Layla - the GSD - Part 1 of 3

Even though our German Shepherd Layla has only been here since last Summer, we have loved her since we moved here over 7 years ago. She lived in the yard of a house on a corner lot in our neighborhood. She never went inside, but was always there, sitting in her front yard. When she was young, her toys would be in the road and a couple of times, she'd have someone's UPS package in the middle of the road, borrowed right off of their porches. We'd always worry about her when we didn't see her, we didn't know her name. She was Fida in our mind.
A few years ago, our Black Mouth Cur, Freedom, fell in love with Layla. We could not keep him in the fence....he would jump out and sit with Layla in her yard, on the corner. They were truly in love, the talk of the neighborhood. He would leave after breakfast and come home for dinner. All day, they would sit there. It was such a sad night when Freedom was hit by a car in front of Layla's house. Layla would always miss Freedom, and she was always special to us, like family. We looked for her every time we drove into the neighborhood and waved to her when we went by.
Last year, her family fell on hard times. Layla was looking old and worn. For a time, there was no one in the house for days at a time. We stopped by and fed her sometimes and gave her treats. We were told that she was being fed and that the neighbors were feeding her.
Once the summer came, there was Layla, still out in the yard, losing weight and looking tired and more worn than ever. One night, Michael was out getting food, it was over 100 degrees at 7pm, he couldn't stand it anymore. Michael loaded Layla into the truck, she was skin and bones and sick. The air conditioning in the truck was the only relief she had had in weeks. While Michael was loading her up, the "owner" showed up and said that he couldn't take care of her anymore. Why didn't he tell us sooner??
We moved Layla into our downstairs room, it is cool, comfortable and we are able to block it off from the rest of the house. Once we had her there, we realized how sick she was. She had a bladder infection....she was peeing straight blood, she had chewed off half of her tail, she was covered in fleas, and was skin and bones. She slept and slept, happy to at least be cool. Hopefully Michael had gotten her in time.....

Layla the first day

look at those sad eyes

poor skinny girl.....

but wait until you see her now.

Layla's true love, Freedom

What's for dinner?

With as many dogs as we have living here.. it's important that we provide a consistent, healthy diet. Many of them have skin allergies, bad ears, sensitive stomachs etc.... we have worked out a standard diet for all of them. It has pretty much eliminated the allergic issues for all of our dogs, settles well with all of the sensitive senior digestive systems and provides a well balanced diet of dry and fresh foods. Everyone gets a mixture of grain free dry food (Nature's Domain) and a freshly cooked, blended stew (sometimes called "Aunti Stew") which is great for hiding medications. We go through 60 pounds of dry food and about 5 gallons of stew a week.

Aunti Stew

The food run

Getting ready for dinner

Playtime

My favorite time is playtime.... It's better than TV. Here are a few of my favorite playtime photos.

my all time favorite - Gracie, Lucy and Ginger

Lucy and Gracie

Ginger and Reggie

action in the yard - Ginger, Gracie and Charlotte

Gracie and Ginger

We'll miss you Rosie

Today our Rosie went to the Rainbow Bridge. She has been with us for the past 15 months and has taken up a big space in our hearts. Although she was old, 15 or 16 years, she had a young heart and sweet disposition. Her mind outlasted her body and she got to the point where she could no longer stand up on her back legs, even with help. Rosie was brought into Middle Tennessee Golden Retriever Rescue from a high kill shelter. At the time she had terrible ear infections and was completely deaf. She never regained her hearing even after her infections were brought under control. Rosie was always by our sides pushing under our hands for a pet. She kept a great attitude and never got mad at anyone.
Even though we knew that this time was coming soon because of her age, we still wish that she could have been here longer. We are so thankful that we had this short time with her. We'll never forget our Rosie!

Lucy - doggy perfection

If every there were a perfect dog....Lucy is it. Maybe not to everyone else, but to us, she couldn't be better. Lucy came from a horrible, sad hoarder situation, almost two years ago. She was kept in a small cage day and night and barely survived an extreme bladder infection. All of this, and Lucy has an incredibly good attitude about everything. She is such an inspiration to anyone who knows her.
Lucy trots with a pep in her step, carries her hurley toys with her wherever she goes, keeps track of her "baby" Belly (more in a future post) and smiles, smiles, smiles. I have never heard her growl and she barks with a happy "woo woo woo".
I always say that Lucy could eat the couch and I wouldn't be mad. How can anyone get mad at Lucy?

Lucy when she got here

drying off after a romp in the rain

Lucy with her party hurley

play sessions always end with Lucy upside down

Beautiful Lucy

Happy Lucy with her Girly Hurly

the Whodunits

 With the average age of the dogs around here at 11 years, there's a lot of sleeping going on. Much of the time, the place looks like a crime scene....

The Little Black Girls

I am putting Belly (a peek a pom) and Asteroid (a papillon) together in this post because they have size and color in common. They are only sometimes a pair and have very different personalities. Another way that they are alike is that both of them think that they are as big as the big dogs.
Belly (was Belle, but since she rolls over when you touch her, Belly fits her better), is a tomboy who wants to be treated like a princess. She guards our backyard from the neighbors killer chihuahua and has no problem putting the big guys in their place. We adopted her from a rescue when our old yorkie went to the bridge six years ago and the pack was unbalanced without the little dog attitude.
Two years ago, we thought that Belly needed someone her own size to play with. We took her to the humane society to visit Asteroid (then Astrid) and they wanted nothing to do with one another. Another woman was contemplating adopting Asteroid so we left her with our name and number saying that if ever it came to the point where Astrid were going to be put to sleep, to give us a call. Once we meet a dog, we feel responsible for that dog....it's just us. We never expected to hear anything.....Almost a month later, Asteroid had not been adopted and was growling at everyone who came near her cage ( after two months in a cage, who could blame her). She was labeled as unadoptable and in danger. That afternoon, Asteroid joined our pack. She still growls at everyone with her two toothed grin, but that's just Asteroid. She plays with the big guys and really is a lovable girl.

Asteroid chillin' with Rosco

Asteroid and Belly

Belly Glamor shot

Asteroid when she arrived

Belly in the garden

Atilla the Hunny Bunny

Hunny Bunny is our other really oldie. She is somewhere around 15 years old. She is lumpy and bumpy and looks like a sheep. From MTGRR but she hasn't a bit of Golden in her. Every once in a while her head shakes, or she has fallen and she can't get up, but all in all she's a happy girl. Her favorite time of the day is eating time and she loves, loves, loves to be brushed. Having lived outside all of her life, housebreaking is still challenging to her, but she's doing better and better all of the time. It's always easy to find Hunny....she's never more than ten feet from the door. Guess she had enough outdoors in the first fourteen years of her life.

Hunny when she got here last August

 

You ought to hear her snore

Hunny Bunny last week

Rosie the Red

Rosie is one of our two really oldies.We don't know for sure how old she is, but we are pretty sure that she is at least 15. She is still smart as can be, and has pretty good vision, but she is completely deaf and somewhat arthritic. She had her annual physical last week. No vaccinations for a girl her age. After being heartworm positive and treated with the slow kill method over two years ago, her test shows that she is HW- for the first time this year. WTG Rosie!! Every day, Rosie has a spread of medications that keep her going, thyroid med, novox for her arthritis, glucosomine supplements, benedryl for allergies and now she will be getting a vitamin for her kidney functions after her past two blood tests showed some problems there. She also gets her ears cleaned out daily. She is worth it! To know Rosie is to LOVE Rosie.

Rosie when she first got here over a year ago

Rosie (2nd from right) with friends

Recent Rosie

Rosie after her spring groom

I'm so proud

Leo joined the pack today and as usual, I'm so proud of everyone. Yea, Toby got a little over excited, did some a-grr ing (a friendly Toby way of talking), a little humping and a lot of following, but it's all good.
It never ceases to amaze me and make me proud that this XL group has no problem sharing their home and their family with a needy newcomer.

Leo

Last night, just when we're feeling pretty full.....we get a panicked
phone call! A sweet, tired old dog is hanging around in the parking lot near a hair salon between two very major roads. Not a golden, so he's not going to the Golden Retriever Rescue....but we can't just leave him there.
Meet Leo. He went to see Dr. B today and aside from some heavy matting with thorns in his fur and tapeworms, he's doing ok.

Leo Yesterday

Leo Today

the Oldies

Everyone else is old....some sort of old, some really old (age in parentheses). A few have been with us since they were young. Here's the group. More detail about each in later posts.

Charlotte (12)

Rosco (9)

Rannie (8)

Belly (8)

Toby (12)

Rosie (15)

Layla (9)

Hunny Bunny (15)

Maggie (13)

Asteroid (10+)

Daisy (14)

Lucy (12)