March 13, 2023:

Poppy has been in foster care for 3 months. She continues to be a very sweet but very scared girl. She still doesn’t like to be approached. If she is lying down, she will remain there, but if she’s standing, she will move off. Most often she will come to the entryway to wait for her harness to be put on but other times, you need to go find her in a hiding place. She is still not interested in approaching you if you are standing up unless you have peanut butter (& sometimes that’s not enough). She has shown some playfulness when she can come to you when you’re still in bed. Poppy still eats well but is not treat or food motivated enough for it to assist in gaining her trust. Her foster foster brother was adopted in the middle of February, and she had a rough time right after he left with regards to peeing in the house. That was thankfully short lived, and she is back to pottying outside.

January 8, 2023:

Poppy was spayed the last week in December and is healing very well. She was also treated for an infection within her urinary tract. Potty training seems to be going better so either the antibiotics have helped or her FH getting a puppy to foster too has helped. With the puppy having a bladder the size of a grape, there are many more trips outside. Poppy eats well and readily took her meds in a small bit of peanut butter. She continues to prefer her foster dad to her foster mom. Things are improving but it will take a very special family to set everything they think they know about what a dog likes and how fast they should settle in and just let Poppy show them what she likes when she’s ready. After 5 weeks with us, she still hides a lot in the bedroom rather than joining us in the rest of the home. If approached when lying down, she does not flee… how much the tip of her tail moves depends on who it is. She plays with the (male 12wk old) puppy very well and we think the puppy is helping her relax a great deal. She plays with her (4yr old) foster sister. She’d like to play with her foster brothers but they are not as interested… one doesn’t really play with other dogs and the other is selective with his playmates. But she does not annoy either of the boys with her attempts. As most Goldens seem to, she loves to roll in the snow.

December 27, 2022:

Poppy is a quirky little girl who sleeps with her head under the bed and lifts her leg for you to scratch her belly before allowing you to put her harness on to go outside. A while back, I found a couple of tug toys on her bed in the dining room and I thought her foster sister was trying to get her to play. Turns out, Poppy is a toy hoarder. We can sometimes hear her gathering up toys and then find quite a collection on her bed.

It’s hard to believe she’s been with us for nearly a month. She’s definitely following the 3 days-3 weeks-3 months rule. But we are very optimistic she will find her way. There doesn’t appear to be a mean bone in her body…just very scared of most everything. Her foster home consists of a foster (human) dad and mom and a foster (dog) sister and two foster (dog) brothers. She prefers foster dad most and does ok with all the dogs…she desperately wants to be part of the pack, but she’s still figuring out how. She has seen a cat but doesn’t have any interest. She has not had exposure to kids and very limited exposure to other adults. When her confidence in us is solid, we’ll work on socializing her with other humans.

Potty training is not solid yet…and this cold snap did not help matters. But we’re making progress. Because we do not have a fenced in yard, she is always on a leash outside. We allow her to play on the long lead but she is doing well with leading…not a heel, sit, lay, stay dog, but also not one that will pull your arm out of its socket.

December 9, 2022:

Poppy is a very timid girl but bravely learning all the sights & sounds of being inside a house. She says it’s tiring. More to come as we get to know this sweet girl.