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Cookie in Good Housekeeping

September 2019

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October 23/17

Check out Cookie on TV! She comes in at the 2:45 mark. Thanks to Cathryn from Dundas Pet Valu for featuring Cookie!

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June 16/16

An update from Cookie’s (Bridgett’s) forever home.

“Hello wonderful women of Ladybird!

Since we’re coming up to our one year adoption anniversary, we thought we’d give you a little update on Cookie, who continues to be the biggest light in our lives! She is as happy as can be, and with each passing month is showing more and more confidence and improvements with her resource-guarding tendencies. It has been so rewarding to watch her confidence soar. She never used to run free off-leash, always sticking by our ankles, and now she is running so fast we can hardly keep up with her (see the video attached). Our favourite place to play is at little john’s off-leash park where she loves to charm children, other dogs, and dog owners with her adorable dancing and gentle temperament. Her skin health has continued to improve and when we look at the before and after photos of her tummy it still shocks us to think about how far she has come. Despite everything we’ve tried, she still has a small section of thickened, yeasty skin that isn’t healing and continues to cause moderate itchiness, and our vet has talked with us about potential surgery to remove the skin flap (she thinks the extra skin could perhaps be because she has had so many litters of puppies, poor girl!). Lastly, she has developed small calcium deposits in her eyes recently so we are being referred to an ophthalmologist to get those removed. Other than these minor concerns, she is as healthy and as happy as can be. We wanted to thank you for the opportunity to give this special girl a loving home – she has brought nothing but happiness to our lives and the lives of those around us!

Nikki & Eric”

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October 23/15

Bridgett’s foster family decided they couldn’t let her go, and they’ve officially adopted her! Yay Bridgett!

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September 15/15

Bridgett is ready to find her forever home! As you can see from her photos, Bridgett gets along with cats and dogs and she LOVES people! Her allergies are mostly under control, but she will still have to be on a strict diet, and the occasional medication.

Here’s a write up from Bridgett’s foster family:
“We are confident that Bridgett (formally named Cookie by the owners who dropped her off at Hamilton Animal Control) will be nothing short of a perfect addition to any individual or family. Although it was originally thought that Bridgett was likely around 3 years old, the condition of her uterus during her spay as well as the condition of her teeth led the vet to believe she may be somewhere around age 6 instead.

We’ve had the pleasure of watching Bridgett get stronger and more resilient with each passing week, and at this time, her itchiness and skin allergies are almost completely controlled with medication. At the moment, she is on an anti-fungal, antibiotic, and a light steroid/anti-inflammatory to help manage her likely yeast and bacterial skin infection, as well as the itch that results from these skin irritations and her likely food allergies. Since her blood work showed no signs of environmental allergies, she is on a strict hypoallergenic diet for food allergies (meaning no treats, no bones, no flavoured nylabones, etc). With other animals in the home, their food will have to be kept out of reach of Bridgett and it’s best if everyone is fed separately so as to not contaminate her food trial! For training and treats, we use kibble or little pieces of wet food (her favourite!!) In order to take her pills each morning and evening, they get wrapped in some hypoallergenic wet food (instead of cheese, pill pockets, etc). As time goes on, she will be weaned off of her medication, which will most likely require some monitoring by the vet to ensure her itchiness stays controlled. Since her bacterial skin infection was likely ignored for so long, it may take a couple months of antibiotics to tackle! It has been so wonderful to watch her skin slowly begin to heal, now appearing healthy, thinned, and lesion-free, rather than thickened, odoured, discoloured, and lesioned, which is how she used to suffer a few weeks ago.

Bridget becomes a ball of excitement at meal time – dancing on her tippy-paws and spinning in circles. When she was dropped off at HAC she was extremely emaciated (at only 7 lbs) and it warms your heart to see how grateful she is when provided her meals. I have to admit, I had been giving her a little more than what’s recommended until she became a healthy weight – she has a wonderful appetite and has now gained several pounds!!

Bridgett is happy to sleep in your arms on your bed, on the floor or in a puppy crate in her favourite green bed with lots of comfy blankets, or on your lap while on the couch. She is flexible, laid back, kind, and so forgiving. During the first week spent here, she appeared to dislike anyone touching her back/behind area, which she would make known by a shriek and a gentle growl. However, this behaviour has now disappeared completely and may have just been a temporary distrust due to her difficult past. She walks well on a leash (most of the time!) but does dislike the rain and at times grass too! 🙂 She prefers to do her business on gravel or pavement, but does go on the grass sometimes with a little encouragement (and sometimes voluntarily with no encouragement). She has been getting along famously with our miniature golden doodle, and although we notice some humping behaviours at times, she hasn’t engaged in this behaviour with any other dogs (our Benny is quite handsome, we do admit). With only a gentle “ah-ah,” she discontinues the behaviour immediately. She takes no notice of our two cats… She will walk right by them or take a nap with them without bothering at all. Her only dislike is the vacuum cleaner! It’s really quite adorable – and it’s the only time we’ve heard her bark at something!!

Bridgett is lovely with children. Earlier this week we had two family dinners (15 people) and she spent her time playing under the table with our 3 and 4-year old nephews! She prefers to be in someone’s arms at the dinner table, rather than at your feet 🙂 She never whimpers – just gently puts her paws on your knee with a look that says, “please pick me up and love me!” Naturally, we all take turns. 🙂

With only a couple accidents in three weeks (all during the night, after venturing downstairs), she is almost completely housetrained. We continue to provide her with kibble treats when she engages in good behaviours. Currently, she gets 3-4 walks per day, although I think she’d be happier with less 🙂 While our other dog is happy to go into the backyard to do his business, Bridgett prefers to be accompanied and walked to go to the bathroom.

Bridgett shows no separation anxiety at all but LOTS of adorable excitement upon returning home to her. She dances on her hind legs and makes adorable little noises to show her love for you. She is quick to attach strongly, which I would imagine has meaning rooted in her developmental history of having several owners, experiencing lots of loss, and her needs being quite neglected. She never ever barks, unless someone comes to the door. She is wonderful with other dogs, and does stay quite shy and careful, though not fearful.

Fostering Bridgett over the past few weeks and observing her become stronger, gain weight, and having her fur grow back has been so rewarding and she shows her appreciation by her kisses, nuzzles, and cuddles. We are going to miss her and know that she will undoubtedly make a lucky someone so incredibly happy. We are happy to maintain contact with the adoptive parents as we’ve had lots of experience with dog skin allergies, and are always here for questions or concerns surrounding Bridgett. We will miss this adorable little girl!”

Please adopt Bridgett!

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August 31/15
A quick update on Bridgett!
Bridgett’s allergies seem to be clearing up with the hypo-allergenic food we have her on. Lots of fur has grown back as you can see! She’s not 100% yet as she’s still doing a bit of scratching and chewing at herself, but she certainly looks much better than she did when we first rescued her! Tests showed no environmental allergies, so we’ve ruled those out. Bridgett is so sweet and cuddly…we’re thrilled she’s starting to feel better!
We’ll post another update on this little love-bug soon…

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July 28/15

Ladybird rescued Bridgett from Hamilton Animal Control. Bridgett has some serious allergy issues that her previous owner was not able to handle, so they signed her over to HAC. Bridgett is just the sweetest little dog, but she scratches and chews at herself so severely that she ends up with bald patches, open sores and scabs. We took her straight from HAC to the vet for a check-up and so she could be spayed. We’ve started her on a hypo-allergenic diet and she will receive a series of allergy test to try to find out what it is that is making her so itchy.  Bridgett is a very friendly dog and she loves everyone she meets.

We’ll have some updates from Bridgett’s foster home soon!