It has been a little over a year since Maddy and Dyna’s last update. Maddy turned nine in July and Dyna turned four. It has been a busy year.

Dyna became a blood donor in August 2010. I knew that Dyna could and did lie quietly in all situations and would do anything for food / treats so I figured she might be a good blood donor candidate. Dyna started donating at EVBB. Dyna is DEA 1.1 negative, so she is in the universal donor category. I like the idea of using family dogs to donate blood vice caged animals. In Jan 11, to keep the blood bank open EVBB was bought out by Blue Ridge Veteran Associates and has become BRVBB. If you live in the LRR operating area (Maryland, Virginia, DC and West Virginia) more than likely www.BRVBB.com visits your area to collect blood. The web page lists the blood donor criteria.

Dyna attended advanced obedience training in the spring and successful passed her Canine good citizen test with flying colors. She was again the calming influence in the class and the dog that the instructor placed with the other dogs when they were struggling with one of the evolutions.

Both Maddy and Dyna want to wish everyone a Happy and Safe Summer and to thank all of the nice people at LRR for finding them and helping them to find their forever family.

Maddy and Dyna celebrated their 8th and 3rd Birthday’s respectively on 4 Jul and decided to update everyone at LRR on what’s been happening.

Maddy (Madison) was adopted in Feb 2008. She actually started out as my first foster dog. She was only in the house for about a month and moved on. About 3 months later she came to spend Christmas and never left. At the time Maddy came to stay there were already 2 older (settled) dogs in the house. Maddy at 5 ½ was still very energetic and kept her older sisters on their paws. She also completed the set being the Chocolate member of the family with the oldest sister the Black, Sadie, another LRR, alum as the Yellow. Those stereotype things you hear about Chocolates being a little crazy (psycho) aren’t true for most Chocolates. Maddy is the reason most of those stories are told. She is has a love for life and all things in it that make you laugh and frustrate you to no end.

Maddy (like Marley) was asked to leave her first round of basic obedience training because she was too rambunctious around the 6 mos old to 2 year old dogs. It was obvious the standard training without some type of positive reward (food) wasn’t going to work for Maddy. Maddy has since attended Basic and Intermediate Manners classes and done great. She has does some basic rally training and is able to master most of the skills.

Maddy continues to be a bad influence on the foster dogs showing them some of the behaviors that she knows will not make their forever families happy. Despite her high spirited antics Maddy has a great heart and loves everyone. She especially likes the foster dogs that are willing to play fetch, chase and / or keep away.

Dyna also came into the house as a foster dog and figured out how to worm her way into being a permanent member of the family. Dyna is easy going and settled. She likes to snuggle and sit quickly by anybody to get pets. This is the exact opposite of Maddy who is in constant motion.

Dyna was adopted in Oct 09 while recovering from her first FHO hip surgery. Both Dyna and her brother were diagnosed with severe hip dysplasia. Studies show that if as puppies that had gotten plenty of exercise, feed a good diet and not allowed to be overweight some of the severity of the dysplasia could have been mitigated.

As part of her recovery Dyna started swimming at the Canine Fitness Center pools in Crownsville MD. She took to the water like a Lab and enjoys just swimming around the pool. About the same time Dyna was recovering from surgery, Maddy started having problems with her knees and hips. She was diagnosed with mild hip dysplasia and a partially torn knee ligament. Maddy at 7 was still trying to keep up with the 2 and 3 year old foster dogs chasing the tennis balls and each other. Maddy also started swimming once a week. At first Maddy didn’t think much of the swimming and would spend more time splashing then swimming. Once Maddy got the tennis ball in her mouth she settled down and swam. After about a month Dyna and Maddy were able to be in the pool together, Dyna just paddling around and Maddy the retrieving machine. They both look forward to swimming and get a little crazy in the car as we get near CFC.

Dyna had her 2nd hip surgery in early March 2010. Dyna was able to quickly recover from her surgery and within a week was showing her distain for the e-collar. I was barely able to keep up with her destruction of the collars by purchasing every large e-collar in the all of the local pet stores. Luckily she started destroying the last collar I was able to find just as the stitches came out and She was allowed to get the collar off.

After her recovery, Dyna attended a Basic Manners class. She was the dog in the class that all of the other dogs got along with. This is the exact opposite of Maddy who was typically the instigator. Despite being only 3 years old Dyna continues to demonstrate her good manners every day and is a calming / positive influence with the foster dogs. Maddy at 8 years old continues to be a work in progress.

Both Maddy and Dyna want to wish everyone at LRR a Happy and Safe Summer and to thank all of the nice people at LRR for finding them and helping them to find their forever family.