7/15/04  A few great pics of Patches enjoying life (and a great big yard) in foster care!

             

7/10/04  Patches is a Lethal White Blue Merle female approximately 18 months old.  She is deaf and vision impaired, but gets around quite well.  She was rescued from the Tulare County Animal Control Shelter in Visalia, CA.  Valerie transported her from Visalia to Newport, where she spent a few days of quality time being loved and socialized before beginning the next leg of her journey.  Here are some pics of her time spent with Valerie (our friendly Animal Control Officer):

           

This morning, Laura headed out to Blythe where she would turn Patches over to Paula to bring her "home".  Patches is spayed and has received DHPP, Bordetella and  (thanks to Valeria)...a Rabies shot.  She is now safe and happy in foster care, but not before a stop at PetsMart (where she was a big hit with human's and other friendly canines) to pick up a few special items to help her settle in.  Patches has met many new people and quite a few other doggies and cats, too...she LOVED them all!  Here are a few pics of Patches getting familiar with her new surrounding.  Stay tuned for more pics and updates.

       

7/10/04 Arrival Update: Patches had beautiful manners in the car. During part of the ride I rode in back with her and she would often snuggle right on top of me for long periods of time. She loves attention and especially loves her ears rubbed and her tummy!!! While she is fixed I have no doubt that she has had a litter of pups. We will confirm this with the vet when I get her in for her initial exam, probably Thursday. Thanks to Valerie, she has had her rabies shot!!!!
At Petsmart she did great. She had her wiggle butt going as fast as she could and really wanted to give kisses to all the dogs. We kept her back until the owner understood the circumstances and then let her interact. We got lots of opportunity to spread the word of Aussielads.  We even ran into 2 families who had rescue animals with them and they were pleased with what we were all doing to help these babies. We gave her a milk bone while we were in there and when one of the pups that she had already met came up to her we were prepared to get immediately between them, but this little lady dropped the milk bone for the puppy.

After we got her to my house where we picked up food, crate, Lutein and toys, we introduced her to everyone individually and had absolutely no problems. She fell in love with Morgan I do believe, as she was looking for her between introductions. She showed no food aggression at dinner and seemed just fine.  She is housebroken, cuddly, knows a doggie door, loves other dogs, loves insistent puppies (to date, yes), lets small dogs walk on her and comes back to play some more and shares her food.  Stay tuned for the saga of Patches....more pics to come.  Paula

7/10/04 P.M. Update: So far, the foster home's shyest cat, Toula, has come out to see who the stranger is, has touched noses and walked away. The other 3 cats Tia, Breanna (kitten) and Asha (kitten) are all hiding somewhere. They aren't happy campers yet, but I'm sure that if Toula has made up and is out and about that the others will be by tomorrow. Meanwhile they sound like a trio of vipers!!

I am almost positive that Patches cannot see out of her right eye at all. She was searching for one of the kittens that had run away from her and she walked right by her. She was on her right side just barely out of what we would consider normal range. I was surprised that she didn't see her with her left eye but?????? She can see some motion or shadows, I think on her left side, but not much. We can walk up beside her on the left and she will see us, whereas on the right side, no go.  Overall her vision reminds me of 'my' Mr. Cody, who I always said seemed to have his binoculars on.....no peripheral vision. She has none what so ever and does bump into a lot of things.  So far she has responded to K.C.'s barking (who wouldn't, arghhh) and one of the pups barking at her, but she does not respond to whistles or squeaky toys. At this point it has to be via vibration only.  Bottom line though, a very happy and sweet baby.