Daphne

DAPHNE WAS ADOPTED NOVEMBER 18, 2000

Daphne's First Day:

I know it is a little early to give an update, but I just wanted to let you know that she is doing great! She seems to be soaking up all the attention and new experiences. (So much to sniff, so little time!) She has learned the fine art of "kissing up" for treats and seems to want to do anything she can to get a treat, although we are trying to pace her with them. We keep breaking up the milkbones and giving them to her so she doesn't overload her stomach on her first day home. She came upstairs with the kids and I earlier in the afternoon when we were going for a nap, and she tried to get us to "play" with her by teasing with her toy but never giving it up. When I had told her no for the third time and turned so she couldn't creep up in between my daughter and I with her toy, she decided that lying on the bed next to us while my daughter rubbed her ears and scratched under her chin was way better than chasing a toy.

Daphne keeps going from room to room checking to see if she's missed anything, and she doesn't let me out of her sight for long. In fact, she doesn't let any of us out of her sight for long before she makes her rounds to see where everyone is. We also had our first adventure in dog catching and now know just how fast she is. My folks stopped to see our new addition, and when they went to leave, I was not quick enough to grab her before my Mom opened the door. Daphne slipped past and took off down the block across all the neighbors yards and headed for the church lot behind us. My Dad and I were calling and whistling but she just kept going and I was starting to panic when my Dad yelled that she had doubled back behind us and was making a circle from our yard to the church lot through the neighbors yards. She did this for about five minutes until she discovered the scent of Sally, the dog two doors down. This was something she had to investigate, so while she was busy checking things out, I approached her and started wrinkling up a paper I had in my pocket. It worked. She has become a real cookie fiend, and finally the sound of a "wrapper" drew her close enough for me to get my hand on her collar. All is safe and sound now, and my Mom has not stopped apologizing. Daphne seemed apologetic when we got inside too. The pure joy she had when running was just great to see, however, I am not ready for a repeat performance anytime soon! We will be visiting my Dad's house with her so she can run amok on two acres without giving me a heart attack!

Anyway, that has been our day, which was quite full. I thought you might like to know that Daphne seems to have adopted us at least as much as we did her. We have found that she likes to be brushed, and while she puts on a fierce sounding barking act for visitors, it seems it is just her way of telling them to hurry up and get in here to pet me!

Hope all is well, and it was great to see our picture up on her website. What a difference in her weight when looking at the pictures!

Take care and thank you again. We will be telling anyone we know looking for a pet to visit your website and promote adoption where we can.

and...

This morning we got up to see Daphne sound asleep in our daughter's bed. She loves affection....When petting her, she will just roll over on her back and let you rub her chest and neck as you can last....

Daphne's First Four Days:

Well, it has been 4 full days since we picked up Daphne, and a lot has changed already. Daphne has actually been taking her time and chewing her food instead of inhaling it. At her 5pm feeding she has been leaving some food in her dish for the last three days. Of course, it seems she is waiting to see if something better will come her way since we are usually cooking dinner around 5. Saturday night, she brought her favorite toy over to me to play, and for the first time, actually let go of it. She brought it over at first and I was trying not to encourage the game since it was already 11:30pm, but when I would not try to take the toy or even touch it, she nudged it at me and finally let go of it and took two steps back to see if that would entice me to play. I couldn't resist at that point since it seemed she "trusted" me with her favorite lovee! Her hips seem to be filling in quite nicely, and her weight is up noticeably from the pictures of her you first had on the website. Daphne is a quick study, and I almost think at times, that she is a step ahead of me with learning something new.

She already has met many new people what with family visiting over the holiday weekend, and she has my two Brothers-In-Law wrapped around her paw! She is just the biggest mush of a dog I have ever known. We can't sit on the one corner of our couch for long before she has her head in your lap, followed by her standing up on her back legs to put her head up on your chest to "hug" you. The only creatures she does not seem to like are cats, of course, and now squirrels are on the list. She is single minded in purpose once she sees or catches scent of one, and has been visiting the same corner of the yard and sniffing the same tree each time she goes out, just in case she should catch a lazy squirrel not paying attention.

Daphne has her first visit with Dr. Larry next Friday, and I will let you know how much she has gained once we get back. I imagine she will have gained another pound or two at least by then. We want to thank you again. This has been a great experience. Daphne could be the poster dog for pet adoption! We have been laughing a lot at her new experiences and have been getting an abundance of love in return for caring for her.

DAPHNE'S STORY:

Daphne is about 1 1/2 - 2 years old. She was an owner surrender to the shelter. We don't know why but we do know that being in the shelter was probably the best thing that happened to her. Her previous owners obviously were not big on feeding her as this poor girl weighs only 29 pounds when she should weigh at least 40 - 45 pounds. She is just skin and bones but is being fed several times a day in her foster home to fatten her up.

11/10/00: Because Daphne is so severely emaciated, her system cannot tolerate dog food and she became ill and refused to eat at all. She is now on medication and a special diet consisting of hamburger, hard boiled eggs, molasses, oatmeal, wheat germ, joint complex and high nutrition cereal. This concoction is fed frequently throughout the day and will put weight on her quickly. She loves it and has even started eating small quantities with gusto. She will be gradually introduced to a premium dry dog food once her digestive system is back on track and will be weaned off of the special food. We have had other dogs as painfully thin as her and after following this diet, they were almost at normal weight in only 2 weeks and now live very healthy and happy lives. So it will be a couple of weeks before Daphne is ready to go to a new home but you are welcome to put your adoption application in ahead of time.

11/11/00: Daphne made her debut at her first adoption day even though she isn't ready to be adopted yet. It was a wonderful socialization experience for her and she showed that she loves children and does very well with them as in the pictures to the left. It was a long day and she ate her complete ration of fattening up food throughout the day and kept it all down! She then went home to sleep, totally exhausted from her busy but fun day.

11/14/00: We are very pleased with the progress Daphne is making. Tonight she finishes her medication. She has been eating 5-6 small meals per day and inhales them like a vacuum cleaner. It is for this reason we chose to start her Purina O.N.E. dog food. The chunks are very small and that is important because Daphne does not chew her food - she just eats way too quickly. There is no more diarrhea and no more vomiting. She even started drinking her Pedialyte which she had refused at first. Did we ever rejoice when she had her first firm stool yesterday. She actually looks like she is starting to fill out some. We have had an overwhelming number of applications for Daphne and thank everyone for their interest in offering a loving home to this poor girl. Although it is not final yet, she may have found her permanent home. If you are looking for a dog similar to Daphne, please visit Associated Humane Society in Newark. They have several terrier mixes that desperately need homes! There are many, many more dogs available than what is shown on their Petfinder listing - there are just too many to keep it updated. Daphne would be very pleased if some of them were adopted because of her story.