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Paddington Bear

Shawnee Bear (Turbo)

10/16/2005 My husband and I want to thank all of you so much for helping border collies find new homes. We adopted Turbo last month and we absolutely love her! She is the perfect dog for our home and we hope that we are making her as happy as she is us! She loves going for rides in the car and we all try to out do one another with giving love!! Thank you to everyone that helped us get Shawnee.

02/18/2006 We have a very wonderful Border Collie named Shawnee, we call her Shawnee Bear. She likes to snuggle and she has a spot on her nose that looks like a bear paw. Shawnee loves to play hide and seek to find us or a cookie. Shawnee likes to go for walks and rides in the car. Shawnee is a real sweetheart! She is the perfect addition to our family.

Fiona

09/18/2005 Everything here is great. Yes, she's still Fiona... I'm not big on changing names. I noticed in her vet records that she's had quite a few names and that made me more determined to stick with Fiona.

The cats have finally adjusted to her. They walk right up to her now and don't seem to care if she's in the room. Fiona doesn't chase them. She did chase one the first night, but hasn't done so since.

She gets along great with Buddy. And the neighborhood dogs are getting used to her... the only dog that barks at her when she's in the yard playing fetch with me is the one that barks at everybody.

I've only gotten her up to half a mile, but that's been going well. I got kind of worried after reading about all of the poor dogs with the torn up paws after the picnic, so I thought I'd gradually increase her distances and give her a chance to toughen up her paws. She does pretty well.

Bebe

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Riley (Nemo)

09/23/2005 So, to put it short and sweet, Riley is an absolute joy. Though we've been thinking of re-naming him "Puss in Boots." Did you ever see Shrek 2? Antonio Bandaras plays Puss in Boots. His little trick that he does is makes his eyes look really big, and he looks like the sweetest little kitten you've ever seen. Then you go up to him to pet him, and he attacks! ... That's kind of what Riley does. He gently puts his paws on you, pushes his ears all the way back, looks up at you with his big brown eyes, and you can't resist just snuggling. Then, he bites your nose! (but not hard)

So, a couple of weeks ago, I took Riley with me on an all-girls camping trip in Ontario. Winston stayed home with Mike. He's not a big traveler. (In other words, he hates to be anywhere except at home.) Riley didn't sleep well the first night ... probably because there were 3 sites around us that were setting up tents in the middle of the night. He was a trooper, though. Oh, and I discovered that he's quite a little herder... or, at least he tries to be. It's a bit confusing. You look at him, and he looks like a beagle mix ... but then he tries to herd you :) ... he also would collect all of our water bottles and put them in one little area between two cars. Again, I think that's the little herder in him.

We went on a bunch of hikes. I had to take him into the showers because we were surrounded by poison ivy. He screamed like a baby when we walked into the bathrooms. But, he was fine in the shower. We also took him to a dog beach at the campground. He never willingly went into the water, but, he let us carry him into it, and he swam around. And the best part was that he slept the whole time in the car, both ways. Oh, I've also taken him to the vet to get him weighed and to pick food in an effort to get him used to it. He was fine on both trips. He just followed me in. BTW, he's up to 31.6 lbs.

I don't have any updated photos, but I'll send some as soon as I do. Winston and Riley still get along really well. They each have their own bed (identical beds, too), but they always spend part of the night on just one of them. Winston gets in bed, and Riley curls up next to him. That's when I need the camera! It's so cute! But then, I think Winston gets too hot, and he moves in the middle of the night.

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Dottie

3/12/2006 Occasionally Dottie will take something that she should not have and chew it up. She still has to take a toy out with her every time she goes outside.

Dottie is really a great dog. She weights about 40 pounds now. She enjoys riding in cars. Dottie may not have been the Alpha Female but she is not afraid of lightning, thunder, trucks, or loud noises. She is protective of the yard & house.

She is very sociable with other dog & people. She gets along with all the dogs & people she has ever met. We had our grandkids (ages 1 & 2) spend a week with us. They were a little afraid of Dottie the first day. The second day they were all playing together. They enjoyed playing with each other the whole time they spent with us.

The only thing she doesn't like are cats, which is fine with me because the cats eat my birds. The cats quit coming around. Unfortunately, squirrels are about the same size as cats. Dottie spends the day chasing the squirrels up the trees.

Ariel

09/18/2005 The Vernons just spent 2 1/2 hours here, and left with Ari. Ari apparently knew it was the end of a journey b/c she hopped right into their van, and hopped right onto the back seat next to Michael. They are an awesome family, and Diane shows a real keen understanding of dogs. She gave Ari some scritching that put her in a daze (first photo). I'm really pleased with this placement. Here are a couple of photos.

03/01/2006 Ari is absolutely spoiled rotten! She is my shadow, follows me nearly everywhere. She thinks she's an itty bitty lap dog (at 35+ pounds) and insists on curling up in my lap after the boys are in bed and it's quiet. She just loves to snuggle! Much to Jeff's chagrin, Ari sleeps on our bed at night, but always waits for permission first. Her favorite thing to do is during the boys' bedtime. Jeff gives each of them a piggy back ride to bed and Ari goes tearing after them, chasing them around the kitchen island and down the hall to their rooms. She's so goofy!

Ari is an absolute sweetheart and we all adore her very much. She's always so happy and silly, and loves to play with the boys, even at their rowdiest. When our friends bring their dogs over to play, Ari has a field day and goes nuts with her doggy buddy, tearing through the house and the backyard, tumbling over each other, playing tug with her rope chew. She's very gentle, though, and doesn't play rough or aggressively.

She's our princess and she knows it! Anybody who visits cannot resist lovin' on Ari, she has such a wonderful and inviting personality!

Christie

Miles (Charles)

1/24/2006 Miles is doing wonderfully. He is the sweetest dog we've ever seen. Kori can be a tyrant and Miles just rolls with the punches. They are such good friends. At this point it's tough to remember what life was like before we had the two dogs. He's such a natural addition to our family. He's grown a little bit (we frequently call him a horse), but still likes to snuggle like a puppy.

Malibu