Thursday, July 25, 2013

Mattie Update and House Guest

Mattie has been doing just fantastic in her new home! I couldn't be happier for Maddelicious :) 

You can read her updates on the TG blog HERE and HERE !

I have also had a house guest the last two weeks! He is a Boston Terrier named Spot! :)

He is a super funny guy - full of personality and character! As many squished-nosed dogs do, he makes tons of noises that are  bound to make you crack up every once in a while :P 
He snorts, grunts, and mini-barks his way into your heart :P 

He is just with me until his family return from a vay-cay and we'll miss the little guy around here - but he will be thrilled to see his family again! :) 

Here are some pics! :) 








This one is totally my fav! ;)

I just thought I'd share this quick update! 

I have so much happening in the next couple weeks, from helping with an upcomming TG event, going camping on the island and the family reunion on the island - at which time I will be stopping by to visit a few familiar furry faces ;), a dog event tomorrow evening, a dog event on the weekend, a work bbq, and work itself!, I also just finished a few DIY projects, as well as I will be starting and finishing another.... all before wednesday :P That is a week in my life - during the SUMMER! Can you imagine what it's like during the school year :P 

But needless to say I will be posting some of my doggy DIY projects soon! as well as updates on my adventures! Can't wait to get another pup once Im back! I'm also planning on fostering kitties as well! (Though I usually foster kitties during the school year, VOKRA needs all the help they can get right now!) 

Speaking of fostering Turtle Gardens is always in need of foster homes and with so many people on vacation or taking breaks we really need some more help! If you are located in BC and able to foster please contact turtlegardens@gmail.com 

Will post more soon! :)


Sunday, July 14, 2013

Mattie went home

Mattie went to her new home this weekend and I miss her! But she is going to a wonderful home where she will have a cat and doggy sibling and 3 humans to love her! So I'm very happy for her!

This is her with her new mommy! 

Chuck (now Jack) also came over that morning for a little visit and he and Mattie were having a blast :) 



Also I went up to the Ruff Stuff dog services 10th anniversary and it was super fun!! Here's the blog post! :)
http://www.turtlegardens.org/blog/?p=40467


Have fun in your new home Mattie girl! May it be filled with the love and cuddles you deserve! :)

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Mattie and Friends


Mattie has been doing well and has had some adventures!

First, she had a buddy for a couple days – Obi! You might have seen him on the Turtle Gardens Petfinder page and on Emily’s blog. He stayed with me for two days until he went on his way to Emily’s

He was a joy to have here and he is a super smart little guy and I hope whoever adopts him considers doing agility training or some kind of dog sport with him as I know he’d excel at that!

Mattie and Obi got along so well! He actually got Mattie to play! (Usually she is not interested in playing with other dogs)


After he left she was quite mopey, and for the rest of the day she just slept next to his crate. She obviously missed having a fur-buddy around!


Then she had a homecheck with an applicant, and it went well. They also have a dog very much like Mattie and they got along well, mattie was even sad when they left too. I think she’d love to have a home with another dog friend.


We also took her around town with us this week. To Tisol (everyone loved her) and we weighed her at 84.5lbs, and we went to agility too. No, SHE didn’t do the agility part (haha!) that was Rikki! But she had fun riding in the car and hanging out with all the people :) And when she got home she was so pooped she passed out for the night! All that love must have tuckered her out ;P


Since the majority of her bio is in the other post I thought I’d just add a small Likes and Dislikes list on what I learnt this week :)


LIKES
DISLIKES
Pigs Ears
Sweet Potatoe
Hardwood floors
Vacuums
Sticking her head out of the window
Hot days

More soon!





Thursday, July 4, 2013

New Arrival!

Well it’s been a few days since my last post!
First off I just want to let you guys know that Turtle Gardens has an Instagram page! So you can follow @turtlegardens for pictures and updates on their dogs!
I also have my own personal Instagram as well which you can follow @julia_muttlvr for updates on my own foster dogs and cats :) 

And as you probably guessed, I am back in Vancouver! :) 

I went from hot, humid, weather back to our wet, rainy one – at least for a day! Then where the heck did all this heat come from! I must have brought it with me from Toronto! – You’re welcome ;)

I was so excited to foster when I got back and Denise and I had been sending e-mails back and forth regarding which dog I was going to get – it seemed to change almost every other day haha! Which I didn’t mind because it was because the other dogs were getting adopted! But then the dog run was cancelled :(  But luckily they managed to find someone who would be able to drive a couple dogs down, so they brought a couple puppies and one “border collie mix” for me! :D Yay!

Here I am expecting a 50lb dog – but they tell me shes a 70lb border collie mix and is under weight – she should be 100lbs they said. I didn’t really think about it at first… which explains why my jaw dropped when I saw her!....


Meet Mattie! My Border Collie Mix foster dog! :D She makes the term “Gentle Giant” seem like an understatement! We are constantly told by everyone she meets that they haven't met a more mellow dog! And neither have I! 

She is a 1.5-2year old Border Collie cross something big - Yvette's educated guess is Great Pyranees! 
She is about 80lbs now and needs to be about 100lbs so we're in the process of getting her weight back up. 

She has not misbehaved in the house and is very sweet! She loves being pet though and will often lean a bit into your legs to remind you to pet her and if you still forget out comes her big paw to paw at you to keep petting her! She does it fairly gently, but she would probably be best suited to a home who does not have super young children, and she may paw and if the child is small she may accidentally scratch them etc without meaning too. But as I said, she is quite gentle so children in grade school should be fine. 

She has a beautiful soft long black coat but it does require a fair amount of brushing (especially in this heat as she's shedding her winter coat) to keep her from shedding too much. She loves to smile with a big open mouth grin and loves to look at you with happy brown eyes! 

She is a big suck and just likes being where the people are! But she is not clingy - just likes to be with her people. if it's hot in the room I'm in or she's sleepy, she'll go lay down somewhere like the hallway and take a nap. Or if I leave the back door open she goes outside and finds a nice cool spot to nap. She'll easily stay there for hours. 

She's a low maintenance girl- she wants to be a companion for sure!

She has a lower energy level as far as I've seen, and is happy with walks during the day but due to the heat they are kept brief and she doesn't mind, she's just happy to be doing whatever I am. 
She is not an excitable girl, she will walk calmly over to you when you come home and will give a few nice happy tail wags, but not overly excited. Same thing with dogs and cats - interested but not excited. And when meeting new people she is polite and friendly. She does not jump up - but does sit and paw sometimes if she wants more pets. 

She is very quiet too - I have not heard a peep from her Even when left alone. No barking, or whining at all. When the door is knocked or even when strangers come into the back yard she just goes up for a quiet, calm hello. She is not scared of strangers and will say hello to anyone, she just wants pets - she's a very friendly girl :)

She ignores cats for the most part, aside from a curious sniff every once in a while - so she'd be fine with a dog savy cat.

She's good with dogs too, does not get excited, and sniffs their bum, does not focus much on their face, and is very calm with her approach. She does not appreciate rude dogs though (but who does?). 

Overall she is a very mellow, loving girl who just wants to be your companion :) 

I can't wait to get to know her even more over the next few weeks :) 

She had some mats in her coat and lots of shed hair stuck under her regular coat and we knew we had to give her a great grooming - so we gave her a "Spa Day"! We brushed her for over 2 hours and got a pile of hair off even bigger than you'll see in her pictures! That was us only 2/3 done! We also gave her two baths! One just to clean her up and make her coat feel better, and one to make her smell like mangoes ;P

BEFORE

She loves brushing

Look at all that hair!

Bath time!
Mid-Shake

Happy Girl!








AFTER!
Mattie with Butterscotch (Golden), Jasper (Tan), Angel (Grey) she was so good with them :)
Mattie poses for a shot with Angel

Rikki and Mattie hanging out sniffing :)

Look how big she is! :D

Her sleeping spot






Happy Puppy!

Her favourite spot when it's hot out!