Tag: Melody

Yay, another happy story from one of my former foster dogs, Mel.

Dear friends at Wild Heir,
It has been a year now since we adopted Melody from your group, and wanted to let you know we are doing great!! She has really come out of her shyness for the most part, and is a joy to our family!! Enclosed are pictures, one at Sullivan’s island, on the beach, which she loves, and the other with my son’s dog, Izzie. They are best friends, love to wrestle and play tug of war as you can see.
We live in VA, but out son lives in Charleston, so we were there to visit last week. I wish you could see her in person, you would be so proud, as we are!!
Thanks for taking care of labs like Mel, and providing a place for families like ours to find a wonderful dog. Keep up the good work!

Mel got adopted out today and left with her new people for a nice new home in Virginia. They seemed like nice folks and I think Mel’s going to get all the love and attention she needs.

Now the dogs and I will take a bit of a break before tackling another foster.

I took about 120 or so pictures of Mel at the dog park the other day, and out of all of them I ended up with 5 decent ones.
I had the camera on burst mode, so most of the pictures were just 3 shot sequences of Mel in various stages of looking up, down, to the side, away from me, taking off to check something out or trying to leave nose prints on the lens.
BTW, Mel is available for adoption so if you’re interested or know someone who might be, contact the folks at Wild Heir Lab Rescue. They’ll be happy to help you out.
Mel’s a very sweet and gentle dog who will absolutely soak up as much love and attention as you want to give to her. She’s pretty shy around new people, but it’s nothing that a few cookies and treats can’t break through. Once she’s accepted you though, she’ll stick to you like white on rice. She gets along great with other dogs and hasn’t had any issues with any of the dogs she’s met at the dog park. She knows sit, and is trying to learn down but could still use some obedience work. Mel gets pretty hyped when she sees the leash coming out (because it means she gets to go outside!). She likes to run and chase things (especially bugs), but isn’t what I would consider a highly active dog. She’s pretty happy just finding a spot at your feet and gnawing on a Nylabone.
How can you say no to a face like this?

Continue reading “It’s Mel!”

She’s hyper, can’t stay still for any length of time, and always has to check something out. Then she’ll stop and fixate on something for a while and dash off again. From a standing position she can jump up almost 1 m high. Her tail and butt wiggle non-stop if she thinks you’ve got something for her and she’s always ‘smiling’. Always have to keep an eye on her, otherwise you’re liable to get smacked in the face by her snout or clobbered with her tail.

But you’ll never see it if you’re not part of her trusted circle. Getting there isn’t hard, but takes some patience. Food helps a lot with this but it needs a lot of patience.
I think it must be the sight hound part of her. Looking at her, I see more whippet/greyhound than lab. A fat hairy whippet (not that she’s fat or anything) is what she makes me think of. She definitely has the food drive of a lab though.

Mel’s a pretty good dog, but she needs some work before she’ll be ready to go to a forever home. Definitely needs more obedience training to reinforce what she knows. She’ll be the dominant dog given the opportunity. Don’t be fooled into thinking she’s trying to be cute when she puts her paw up on you or nudges her head underneath your hand for some petting. That’s just her trying to manipulate you.

If I can get her more people-socialized and past her fear/nervousness issues I think she’ll make a great dog for someone. I have a feeling she might do well with agility work.

Mel’s favourite spot when I’m working on the computer: underneath the desk