critters. Little does she know that her foster mom feeds them peanuts on a daily basis.

She is eating and drinking well, although she did have an upset stomach this afternoon, which could have been caused by the stress of another move and a change in her food. She is doing much better now. Since the kennel staff feeds the dogs different foods that are donated to them, we had to start her on the food we give to Annie Mae.

She is enjoying the comforts of a dog bed that was the favorite of our late dog, Molly Belle.

Riley and Annie Mae are peacefully coexisting. Annie Mae has been blocking our attempts to show affection to Riley. We are making sure we show attention to both and giving special time with each of us. Annie Mae is learning she needs to share her mom and dad with another dog. We are also walking both dogs together to help them become a pack. She is doing well using a flat collar.

We are enjoying getting to know this sweet girl.