22-030 Stevie Rae, a 5-month-old black Goldendoodle, was surrendered with her brother, Johnny Rotten, in May 2022. Both were up to date on vaccines but were not sterilized. There were three other Doodles, an adult cat and a kitten living in the household when a “surprise” litter of 8 was whelped in November 2021 (they did not think their unneutered male could “perform” before he was a year old. Ho, Ho, Ho!). They could find homes for only 6 of the 8 puppies and finally decided that so many dogs in the house were too many. Connie, who transported the two puppies to one of our partner veterinarians, reported that they were not happy riders. Stevie barked and whined and peed in the crate, and then on the subsequent trip to her new home with an adopter, threw up in the crate. Once at the adopter's home, Stevie (the adopter dropped the “Rae”) claimed the couch as hers, met the cats with no issues and seemed to be much more at ease than after her transport to the vet the day before. The adopter works outside the home but she has a camera set-up so she can watch the animals while away. At first, Stevie barked after the adopter had left, but she told the dog through the camera mic to be quiet and she was the rest of the day, amazingly enough! After a couple weeks, the adopter related:

Stevie is doing very well. She has gotten into a routine every night for bed by going in her kennel when I turn off light and does the same thing on the days I work... she sees me putting stuff in my car, so she goes into her kennel. She had a good time yesterday at my cousins’ house. She was very friendly to their dogs and made herself at home. They fell in love with her too. She's still a little skittish when we walk around the neighborhood, especially when encountering other dogs and people, so it surprised me last night at my cousins’ – she wasn't skittish at all. All in all, she's working out and I'm getting used to being a dog owner again, which takes some getting used to but I’m managing the changes.

Recently, the adopter passed along some other observations: Stevie has come a long way since that first week. She loves to play with her toys and takes them to bed with her. She gets her "zoomies" in when she goes out in the morning. My cats have gotten used to her and have started rubbing on her, showing approval. She likes visiting my cousins' dogs when we go over to their house where she has tried swimming. She still needs to work on her doggie paddling, since it's more like splashing than paddling. Stevie is a very good dog and I'm glad we have found each other. We will have many adventures together in the future. Thanks, AGR.