News for the ‘Happy Tails’ Category
Happy Tail: Logan
Dear Heavenly Hearts,
Logan joined our family in March 2008. We feel so lucky to have adopted him. He has a loving temperment and is remarkably relaxed for a 10 month old. He has grown to about 45#. This photo was taken this summer when he was about 7 months old. He goes CRAZY over birds and our beach walks were so much fun for him chasing feathery friends along the water’s edge. He would get so enthralled in the chase that he occasionally ended up swimming before he realized that his paws had left the sand! He is quick to learn and luckily we have managed to avoid almost all of the typical puppy behaviors….nipping, chewing, etc! We feel so fortunate to have such an amazing addition to the Oakey Family! Logan has a best canine friend English Setter cousin a few houses away. They love to get together in the park and play king of the dog bed. We recently discovered that Logan is English Setter, Beagle and Dalmation Mix (through a DNA swab test) if any of the sibling families are curious. (HHR note: this is one type of DNA test, there are others and each has varying degrees of accuracy!) It truly didn’t matter to us, but we decided to succumb to our curiousity and send in a cheek swab for testing. We would love to get another Logan. That is the ONLY downside to adoption. You can’t duplicate the perfect pet! Thank you to Heavenly Hearts for completing our family. He has filled our house with love and he is remarkable with our two children, Garrett & Libby .It was so nice to read about Tuke (Logan’s brother). I would love to hear the other Happy Tails from Logan’s litter!
Thanks from the Oakey family!
Edited: December 22nd, 2010
Happy Tail: Jedda
Update on Jedda (formerly Helen):
I had been asking God for a long time to send me the right dog, the dog He wanted me to have. It took a long time, but God answered my prayer with my wonderful, sweet Jedda. Her name was Helen when I got her. She musta been named after somebody’s mother. Helen’s no name for an adventuresome lab/something or ‘nother – I think maybe high jumper. She can really snatch those pesky bugs right outa the air. Or maybe sled dog, she does a great job of hauling me around. We are working on that!
She was surrendered in Kentucky and hasn’t grown a winter coat yet. It’s November and I fear that she is in for a huge culture shock when the snow steals her long grass away – her favorite potty place. There are about 200 acres of farmland behind us with a small road running through it. That is where we walk every day. There’s woods, long grass, a pond, good diggin’ dirt and critters – everything a huntin’ dawg needs.
On one of our walks Jedda’s nose was excitedly snuffling the long grass when she suddenly jumped straight up in the air. Her flight upwards was hindered only by the annoying tether to her walking mate. Just as her paws landed, a previously snoozing doe leaped straight up as well. She bounded away across the tall grass with Jedda attempting to follow. She was most disappointed to not go with her new friend. Although she couldn’t tag that doe, she did slay a mouse and nearly a pheasant. She has also dug to China on several occasions attempting to find the bunny, chipmunk, gopher or whoever lives under all that dirt. We both yearn for leash freedom, but we have to get “come even when distracted” under control first. Then who knows, she might even catch a rhinoceros.
Jedda has been learning not to bark excessively at all the turkeys, crows and deer that venture into her territory – not to mention human visitors. We have “shhhhh” treats. When she barks to alert me, I ask her what it is and then say “shhhhh” as we look for the invader. She looks for a treat and is quiet – mostly. Some varmi’ts seem to deserve an extra woof.
Although Jedda was previously afraid of her crate, she is almost completely crate trained. She doesn’t sleep there by choice, but thanks to Roxanne’s coaching to make a treat-trail into the crate, rather than just treats in the crate, where it’s scary to go, she will usually get in without much resistance when I ask her to.
We have been to obedience classes at HAWS and will be going back for the next level of training. Except for Jedda-Jump Up and coming all the time when called OUTSIDE, she’s learned a lot of obedience and a few tricks, like guess which hand (the treat is in.) I am very grateful to God and ask Him to bless Heavenly Hearts Rescue for their work, because Jedda has done so much to enrich my life. She shows me great love, trust, gratitude and many of God’s creatures that I might not otherwise have seen had we not been trekking across the hinterlands together.
Jedda’s Friends,
Treva and Tom
Edited: December 22nd, 2010
Happy Tail: JJ
Dear Heavenly Hearts,
We can’t believe it’s been over a year since we found Harper on your website! The one-eyed beagle we rescued last September is now named “JJ” and he quickly became an important member of our family. He adjusted to living in our home in no time. This sweet guy loves to snuggle with us, play in the back yard, and go for walks. He likes everyone he meets and loves to have playdates with neighborhood dog friends. He enjoys chewing so much that we no longer buy dog toys for him. We simply hide treats in a plastic drink bottle and he plays with it until he gets the treats inside! We couldn’t be happier to have JJ in our lives and we look forward to many fun years ahead with him.
Thanks for bringing JJ to us!
From,
His loving family
Edited: December 22nd, 2010
Happy Tail: Tuke
We were lucky enough to have Tuke join our family in April 2008! Our life has not been the same since and we feel so fortunate to be his family. Tuke has grown to be 44# at 10 months old and is sweet and mellow. With 4 children in the house and many toys, he amazingly only chooses his toys to play with and is content to be my shadow around the house with a few naps throughout the day. We play outside a lot and he has also gone “hunting” and walking in the woods and stays right with us. We have spent the past few months working on basic obedience training and he is very smart! Dan would like to take him grouse and pheasant hunting eventually and when we hide a toy or bird wing, he always finds it! Tuke loves peanut butter in his Kong toys and will “throw” his ball or toy down the stairs or the hill and run down to get it only to run right back up and do it again. He has discovered grasshoppers this summer and jumps like an antelope to try to catch them. It has been a joy to watch him with the blowing leaves and although he was born in the winter, we are excited to see his reaction to lots of snow on the ground this year! Our cat is slowly getting used to sharing his house with a dog, but Tuke just wants to play with him and licks his face whenever he gets a chance. Thank you again for all you have given us –
Dan, Jessica, Mackade, Gabrielle, Kellan, and Edison,
Tuke and Leo the cat too!
Edited: December 22nd, 2010
Happy Tail: Lucky
We were blessed to bring Lucky into our home in October of 2006. She was about 1-1/2 and had very little life experience, but plenty of fears. She had the pads of puppy, was especially afraid of men and really didn’t know how to play.
We love sharing our home with her. She enjoys walking in the woods, swimming in the lake, sleeping next to our son’s bed and going everywhere we go. She is such a good girl, and has brought so much happiness into our lives. Her name might be “Lucky”, but we consider ourselves the LUCKY ones.
Thank you to everyone at Heavenly Hearts, and to our contact Sara, for such a gift.
Jeff, Sue and Jaiden
Edited: December 22nd, 2010
