23-097 Molly is a 5-month-old Goldendoodle. Her owner, who is in her 80s, had her for only 10 days when she realized this little girl, who was going to get a lot bigger, was too much for her to handle. AGR had to provide all of Molly’s vetting: all vaccines and tests for valley fever, tick fever and heartworm. She will be spayed at AGR’s expense when she is about a year old. In the meantime, we have counseled the family about what to expect when Molly goes into heat, which she will do once (generally sometime between 6 and 10 months of age) before she is spayed. She was placed with an adoptive family in Tucson. Molly’s only bad habit has been submissive peeing, but the family has been advised how to handle that: take her outside often, praise when she pees out there, don’t scold if she pees indoors but take her out immediately, and don’t stand over her – with a human in this posture, Molly would be even more submissive with a peeing response. Handled properly, Molly should grow out of the submissive peeing. Wisely, the family took Molly through basic obedience training. She now knows “sit,” “stay,” “lay down” and, most of the time, “leave it!” Molly loves car rides and is very energetic! The adopter responded to my request for comments: 

Molly hasn’t grown out of the submissive peeing yet. It’s not as frequent with us, but she does get very excited when visitors come over to our house. She enjoys going to my son’s basketball practices, which are held outdoors. She is the team’s unofficial mascot – the players love to greet her, and their siblings know Molly by name now. She also recently had a grooming appointment with a mobile grooming service and loved her spa day. 

Happy new life, Molly!