Nikki has come a long way. Today she is a happy, playful and a very affectionate girl and we love her dearly. Our Nikki is one of the best things we have ever added to our family. There were times when she first arrived that I thought she would never be a “normal” dog. We have two other aussies that are outgoing and Nikki especially connected to our male dog Jake. I do think they helped her overcome some of her fears and anxieties. Now when the doorbell rings or someone comes over we are not rushing for paper towels and rug cleaner.

Pearl is still with us after almost 7 years; she is an absolute delight, and to our great surprise and pleasure, she has found a most unlikely playmate – our fourth dog, Luna (short for Lunatic) , a
mega-high energy Border Collie disguised as red merle Aussie that we adopted about 14 months ago.  We are Luna’s 5th (and forever) home – the first 4 owners couldn’t deal with her incredible energy level;  she is now a happy, trained, mega-high energy lunatic.  So, given Pearl’s usual lack of interest in other dogs, it is surprising that she and Luna have become great playmates (although sometimes it is a little much for Pearl – who is smaller, older, but plenty feisty).  I have attached a picture of them all; Luna is the one with the giant prick ears.

Anyway, all is well with us and our pack!
Regards,

Eric and Joyce

I adopted Berkely in 5/06 and wanted to update you. He is fantastic! Everyone loves him because he is so friendly. He never meets a stranger and wants everyone to pet him. He is in agility and doing good. He has a little A.D.D once in awhile and runs around the arena looking for someone to pet him and then will come back to his obstacle. He has been instinct tested for herding and passed with flying colors. I did discover last year he has epilepsy but so far the seizures are few like maybe 1 every 2 months or so, so we are trying to avoid medication. He is a real joy and his aussie brother adores him. I have just applied to adopt again from your organization. There is nothing like a rescue dog in my books. Thanks for allowing me to bring Berkley into my life.
Carol

Just a note to say thank you again for allowing us to adopt Luke. He is a wonderful dog and has made a smooth transition. He had his first puppy class yesterday. On Thursday he went to the vet, and everything looks great. Our kids love him, as do the neighborhood kids. He is such a calm and affectionate puppy. I’ve never seen one this calm and sweet. He went to Kaldi’s coffee in Clayton this morning with us, and was terrific.
Carolyn

Just thought I’d drop you a line to thank you for the wonderful dogs that I adopted from your organization. Rocky and Mallory are a perfect match for each other, and it’s been great having them with me. They will graduate from obedience level 1, so that’s been appreciated (especially for Mallory). I thought I’d send you a picture of a walk we took in the off-leash dog park by the Mississippi River on Easter Sunday. Unfortunately, we had a freak snowstorm the night before, but it really brings out the beauty of the dogs in the picture.
Nick

We adopted Bowyer from your rescue organization in March. His new name is Rawley! He was being fostered out of Kansas City. I just wanted to send you a picture and thank you so very much for saving him! He was slated to be put down when you came and rescued him last October. We have another rescue dog, Lucy, who is a Border Collie mix and Rawley loves her! They love to go on walks together and even sleep together. Rawley has won our hearts and is truly a member of our family now. We are so blessed to have him in our lives- THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! Laura

We recently took a family (2 humans, 4 furry kids) camping vacation to New Mexico, and of course we took a lot of pics of the kids. Here are some pics of Pearl at White Sands National Monument, on the paved walkway through the lava fields at Valley of Fire State Park, and in some weeds on the bank of Quemado Lake.
You’ll note that she has her summer cut – I shaved her down a couple of weeks ago; if we let her fur grow in she looks like a little yak, but when she is shaved down people always come up to me and ask how many months old my puppy is. I think that we will keep her hair short all year, because otherwise it gets matted and hard to brush out and keep clean. As you can see, Pearl is a happy little girl and of course we love her dearly.
Eric

I just wanted to give you an update on how Keira (formally Abby) is doing. I rescued her last fall and things were a little shaky at first. My other Aussie, Sammy, did not want to share ANYTHING with “that other dog”. But we kept at it, and I kept reminding Sammy that he too was rescued (from Iowa) so he needed to be patient. Keira had obviously not been allowed in her former house very much and needed to learn how to be a primarily inside dog. (ie – She had never seen TV before and barked at it every time I turned it on!) Sammy would give me looks like “what’s wrong with that dog?”
We’ve all settled in and If Keira could talk…
“Hi Aunt Kay, Just a quick note to tell you that I’m now happy and healthy. When I first arrived here, I was underweight and nervous. And there was another Aussie here named Sammy who didn’t like me much. He would steal all my toys and glare at me.
But my new Mom made sure I had food everyday – twice a day in fact – and my vet says I’m now at the perfect weight of 44 lbs.
Mom takes Sammy and me for walks everyday. It took a while, but Sammy and I worked it out. I just let him be in charge (or should I say, let him THINK he’s in charge) and he’ll actually play with me. We run around the backyard together (don’t tell him, but I’m faster) and play in snow together too.
Mom takes us to agility class every week. I can do all the obstacles now but I still don’t like the tunnel – it’s scary but Mom’s always at the other end to greet me so I’m getting used to it. Soon I’ll be running the whole course like Sammy.
I just wanted to give you an update and say thanks to you and Miss Hope for taking care of me and finding me my forever home.”
Joan

Here is the latest picture of Lucky, he loves the snow. When we take the dogs for a walk they roll around in the snow and eat some as well. Everything is about the same with Lucky. He is still a sweet boy and he is learning more manners and understanding that he has to share attention with our other dog. He has been such a wonderful addition to our family and I could not imagine him not being with us.

We took him to the vet last Friday, good news he is heartworm negative, yeah!!!!! We also saw a dog physical therapist to give us an evaluation on Lucky and he is doing good with no problems. She showed all of us how to give him a doggie massage so once a day he gets one, lucky guy!

Kim, John and Christina