Florence
Florence is a stunning 1 year old cream coloured, female, Golden Retriever who has not yet been spayed. This lovely young girl has received all the vaccinations necessary to travel to the UK and was groomed before leaving Eire.
HISTORY
Florence was relinquished through a Limerick rescue with whom IRR has not only got a great relationship but has had great success. Florence belonged to a breeder but couldn’t be bred as she had a slight heart murmur. Florence would suit anyone and although and extremely timid leans into you for all the affection she can muster. She is one of the gentlest dogs and her personality will eventually emerge once she feels settled and safe.
PERSONALITY
She is being fostered by Marilyn and Malcolm who said of her “Flo is beautiful both inside and out. Considering her age, she is calm, obedient and friendly with humans both adult and children, male and female and she is also good with other dogs.
She is still somewhat lacking in confidence and when she meets new people or dogs, she timidly crawls “commando style” on her tummy
We feel that we have not witnessed her full character and temperament yet as she is still settling in to our family life and routine and is, obviously, a little nervous. She is, however, gaining in confidence every day although she is still startled by sudden or loud noises eg doors slamming and the arrival of the bin men”.
After several days in foster they said “Flo continues to be a delightful family dog. She is relaxed, undemanding and tolerant. Given her background and the journey she made to Chester, it is not surprising that she is not fully house trained. However, we have worked hard on this and there has been marked improvement in the last couple of days with a lot fewer accidents in the house. We are using the technique of taking her to exactly the same spot in the garden at regular intervals, including a trip outside to this “toilet” at approximately 3 am. She has learnt that food is sometimes put on kitchen work surfaces and if near the edge she can reach it, so we do not leave any temptations!!. She will also pick up small objects or toys if the grandchildren have left them within reach, but readily gives anything up when challenged. She is eager to please and responds well to positive training. When out walking she is always on a loose lead with no pulling and is now confident to approach other humans and dogs in an extremely friendly fashion, although she still cowers when large vehicles pass. Some days she would appear to be older than her one year in that she does not always show enthusiasm for going out for a walk. Flo loves her bed!
Flo is still eager to please and reacts quickly to commands such as “leave” and “sit”. We have had a run of 3 days without an accident in the house and she is still clean through the night, although we are still getting up to let her out once in the night. We have noticed that more and more frequently she will get out of her bed and walk towards the back door as a signal to go out, but this is not yet 100% foolproof! She is still having three long walks a day and now walks well on a loose lead apart from being startled by passing vehicles and strange noises. Her style of walking could be called “casual stroll” now. We now use the command “wait” at roadsides and either “ok” or “come on” when all is clear and she reacts immediately to these commands. Every day she meets a huge variety of dogs on our walks and approaches them all very well. She especially likes Barney, a very laid back 12 year old Retriever with whom she actually has cuddles when they lie down together! We have found that she can be left in any room in the house and she makes no attempt to chew or climb on furniture.
HEALTH Flo had been groomed before we picked her up and she appears to be in very good health. We have been made aware of the fact that she has a grade 2 heart murmur but there are no outward signs of this.
Her general health is very good, but we feel she might have had a minor, possibly stress related, tummy upset for a couple of days and we have been giving her boiled plain pasta and rice for two days with no further problem. Her motions were loose, but not watery and we have felt that a bland diet has helped. We have been made aware of the fact that she has a grade 2 heart murmur and wonder if this might account for her sometimes lethargic approach to exercise.
SOCIAL LEARNING Flo seems to have had some basic training. After 4 days, we feel she is eager to please and learns quickly when we use positive techniques involving small treats or just praise. She has shown no desire to chew, climb on furniture or go upstairs and loves to be part of family life.
TRAVEL: She is happy and content travelling in a vehicle. Flo was excellent on the long journey back to Chester from Holyhead and showed no sign of travel sickness.
HOUSETRAINING: She is not totally house-trained. She has had a few accidents in the house but showed a big improvement in this respect on day 4. She still needs to be taken outside every hour or so as she does not yet ask to be let out to go but we are working with her to improve on asking to go out to the toilet.
LEAD WALKING & RECALL: We are working to improve her recall within the house (ie recognising her name) and walking on a slip lead without pulling. She is having three long walks a day and, on day 4, she walked very well on a loose lead. She is wary of passing vehicles and is sometimes startled by new noises outside but she shows no sign of wanting to chase. She will sit on command at roadsides and wait to be told to cross.
RESOURCE GUARDING: She shows no evidence of resource guarding She is a typical retriever and loves her food and, because of this, she will try and steal from waste paper baskets but we have found that she will give things up without aggression or fuss. She is, in fact, not food, toy nor space possessive.
SEPARATION ANXIETY: There are no signs of separation anxiety. On her first night, Flo slept through peacefully downstairs in the kitchen.
ADULTS & CHILDREN: Flo is an extremely sociable young dog and is very friendly with adults and children. She is very gentle with everyone she meets. Flo has been in contact with our 3 grandchildren aged 4yrs, 2yrs and 19 months as well as other children between 5yrs and 10 yrs and Flo has been happy to be petted by all of them.
DOGS: Flo is very friendly with other dogs. She has met many other dogs on our woodland walk setting and there has been no problem.
Flo has gained more and more confidence over the last ten days. She has become a firm favourite with all of our relatives, friends and neighbours. We have taken her to our local dog friendly village pub where she loves the attention of the customers. She also reacted brilliantly to a rather noisy and energetic husky who was there with his owners and thought he owned the lounge bar!
CATS: She is untested so far with cats.
FLO’S DREAM HOME
She would not really be suitable in a busy household as she would probably feel lost and completely out of her comfort zone. She needs a gentle home with people who will take the time to get to know her at her own pace. The city tends to frighten her with all the noises and traffic. A spot with forests would be wonderful so that she can get lots of exercise.
She is a fantastic girl and she deserves a home where she can be spoiled and loved and where she can live a long and happy life.
NOVEMBER 2017
Florence has gone to live in her Forever Home