• February 14, 2011 at 4:35pm in HAPPY TALES
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This beautiful, gorgeous, wonderful Goldendoodle found herself in a KY kill shelter, found as a stray, dirty, matted and mis-labeled as a Sheepdog.

  Seeing the beauty underneath all that mess, I tagged her for rescue for Oodles of Doodles, in NJ. Getting her to NJ turned out to be a three week endeavor as snow, cold weather and full transports prevented us from getting her to me.

Into a foster home for three weeks allowed her to be out of the shelter and cleaned up a little which must have been more comfortable for her, but she needed her own family and her own home.

I put her up on Petfinder and the applications were slow at first and then once she was cleaned up some and her beauty started shining through and the apps began coming, too.

  Chanel's foster mom reported her to be shy, laid back and very sweet, possibly abused as she would hide when scared and jump at loud noises but would follow her around and was a true velcro dog to someone who showed love and kindness.

She loved the kids of the foster home and was fine with other dogs and cats. I knew she would easy to place but I really wanted to find just the right, perfect home for her so that she would never have to be afraid, again.

One app in particular, really struck me and I kept coming back to it as I went through the applications for Chanel. They had young children, mom was home all day and everything was perfect except for two things: Mom had allergies and their yard wasn't fully fenced, yet. They would be finishing it in the Spring but that was months away. The allergies would be harder to solve as Chanel was still in KY and we couldn't figure if she would be non-shed and hypoallergenic until she got here. After going back and forth, I decided to call this family and feel them out.

I spoke to Tina and found out they had been looking for their Forever Dog for over a year, putting in several apps but none panned out. One rescue even sent her a very terse email belittling her for the "faults" of her application and that hurt her quite a bit. The irony of that rescue doing that made me want to try to find this family a dog, even if it weren't Chanel.

When we finally were able to arrange transport, I called Tina and asked her how far she was from the transport pick up spot and surprisingly, she was only 15 minutes away. We made arrangements for her to meet us at the drop off for her to meet Chanel and see if there was any allergic reaction.

  It was so cold the night of the transport. It was delayed about an hour because of snow in MD and Tina and Rob waited patiently with us until the van came in. Chanel came off, finally, after riding for 10 hours and though scared and nervous, smelling like a shelter crate and probably freezing, we took her into Petco to "see" and meet her properly.

Tina did something while we were in there that caused me to KNOW she was the right person to adopt this girl. Not knowing if Chanel would cause an allergic reaction, Tina rubbed Chanel all over, put her face in her fur, put her hands in her mouth and basically gave this scared, smelly girl a massage, all the while hoping the sneezes and hives would not arrive. They spent about an hour trying to get Chanel to make her allergies flare. Chanel took it all in stride and accepted it all.

Tina and Rob went home and I took Chanel home with me hoping I would hear from Tina very quickly. In the car on the ride home, I said to Danny, that I think they are the right one's for Chanel and kept thinking they would call and tell me to bring her back.

But they did call, first thing the next day. They wanted her...they loved her...no allergic reactions...could they come today...they were so excited, I said yes.

So, this great family, with allergies and young kids and an unfinished fence are adopting our girl. This sad, sweet, abused KY Belle is now HOME and her new name is Bella. She is adored and loved, finally. There will be no more sadness or abuse for her. She has her very own family.

         Have a wonderful Life, Bella!

Reply by Sue & the Crew on February 14, 2011 at 5:56pm

 

What a wonderful story with a fantastic ending.  Thanks to Bella's new family for giving her the home she so deserved. She really is a beautiful dog - I love the blanket she has now, so cute.

Reply by Lynne Fowler - Admin on February 14, 2011 at 6:08pm

 

Her new brother and sister want her to feel happy and warm. They are beyond crazy about her. They will all grow up together.

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SITE ADMINPermalink Reply by Jeannine, Gamine & Thalie on February 14, 2011 at 6:38pm

 

How more cute can she be!! She really fit in the family photo!. Have a great, save and loved life sweet girl! Thank you so much to Tina and Rob for opening their home and hearts for her. We do love you very much!

 Reply by Susan D. on February 14, 2011 at 6:46pm

 

I love this story! She is a beauty! I am so glad for her new family and for Bella that she has found a home!

 Reply by Lynne Fowler - Admin on March 29, 2011 at 3:18pm

 

UPDATE

Hi Lynne,
Good to hear from you.  I hope all is well with you and your family.  I see you have quite a few pups up for adoption.  Best of luck with that, I am sure you will find them wonderful homes.  Bella is fantastic!  What a great addition to our family.  We have had her for 6 weeks now and she is very much at home here.  She is the queen of the house, lounging all day right by my side and the receiver of endless love in the afternoon when the children come home.  We all adore her, the kids still cannot believe that they have a dog.  They wake up every morning and go right to her bed to pet her and love her quietly until she gets out of bed and stretches.  This still makes them giggle with excitement.  In fact, everything Bella does thrills them.  We taught her to talk to us when she wants to go out and play.  She is great off lease in our yard, listens so well and loves to chase us around.  We are still trying to teach her to fetch the ball, frisbee, stick or whatever she will retrieve but no luck yet.  She is lazy, loves to lay around and nap as much as possible.  In fact when she is out in the yard with us running she usually collapses onto the grass when she needs a rest.  Too funny!  She has bonded with me and the kids but still fears Rob.  He pets her and rubs her neck for her everyday, talks gently to her and feeds her when he is home at meal time.  She has come a long way with him but still avoids him.  The only time she is in his face and wanting his attention is when he is eating.  She wants his food!  Ha-ha.  I think the funnest thing she does is herd us like sheep.  When we are outside and running around with her, she whips around us, very fast and low to the ground until we are all gathered together.  At first it shocked us, we had no idea what she was doing.  Now we know what to expect and look forward to her wild show.  I could go on and on about all the wonderful things she does.  She is our perfect pet, a best friend to me and the kids.  We are so grateful that you rescued her from that awful place in Kentucky.  We often talk about where she came from and why she was found as a stray.  What happened to her 1st owner?  They trained her, spayed her, etc...  It is unbelievable to us that someone would just let her go.  Thanks again for trusting us and letting us adopt Bella.  We love her unconditionally.  Here are a few of the hundreds of pictures we have taken of her.  Take care, talk soon.  Love, Tina

Reply by Sue & the Crew on March 29, 2011 at 3:33pm

 

This was wonderful to read.  The herding is hilarious!  Boy I know that - Sammie does it with other small dogs, not really humans though mind you she is never around small kids so who knows.  Sammie also refuses to play fetch.  I wonder if Bella is an aussiedoodle?

The pic of Bella is gorgeous.

Reply by Lynne Fowler - Admin on March 29, 2011 at 3:42pm

 

She sounds like she is really happy. I am so glad. Can you imagine the first pic to the newest one? What a difference. Nice to be able to see the diamond in the rough. I am so glad I grabbed her.

 Reply by Jeannine, Gamine & Thalie on March 30, 2011 at 9:40am

 

Bella is home now and for good!! I love the fact that she is the queen of the house. Thalie was too scare of Guy first but he is now her best Daddy/buddy and she love him so much...

Gamine, our Golden, do not want to have anything to do with fletching.... and she is a Retriever!!

Lynne you have all the reason to be proud, I'm sure this is so rewarding to read!

Reply by Lynne Fowler - Admin on June 23, 2011 at 2:24pm

 

I just had to add this snippet from a letter I got from Bella's Mom. It really melted my heart and one of the reasons I keep doing this:

I'm glad you adopted to us too.  It has changed our lives and we are grateful.  The kids says hello to you, you are a household name around here.  Both kids say their prayers every night and thank god for Bella every time.  Too cute, Madilyn says "Thank you god for the best dog in the world"  Same words, every night.  I love it!
Talk soon, Love,
Tina

Reply by Sue & the Crew on June 23, 2011 at 6:27pm

 

That's so sweet.  How fantastic to know you made a difference not only for Bella, but for the family.  I know I enjoy just reading the story.  I'm sure there is lots more of this to come ;-)

 Reply by Lynne Fowler - Admin on June 23, 2011 at 6:31pm

 

Thank you, Sue. It really feels good to read things like this and makes all the "other stuff" seem very insignificant.

Reply by Jeannine, Gamine & Thalie on June 23, 2011 at 7:41pm

Delete

I remember that gorgeous girl! I hope you will start to believe that your love and care for those doodles/oodles have change so many lifes including mine. You're the best my friend.

I'm so glad for Bella, she find the true love with her family.

Flynn is a 3 month old, first gen. Labradoodle boy from a BYB (puppy mill) in PA. This sweet boy was adopted by his "breeder" to a family in New Jersey. He was returned to the "breeder" because he wasn't holding down his food and their vet said it would be an expensive surgery to fix an esophagus problem.

Flynn has only been with me for a few hours but in that time, he met my pack, played with some puppy chew toys that I found around the house and has eaten my homecooking several times and has had no problems. I started by giving him a few bites here and there and he held it down and came back for more. Just plain chicken, smashed peas and brown rice.

I went looking at the papers that came with him and the family was feeding Purina Puppy Chow. Could this be the problem? We will see. I have an appointment for Monday and some housetraining to do, then Flynn will be looking for his new Forever Family.

This little boy was in a kill shelter in SC and came up to NJ on a transport. I had a bit over a week to get ready for his arrival as he was put in quarantine, vetted and shaved before he would be put on the transport. I put out the Petfinder Listing, started receiving applications almost right away, and finally narrowed it down to one really great family. 

Little Mister Elmo arrived in NJ after traveling 2 days being handed off from car to car to car and when I took him from his transport crate, he snuggled into me and my heart melted. I brought him home and my pack greet him with their usual exuberance and then they all went exploring our yard. 

Elmo met his new family and everyone loved him and his cutie-pie face. He went home with his new human brother and sister and fur sister. His new mom and dad were also so thrilled with him and I was sad to see him go.

Be Happy, Elmo. Have a wonderful Life.

LINK to Elmo's Blog - http://www.doodlerescuecollective.com/profiles/blogs/elmo-has-gone-...

UPDATE Sept 25, 2010 - 

Elmo's new mom called me today and couldn't be happier with her new boy. She said he is always happy, always wagging his tail and is starting to put on weight and know he is home.

Here he is with some of his new family, almost one month later.  

November 22, 2010

Hi Lynne!  Just wanted to give you an update on Elmo.  He is becoming more beautiful every week as his fur continues to grow longer.   He  was a cowboy for Halloween and of course his sister Patches was a cowgirl.  I will have my daughter send you pictures from her phone.  He is an incredible jumper, so we have learned not to leave food unattended on the counter.  Don't worry, He's not starving.  He gets lots to eat and loves his bones.  It was very sad in the beginning when we first gave him a bone.  He just licked it.  He had no idea what to do until he watched Patches.  Now he's a pro!  His personality is very loving and affectionate. He is always wagging his tail and loves to meet new people and new dogs.   He LOVES to play fetch and can run like the wind.  Unfortunately, he is very clumsy and often trips over his own feet or runs into Patches.  He brings us lots of laughs and lots of joy.  I hope that you have found many new homes for wonderful and deserving dogs like Elmo.    Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Melissa

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