Lena (Maggie) 23-006

Lena (formerly Maggie), a 5 year old golden retriever, came to GRRoIowa from a commercial breeding facility. She was adopted in July 2023 by the H family in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

From her family:

Initial Update
Maggie is a 5 yo breeder surrender. She is sweet, but understandable scared. She will be moving to a foster home once she gets a week or so to decompress and start to understand that only good things come from humans.

Final Update

I began fostering Lena (formerly Maggie) on Saturday, May 27, 2023. When Lena arrived to my home, she was very nervous and jumpy; any unpredictable movement or noise made her jump and sometimes scurry out of the room. She was not house trained but learned quickly, within 2-3 days of being here, and hasn’t had any accidents in the house since. The sliding patio doors made her nervous but she overcame that fear with some reassurance from me and seeing my other dogs go in and out. She now enjoys spending time outside, checking out the backyard or laying on the patio. Lena didn’t like to be kenneled the first couple of days here but she quickly learned that the kennel was not something to fear and started to kennel on her own; she’d even lay in her kennel by choice. She began to bond to me but needed a lot of encouragement and reassurance when it came to getting to know new people; she can still be nervous around other people but has gotten braver and will usually approach them now to greet them and accept pets. Lena loves attention; once she has decided you’re a safe person, she soaks up any and all attention you’ll give her. She even learned how to roll over for belly rubs and loves those! Lena does sometimes forget to use her manners when she gets excited or wants attention and will paw at or jump up on me so we are continuing to work on that. When she first got here, she’d only lay on the floor but she began napping on a blanket on the floor and has since learned how great dogs bed are and will nap in one of her beds regularly. Lena took to toys pretty quickly and now has an entire toy box full; her favorites are any that crinkle and/or squeak. She still doesn’t know how to play with me or another dog but loves to carry her toys around, shaking them and squeaking them. We are making strides with this though as she would previously jump back or run away if you tried to interact with her with a toy and now she engages some and will even try to catch the toy from you though I don’t think she’s caught one yet! Lena’s latest thing is sticking her entire head in her toy box or even standing in her toy box to pick out just the right toy even though almost all of them end up out of the toy box and on the floor by the time she’s done! She has been on several walks and is doing well with leash training though sometimes will zig zag in front of or behind me and needs a reminder to stay at my side. A couple of weeks ago, she got to go on a walk on the trail around a local park and really enjoyed that. Lena took her first trip to the pet store yesterday and was a little nervous but did really well overall. I hope to continue to get her out in the community as she’s ready and can handle it. She’s still nervous about getting in the car and has to be lifted in but, once she’s in, she rides really well; she usually just lays down in the back seat and watches the world go by. I knew early on that there was a good chance Lena would end up becoming a permanent addition to my home and with each passing week, as she continued to progress, it became more and more apparent that she was meant to be a part of the family. After 7 weeks in foster care, on Saturday, July 15, 2023, we made it official… Lena is now adopted!

Congrats Lena and the H family!