Saturday, February 25, 2012

Tripper’s Transformation

                                                        Tripper’s Transformation

Sorry for not updating the blog recently. We had to leave town suddenly due to a family member’s illness. My Mother-in Law passed away and we spent a week in Florida with her during her long battle with Alzheimer, from which she succumbed to. It was a sad and trying time for all of us, but enough about me and on to Tripper.
Tripper has been un-kennelized! The first week, he was really timid and didn’t know how to interact with the parade of animals we have living with us. That has changed and he loves our cat Sammy and loves to sleep near her when he can. He is also playing with our Dog Zeus now, and while Zeus does not like to share his toys, he is enjoying playing tug of war with Tripper now. The two of them like to wrestle and Tripper is shorter than Zeus so he just plows under Zeus’s belly when Zeus is winning the wrestling match.

Tripper is enjoying home life now. He loves lying by my feet while I am typing this. He also likes to be around where all the action is, so he drags his dog bed to whenever everyone is hanging out at that time.   I bought him a second dog bed so he wouldn’t have to drag his around all over the house. So it now has one in our mud room, which is the one he drags to the kitchen and dining area and his second one is in our family room near the fireplace.

Tripper love getting toys from our toy bin. Our dog Zeus is always taking a toy from Tripper, since Zeus thinks all toys belong to him. Tripper, being the good sport that he is, just goes back to the toy bin and takes another one. Zeus eventually gives up and lets Tripper keep a toy. Tripper is so gentle you can take anything out of his mouth and he doesn’t seem to mind. Tripper just rolls with the punches.

Tripper has been without a home for over 4 years and has spent more than half his life at the Rescue. He is not a handsome dog, but he is cute and quirky. I think people have over-looked him at the rescue before due to him being a mix and not a beautiful young Golden that everyone wants to adopt. If we were all beautiful and young, life would be prefect for everyone, wouldn’t it?  Tripper deserves a forever home with a family who will love his quirks and who will be loved back unconditionally in return. He is a gentle soul who has had a very rough life. However, he doesn’t seem to dwell on his past experiences and loves living life to the fullest. I hope one day, a family will fall in love with him and gives him the life he deserves.
If you are interested in giving Tripper a forever home, please contact Almost heaven rescue.
 www.almostheaven-golden-retriever-rescue.org

Sunday, February 12, 2012





Tripper’s Story



  Almost Heaven asked us to foster Tripper after Stacey was adopted last week. Tripper has been at the rescue longer than the other dogs there and they wanted to give him a chance at being adopted. Tripper has been at the rescue for over 4 years. He was rescued from a shelter 4 years ago when he was 3 years old and had heart worms. He was treated but had a terrible reaction to the treatment, which they have never had before or since. It took Tripper about a year or more to recover. He has some muscle weakness in his hind legs which he has pretty much recovered from.

Tripper is not pure bread Golden retriever, which may be why people have never inquired about him. I don’t understand this about mixes, that people don’t want a mix breed usually when they look into rescues. People aren’t pedigrees, so why pass over a wonderful dog when they are not. Thanks goodness that Almost Heaven Golden retriever rescue tries to save as many dogs as possible regardless if they are a pure bred Golden or not.

When we picked up Tripper last Saturday and brought him home, he wasn’t sure about how to relate to living in a house. He is completely housebroken so that was not an issue. He was just un-use to living in an un-confined area. He would find a corner and just back himself into it and watch everyone. He was not interacting with the other dogs or us. They only time he got excited was when he saw one of our cats walk by. Then he would run and whine at them until he got close enough for him to be able to sniff them. He loves cats…in a good way.
Tripper has really improved over the past week. We thought at first he was “kennelized”, kind of like “Brooksie” in the movie Shaw Shank Redemption. He couldn’t function in the real world since he spent so most of his life behind bars. However, that has changed. Tripper now loves to be petted. He is lying at my feet while I type his story. He loves playing with the other dogs now and has a toy in his mouth all the time. He loves dog beds. If his dog bed is in a spot and he wants to lie somewhere else, then he grabs his bed and drags it to where he wants to lay and then lays in it.
Tripper does seem to have a problem with his hearing. He can hear but not low noises. This has caused us an issue with our electric dog fence. He can’t hear the soft beeping noise when he gets too close to where the boundary of the fence it. So I am taking him for many walks during the day around the perimeter of our property so he learns where he can and cannot go. He walks very easily on a lease. He will actually pick up his lease and drag it over to me when he wants to go out.
Tripper had a lot of hair when we got him last week. Most of it was matted so we took him to the groomer and they shaved him. The only part of him that was not shaved was his head and tail. He is a deep red color, but since he was shaved he is a light buff color except for his head and paws are still a deep red. He is a little over weight from lack of exercise, but that is pretty easy to fix since he is so much more active now.
I will post weekly updates on Tripper, which we have nick named Yogi Bear, since he just seems likeable like Yogi was and has a big bear like head.
 If you are interested in giving Tripper a forever home, please contact Almost heaven rescue.
 www.almostheaven-golden-retriever-rescue.org

Sunday, February 5, 2012



Stacey was Adopted!!!!


Here is a picture of Stacey in her new home surrounded by her new toys. Look how happy she looks. My heart is happy but has a sad after taste since I will really miss her. My family all got teary eyed when we had to say goodbye. She is now in her forever home and will never be un-loved again. She was adopted by a wonderful couple who have adopted from Almost heaven before. Fostering is a very rewarding experience. By Fostering, it allows the Rescue to take in more dogs. Also dogs that are fostered are more likely to get adopted since people can see how they do in a real life situation. So if you have never considered fostering ,please do, it can make all the difference in giving a forever home to a loney dog .For now, I am so happy about Stacey, it makes it all worth while.

Also we decided to foster Tripper, who is another long termer at Almost Heaven. I will update the Blog next week with his story.