22-008 Madonna , a Goldendoodle, was surrendered in January 2022. She was 2 and 1⁄2 years old, not spayed and not up to date on her vaccinations. She was described as calm, loving and liking cuddles. Her owner was having financial problems and had to move from a large house to an apartment that would not allow dogs.  Madonna  had had a litter about three months previously. Transporter Connie said the dog smelled horrible – apparently the source of the foul odor was where her teats had shrunk into her belly and caught a lot of debris and hair in the skin folds. After she was groomed, she had our standard vet workup. Her valley fever titer came  back very high at 1:128, so she was immediately started on fluconazole. A couple weeks after she came into Rescue, her foster noticed she was developing a lump in her mammary area; other lumps popped up later, so it was decided that  Madonna  needed her mammary chain removed, which was planned to be done when she was spayed. However, surgery was put on hold until her valley fever titer came down. In the meantime, she had bouts of diarrhea and bloody stools and had to be treated for these. She was also scratching a lot, so she was given Cytopoint injections and Zyrtec. After a few months, her valley fever titer came down to 1:64 but, wouldn’t you know, she went into heat! Finally, she was well enough to be spayed and was then released for adoption. We commend the adoptive couple who changed her name to  Lyra , for sticking with her during the year it took for her health to improve. They related: 

When she came to us she was dealing with valley fever, underweight, timid, and confused. When I met her, I sat on the ground and she walked right up to me and cuddled in my arms. I was hooked.  Lyra  is one of the sweetest dogs we have ever met. She loves to cuddle, ride in cars, socialize with the neighborhood dogs, and hang out with her sister,  Sadie . Their favorite game is tug-of-war with a giant stuffed snake we bought for them. She is quirky with her meals in that she has a preference for what she eats and what time of day. Her morning and evening meals are kibble with rotisserie chicken mixed in. Her nighttime snack is wet dog food. If you mix it up, she refuses to eat. She loves bananas and apples as well. She follows me everywhere I go and especially likes it when I play the piano. She will lie right behind  me on the floor or next to the piano on the chair. We walk twice per  day, and she loves the park and the Gilbert riparian area. When she came to us, she had several behavior issues: tipping garbage  cans over to get to the contents, counter surfing (she got into a  freshly-made apple pie), mildly dog aggressive, and hated her crate so much it created high levels of anxiety for her. She is still on medication for valley fever but her numbers have decreased by 50%, she has gained 6 pounds, attends play dates with neighbor dogs, sleeps in her crate (with the door open), and no longer gets into mischief. She loves our other dog,  Sadie , and they are the best of friends. She has free run of the house and yard and is as happy as can be. She loves to ride in the car and we will be taking her on lots of road trips this summer . We all just adore  Lyra  – she is such a wonderful addition to our family. Thank you  AGR  for the opportunity to be  Lyra's  forever family and all the wonderful support provided to us.