Sandy #9 Yellow Labrador Retriever Female 2 Years Old ID #3556

Meet Sandy, an adorable 2 year old female yellow lab who is making her journey from life on a farm to a new future as a house pet. Even though Sandy is fully grown, she’s very petite at 56 pounds and will be the perfect companion looking for a lab on the small side. Please read her blog from the bottom up and stay tuned for updates on her new adventures as she prepares for her forever home.

May 28, 2025

It’s been an eventful couple of weeks for little Sandy here in foster care.  After her spay surgery, Sandy said farewell to her foster brother Finn when he left to begin his life at his new forever home and then a week later said hello to a new foster sister, Gracie, who joined us after leaving her old life as a breeder mama.That’s a lot of change for anyone, but Sandy has handled it in stride.  The week between Finn and Gracie was spent trying to keep her calm so her sutures could heal properly.  She has loads and loads of energy so it wasn’t the easiest task for FM and FD (including a few cringey moments when she managed to race around the yard with her usual full throttle sprint while we tried to distract her long enough to calm down) but she has healed up and is now allowed her full range of emotional expressions as she sees fit.When she’s not running laps around the back yard, Sandy has decided that maybe her old buddy Finn had the right idea about couches.  She now loves to hop up on the couch and snuggle up next to her people or hang out with her dog friends. She’ll need an adopter who is cool with furniture hopping because she’s hooked and all about the snuggles.  She’s too small to call a couch potato, but maybe she’s a couch potato chip.One of the new things we introduced her to was a hike in the woods.  She loved exploring the new sights and smells and did well on the leash and trail.  Our resident dog Ruby adores hikes and always wants to be the lead dog on the trail so we used the opportunity to show Sandy that it’s OK to follow Ruby without tugging to go first.  If her future adopter likes to get outdoors in nature, Sandy will be up for it too!She also tried her hand at yoga with FM and did her best when it was time for Savasana Pose and she could stretch out on her back and show her belly (for rubs, please!). Since Gracie arrived, Sandy has been doing a good job welcoming her and showing her the ropes.  Gracie is a bigger and older girl than Sandy and her personality is calmer, so at first Sandy’s invitations to play and romp went unanswered.  However, we have watched Gracie open up socially as Sandy has continued to invite her to have fun and we think Sandy has been a nice helper for Gracie’s decompression.

Sandy is definitely a very social dog and would likely love a home with another playful pup (or some regular chances for doggie play dates with neighborhood friends or at a dog park).  She spent a few days bouncing around Gracie showing off and now the two of them are all wags and laughter.  Sandy can exhibit some dominant tendencies when it comes to play, but Gracie is doing some appropriate push back, which is good for Sandy. They make a good duo!We also have a plan for Sandy’s next step in finding her forever home.  We have some additional work to do with her on climbing stairs, getting in the car, learning some basic commands and not tugging and pulling on the leash when she sees other dogs she wants to meet (Sandy will definitely benefit greatly from obedience training).

We’ll be focused on that for a bit longer and then we’re  bringing Sandy to attend the BLR booth at the upcoming Warminster Arts & Barks Festival on June 7th. This will give potential adopters a chance to come meet her in person and then we will open up the application process for interested approved adopters which will help us choose her forever home.  We hope to see you on the 7th in Warminster. Sandy would love to meet you. Check out the BLR social feeds for specifics in the days ahead.

May 15, 2025

Sandy had her spay surgery last week and everything went well.  She wasn’t sure she wanted to go into the vet’s office when we dropped her off in the morning and was definitely disappointed when we didn’t offer her breakfast that day due to the fasting requirement, but we got her situated and the team at The Bridge Clinic Bensalem made her feel at home.

When we brought her home that afternoon she conked out in the back seat of the car in her cone and was very sleepy the rest of the day due to the anesthesia.Like most pups, she thought that cone was equal parts uncomfortable, annoying and scary, so we have switched her to recovery suits to keep her from agitating her incision so that it can heal.  She doesn’t love the games of dress-up but once you get her covered up and zipped in she settles down and tolerates it.  She is super cute in her jammies (even with the “I am not a fan” faces)!We have found over the years that each dog we have helped through surgery has a different experience recovering.  Sandy was ultra tired for the rest of the first day and then had some GI distress for 2 more days as the anesthesia worked its way out of her system.  That urgent need to relieve herself did serve as proof that she fully understands her house training because she had zero accidents and would scamper to the back door to signal that she needed to go.  Very good girl!

Doctor’s orders to remain calm to allow her sutures to heal have been a bit of a challenge with this little bundle of energy, but we have managed to slow her down and everything seems to be healing well.  Instead of her usual gymnastics we have encouraged her to take some lounge-focused outdoor time and the heavy rain this week has done us the favor of discouraging any track meets in the yard.  It’s now been 7 days so we’re happily near the end of her activity limitations. This week also included a milestone for her foster brother Finn, who graduated from foster care and was introduced to his new forever home.  Sandy does seem to miss him and decided to test out Finn’s big dog bed in the living room.  This is the first time she showed any interest in sleeping in a soft cushy bed (she has preferred a just blanket in her crate), and now we think she understands what the big deal is about these beds since she has been curling up in it a lot.Here’s a photo of Finn and Sandy on their last car ride together snuggled up for double cuteness:We have a few more things to work with her on and then we think she will be ready for adoption, so stay tuned!

May 5, 2025

Sandy continues to be a quick learner and enthusiastic house pet!  We can confidently say her house training has stuck and she knows where and when to relieve herself like a good girl.  Now that she has won our trust we have begun to leave her crate door open at night and while she does prefer to snuggle up in the crate for her sleep, she can go in and out as she prefers without any accidents or issues.

Speaking of sleeping, my phone is quickly filling up with photos of her napping.  She’s so very cute we can’t resist: When she’s not snoozing, she’s up and running!  She adores racing around our fenced yard and is definitely an ace at any game of Zoomies that might spontaneously break out.  This weekend she had a visit from one of our former foster labs Raven and her adopter Kathy who came by to say hello and let the dogs meet each other.  Sandy was very nice with Raven and showed her how she likes to run her laps around the lawn.  It’s pretty clear that Sandy loves meeting and playing with dogs, so she should fit easily into a home with more than one pup or one where she can have play dates with some buddies.  She is also excellent with meeting new people.  Such a confident girl! We are cat sitting for a family member this week and have used the occasion to see what Sandy thinks of cats.  FM tried a little test by playing a video clip with a nice loud “meow” and as you can see, she was intrigued:

With the cat here in the house (mainly hanging out upstairs out of Sandy’s reach), we have learned that Sandy is a bit overly enthusiastic about interacting with it.  She will charge toward it whenever she catches a glimpse or hears her coming down the stairs.  The cat makes a quick exit and we haven’t forced a face-to-face meeting out of care for the kitty.  We think that Sandy could learn not to chase or corner a cat and given how she takes correction from the two older dogs in the house, an assertive cat that is willing to stand its ground would likely teach her how to behave pretty quickly.  We think she can go to a house with a cat as long as the owners feel that the cat would not be traumatized by her over-eagerness (since that would not be fair to the cat).  It would probably require some time to acclimate her, of course.

Sandy gets her spay surgery on Thursday so please send her healing energy!  More to come soon!

April 29, 2025

Week two with Sandy at our house is now in the books! She has really settled in and learned our routines like a good girl.  House training has gone very smoothly and other than a moment a few days ago when she started to squat for a #2 right in front of FD (but she did listen to him say “NO!” and held it until we got outside), she seems to fully understand where she is expected to do her business.  We are confident that when she is ready for adoption we will be able to describe her as fully housetrained.

Speaking of outside, she is absolutely ALWAYS up for a trip to the back yard and will perk up at attention when she hears that word. She and her foster brother Finn have a lot of fun out back with Sandy getting her zoomies out of her system and Finn standing in the middle of her race track trying to catch her when she does her laps.  She plays with a lot of energy but seems to have a good sense of the other dogs’ boundaries, so we think she can definitely live in a home with other pups.

She has been getting more leash time and is doing well learning how to go for walks, even learning to go potty on the leash for us like her siblings do.  The other day she encountered a neighbor’s stone driveway ornament and wasn’t entirely sure if she should try to tangle with a lion.While Miss Sandy is a sweetheart, her twin alter ego Miss Cheevus does continue to make appearances every so often. Cheevus managed to chew up a remote control and a pair of FD’s reading glasses, so we need to keep a close eye on her when she scoots out of the room we are in.  We’re putting all the tempting items out of her reach (which thankfully isn’t very long given her petite size). Sandy is still not interested in climbing up the stairs to see the second floor of the house.  We may have exacerbated that issue by carrying her up for a visit to the bathtub for some shampooing which was an experience she decidedly did not love.  FD and FM were able to keep all four paws inside the tub and lathered her up and rinsed her off.  It seems like she had a chain collar while on her farm as the fur on her neck and chest had some subtle gray staining.  The bath did a nice job cleaning that up and now her gorgeous cream colored coat looks good as new. Sandy will get her spay surgery on May 8th, but no doubt she’ll have some adventures to share with you all before then, so stay tuned for another update shortly!

April 22, 2025

Sandy has now been here for a week and is doing very well!  I might be jinxing myself, but she has not had any accidents inside since the very first day here, so we are possibly looking at successful house training!  She gets praise and pets and a small treat or two each time she does her business outside and that seems to have done the trick.  Sandy may be small but she has the typical oversized lab appetite, so using food rewards for training should work very well with her.  We are starting to try a slow feeder with her since she will race to gobble up everything from a normal bowl at meal time. She has to work at it, which she doesn’t love, but it’s better for her to slow it down.We have been getting her plenty of time for zooming around the yard and also taking her on the leash with her foster siblings.  She is very easy on walks, sniffing out good smells and seeing the neighborhood.  Passing cars don’t phase her at all, but when she sees or hears another dog she really wants to meet them, and has also shown too much enthusiasm for squirrels.  So she has a bit of manners to learn, but it’s a good start.

Sandy took a short car ride (not a fan of climbing in, but rides well and hops out well) to our local garden center where she was perfectly behaved as we walked around looking at plants.  She met a few people and started each interaction with some caution, but accepted gentle pets calmly.She isn’t ready to climb the stairs up to our second floor yet, but we carried her up to see what’s up these.  We’ll be working up her confidence over the days ahead on that front.In between all these new experiences she is getting comfortable interacting with the two bigger dogs and initiating play with them.

She especially seems to love her big brother Finn and the two of them are getting up to some hi jinx more and more each day. We are also getting a glimpse of her taste for some puppy mischief.  When she has an opening, she likes to pick up a personal item and get her people to chase her.  So far we have chased an iPhone, and Apple Watch, and a sandal.  We’re starting to refer to this more devilish personality of hers as “Cheevus”… as in, when she is polite, her name is Miss Sandy, but when she starts getting into trouble she turns into Miss Cheevus (say it out loud).

Cheevus seems to show up a few times a day and so far there has been no permanent damage to anything Cheevus decides to play with, so we’ll humor her and correct her gently as needed without dampening her adorable playfulness.

Just so we’re not ending on a negative note about misbehavior, here’s a picture of Miss Sandy (not Miss Cheevus) resting after a little romp:

April 17, 2025

Sandy has now been off the farm for a week and here in our house for 3 days.

We have some lovely updates to share including positive news on the house training front!  After the first 24 hours had us worried about her willingness to even try to go to the bathroom outside, Sandy has been impressing us on days 2 and 3 by avoiding all accidents and seemingly grasping that we want her to relieve herself out in the open air.  We’re carrying a bag of treats with us and showering her with praise and pets and treats each time she pees or poops in the yard.  These things aren’t normally a linear journey, so of course we expect some slip ups might happen, but she’s doing very, very well!

Speaking of outside, this girl loves to stretch her legs and race around the yard whether chasing a tennis ball, fetching a stick or just trying to get Finn or Ruby to chase her.  She’s 100% puppy powered!  She also has pretty good leash manners on her harness so far. She also has impressed us with her comfort in the crate.  We are having no issues getting her to hop in at bedtime and with one of her people sleeping on the couch for company she settles down and sleeps well.

She is also going into the crate to chill out and nap with the door open so it’s nice to know that any potential adopter who prefers to crate train their dogs should be able to condition her to that approach smoothly.  Once we are confident in her house training, we’ll work on going upstairs and maybe sleeping in a dog bed next to Ruby.She’s very inquisitive although things like her own reflection and the sights and sounds of the TV do get her worried and a bit “barky”.  We’ll work on all that!

She was brave enough to confront the reflections and hang out in our front window to watch the neighborhood pass by, though!More updates soon!

April 15, 2025

Well today another big day arrived for tiny teacup Labrador Sandy.  This morning we went to meet this gorgeous petite princess and moved her to her new foster home.  She was a little shy but not too scared but we scooped her up into our car and she did very well in the backseat.Upon arrival Sandy explored her new yard and then got to meet resident golden retriever Ruby and her fellow foster pup Finn.  Everyone behaved themselves well and got some curious sniffs out of the way before coming inside to check out the house.Sandy made her way through the first floor (full sets of stairs aren’t in the cards for her just yet) and helped herself to the toy baskets.

We fed her breakfast (which she happily chomped right up) and then spent the day letting her settle in.  We understand from her first foster mom that Sandy has yet to relieve herself while outside or on the leash.  Today was no different and even though we organized many trips out into the fresh air to inspire her to do her business, she chose to bless us with a few indoor accidents instead.  We expect it will take us a bit of time to teach her some good bathroom habits and in the meantime the can of carpet cleaner is ready for action.

She is nervous about new sounds, seeing her reflection and the TV is a source of wonder for her.  So many new experiences!

We’ve had her with us for just one day and can confirm that she is as cute as can be.  Photos make it hard to really see her size, but she is an adorably tiny girl.  I suspect that whomever becomes Sandy’s forever family will spend many years being asked “how old is your puppy?”.   She is two years old so has reached her full (adorable) size.Her foster brother Finn is something of an opposite at his enormous size… so we thought this photo shows the contrast pretty well.We’ll be working with Sandy in the weeks ahead to acclimate her to life in a house (especially the bathroom part), help her release her nervousness with new things, get her through her ear infections and then get her spayed and ready for a new home.

Anyone who has ever wanted a permanent-puppy should stay tuned and consider adopting her when she’s ready!

April 12, 2025

It’s Sandy’s foster mom here. Sandy came home yesterday and is starting to adjust to her new life. Yesterday was a big day: leaving the farm, meeting strangers, getting a bath, getting poked and prodded by the vet, and riding in the car. She was frightened, which makes a lot of sense. She has ear infections in both ears, which I will be treating, but otherwise got a good bill of health.

When she arrived home, Sandy perked up. She liked seeing and smelling the grass and meeting her foster sister, Cleo (a recent Brookline adoptee). Sandy quickly started playing with a ball and looked joyful, like a puppy.  At 2 years old, she is an adult, a small one at just 56 lbs.

After coming in the house, Sandy sniffed around before vacuuming up her dinner. She wasn’t interested in taking food from me yet, but she was very excited when I put the bowl down for her. She has a healthy appetite and even tried to eat her sister’s food. She definitely needs a slow-feeder bowl! I walked her for well over an hour to try to get her to do her business, but she had other ideas in mind. I finally gave up from exhaustion, and Sandy spent the night with her foster sister. It was remarkable that she did not have to go until this morning. What a bladder!

Sandy is shy with people and needs time to warm up, but she is gentle and offers kisses. She is playful and likes to chase, pounce, and chew on a ball.  She will need to learn how to climb stairs and to get used to her shadow in the window, but already her progress is remarkable. Everything is new, and it will take time. I suspect Sandy will soon find her own voice and start communicating directly with her adoring fans. Until then, please join me in giving Little Ms. Sandy a huge welcome to Brookline and a new, wonderful life.