Penelope - Adopted October, 2008
Update: May 2009 Penelope made great progress since the last time I checked in. She has overcome her separation anxiety w/ the help of behavior training and prescribed medication (she was on Clomicalm for 2 months). I am happy to report that she has settled into a nice (and calm!) routine and no longer freaks out when she's home alone. And speaking of being home alone, I am also thrilled that she no longer requires the crate, and has free roam of the house. As long as I come home on my lunch hour, there has been no potty accidents. She still struggles w/ shyness and fear of new people/surroundings. My husband and I enrolled her into the "Wallflowers" training class at the Humane Society in Golden Valley. We've attended 2 classes so far (it's a 16 week course). Yesterday during class, she ate a treat from a strangers hand for the first time. We are happy to see her make progress and become more confident. Once she graduates from Wallflowers, she'll go into "Level 1", where she'll learn basic commands and maybe even a few tricks! Penelope has brought so much joy into my life. I absolutely adore her. She is the sweetest little dog and I am so thankful for her. Thank you for rescuing and fostering her! P.S. I've attached a recent picture of Penelope.

October/November 2008 - Penelope's mom has already sent in a couple of updates and some great photos of her beautiful girl: She's adjusting remarkably well. Of course, she was nervous and scared when she first arrived -- hiding under the dining room table, and shy around us. But by Saturday morning, she was like a whole new girl! Jumping around and playful. She loves running in our back yard and following us around the house. She's catching on quickly to the house rules and going outside to go potty. She's only had two accidents. This morning she sat by the door to tell me she needed to go out. We plan to continue to crate her until we have several weeks w/ no accidents. Although, it is hard saying 'no' to her sweet face and sad whining when it's bedtime...she wants to sleep w/ us in our bed. Maybe sooner than later . She's been rubbing her ears on the ground, so we've been giving her the drops. Hopefully she'll feel better soon. And she's very good about taking her pill twice a day. Again, thank you for introducing us to sweet Penelope. We are head-over-heels in love w/ her. We look forward to many happy years ahead! She's doing awesome w/ the housetraining. Not one accident all week. She sleeps in her bed all night in our bedroom w/ no issues. She's a smart girl -- she's learning to "tell us" when she's "gotta go" -- and we're learning how to "read" her signals. She's also calmed down quite a bit when we go on car rides. She hops right in and doesn't tremble anymore. She's still shy around new people and situations, but she's slowly getting better. We put up a baby gate and she climbed over it while we were away for a few hours. Her paws were pretty beat up from the struggle to escape the gate, so we took her to the vet on Tues. She's on a topical cream and antibiotics to prevent infection. She's doing really well -- I think the pain is gone since she's not licking her paws anymore. The vet said she's in really good health. We'll bring her back in 6 months since she's considered a "senior dog". We love having her in our home. She's so much fun and such a sweetheart. She is truly a part of our family. Phil and I both rush home from work to see her....she's so excited when we come home. It's so cute how her entire back end wags when she's happy! We've gotten into a nice routine and things are starting to fall into place. We are really happy.....she's our sweet little girl