Thank you for reaching out to me. I am a member of the facebook page and have shared photos and updates of Maggie (FKA Mango) periodically. I agree with you that Diane & Company do amazing work. We reached out to other Boxer and American Bulldog rescue organizations and never heard back from any of them. Diane, on the other hand, responded immediately and then Desiree followed up with us as well. I believe the people at NLBR are exceptional individuals and I thank you all for your dedication and hard work; you do great things
We adopted Maggie on October 30th and she weighed only 35 pounds. She now weighs 49 pounds and is quite strong and muscular. We walk/hike an average of 7 miles a day and Maggie loves her walks and hikes. She, also, loves her “rides.” She is a dream in the car and loves all the adventures she goes on. We bought car covers for the backseat of our cars (it’s too cold otherwise in the winter) and seat belts to keep her safe. She walks beautifully (no pulling) unless she sees another dog , bike rider, runner or skateboarder. We’re working on that though. We keep reminding her she’s “with me,” tell her to “leave it” and provide lots of reward treats. She’ll get there, we just need to be consistent and patient. She did not lunge at all when we first adopted her, it took a good three weeks before she was comfortable enough to start exhibiting that behavior.
Maggie loves dogs but is still quite uncomfortable with strangers and unfortunately because of Corona we do not have many visitors. I look forward to having more people over so she can learn to be more comfortable with being near other people. She did however immediately welcome my son, daughter-in-law, their dog, Frisbee and my daughter and her dog, Gus. I believe she was immediately comfortable with them because they have dogs. Maggie loves when the kids and their dogs visit. (I call it a three dog party). The kids always stay for at least a few nights and the dogs get along well with each other. Maggie really enjoys when the family is all together like that.
Maggie does not have to spend much time alone (12-15 hours a week.) I start my day much earlier than my husband, then I’m home for an hour at lunch and end my day in mid-afternoon. Maggie, Rick and I go for a very early walk on workday mornings. Since I only work a half mile from home we finish our walk by having them drop me off at work and then they continue home. When Rick’s working in his office, Maggie loves nothing more than cuddling up next to him. She doesn’t get upset when he leaves either...She knows she’s getting her Kong and that makes it all worth it!!
When we first adopted Maggie she still needed to be spay and shortly after that I realized that she had a UTI. We took her in immediately and she was put on 15 days of antibiotics. She still has occasional accidents in the house. We try to take her out every 2-3 hours and we’ve started using a bell at the door. I’m not sure if she has to go out so often because she’s still so young or if there may have been damage done by the UTI. Once she figures out how to alert us that she needs to go out it’ll be more relaxed. At this point, if she’s not with me, I go looking for her... I usually find her sunning herself in the living room!!
I don’t mean to brag butMaggie is so so smart. She has learned to sit, lie down, shake hands, give a high five and roll over. She is very good at “Stay” as well. When we’re eating dinner I put three bite size pieces of jerky on her dog bed and she eats it and then settles herself right down. I think she might be the smartest dog ever!!
Maggie has three meals a day. In the morning she has a cup of kibble mixed with pumpkin and sometimes oatmeal or rice as well. At lunchtime, Maggie has a cup of kibble in the Wobble Kong and some additional kibble in an advanced puzzle we got for her. At dinner, she has another cup of kibble mixed with raw egg and maybe some rice. We have found that the addition of pumpkin has made her poop less runny. I was giving her greek yogurt but I have come to the conclusion that dairy is not her friend. Maggie gets one fish oil pill three or four times a week; I plan to slowly up it to one a day. When she’s left alone, she has a kong in her crate. Occasionally, we give her a Himalayan bone especially if someone new visits! Maggie loves to eat and is very treat motivated. She really is just the best little girl there is.
Maggie has lots of lovies and toys. We try to name all her toys and every once in a while I’ll tell her to find one of them. Right now, we’re working on having her come to us by name. I’ll tell her to go to “Rick” and when she gets to him he gives her a treat...and he’ll tell her to come to “Kathe” and then I’ll give her a treat. Once she gets really good at that we’ll start telling her to find one of her toys for a treat.
Last week we brought Maggie to Four Paws Doggie Daycare. Based on the photos they sent me it looks like she had a blast! We’ll probably take her a couple times a month just so she can play with other dogs. Once I’ve had my Corona vaccine we’ll sign up for doggy classes as well. I’ve been checking into them and have a good idea where I want to go.
I’m not sure what else to say. Maggie fits into our lives perfectly and I can not imagine our lives without her. She loves to go for walks, car rides and long hikes but just as importantly, she loves to cuddle when at home. She’s just like us. When we’re home, we just want to chill. We are so lucky to have Maggie in our family and we couldn’t love her more.