Rosie #15 Charcoal Black Labrador Retriever Female 7 Years Old ID #3398

February 3, 2024

Rosie update!  After a few difficult days after her spay surgery on January 22, Rosie has indeed bounced back in typical Labrador fashion.  Her appetite has returned, and she has finished up her deluxe meals of ground beef and rice and is transitioning back to her normal food.  She has barely touched or bothered with her stitches along her incision.  Rosie trots along with our other two resident Labs and unless you were to see the areas that were shaved for her surgery, you would assume she is just a happy, go lucky Lab!

Due to finally getting some sunshine and warmer weather, we took all three of our Labs to our favorite place to walk, Jasper Park.  It has a nice mix of open meadows, grassy areas, walking trails, and woods with large, mature trees.  Rosie literally had her head to the ground the whole time just taking in the new smells at the Park!  She never stopped sniffing for the entire walk! She walks beautifully and does not pull or jerk the leash at all.  We worked on keeping her on the left side and she didn’t need any corrections while walking to stay on the left.

She also traveled extremely well with our other two Labs in the tight quarters of the floor in the backseat area of my truck. Rosie has never been car sick and appears to like riding in vehicles.  She hopped right in on the way to the park, but needed a little more encourage to disembark once we got home.

Rosie still wants lots of cuddle time and will usually follow me around the house until we sit down in the family room. She will snuggle up to both Pam and Ryan as well, not just me!

She is also extremely fond of her dog bed.

Pennridge Animal Hospital has been nothing short of fantastic with follow ups and check-ins to make sure Rosie is doing her absolute best after her spay surgery.  Her stitches are scheduled to be removed on Monday evening at Pennridge and barring no unforeseen circumstances, we can begin the adoption process shortly thereafter so Rosie can find her forever home!

January 22, 2024

Rosie enjoyed playing in the recent round of snow.

Today was her surgery and she came through it great.  She’s exhausted and is resting comfortably at home tonight.

January 18, 2024

Rosie had her pre-spay appointment on Saturday.  She was the perfect passenger for the 35 minute car ride. Once we arrived she sat patiently for her turn and just watched as other dogs entered the waiting area.

She received rave reviews from the veterinary staff and was easy to work with for them.  She will have her surgery this coming Monday.  Paws crossed for a speedy recovery and that she adjusts to the infamous cone.

On Tuesday we received more snow and as a result Rosie had more frolicking around the yard with Meghan and Mac.  Occasionally she will eat some snow too.

This afternoon she picked up a toy that Meghan “inadvertently” took outside and ran with it.  It’s great to see some interest in toys developing.  It looks like she will have even more fun with the impending arrival of another round of snow late tonight.

January 11, 2024

Rosie has really started to come into her own and is adapting quite well to her new temporary quarters.

I had some business travel that took me away from home for three days and I was delighted to hear there was no separation anxiety, bad behavior, or acting up while I was away.  Rosie enjoys curling up on the office dog bed and sleeps soundly with the remaining company mascots nearby.

Initially, she really seemed smitten with me and was like Little Bo Peep, always standing right by my side or getting as close as possible to me.  This seems to have subsided quite a bit, with Rosie occasionally exploring our 2nd floor or vice versa when the rest of the family are located on a different floor. She loves taking shoes to nestle up with to sleep. No shoes have been harmed in the process and it’s rather cute.

Before she wouldn’t leave my side and now, she frequently will join Meghan and Mac when they investigate a noise or run to the front door to see what kind of biscuits the mail carrier or UPS driver has left them after a delivery.  I sneak in some additional “stay, come, and down” training whenever I have a spare moment, rub, and touch her paws, and get her to stand for exam.

Getting her to lay down on command is the toughest thus far, but I think we are making good progress on the commands (with the aid of string cheese!).  Her coat remains silky smooth and soft, and she gets lots of pets and rubs throughout the day. With all the wind, rain, and snow, walks have been in short supply lately, but we are planning on a nice walk this afternoon.  She did enjoy running through the snow with Mac and Meghan for the few days that it existed.  We’ll see if Tuesday’s snow comes to fruition for another round of winter fun for them.

January 2, 2024

Rosie is getting lots of exposure to different types of people.  From senior citizens, to family friends, and even other dogs, Rosie is taking in all these new experiences like a champ! Over the weekend our dogs’ “Dog father“ stopped by to visit and deliver Christmas gifts for all the dogs.  Rosie lavished him with kisses and attention all evening.

Rosie continues to get lots of car rides to and from various walking tracks or parks, from Camelot Park in Pennsburg (Montgomery County) to our own Church View Park in Upper Milford Township (Lehigh County).  We live on a heavily traveled rural road, so car rides are a must to get our walks in. She also walked in the West End of Allentown today with a large Siberian Husky (Marley) and was again excellent in her walking manners, not pulling, etc. Once again she got along well with the introduction of a new friend and visiting his family’s home.

We have continually worked on obedience commands and are primarily focused on “down”, “stay”, and “come” and are still using string Mozzarella slices as a reward.

She is not super food focused like our two resident labs, and will often leave a portion of her meal unfinished.  With our two dogs, we have to remove her bowl to prevent them from eating her leftovers.  She has been left for short periods of time with no issues with our own dogs and doesn’t pine or whine when we leave the house.

She is a definite love bug and relishes the attention she receives from her two-legged friends!

She was even spotted chewing (briefly!) on a Nyla bone toy, which was a first!  Up until now, I am certain Rosie never had any toys, bones or otherwise.

December 27, 2023

 Rosie “The Riveter” Hunter:

A Brookline Tale

We have found that Rosie is a very sweet, dare I say, a “Little Bo Peep,” when it comes to receiving attention.  After all those hard years on the farm, I think she is enjoying her immersion therapy at our place.

We had some difficulty negotiating stairs, with some substantial resistance at first, but I am happy to report she now goes up and down the stairs with relative ease (the carpet runners make the stairs much easier for all our dogs).

Rosie really doesn’t know any commands, with the possible exception of “sit.”  We have been working on reinforcing sit, and introducing “stay, come, wait, and leave it.”  We are using small slices of mozzarella string cheese as rewards for training purposes.  Rosie doesn’t pull on a leash.  While she doesn’t play or frolic with our two Labs, she is currently curled up next to me and Mac is sleeping with his head on top of Rosie back leg…..Peace in the Kingdom as it were!

She is quite an attention hound though!  We are all trying to separate ourselves from her and introduce her to time alone by herself.  We go upstairs, go outside to get the mail, run out to the cars, go on short errands, etc. and leave her alone on occasion.  We have tried utilizing the crate, but she is not fond of going in, even with food or treats as an incentive.  However, she does not pine or cry once in the crate.  She has never had an accident inside the house and goes out voluntarily to “do her business,” although she has the typical cast iron bladder and bowels of a breeder momma.

Regarding food, she initially didn’t approach her Iams dry kibble with the typical gastronomic enthusiasm of a Labrador.  We have since started supplementing her dry kibble with Fresh Pet Chicken and then about a third of a can of wet food.  Her appetite has gotten much better and she is falling into a good AM and PM meal routine.  On Christmas, I cooked up some steaks for dinner and equitably distributed some “Scooby Snack” trimmings to our friendly canines.  They all sat and stayed well when they gently took the steak treats.

Rosie is very gentle and relishes petting and belly rubs, any sort of attention is fine with her.

We will continue to work on simple commands, work on leash etiquette, and continue to socialize her with our dogs and any other dogs we encounter on our walks.  We are becoming fond of her and look forward to continuing her foster care.

December 21, 2023

This beautiful 7 year old Charcoal (think baking dark chocolate!) Lab, Rosie, is now a retired breeder dog and joined our family on Tuesday.  She is discovering what it’s like to live in a house and is transitioning very well. The first night she laid on the family room rug next to FD (he didn’t have the heart to let her sleep alone the 1st night).

The following evening she got comfortable on Mac’s dog bed.  We are introducing her to crate training.

She was introduced to our 5 year old Black Lab, Meghan, and 19 month old, Black Lab & Brookline alum, Mac.  They hit it off immediately. Rosie does well on a leash and doesn’t pull.

We weren’t sure how she would transition from being a farm dog to a house dog, but she certainly lives up to the Rosie “can do” attitude.  She’s walking on all floor surfaces without issue and goes outside with our two dogs to do her business.  No accidents at all!! We heard she spent her days in the meadow on the farm, but she’s not dwelling outside now.  She comes right in and knows her name. Rosie does a few steps with ease up and down (our deck steps), however, the second floor steps are a work in progress.  We’re introducing her to basic commands (sit, stay, come, wait, etc.) with some enticement, string cheese.  She loves that! She likes to nap with our Labs while FD is working from home (He hasn’t heard snore yet).

Stay tuned for more updates on Rosie the Labrador!

Here are some photos of Rosie as she settles in with her new foster family.