Page 19 - Assisi Paw Prints issue 95

goodbye to Sierra and her babies as they went on foster
with a promise of regular updates.

When the pups were just days old, we got an update that
we really didn’t want to hear - Sierra had started to cough.
As she had been at the puppy farm just a week before, she
had not had any vaccinations and had contracted Kennel
Cough which is a highly contagious respiratory disease
and, if left untreated, can lead to pneumonia and be deadly.
With treatment, adult dogs usually recover quite well but
for puppies less than a week old with no immune system
it can be much more of a concern. Staff were advised not
to name the puppies or tell people about them because if
they contracted it from Sierra they may not survive. A few
days later we were told that the pups were very congested
and to prepare ourselves for the worst. Happily, all eight
puppies made a full recovery and when they were 6 weeks
old staff started to find them their forever homes. Once they
turned 8 weeks old, all were adopted by lovely families.
And Sierra? Sierra hasn’t left her fosterers. She has been
renamed Suqie and is finally being shown the love she
deserves.

Ginny’s Story

Ginny was the most nervous of the three girls, and
it became apparent quite quickly that she was more
comfortable around other dogs than she was with humans.
One day, staff decided to see how Ginny and Stella coped
in adjoining runs, and the difference in them both was
Molly paced around and could not settle during the day.
huge! We saw Ginny’s tail wag for the first time and even
She needed toilet training and would not drink water from
heard a playful bark – after a few minutes of sniffing each
a bowl. She had no experience of a collar, harness or lead,
other through the bars, we let them into the same run.
and her first walks required lots of patience and an open
Although Stella was very boisterous, Ginny held her own
space. Luckily, she has made great progress on all these
and after giving Stella a quick telling off for bouncing on her,
areas although she is still a very nervous dog. Despite being
boundaries were set and the girls began to enjoy playing
very attached to Ryan initially she has now become quite
and interacting. In lieu of walks, as both were still terrified of
wary of him and will often bark at him or jump out of bed
the harness and lead, these socialisation sessions became
a daily occurrence and both girls became more confident
and started to approach staff and volunteers out of choice.
We were then contacted by a couple who wanted a
sister for their 5-year-old dachshund Ella and, after many
successful meets Ginny was renamed Molly and officially
adopted. Her new family knew there would be many
challenges ahead, including toilet training and overcoming
her handling issues before tackling walking on a harness
and lead, but they knew it would be worth it. Here is an
update on how she has settled in:

“We rehomed Molly (formerly known as Ginny) from Assisi
in December 2021. Molly was rescued from a puppy farm
aged 3. Assisi tended to her medical needs and Molly
needed a hernia operation upon rescue. When we first took
Molly home it was clear she had no experience of human
interaction or a home environment. She was extremely
nervous and alert to everything we were doing at home.
She relied heavily on her safe place in her crate for the first
few days. It really helped having our older dachshund Ella
in the house as Molly followed her lead on most things.

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