Gypsy's living the life at Meadowlake!

Trainer, Tori Hankey updates Gypsy's stay at Meadowlake, "We are only on day 5 since Gypsy’s arrival at Meadowlake and she has already shown tremendous improvement!   On Thursday she began using the doggie door from her room to her outdoor patio.  This shows that she is becoming more comfortable in her environment - even to the point of carrying all of her toys outside with her.   Today she received a bath in the grooming spa and seemed to enjoy the warm water and relaxing massage.

                "Despite her fear of being approached by people she is showing the desire to allow interaction.  She is not yet willing to come when called.  In fact, given the space, she looks for an escape route to avoid greetings.  Her most recent accomplishment is responding to a hand signal and the command “down”.  Even though down is a submissive position, she is comfortable allowing me to approach with a leash instead of running away.  I have several volunteers offering her treats in exchange for allowing us to approach and pet her.  Her confidence is steadily improving! 

                "She shows a lot of interest in other dogs and we are anxious to give her an opportunity to interact in a group play environment.  Check back next week to find out about her daycare evaluation!"

Stunning Catahoula receives a new leash on life

Meadowlake Pet Resort is proud to announce a new candidate into their “New Leash on Life” program.  Gypsy from Friends of Montgomery County Texas Animal Shelter (FMCTAS) began her free training and board on Monday, January 24.  She will undergo daily socialization, as well as learning basic commands and skills during her free 30 day stay.  Meadowlake’s Trainer, Tori Hankey states “I am extremely excited that this program is becoming such a success.  Meadowlake is so proud that we can help a less than perfect dog find its forever home.”  For more information on the “New Leash on Life” program, visit www.meadowlakepetresort.com/training/new-leash-on-life.php. 

About Gypsy:  Gypsy was found as a stray and was picked up by Montgomery County Texas Animal Shelter.  She entered the shelter with signs of extreme abuse.  Her jaw was shattered; she was extremely underweight, with an upper respiratory infection, worms, and kennel cough.  Friends of Montgomery County Texas Animal Shelter (FMCTAS) saw this beauty broken and absolutely terrified.  They pulled her from the shelter and nursed her back to health.  This stunning Catahoula is now staying at Meadowlake Pet Resort free of charge and working on her communication with humans.  She will be working on learning basic commands and socializing with people.  She is about1 year old, spayed, updated on vaccinations, crate-trained and is friendly with other dogs, but terrified around people.  She is also partially deaf, so she is sensitive to loud noises.  Jessica from FMCAS and temporary foster for Gypsy, informs Meadowlake, “I want to help Gypsy so badly.  She is such a sweet girl and has had a horrible life.  She deserves a chance at a new life.” 

About FMCTAS:  FMCTAS is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to saving, supporting and providing medical assistance to the animals of Montgomery county (North of Houston) and other worthy organizations. FMCTAS provides medical assistance including spay & neuter, vaccination services, fostering, and adoption programs. FMCTAS covers the vet bills for animals in foster care and supplies the foster parents with dry and wet food for cats and dogs, kennels and medicine.  FMCTAS supports No-Kill programs. An example was in February 2008 No-kill month at the Montgomery shelter/animal control. FMCTAS paid for over 100 animals to be spay/neuter at the vets in the area, to be ready for adoption.  They also supply Montgomery county animal shelter (MCAS) with kuranda beds, water/food bowls, cat litter, dry and wet food, medicine, heart worm tests, desks, generators, and a washing machine. Please visit their website for more information about FMCTAS www.fmctas.org.   

Gypsy from Friends of Montgomery County Animal Shelter

Meet Gypsy, Meadowlake's newest candidate in the New Leash on Life program. 

Meadowlake Pet Resort is proud to announce a new candidate into their “New Leash on Life” program.  Gypsy from Friends of Montgomery County Texas Animal Shelter (FMCTAS) will begin her free training and board on Monday, January 24.  She will undergo daily socialization, as well as learning basic commands and skills during her free 30 day stay.  Meadowlake’s Trainer, Tori Hankey states “I am extremely excited that this program is becoming such a success.  Meadowlake is so proud that we can help a less than perfect dog find its forever home.”  For more information on the “New Leash on Life” program, visit www.meadowlakepetresort.com/training/new-leash-on-life.php. 

About Gypsy:  Gypsy was found as a stray and was picked up by Montgomery County Texas Animal Shelter.  She entered the shelter with signs of extreme abuse.  Her jaw was shattered; she was extremely underweight, with an upper respiratory infection, worms, and kennel cough.  Friends of Montgomery County Texas Animal Shelter (FMCTAS) saw this beauty broken and absolutely terrified.  They pulled her from the shelter and nursed her back to health.  This stunning Catahoula is now staying at Meadowlake Pet Resort free of charge and working on her communication with humans.  She will be working on learning basic commands and socializing with people.  She is about1 year old, spayed, updated on vaccinations, crate-trained and is friendly with other dogs, but terrified around people.  She is also partially deaf, so she is sensitive to loud noises.  Jessica from FMCAS and temporary foster for Gypsy, informs Meadowlake, “I want to help Gypsy so badly.  She is such a sweet girl and has had a horrible life.  She deserves a chance at a new life.” 

We will keep you updated on her progress through this blog. 

Oliver is leaving Meadowlake!

This is a bittersweet moment for everyone at Meadowlake Pet Resort, Oliver from Houston Area Doberman Rescue, Inc, will be leaving us on Friday.  His free three weeks of training and board has come to an end, and he will be going into a foster family, possibly a fur-ever family.  During his stay, he learned new commands, ran in the fields, and made some doggie pals.  He passed his Daycare Evaluation last week and is now a pack member in our Jumping Jacks!  We are so proud of Oliver, and we will miss him so much.  Good luck out there Oliver! 

Oliver's Update

Oliver from Houston Area Doberman Rescue has been at Meadowlake Pet Resort for a little over a week now.  Trainer Tori Hankey states, "He is having a great time!  We have worked on refreshing basic commands he knows which is a piece of cake for him.  He does really well with sit, down, and stay.  The new things we are working on are leave it, drop it, and come when called.  When he has a toy he likes to play keep away.  He will run with the toy when I get close and try to grab it before I do if it is on the ground.  So I have been using 'drop it'  and 'leave it' to get him to exchange the toy for a treat.  He is catching on, but we are still practicing.  This is the best approach for teaching him it is OK to give up a toy – whether it be with a person or eventually – a dog.  We haven’t worked with other dogs yet.  I had him on the other side of the fence from the daycare dogs this morning.  He really doesn’t show any interest in them and I haven’t seen any fence aggression either.  In fact he seems intimidated by them. This has made it difficult for me to get an idea of the severity of his resource guarding issue when nose to nose with a dog.  So for now I am just focusing on getting him to respond to my voice 100% of the time – regardless of the command."

"He absolutely loves running full speed in the fields," Tori explains.  "It is a beautiful thing to see him in a full stride.  It seems like he hasn’t had that type of real (needed) exercise in a long time.  I let him do his thing when we first go out, then randomly and patiently practice come when called.  He did not respond to his name/praise/correction at all when we first started.  Today he showed much improvement in the 'off leash' listening department.  Again, this will be key to controlling any resource guarding issues as we move forward."

The Staff at Meadowlake loves Oliver, and he gets tons of attention when Tori brings him into the office.  He goes from one person to the next, taking any love he can get, paw crossed he will find the perfect home before he leaves Meadowlake. 

Meadowlake Pet Resort Gives a "New Leash On Life" to a Deserving Doberman

Meadowlake Pet Resort is proud to announce a new candidate into their “New Leash on Life” program.  Oliver from Houston Area Doberman Rescue, Inc. (HADR) will begin his training on Monday, January 3.  He will undergo daily socialization, as well as learning basic commands and skills during his free 30 day stay.  Meadowlake’s Trainer, Tori Hankey states “I am extremely excited that this program is becoming such a success.  Meadowlake is so proud that we can help a less than perfect dog find its forever home.”  For more information on the “New Leash on Life” program, visit www.meadowlakepetresort.com/training/new-leash-on-life.php. 

About Oliver:  Oliver’s owner surrendered him when he was about 2.5 years old to Houston Area Doberman Rescue, Inc. (HADR).  His owner had Oliver since he was a puppy, but made a decision to surrender him to the rescue group for reasons unknown.  Oliver came to HADR healthy, up to date on his shots and heartworm negative.  The first few days in his foster home he was very anxious about all the changes, but he eventually calmed down and welcomed the new experiences.  Oliver left his foster family for his new forever family, or so he thought.  Oliver was surrendered yet again to HADR by his new family.  This beautiful Doberman is now staying at Meadowlake Pet Resort free of charge and working on his communication with humans.  He is house-trained and has yet to have an accident inside. He loves and needs exercise and thoroughly enjoys bike rides and jogging. Walks are a little too slow for him right now but he will be working on that while he stays at Meadowlake.  He does well with other dogs and enjoys play time.  For more information about Oliver, please visit www.hadr.org.