Pound Puppy 2009 Update 2

Shasta is an EATER. She gets 3 cups of good food three times a day. However, she does not get excited if someone is around her bowl while she is eating. She will also steal the cats food if there is any opportunity. Thank goodness she seems to be housebroke and so far goes outside to do her thing.

This picture was taken about one week after she came aboard. She does not look so knobby, her ribs are less distinguishable and her backbone and hips seem to be filling in.

Berthing is not as good as it could be. We were set up for a large dog, not an extra large dog. The kennel and blocks of foam we have do not fit well when you sprawl. However, the digs are much better than what she had at the pound.


We have learned a lot about dog food, however she eats it so fast I'm not sure she can taste it. Right now she is getting a mixture of Science Diet Adult Advanced Fitness Dry and IAMs Puppy Chow. In 40 pound bags it costs more than some people food.

Each day her personality changes, we think the starvation and pound experience had her personality somewhat flat lined when we brought her home.


Yesterday afternoon when The Blushing Bride went to school she put a gate up to keep Shasta out of our bedroom and away from the cat food in the master bath. This is what I saw as I entered the kitchen. As I rounded the bar, I saw Shasta leap over the gate in the bedroom doorway; she had been in there laying on our bed.

She gives the term couch potato new meaning. We now cover the couch and now also the chairs to keep her on the floor. In her earlier life, she certainly had to be a house puppy. The first vet said they thought the dog was about five years old, our vet guessed three years old. As her personality changes she seems to be still somewhat of a puppy.

PS, Tonight a neighbor called me to let me know there were two coyotes standing under the persimmon tree in my neighbors yard across from the end of my driveway. One left as I came out but I could see the other standing there watching me. I barked at him and he /she ran off. That also got Shasta barking, she was in the driveway but I'm not sure she had got wind of the coyotes yet.