1-877-281-3146
| STATE: MA AGE: 2-3 years DOB: Unsure WEIGHT: 65 lbs? SEX: Female NEUT/UTD: Unsure/Unsure COAT COLOR: Brindle DOCKED TAIL: Yes CROPPED EARS: No CHILDREN UNDER 4: Unsure CHILDREN OVER 4: Yes SEPARATION ANXIETY: No OTHER DOGS: No CATS: Unsure CRATE TRAINED: Yes HOUSE TRAINED: Yes LEASH TRAINED: No OBEDIENCE TRAINED: No MICROCHIPPED: No ADOPTION FEE: $300 |
| UPDATE 3/26/10 - 1year,1month update for Miss Wiggles: Has a year already gone by?? She is just so much a part of the family, and we have settled into our routines, that the days go by quickly. She recently had her 1 yr check up w/the vet: all okay -- she's now at 68 lbs, which is ok, but we don't want anymore weight added. She is not a chowhound, and modulates/moderates herself depending on day/mood/hour, etc., so I don't know where the weight is coming from -- we don't give her any tablesnacks, altho' she loves her dried chicken w/glucosamine treats. She is very integrated/comfortable at my sister's home in Maine as well, and with their dog. When I go for a weekend visit, Miss Wiggles is happy to see all (including my 93 yr. old father), and joins their dog on "the big bed" in my sister's bedroom. When I have had to travel overnite, she stays with them. And, she is much calmer when I welcome people into my home. She no longer circles around them and barks. In fact, one friend she now regards as a "soft touch" and cozies up to her/puts her paw on her lap when we're at the dinner table. It doesn't work, but encouraging to know Miss Wiggles understands the concept of friends/people you can trust, etc. On the other hand, still fearful/will circle and bark at men we pass on the woodland trails, even if they have a dog. (She continues to play very well with dogs of all sizes, even getting down on the floor to play with/swat with her paw the tiny dogs....) She is still very agressive/territorial re our car. I want to have a trainer in to help me work with her on that....It does mean she can't go with me in the car in the warmer days when I go shopping, because I can't leave the windows down.. Miss Wiggles is eagerly anticipating Spring. She has heard the peepers, and now that the snow has melted, is smelling the early smells of spring -- she checks out every tree hole for smells of chipmunks, squirrels, etc. And, I think the overriding theme of her existence right now is, "Is it frogs yet??" She LOVES to try to catch frogs in the woodland ponds. The fact that she can hear the peepers, but can't see them drives her nuts! So glad she is a part of my life..... UPDATE 8/31/09 - Miss Wiggles: 6-Month Update Good news: Miss Wiggles is now roundworm free, so later in September I will investigate doggy daycare for 2 days a week. She so loves to play with other dogs. The 2nd/intermediate training class was cancelled, so will scout out another one for the fall. She has been mellowing out re people at home – after initial barking at the door, backs off. But still has strong protective instincts toward the home and the yard in front. I need to keep her enclosed in the back yard, or she would run after/bark at the children skateboarding, people walking their dogs in the street, etc. She is much better on the trails away from home, and seems to be calmer around the people she meets there, although she still will confront some with growls and barks. She is doing very, very well with the two cats my daughter brought home to stay for the summer. Both sides are curious about each other, but keep their distance. They respect each other’s space, altho’ sometimes it is clear that Miss Wiggles would love to play with them… It turns out that Miss Wiggles’s very best favorite thing to do is try to catch the frogs and tadpoles in the vernal pools and ponds around here. While most (?) times she will come if called, she absolutely ignores me completely when she’s in the water “on the hunt.” She could spend hours wading in those pools; but the frogs jump faster and higher (and can swim) than she can, so no living thing has been hurt. Some days I have had to wade out to bring her back in; I should just get a lawn chair and a good book and let her have at it for an hour or two.. But, this is another reason she needs more training, so she will obey commands in spite of distractions (I am hopeful, but doubtful at the same time). She has spent time with me up in Maine at my sister’s home and has come to realize that many more people will pet her and love her if she gives them the chance. She will soon spend a week with them without me when I am away on another vacation. She has made friends with their dog (an older Lab), although that dog persists in regarding her in large part as a pain in the butt younger cousin that she has to put up with. That’s all for now – looking forward to the cooler weather of the autumn, so that Miss Wiggles can travel with me in the car more while I do errands. I think she has missed that. She continues to be a cuddle snuggle bunny – anytime, anywhere. UPDATE 5/21/09 - Miss Wiggles: 3-Month Update Re the vet report: Checked in with the vet re most recent stool sample – Miss Wiggles still has roundworm, so vet gave her another 1 time dose; I will check in with vet re new stool sample in 3-4 weeks time (June), to see if this time we’ve got it cleared up. My back yard is now fully fenced in, so Miss Wiggles and I can be out on the patio or playing with abandon. She does not like to go out there without me, however. She has continued to help me with my gardening and yard clean up – digging up the new compost soil as I put it down, sitting in/on the pachysandra. In an effort to direct my attention away from planting and focus it all on HER, she runs off with the broom, the dust bin, the flower pots, etc. All in an effort to get me to chase her, so she can roll over and have her belly rubbed. Miss Wiggles completed her Beginner Obedience class, but because she still doesn’t follow commands when distractions are present, I am enrolling her in Intermediate Obedience which starts May 27th. While she is well behaved with people I invite into my home (altho’ still very shy/uneasy with males), and behaves well when we go to visit others, AND plays well with other dogs of all shapes, sizes, and ages, she is becoming more aggressive with people we meet on the trail. It seems that as she becomes more secure, her “natural” desire to safeguard me is coming out; it will need work. If allowed, she will get right up to a person and bark and or growl. (She used to bark from a distance and back away.) I’ m hoping to focus on that if possible in this next training course. Also, she gets extremely aggressive if people approach the car when I am in it or near it. I.e. if we pull into a gas station, I need to use self-serve, rather than have an attendant pump the gas and collect my charge card. And she got seriously upset when a fellow at the garden store went to load bags of top soil into the back of my station wagon. Again, stuff I hope to work on. Because she really loves playing with other dogs, the first trainer suggested she might like Doggie DayCare, so I have investigated a place and am thinking about having her go there 2 days a week so she can play with others. However, she cannot be considered until we have cleared up her current roundworm infestation. But I do think it’s a good idea long term. She loves to run, and will get very playful and funny in the back yard—head and butt down, careening in loopy circles. And, if there are no people around, I like to let her run over fallen trees/over stone walls on the woodland trails. She runs with all her might and circles back to me. Might she have done agility work in her earlier life? I’m looking forward to this next obedience class. As a single person, it is difficult for me to work on distraction training, since I have no one else here to run by, or bicycle by. But I’d really like to find a way to focus on that. I think I will put a small kiddie pool out on the patio, so Miss Wiggles can have some summer water fun as well. Hard to think my next update will be end of August. Here's to a good summer to all... UPDATE 4/21/09 - I’m pleased to provide my second update on Miss Wiggles. She continues to grow into her new life here. Re the vet/admin side of things: she had her second Lyme booster, so is all set that way w/vaccines until next year. She had her second dose of round worm pills, and will have a fecal test in May to determine if she’s clear of those. Now on to the fun stuff: She sits up and looks out of the car window much more than she did upon arrival. She likes to see where we’re going. It may be the spring weather, but I think some of it is her growing security. She continues to play well with dogs she meets on the trails: they play in the water, they play on the trails. She is never aggressive to other dogs. I think she is a very good playmate, and some other humans have remarked on that. Her favorites are a St. Bernard puppy, a German Shepherd puppy, a Greater Swiss Mountain dog, a German Pointer/Am Staff mix, and two big chocolate labs. This weekend, I introduced her to the standard poodle of a friend of mine. After limited/controlled “check-outs”, they played nicely together in his backyard. In our backyard, she plays well with a rubber fetch stick, a flying saucer, and a big bouncy ball. I was amazed that she actually retrieves them and brings them back to me! She will do that for 2-3 times, but then just wants me to scratch her and rub her belly… She loves rolling around in the grass, and has helped me weed the flower/shrub beds—she digs by my side, and loves to smell the discarded grass clumps! As before, she continues her good manners when we go to other homes by sitting quietly at my side. She has done well in obedience class (there are 3 other dogs including another rescue), and will be graduating next week. That’s all for now; what a delight and joy to have her in my family! UPDATE 3/21/09 - I’m pleased to report on Miss Wiggles’s first month: For the admin stuff: I did not receive any vet records from your group. So, I took her to my local vet on March 11th for her full set of shots. She is registered with the Town of Concord. She is to have her lyme vaccine this coming Friday, 3/27. She is also on a yearly schedule of monthly heartworm tablets and monthly FrontLine/tick repellant. The vet found she had round worm which, she assured me, is common and not surprising given her past history. She has had her first round of pills, and on April 2nd she will have her second/final round of pills for roundworm. She is enrolled in a lst level obedience class – altho’ she knows many commands already. We had our first together class last Tuesday (3/17), with 3 other dogs (one of whom was a rescue). The trainer has worked for many years with rescue dogs, as well. Miss Wiggles did well. She did not react to the dogs or the people aggressively. And she obviously has had some prior training. She comes when called. She sits (mostly), she waits, etc….. Miss Wiggles is a delight. She is a loving, very intelligent soul. After her second day with me, her sense of fun surfaced. She takes one of her “toys” (I think she thinks they’re my toys), shakes it wildly in front of me, and then runs upstairs to jump on my bed, and shake it a few more times. It is all a big bait and switch – as soon as I get up there, she has rolled over so I can rub her belly! She sleeps on my bed (and snores only sometimes). In the morning, she loves to have her belly rubbed, and we do that and fall asleep for another ½ - 1 hour or so. We take 2 walks a day around Mt. Misery, a lovely wooded set of trails. (as well as regular pee breaks in the back yard/around the block) She loves the woods and she has fun meeting other dogs on the trails. Some she plays with. She still has fear/hesitation about people – she will bark and back away, then bark again, etc. But she does well with the dogs. She is not aggressive, she just sniffs, and they her… She will bark when my friends or family come to the front door. I am working on that, and hoping that time and exposure will help. Last night my daughter and my stepchildren and their 3 children came to dinner. After barking at the adults, and nicely sniffing their dog, she then adopted her standard response to new situations -- Sitting quietly close to me. She did let the children pet her, and she now recognizes my daughter Olivia, so didn't bark at her. It is so interesting that when I take her to friends homes, she is so well behaved. She doesn’t bark, she just sits near me, and I reassure her. Hard to believe it’s only been 1 month; she is a part of my heart and my family… 2/21/09 - Miss Wiggles has been adopted! 11/11/08 - So I took Mrs. Wiggles over to the vet this morning because she had been scratching herself constantly and has some small fur patches missing under hers arms and on her neck. She seems to have a skin infection, so the vet gave her antibiotics and something to stop the itching. Otherwise, she is a healthy girl. Good weight, very strong. She is also starting to come out of her shell a bit. She wags her nub constantly at me, and always wants to be close. Last night we ran around the yard together after her rope toy. She's very rolly-polly and just so sweet. She is very cautious when meeting new people, especially males. I'd even say that she is afraid of men, but she does not seem to be hand-shy. With much coaxing she will sniff them and let them pat her, but she is very unsure about it. Also, if Scott makes a sudden noise, she startles and backs away. Yesterday he got home before I did, and when she saw him come through the door, she ran and hid in the closet! She is letting him pat her, though, and now rests her head on his leg on the couch. So I think it will just take her more time to believe that he's as big a love bug as I am. -- 11/8/08 - So Miss Wiggles arrived to her new foster home this afternoon. What an adorable girl. She seemed very, very nervous for a while, and is just starting to relax a bit. When she first got here, she sniffed around the house, and then we went into the back yard with her in case she had any business to take care of after her trip, and she was so afraid that she went and hid under some debris behind the tool shed! After a short while we were able to coax her out and herd her back into the house, where she lay down at our feet in front of the couch. After watching some TV, we all went upstairs and took a family nap, with her in the middle. The good thing about a short dog is they don't kick you out of bed! She cuddled right up between us and slept. Now we are awake, and she is following me around the house. She actually ate her food that arrived with her, I guess it was her breakfast that she didn't eat. So I'd say she's feeling more comfortable. I gave her some of our famous chicken treats, and when she first smelled them her little nub started wagging. Now she is lying down at my feet under the desk as I'm typing. It's raining a bit, but we're going out walking later and we'll see how she does. Seems to like to pull, but we'll work with her on that. When we first picked her up, she didn't seem to respond to any commands, not even her name. But now she is very interested in listening to the sounds of the dogs and kids in the neighborhood and is responsive when I call and tap on my leg for her to come. So much progress already! As she gets more comfortable here, I'm sure her personality will come through more and we'll have lots more to share. 11/4/08 - Miss Wiggles arrived safely from Indiana via airplane. All of the wonderful pilots who delivered her to me are amazing volunteers. Miss Wiggles did not enjoy her plane ride at all, but she is now safely grounded. I thought I was picking up a Boxer, however, what we have here is a beautiful Olde English Bulldog. SCBR/Harmony Haven are just happy we can help get one more doggie saved. The shelter in Indiana lost their funding and had to find homes for 90 dogs and cats in a very short period of time. So we waited patiently for beautiful weather so the volunteer pilots from ARF (Animal Rescue Flights) could deliver her to me at the airport 5 miles away. Easiest transport ever!!! Wiggles gets along with children and any time you pet her she rolls over on her back and gives you her belly to rub (even in the rain-I have to be careful not to scratch her neck when we are waiting on the corner - she rolled into the darn puddle). Miss Wiggles passed the Bungalow requirement of allowing me to bathe her upon arrival. She smelled after being in the shelter for so long. Whew! We will be updating her again soon and I'll send pictures also, but I wanted everyone to know she was here in NJ at the Boxer Bungalow on the Links. |
| MEET MISS WIGGLES (Olde English Bulldog?) |
