Rini Black Labrador Retriever Female 2 Years Old ID #3056

Black Labrador Retriever

 

Meet Rini who just made the long journey north from Mississippi to meet her foster.  Her owners loved her very much, but owing to a health issue, they needed to give her up, and they are trusting Brookline to find her a great home.  Read from the bottom up!

May 6, 2022

Rini is now available for adoption:

https://www.petfinder.com/dog/rini-55518600/pa/warrington/brookline-labrador-rescue-pa06/

April 27, 2022

My what a cold and windy day today was, but with her thick, shiny coat, Rini didn’t seem to mind in the least.  I personally object to having to garden at the end of April in a down coat! Anyway we’ve had another good day.  Rini is starting to relax more; this means she’s napping more between bouts of play and walks, and only following me around 90% of the time.   We have a lot of balls outside and a few squeaky toys and a frisbee, and she loves switching them up to keep her better entertained and me on my toes.  Rini loves to get the ball, but if a resident dog gets it first, she graciously concedes.  She will steal it back the minute it gets dropped though.  Finders, keepers!

Today was the first day I left the property.  I was only a few miles away and watching on the camera the whole time (and I was only gone about 45 minutes).  She was not happy to be left behind, but while she stayed alert and didn’t nap, she was fine hanging out with the other dogs.  Never mind that they were all on the couch (sigh), although I watched Rini struggle to get her back legs up. For awhile she was OK sitting next to the couch, and then she and Maddie decided to keep an eye on the door, just in case I walked in.  I think before long she’ll gain more strength and not have a problem getting up on the couch.  Not good if you don’t want her on your furniture.  I think she follows the other dogs’ leads though and since they know they can’t be on the sofas when I’m home, everyone is napping on their respective dog beds.

Rini absolutely does not need a crate.  She is completely house trained and she hasn’t once tried to chew or pick up something that she shouldn’t.  Well actually she “play chews” on your hand if you get her riled up/ wrestle/”play dog” with her.  A child understandably wouldn’t like how that feels, so we’re working on not using our mouth on people; she corrects pretty well.  She isn’t aware of how big she is though and thinks nothing of sitting one one of my dogs when they are sharing a bed or stepping on them when she is trying to get past them.  Silly Rini.

We also took a walk around the neighborhood again and she seemed much more relaxed when she saw people in the distance.  And on our woods walk today we met a 10 month male black lab. Being still intact, he was a bit “amorous”, but Rini just bucked him off. And she seemed fine with the dog’s owners, although I coached them not to approach her but let her approach them.  That worked.  She was pretty relaxed.

Rini is still not a big breakfast person, but last night she inhaled her dinner.  I expect she’ll follow suit tonight. I’m not sure she is going to be a big fan of green beans though- I had to pick every single one out of her breakfast to get her to even start to eat her kibble.

That’s about all I can think of to say about Rini for now.  When foster dad gets back in town, I plan to take her for some more outings, including a walk in town where there are more people and a visit to a park where we might see kids playing to see how she does.

 

April 26, 2022

Yesterday was such a nice day that we spent most of it outside, and therefore the blog didn’t get updated.  Rini loves being outside.  Well, she actually likes being inside too as long as she can be next to her person. She is very velcro and even “squeaks” some when you stop petting her.  She’ll need a bit of WD40 if this whine keeps up, but it’s hard not to oblige those beautiful brown eyes with some more attention.

We had two great walks yesterday and the leash rarely was anything but slack. The day before, I also took her for her own shorter walk around the block and to meet my good friends who are always happy to help me work on socialization. Rini was a little nervous and approached them cautiously, and she seemed to prefer my friend over her husband.  In fact she growled (very softly) at the husband at first.  But he was patient and waited for her to approach him and she did.  Good girl Rini.    She will need continued practice with this, but I know she’s going to be fine – slow and steady wins the race.

Here she is on the couch (I’m not encouraging it but occasionally she jumps up on it when I’m sitting watching TV); she loves to look out the window and watch the world go by.

Black Labrador Retriever

Yesterday I got out the doggie pool, and everyone had a blast.  Rini is definitely a water dog.   She loves to drink from the hose and she loved to jump in and out of the pool.  I had to give a very muddy puddle a wide berth on one of our walks as I could clearly see she would have been wallowing in it if given the opportunity.

She’s getting along very well with the the resident dogs and I see no jockeying for a higher status (or jealousy on anyone’s part) and there are zero issues with food.  She takes treats nicely alongside the others, and while I feed her on the other side of a gate, it’s mostly because she is such a slow eater. It takes her about 5 min to finish her breakfast, and that’s with encouragement and me staying near her.   As an only dog she was only fed once a day in the afternoon and she didn’t have competition so I think she was probably a grazer.  I have the “inhale the food even when it’s in a slow feeder” model of lab.  And there is no way my dogs wouldn’t try to eat her food after they were done, and I suspect she’d let them.

I also took Rini in the car to our local privately owned pet supply store to get a weight on her.  The staff knows me well there and they always like to meet my new foster dogs.  I picked a quieter time owing to her nervousness with my friends the day before, and she did great.  The staff knows to give a dog its space, but she behaved very well, wagged her tail at everyone, and got right on the scale.  I really hadn’t believed she was 99 pounds, but that’s exactly the number I got.   Not that she doesn’t stand to lose a few (10?) pounds (who doesn’t after Covid?), but she really hides the weight pretty well.  She’s a big and tall (but more English than American in looks) lab.   I suspect those extra pounds are going to melt off considering how much she enjoys our walks and playtime in the yard. She came with her Nerf frisbee and loves it (and doesn’t chew it!).

I’ve only left Rini alone for about 15 minutes so far- and watched via camera while I stood outside.  She isn’t thrilled, but she whines not barks, but sticks close to the other dogs.  This cute photo is from when I was on the bike in the basement and all the dogs were waiting for me to come up.  Eventually they came down and Rini followed suit, but she’s still not a fan of the stairs. And she doesn’t quite get how to go up them in particular- she hops!  Interestingly enough  I read that Rini means “little bunny”.

Black Labrador Retriever

As her owners indicated she does bark when she hears a noise she doesn’t recognize, but as everything gets more familiar the barking is subsiding.  And she’s learning the term “quiet” that I say softly but firmly and “It’s OK.”  I expect her to just get better and better with time.

April 24, 2022

Nothing but good news to report about Rini.  She had a great night’s sleep in the master bedroom.  I was worried she might be a snorer as she’s a big girl, but if she snored, we couldn’t hear her over my male lab who decidedly does!  She isn’t thrilled with the stairs yet, but she has decided that she’s not going to be left behind.

She’s a little finicky about her food, which was similar to what she ate before but not exactly the same, and she’s drinking up a storm.  Both are consistent with her being a bit stressed with all the change.  Still no accidents, even with all that water lapping, and she finally went #2 this morning.

We went on a nice long woods walk on this glorious morning (we get a few of them a year in PA lol) and Rini is pretty much perfect on leash, just as her owners said she was.  She wants to be right by her person’s side.  What a pleasant change from most my fosters when they are new, and the smells of the forest have them pulling this way and that.

Rini is a ball fiend and she likes nothing more than playing fetch.  She has picked up a few chew toys/bones but hasn’t done any real chewing yet, and she is completely ignoring the stuffed toys for now.

I’ve already learned that Rini has an impressive alert bark, but thankfully she hasn’t had occasion to use it much.  Still I think she might scare off that intruder before they realized that her biggest weapon is her wagging tail.  Mostly she does a little whining if she wants something.  All in all, she’s a very good girl, and we’ll enjoy our time with her as we get to know her better.  It’s supposed to get pretty warm today so we’ll probably get the doggy pool out for her.  Rumor has it she loves the water.

 

April 23, 2022

Rini just landed at her foster home after ~30 hours of transport/car time, and she did great meeting the three resident labs.  We all took a walk to stretch those travel legs and I’m very happy to report that she didn’t pull at all.  Rini has explored the house and we have already practiced doing the stairs (it took just a little coaxing) as it’s clear that she wants to be wherever we are, and we all want to get some sleep tonight.

Stay tuned for updates as she settles in,  but we already know she is just as sweet as promised and foster mom isn’t worried even a little bit – even though foster dad is leaving for a trip tomorrow for a week, and she’ll be manning the fort (or her dog pack) solo.

Black Labrador Retriever Black Labrador Retriever

 

Adopt Your New Best Friend! 

PLEASE NOTE: While this Lab may not be available for adoption by the time you complete the adoption process, other great Labs are always finding their way into our Rescue.

If you are interested in adopting this Lab or any other Lab from our Rescue, please visit our Web site, www.brooklinelabrescue.org, for more information on our adoption process. If you need additional information about the adoption process or whether you are in our coverage area, please send an e-mail to our Rescue at info@brooklinelabrescue.org

Even if you are not ready to adopt, you can still help us help our Labs!

Brookline Labrador Retriever Rescue is a 501(c)3 non-profit volunteer organization funded entirely by donations. Donations are always needed to help with veterinary costs, transportation, and supplies for our dogs. For information on donating to BLRR please click here. https://brooklinelabrescue.org/get-involved/donate/ Donations are accepted via PayPal or you can mail a check to: Brookline Labrador Retriever Rescue, P.O. Box 638, Warrington, PA 18976-0638