Cindy {Bichon Cross} – Adopted

Cindy is the sweetest, cuddliest pup you may ever meet!  I don’t think she has a shy bone in her body.

She is about 1 year old and was surrendered due to some health issues the family was having. They just didn’t have the enough time to spend with her.

Cindy is housetrained, great with other dogs and is a very happy go lucky pup.  We haven’t had her around kids or cats yet, but we have a feeling she’d be just fine.  If you are interested in her and would like us to “kid and cat test” her, just let us know!

Sunny and Lucky Updates -ADOPTED

We discovered the hard way that Sunny gets car sick.  So if you are a truck driver looking for a travel mate, she may not be the best choice for you!  🙂 But in all other aspects, she has been doing great.  She’s been getting lots of attention and she is a very quick learner.  We have yet to hear her bark (which sounds like heaven to someone like me whose dogs never seem to stop barking). Despite her size, she loves to sleep on beds and couches and we’re pretty sure she thinks she’s a lap dog because she is always trying to climb up and sit on top of people. As you can imagine, it is quite the sight.  One day we’ll have to get a picture of that.

Lucky has lost quite a bit of weight already and she is looking great – her coat is so shiny and healthy looking.  She almost looks like a different dog!  She is healthy and active and running around acting like a puppy again (fetching a ball is her favorite!).  You would never know that she is ten years old!   She continues to be very low maintenance, and has adjusted well – she has never had an accident in the house and tells you when she needs to go out with a bark by the door. She is great with kids,  gets along with other dogs very well, and doesn’t seem to care much about cats. She is extremely quick at learning new manners and rules of the house. You can definitely teach an old dog new tricks!  For example, she has learnt to sit and wait to be fed with a release word, she has learnt to walk nicely alongside without pulling, and she respectfully obeys commands like “sit and stay” or “out of the kitchen”.  She is super affectionate and LOVES to snuggle.  With obedience and lots of love, she is the perfect dog. We don’t think she had ANY rules in her last home (or exercise) so she is now thriving!  She loves to walk, run and play so the more attention and activity she gets in a day the better. She has so much love to give, she really is the perfect companion dog.

 

Updates

Here are some updates from our foster homes:

Sunny

We love Sunny and she has basically become part of our family. She doesn’t require a lot of exercise but she seems to get a bit restless so we’ll take her out a few times a day.  After each walk she settles down nicely.  She if learning that toys are fun and it is great to see her coming out of her shell. She is housetrained which is wonderful but her basic leash training could use some work. She is unsure of other dogs and would not be good with cats as she does try to chase them.  Her favourite actively is snuggling and getting pets.

Hunter

Hunter is a dog with lots of energy. He is always happy but does need some work on his manners as he really likes to great people by jumping up.  We are working on this, but it is definitely a work in progress!  Hunter is great in the house – he doesn’t beg for food, he happily goes into his crate and loves to play.  He’s truly an awesome dog!

Hazel

Hazel is doing great. She’s curious about the cats but they run when she tries anything. Her and her foster brother get along really well.  They are constantly cuddling and kissing.  🙂 Hazel loves to snuggle – she will lay across your lap when you are watching tv and will sleep on the bed across your feet or even curled up right on top of you if you let her!

Daisy – Golden Retriever

Daisy is a gorgeous 1 year old retriever.  We’ve had Daisy since the fall, but we’ve been holding on to her until we knew for sure there was nothing wrong with her hips.  We waited  until we spayed her (she went into heat just as we scheduled her appointment) to do x-rays so we wouldn’t have to give her anesthetic twice.  The good news is, her hips are perfect, the slight limp we saw was only due to a soft tissue injury which is now all healed up!  Daisy is ready to find a new home at last.

She is everything you can imagine that a golden is – playful, friendly and active.

She is also still a puppy.  She likes to chew and will get into mischief if left unattended and when she doesn’t get enough exercise.  The good news is she is crate trained so when you need to go to work, she will happily hang out in her crate and you won’t need to worry that she is getting into trouble.

Daisy is quite obedient and eager to learn.  She is very good at watching and waiting for her foster parents to tell her what they want her to do next.  She also has good food and toy drive and will be a very fun dog to take to obedience classes.

If you are interested in this pretty little girl, be sure to drop us a line!

Lucky {Lab Cross} – Adopted

Lucky is a 10 year old lab cross.  Her family moved (away from North America) and despite their best efforts, couldn’t afford to bring her with them.  She was pretty sad for the first few days, but she has definitely started to love life again.

Lucky is a very sweet dog, and is super easy going.  She greets you with lots of kisses each and every time you come home.  If you give her a toy or bone, she runs and grabs it but come right back over for more pets.

Lucky is a very friendly girl but has very good manners.  She doesn’t jump up (for the most part!) and she barely ever barks.  Although she will bark at you if you are holding the toy and she isn’t done playing yet!  LOL

As you’ve probably noticed, she is a little overweight and is already been put on a diet.  We’s slowly been increasing her exercise as well and as soon as those extra pounds come off she’ll be a pretty healthy girl.

Her original owners took great care of her but they also spoiled her with too many treats and table scraps, so she needs a bit of training when it comes to not begging and eating food that is left out when you are not around.

Lucky just wants to be loved and would like nothing more than to hang around with you all day long. She does well with other dogs, and even shares toys.  She is also fine with cats.

She is totally house trained and she is a perfect sleeper- no snoring, no noises, and will sleep on the floor or in bed with you, whichever you’d prefer.  You can guess what she’d prefer!

Lucky may be getting on in years but she still has a tonne of spunk and spirit.  She is sweet and playful and would make a fabulous family dog.

Kayda {Boxer cross}

We’ve had Kayda for a few weeks now, but didn’t want to blog more information until we knew more about her.  Kayda is  is a 5 year old Boxer/Bulldog Cross that was surrendered by her owners to the Calgary Shelter, who in turn, contacted us as she wasn’t doing very well in a kennel situation.

Unfortunately for Kayda, her owners left her with some painful and expensive medical problems.  We’ve discovered that Kayda not only has a torn cruciate, but she also has hip dysplasia.  We have Kayda scheduled for knee surgery to repair her torn cruciate and luckily the hip displasia which can be treated without surgery. Exercise, supplements, and keeping her a good weight will help to keep her healthy and pain free for a long time.

 

Neither of these problems have dampened her spirits and aside from a bit of a limp, you would have no idea that she is masking a lot of pain.

 

Here is what else you should know about Kayda:

• She has the best boxer wiggle ever. Her little nubbin goes in the opposite direction of her wiggle. It’s hilarious.
• She is sweet and cuddly and super affectionate.
• She loves to lay on the couch with her head in your lap.
• She likes to be told she is beautiful (really- she wiggles even more!)
• She is happy and playful. She likes to carry around her pillow and any stuffed toys.
• She is good with cats (ignores them) and is good with most other dogs although she can resource guard a bit and would do best with a more submissive dog sibling.
• She is great off leash and listens really well.
• She has great manners, never jumps up, and knows all the basics.
• She likes to lay upside down with a toy in her mouth. It’s a hobby.
• She loves people and kids.

She is not quite ready for adoption yet, as we want to make sure she is fully healed after her surgery before sending her to a new home (this may be about 6-8 weeks) but we are taking applications. She’d love to hear from you!

I should mention that Kayda surgery is an expensive one (around $3,000).  But she’s worth it AND we can afford it, but it is going to leave a giant hole in our bank account.  If you have ever considered donating to the Windy City Canine Rescue, now would be a great time.  We are able to do this surgery thanks to some incredible and generous individuals that donated over the Christmas season.  We’ve been holding on to that money for an emergency just like this and we have our fingers crossed that another emergency won’t be heading our way soon or we may have some difficult decisions to make.

If you’d like to donate, you can donate through PayPal from our website or you can mail a cheque to us at the following address: Windy City Canine Rescue, PO Box 341, Coalhurst, AB  T0L 0V0.

Nilo Update

All Nilo ever wants is to be with you. He doesn’t seem to like to be left in a room alone so he follows his foster mom everywhere.  If you’re looking for a best friend that will want to do everything with you then Nilo just may be  the dog for you!

If you’ve ever read anything about Dalmations, you’ll know that they are high energy dogs with incredible stamina.  Nilo is certainly living up to that!  On the weekend he went for 5-8km walks for three days in a row and at the end of the walks he is still ready to go!

Nilo has been going to the dog park as well. He greets every dog and person he sees with enthusiasm.  He is very polite with new dogs and he doesn’t jump on strangers to greet them.  His listening skills while off leash still need some back but he always eventually comes back. 🙂 He loves his foster brother and sticks by his side when out and about so in a pinch you can always call his brother and Nilo will also come running.

His foster family is working hard on his on leash skills as well.  They’ve been training him to walk with a Halti.  With a little work he will make an excellent running or walking partner. We think he would also excel at a dog sport like agility or flyball.  He’s a smart guy and seems to want to please.

In the house he is very well behaved.  He sits nice while you get his food and is very polite when taking treats.  As we mentioned above, he loves his foster brother and the two of them will spend hours playing together.  He is a very good playmate as he doesn’t bully and he takes turns with toys.

When it’s time to relax Nilo is happy to spend time lying on the couch watching tv.  He is a couch potato and is convinced that he is a lap dog! His foster home has spoiled him, and he is now accustomed to sleeping in bed.  He’s an excellent sleeper, he doesn’t get up during the night and he doesn’t snore.  The only downside to having Nilo in the bed is when you are waking up in the morning – Once he can tell you are waking up he licks your face like crazy until you get out of bed!  It’s not a bad way to be woken up if you love dogs!

He is a very good house guest and will make an awesome pet for someone once he is in his forever home.

Lucy Update – ADOPTED

Lucy has been with us for about 3 weeks now, and she has made great strides in her confidence!  She is trying so hard to trust men, and gets a little closer everyday!  She still loves toys, and will carry her favorite toy around everywhere – we think it’s like her security blanket.  She even sleeps with it!  She loves to play with it, too, and brings it to you to throw for her.  She acts a bit like a puppy with her toys, batting them around and pouncing on them.

Over this last weekend, her foster family hosted a baby shower, so there was a whole house full of people, and Lucy took it all in stride.  She only barked as the first person came in, and then greeted everyone cautiously, but with confidence (it helped that they were all women!)  She even sat patiently beside some of them for treats.   Her foster family had a toddler staying with them on the weekend, too, and it turns out that Lucy loves children!  She followed him around the house and tried to get him to play with her.  And, get ready for this…one night she snuggled in with him when he was going to sleep, put her head on his lap and licked his hand!  It was pretty much the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.  So, we think she would be fine in a house with a dog-saavy child!

She still loves walks, and is great on and off leash.  She gets the zoomies sometimes, which is pretty funny, because her legs are so short, so she doesn’t run very fast.  She doesn’t like to be alone, but her foster sister is teaching her how to relax, and even showed her where the sun spots are in the house.

She is a brave little dog, with a lot of spunk.  She’s patiently waiting for a forever home.

Hazel {Rough Collie} – ADOPTED

Hazel is a 2 year old Rough Collie.

She is very sweet, very friendly and very playful. Hazel would probably do best in an active or with a playful dog brother or sister as she is often on the go. She is young and healthy and requires quite a bit of exercise still. She would be a great dog at the off leash park once she has a solid “come” command.

Hazel seems to be a daddy’s girl, but pretty much loves everyone and won’t turn down any pats or snuggles!

Hazel is great with kids and is good with cats – she is just completely ignoring her foster family’s cat. She loves treats and already knows basic commands like sit, down and shake a paw.

Hazel would do great with a family, provided they were consistent with her walks as well as any active couple or person.  I’m sure she would love to go camping, hiking, biking or any of those other fun outdoor activities.

Sunny – ADOPTED

Sunny is a beautiful, young, great pyrenees cross.  She was transferred to us from another shelter because she wasn’t coping well with being kenneled and really needed to be in a home environment to blossom. And blossom she has! Every day Sunny has more spark, and more happiness shining through.

Sunny loves people and is extremely gentle and loves to be petted!

She literally never barks and is completely house trained. For such a big girl you barely even notice her in the house!

She is just learning to play, although toys are still a complete mystery to her.  When you get her all sassed up though, she does crazy zoomies around the yard.

She is frightened of other dogs (even very small dogs) and is sweet as can be with people.  She comes up right away for some love and snuggles.

We don’t have a lot of history on her, but she does startle pretty easily and will sometimes flinch if you approach her too quickly. With a little time, and love we think that she will get over that pretty quickly.