This is Skye (formerly Stella) and she is one of the 12 from the Illinois puppy farm, and her early days with her have been heartbreaking. As all Golden Retriever owners know they all have a big golden heart, an always wagging tail and a love for tennis balls. Unfortunately, whatever they did to her they pushed all of these loving traits so deep inside her that it is going to take us a lot of time will to bring them out, she is the first retriever I have ever seen run away from a ball in fright. We are with her for the long haul, and now just coming into her fourth month with us I can get her to play in the garden, no toys just play chasing. I am woken with a cold nose in my face every morning to help her start another day of her discovering a little more of herself, alas she is from the mid-west and not Europe so she likes to get up too early in the morning!!

She is slowly emerging from her shell; she will however not tolerate a lead and has a habit of gluing herself to the floor when a leash or harness are attached. For vet appointments all 81 pounds has to be carried too and from the car as she refuses to go beyond the front door of the house voluntarily. Our biggest concern is that she has a nervous habit of nibbling on her front paw, she was doing this when she arrived, and despite having it treated by two vets we cannot stop it. We have invested in numerous sprays and potions, but they are not stopping her either, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.. We are slowly seeing more tail wags, which again is an aberration as a retriever cannot walk without their rear end being moved by a big bushy tail happily wagging away.  The hardest thing we are dealing with is that she is very nervous around women, we think this is most be due to the puppy farm people having been predominantly women mistreating her. This is making things especially tough for my wife as she in our dog, and not just mine, and so she is upset when she shows her love, but she runs away from her time after time. We are working with a professional trainer who tells us that we are on a minimum twelve-month journey, maybe even more to help unlock the big golden heart that we know wants to escape from its confinement. We are trying to make every day a new, exciting and special day as we push to drive the past as far as we can into the back of her mind, and help her realize her new life is today and tomorrow and that tennis balls are fun to chase.

I hope this insight is a help, we are committed to Skye for as long as it takes, which is harder than we thought it would be but no war is won without a fight, and she is worth fighting for.