HappyTails

Love Stories and Happy Tails...

Baron (Biff) is doing absolutely wonderful & he has quickly settled right in. He has his own kennel (king size) and pen area of about 8ft by 4ft for the few hours I am not home. It gives him a nice safe area, plenty of room to play outside his kennel, eat & use the potty patch (which he has very quickly adopted to for those times he has to go to the bathroom but I can't be here to let him out).

Most of the time he spends running around inside fetching the squeaky ball you gave me with him or the
squeaky cupcake and chasing the cat. He very much enjoys playing with all his new toys... Seemingly all at
the same time. He likes finding each & every one of his toys then bringing them up onto the couch with him so they're completely surrounding him. I'm not positive but this might indicate he's very possessive, either way I love him.

Baron has learned to walk on a leash & we've even taken to the great trail system my apartment complex offers. He just finished his neutering last week and I just signed him up for puppy kindergarten.

Here are some pictures, I would love to see the ones that were taken when I picked him up in return.

Thanks again,
Chris Barr

Guys thank you so much for Piper, she is perfect and fits like a glove. The kids love her and vice versa. She is very polite and gentle even with the baby. We go on long walks every day and she loves it and walks on leash and without just wonderfully. No accidents in the house at all she's is potty trained. I really don't know what else to say, she's happy here and we are happy to have her. Feels like she's has been our dog for a long time. Thank you so much again.

PS: your vet is now our vet also, for both Piper and Tinka (cat)

Hi..we adopted 9 month old Springer Spaniel Gus two weeks ago and he is a really really sweet dog. He is very affectionate and a quick learner. He is having a great time wth our other Springer Millie who is three years old. We walk at least 2 miles every day and he has a big fenced yard to play in. He and Millie chase each other all day! Gus and Millie sleep in our bedroom at night and take turns being on our bed or in a dog bed on the floor. We are off to the ocean with the two dogs this week-end.........we made he right decision adding Gus to our family. Thanks for choosing us.

Gus on the left...Millie on the right

Maureen

Well there are no words to describe the absolute joy and happiness our new addition makes! Ollie (Sprite) quickly stole our hearts and many laughs too since he joined our family. He is named after my children's favorite book "Lost in the Snow", where the main character (a puppy) is named Ollie. The boys were so excited to add a "little brother" to our male-dominated household (3 boys and a husband)!

He is affectionate, smart, curious and is quite the comedian! He has adjusted very well to potty training, his crate and the car! He loves to go bye-bye!

Thank you to Wags to Riches for saving this precious bundle and his family. Without your continued work to care for stray and abandoned animals, we would not have had the opportunity to enrich our home and lives with his spirit! He has definitely found his FOREVER home!

Sincerely,
Vicente, Allison, Joaquin, Phoenix, Nico and Ollie

Hello!
Lexi is doing great! She's perfect! She loves to fetch, go on runs with me and my friends, loves the water and her sister Kiya (a 4mo Torti kitten).
They are inseparable! She loves all people and animals and is very smart, but also sassy. She does not take anything serious, which often times gives people around her a good laugh. We are working on her training, so far she has learned consistency with commands such as sit, shake, and lay down, and no lol, which before "no" meant "are you willing to chase me and make me" lol, still working on that part but it's getting better! Lexi is the biggest cuddle bug I have ever met, she considers herself a lap dog, most people think otherwise, and is a massive bed hog. Now that she has lots of love and "the spoiled life" she takes full advantage of it! She has to sleep right next to me sprawled out and her head on the pillows just like a person, makes me laugh. She is also a great babysitter to the kitten in the back yard, she lets me know when Kiya is up to no good or trying to escape. I am very happy with Lexi and she makes a great addition to me and my roommates "little family"! I attached some pictures, one is of Lexi and Kiya playing, which is a 24/7 thing with them! One is of Lexi and Kiya cuddling during nap time, then there's one of just Lexi, and lastly there is one of Lexi and I at bed time showing how much of a cuddle bug she is every night!

Jessie

Here is a picture of Moses (Spackle)! He is just a real joy! We have not had a dog in 5 years, our very faithful and loved dog, PJ passed away 5 years ago at the age of 13! Moses has filled a void we did not realize was there! First night home he became our "bed buddy", he now sleeps with us part of the night and then gets into his crate! He has been very easy to "potty" train and has very few accidents. We had him in for his 2nd shots and he had gained 5 lbs in 2 weeks! Vet said he is a very healthy, happy puppy! We just love him....don't ever worry about him having a good forever home he has found it!

Kerry and Manuel

Hi Donna,
Thought I would drop a line or two to let you know how Boomer is doing. He is doing great, has gained a few pounds but the vet says he is in the best shape. We celebrated Halloween and Boomer was a bumble bee. We got some cute pictures that I will send to you as soon as we download them. He is definitely the boss of the people in this home and all he has to do is wave those long eyelashes at my husband and he gets out of trouble for anything. We are definitely a family now and I couldn't imagine life without him. I hope he feels the same way. Thanks again to you and wags to riches for helping us find each other.

Sincerely,
Heather

Hey Everyone,

It's been two weeks with Wyatt and we can't ignore the requests for pictures and updates any longer. It seems like we haven't had a free minute since Wyatt came home with puppy kindergarten, potty training, crate training, and the constant chewing. But we're glad to report that things are getting better by the day. We are still having a few accidents in the house but they are few and far between. Puppy kindergarten is going well, he's learning his commands and loves getting his treats. So far "sit" is the only winner. We've only lost one sandal from the chewing and that was lucky considering he broke out one day and had the house to himself for an hour or so. I came home from lunch to find Wyatt on the couch watching TV with shoes everywhere.

The only thing that is still a struggle is when he's alone. Sadie is a big help with this because he does feel better when she is around. Simon on the other hand is praying that we take him back to where we got him. He still has two more weeks until we can give him his last round of shots and until then we have to keep him home. It will be
nice to take him on walks with us and bring him to the dog park to watch his big sis dive into the water. Please enjoy these pictures, they are some of our favorites

We hope that you all are doing well and would love to hear about what is going on in your neck of the woods.

Love to you all,
Nate and Jess

I thank you so much for forwarding our information to Bob. He emailed my Fiancé, Chad and I and we are working to send him some close ups of Copper now. I woke up in tears today and received both your emails and am so grateful that people are willing to help. Chad has 3 broken ribs and I have a 2 broken vertebrae in my neck. We walked up to the site yesterday and called his name, spoke with Blair whom is a forest service sheriff, many hunters and others on the hill. We placed a sign at the site and Copper's bed is next to where the accident happened.

I can't thank you enough.

Sincerely, Chad and Andrea

am Chad S.'s mom. You rescued his Copper dog last week. I can't thank you enough. We had been absolutely sick at the thought of what might have happened to Copper. We live in Olympia and were ecstatic to hear the news that you had found him. I will be sending a small donation soon. Thank you again.

Jeni S.

Our Love, Copper Dog was found with help from the Wags to Riches Animal Rescue and Sanctuary! We cannot thank these wonderful people enough! Bob and crew found him within 30 minutes at the site of our wreck. They told us not to give up hope and that we would find him and they did. Warm thank you and hugs to all that aided Chad and I in our search for Copper.

Chad and Andrea

Bob & all his wonderful helpers! The world is a better place because of you!

My Sister and I have both been involved with animal rescue for years. However I have never met anyone who has given up so many hours to trudge around the mountains for a little dog.

Just bringing her home has helped Mom. She looks and sounds better. Thank you so much.
Bill & Emily R.

"Words cannot express my thanks for your help in returning my precious Crumb to me. When I can tolerate being upright longer, would like to email you her whole story. You are a very special group of people. The Yakima area is blessed to have you. I may have to give up my house there as I doubt I will be able to work- Thanks to much. Susan & Erik Moe."
PS. "Sorry for the scribbles, with a neck brace, I can't look down. I loved the pictures."
Susan and Erik M.

Just wanted to drop you a short note and let you know that Jet has completely settled in at our home. My wife is well on her way to outrageously spoiling him rotten. We are going clothes shopping for him this Saturday.

He sleeps in bed with us at night and prefers to be under the covers right in between the two of us. He has turned into a lap wart who fully expects that the owner of the lap will use at least one hand to give him attention at all times.

There was only one little episode during his introduction to our 5 cats. Armageddon, my innocent little boy kitty what never done nothing wrong in his life, decided that he wasn't going to allow another animal in the house to pick on him. That required some hissing, occasional growling, and vigorous slapping with the front paws (declawed). Now that the appropriate boundaries have been set, the two of them actually take naps together on the bathroom rug.

Rose and I want to thank you with all of our hearts for Jet. He is already a loved member of the family.
Skip A.

Good Morning Donna And Bob,

New mommy is tired. I had forgotten the time and energy required for babies.

Emily is doing just fine adjusting with our family. She has been briefly introduced to Maverick (dog,) Moonbeam, Freddy & Colt (cats,) and adores my son, Nick. I get the feeling she likes me, too.

Emily is precious, smart and full of energy! We've had about 30 successful outside potty trips, only one accident inside, and even that one accident was on newspaper. She's eating well, playing with every single puppy toy and, wow, can that little girl chew.

Our first Vet visit is next week to continue with her immunizations and check for any residual "bugs."

Thank you again for all that you do,

Sue

Hello Donna and Connie,

I hope all is going well this holiday season. We are having the best time with our new arrival and she is so well behaved. Aside from a couple of messes in the house she is a dream puppy and minds very well. We have already trained her to sit for treats and she seems a little obsessed with food. Her older brother is happy to have a playmate and we are amazed at how well he treats his new little sis. We have taken plenty of pics and I have attached them for you. Tonight was her first bath and it went well, there are some pics of that too. I couldn't fit all of the pics in this email, so I send another email with the rest.

Love ya,
Vanessa & Kandi

Donna,

Just wanted to give you an update on Lucas. He is doing great and fitting in with our family wonderfully. The first couple days he was still a bit somber, but the last few days he has been getting more and more energetic and playful. He seems to be picking up on things pretty well. He is sitting on command, using his crate at night to sleep, and doing fairly well on the house training. The first couple days he was a little leary about being outside, but now he is enjoying it. We actually just came in from outside a few minutes ago. Him and our two little ones were running and chasing each other around the yard. They were just having a blast. He has been great with the kids; playing but not to rough. We are really enjoying him.

We made an appointment with our vet to get his 3rd round of shots and his neutering so that will be taken care of. We also took him to the pet center that first day we picked him up for a cleaning and they said that he did great with the bath.

So we just wanted to thank you for helping us to add Lucas to our family.

Cathy, Don & family

Hi Donna,

I just wanted to send you a quick note to let you know that Shelby (Sheba at Wags to Riches) is doing just great at her new home. She and our other dog Lily have become like mother and daughter, and are getting along really well. She is so smart and sweet and we are having a great time with her. Shelby is learning her manners, potty training, and leash training really well. Please thank her foster parents for us, because they obviously did a great job with her before we adopted her. Shelby also had her first doctor's appointment last weekend, and the vet said she is very healthy and looking great. Thank you again for all the hard work you do, placing these pups in good homes. We are just in love with our new baby!

Becca & Cameron

Hi Donna,

I just wanted to update you on our little girl, Fiona (a.k.a. “Cutie”). She has completely adjusted to the household and has established her dominance in the pack as the #2 dog out of four (only behind our 10yr old, 125lb. rottie/shepherd).

Just as we had hoped, she and her 2.5yr old brother, Conor, are the best of friends. Fiona and Conor go everywhere together and play all the time. Although Conor is 4 times her size, he is very gentle with her and he adores her as much as she adores him.

She’s also growing like a weed! We’re going to the vet today to get her last series of puppy shots! She’s a very smart little girl and very treat-oriented so her training is progressing well.

We had our first outing at the beach last weekend and she loved it! She’s a water babyJ I’ve attached a picture of our time at the beach.

I hope all is well with you. Thank you again for arranging her adoption to us – I’m so glad you didn’t give up despite the obstacles we had!

Best regards,

Haley & Brendan Joyce

Hi Donna:

We adopted Brownie Girl in January, 2009 after many attempts to get to Yakima.

We love her and she has settled in nicely and has become a member of our family.

She was really shy at first, and needed exercise as she had no muscle tone. We took her with us on our yearly trip to Arizona, and she is a wonderful traveler. She LOVES people and other dogs. She loves kids and is really good with them. Mesa, Arizona has a leash free dog park, where we went every day. She ran, and ran and ran. But this new found confidence also may have brought out her wanting to dominate ever dog she meets. Training has almost erased that. She has the cutest personality and everyone who meets her, just loves her. She loves to play tug, chase a Frisbee (although I had to get her to bring it back to me with treats!), and go everywhere I go. We also found out she LOVES water and is an excellent swimmer. We were at Detroit Lake State Park in August with our whole family, and all their dogs. Everyone was playing in the water, and Bonnie just jumped in. She is like a fish and loves to swim. That's a drawback when you take her fishing on a creek, cause all she wants to do is jump in.

We started dog obedience school in July and last Saturday she earned the AKC Good Citizen Award. She just did wonderfully on her work.

I wanted to thank you for all the time and effort you put into finding homes for unwanted dogs. I hope the success story with Bonnie will re-enforce what a good thing it is you do.

Linda Rusch

Hi Donna...

We have been having SO much fun with our new babies. They are SO precious and we consider ourselves extremely fortunate to be their guardians. Our kids were over yesterday and I took a really great picture of Eric with Bella and Beau Bear. I thought you might enjoy the picture too. Our kids are both quite taken with these two little ones.

The furry baby beside Eric is our granddog...their dog Sweet Pea. She started herding the puppies outside...it was really interesting. She wouldn't touch them but would make sure they were okay. She is an Australian Shepherd (miniature) which is a naturally herding type of a dog.

Also I've attached a picture of the babies in part of our back yard. They love it there and really wear themselves out chasing and wrestling with each other. So much fun to watch. One of us is always out there with them. Puppies love to explore and we don't want them to get into trouble. They are just fun to watch.

Hope all is going well....thank you again for your help in bring this extra joy to our home.

Sharon & Family & Furry babies

Dear Donna, Darlene, Jennifer, and Wags-to-Riches Staff and Volunteers,

We extend a heartfelt thank you for your services and especially for our wonderful new family member, Bailey. We are truly grateful to have her with us. She brings us and those she meets great pleasure. She is a wonderful, extremely smart, affectionate little bundle of joy. We feel so lucky to have her with us.

To think I almost turned her down when her breed was in question is horrifying. We searched for months for a Border Collie lab mix (our last dog, Border Collie/lab was so wonderful that we were hoping for a similar temperament) so when we found Bailey through petfinder we were excited. Her location, age, and being listed as Border Collie/Lab, made her a great match for us. So, when Jennifer said she might be terrier and Sheppard, I certainly had doubts. But, we have no doubts about how much we love her. She’s a great dog for us. And, as it turns out, she certainly acts, and has the smarts of a Border Collie cross of some kind. When people ask, “what kind of dog is she,” I always say, “precious!”

Jennifer, thank you so much for being such a wonderful foster mom. Bailey is a very well-adjusted, affectionate puppy. It’s obvious that you spent a lot of time loving and caring for her. And, she was pretty much house broken when I adopted her due to your kennel training. For the first four days, she never had an accident in the house – obviously a puppy genius! She has had a few slips, but is generally great about going to the door and asking to go out.

She learns things extremely fast. She learned “Bailey come,” during one very short training session, and the same with “sit,” and “leave it.” She’s also doing well with ”heel,” and walks nicely on her leash. Yesterday she learned “out of the kitchen.” However, she does test me now and again – today when I called her, she looked at me and ran into the woods, this is a first! She’s confident and starting to be more independent although is very willing to please and sensitive to being scolded.

She is good about chewing on her toys and not chewing on things that are off limits. So far, the only chew casualties are a fax machine cord and an ornament that had an irresistible macramé hanger.

Bailey is enjoying life in Alaska . We go to Sandy Beach, just a five-minute walk from our house, almost every day. She meets lots of dogs and people at Sandy Beach and also enjoys digging in the sand, chasing sticks, wading in the water, and romping. We’ve also taken walks on several trails around Juneau and Douglas . I call her “jungle girl” as she loves to hide and explore in the woods and go off-trail on our trail walks. The majority of our trails are “off-leash” areas.

She has been to softball games, and attended one softball tournament where she was the assistant scorekeeper and star attraction. She’s attended a potluck party and a birthday party and enjoys meeting new people, especially kids.

Bailey goes to work with Butch (her dad, my husband) every weekday and meets and greets everyone that comes by his office. I’ve also brought her in to my office at Fish and Game a few times to meet everyone.

Shortly after arriving in Juneau , we took her to meet Dr Lisa Kramer, her vet, and received her 10 wk shots. She was a big hit with everyone in the office and received treats and lots of attention.

We had one scary event while I was out of town for a bike relay race in the Yukon two weeks ago. Bailey had an allergic reaction to something. Butch noticed her scratching and itching and called Dr Kramer for an appointment that day. By the time they got to the vet a couple hours later, she had hives and swollen eyes. Lisa gave her an injection of Benadryl and then Butch gave her a couple of follow-up liquid doses orally later. She hasn’t had another allergic reaction so we are hoping it was a one-time reaction to something, possibly a local plant – Indian Rhubarb.

Yesterday she went for to see Dr Lisa Kramer for her 13 wk boosters and weighed in at 15.4 pounds. After her vet visit we went to puppy kindergarten. She had a blast playing with the other puppies who were all at least a couple of weeks older, and she was a star student.

Another great thing for Bailey has been Uncle Boomer. We are dog sitting Boomer, a friends wiener dog, for a couple of weeks. I was a bit concerned that Boomer might be snarly with her, but he has been a wonderfully patient and a terrific playmate. They chase and wrestle endlessly. Boomer even lets her steal chew bones and toys from him. He does get tired of her endless playful attacks, and will get up on the couch or in a chair where she is not allowed (and she abides by this unfortunate double standard rule). They will certainly miss each other when Boomer’s person returns next week.

Next week Bailey will travel with us to the Yukon in Canada for a short vacation and to attend a softball tournament. She’s a wonderful companion and adventure partner.
Nancy Long and Butch Carber