Sage update

 

Hi there,

 

I don't actually know your name :-( But I know you care so much about the dogs in our local shelters, especially SLO Animal Services, and your social media posts are a great resource for local adopters. Thank you so much for all the work you put into them and for spending time with the dogs at SLO Animal Services.

 

I'm finally sending some picture of Sage in her new home. I'm sorry it took me a while but it's been busy with two new dogs. 

 

We adopted Aggie, our other dog, from Kern County Animal Services in late January. I am friends with a volunteer there and became aware of Aggie through videos and photos the volunteers post on social media. Aggie had only been at Kern since early January but developed upper respiratory infection and with the sick kennels usually full at Kern, contagious dogs are at immediate risk of euthanasia. I'm sure you know what is going on in shelters in our neighboring county and how tough it is there for the volunteers and staff. They work extremely hard to get dogs rescued, adopted or in foster. But still, many don't make it out. Generally, no dogs make it longer than 6 weeks. There will be an occasional exception but the dogs that you see on the shelter websites that are listed for more than 6 weeks are all in foster care. I believe Kern has 120 kennels but houses around 400 dogs these days. Dogs are doubled and tripled up in kennels. Sometimes that's good (they have company of another dog) but it just shows the enormous problem we are facing as a community when it comes to irresponsible backyard breeding and dumping of puppies and dogs on the streets.

 

In any case...sorry for the long context but long story short, we adopted Aggie as she was on the euthanasia list. She was pretty sick for two weeks and when she recovered, she was a little bored and lonely. At 10 months old,  in a new home without her kennel mate. She was very quiet a lot of the times and seemed depressed. And that's why we decided to get her a playmate - Sage. 

 

We had met Sage in early January at SLO Animal Services. Laurel was volunteering that day and showed us a couple of dogs: Buddy and Enzo. And then she asked if she could show us Sage (since Sage also has a pretty brindle coat like Enzo). I have to say, I loved her from the moment I saw her. But I was also going out of town and thought that I'll keep checking the shelter website if Sage is still available when I get back. And after we adopted Aggie, my mind kept coming back to Sage. And you made such nice posts about her and she had been there for so long (I guess I'm a sucker for these types of stories ). So, the Thursday before Valentine's day, we went to SLO Animal Services to get our Sagey. 

 

Sage was VERY excited when she got to her new home. We have a 5-acre property with horses, so lots of things to see, new smells, new animals...and Aggie. We tried to do a slow introduction of the dogs but despite that, Aggie and Sage's first encounter was a little rough (or more than a little rough ). But there is a great dog trainer who does house calls on short-notice (if she can fit it in but she definitely likes to help and problem solve) and I can't say enough good things about her. Her name is Natalia Baker (if you ever need to recommend a trainer, I have her contact info) and she came the next day to do a session with Aggie and Sage (and her three extremely well-trained dogs) and then one more a few days later. I credit all the progress the dogs made to her because she knew exactly how to read Sage and apply the right training. And after a few days, Sage started playing with Aggie. They now share a dog bed, share toys, play tug of war, can eat bones and treats next to each other, etc. It's very sweet. 

 

The staff at the shelter told us that Sage could not live in a home with another dog and there is a note in her paperwork that she's reactive and possessive of her toys/ things but I haven't encountered that here. She will actually let Aggie take the toy or treat. I'm not sure what specifically the event was that led to the note in her paperwork but I would be curious - I'm not sure if you are able to find out? Just so I can be aware. But from what I've seen so far, I assume that maybe Sage was stressed in the shelter and not behaving her best around other dogs. 

She is definitely a bit intense and will sometimes get triggered easily by noises (she alerts a lot...like when I put the vacuum cleaner away or if she sees headlights down the street or when the trash truck comes at 6am ...she will let us know). I'm thinking that she might have been kept outside before because she seems a bit unaccustomed to regular "home noises" or things in the house, she had a few accidents in the house and doesn't seem to have a good grasp of home rules. She tried to launch herself into the fridge when I opened the fridge door the first time with her around...I mean, I get it, all the yummy food. She tries to jump up onto the counter tops. Granted they are a bit high but she manages to get her paws up there and tries to steal food. When she first came into the house, she ran across all the furniture, did zoomies on the sofas and rolled on all the sofas, kicking all the pillows off of them. I have actually never seen anything like it. So, we're definitely still working on her little unique behaviors. But overall, she does really well. She leaves the horses alone and comes when called. She is polite to the dogs on the other side of the fence (I have three fences with different neighbor dogs) and walks up to them wagging her tail. I am continuing my sessions with Natalia - she will be back this week - but we're really happy about Sage and love her very much. She's a sweetheart and loves Aggie and it makes me happy to know that we gave her a chance because I think that maybe she was misunderstood when she was pegged as a dog who can't be in a home with another dog when really she wanted to have a little doggie friend to snuggle with. She shelter staff definitely was very convincing when they said she can't be in a home with a dog and we almost walked away that day. But we're glad we didn't. This is the third dog I've adopted from SLO Animal Services and the fourth shelter dog and I know it takes time, patience and love to get them settled in. But, everything is going great and we couldn't be happier. And Aggie is much more upbeat now that she has a big sister to boss around. 

 

You are welcome to share this email with the volunteers and staff at SLO animal services who are curious how Sage is doing. I tried to get some more pictures outside but the weather has been so bad and the dogs are running outside and it's hard to capture them. But you can see lots of sleepy indoor pictures (after playing fetch outside). One of the pictures is Aggie showing Sage her crocodile. Sage tried to take it very gently but Aggie decided to walk away with it after all. 

 

Cheers,

Maria