My name is Tippy!

Notes: 10-07-05 Tippy is an owner surrender, 7 yr. old beagle.
We were contacted by the owners as they are moving, unable to take Tippy.
Tippy was adopted from a shelter 4 yrs. ago. Thus we called the shelter to see if they wanted Tippy back or if they would trust us to find her a good home. Senior dogs do not do well in the busy shelter environment. Fortunately, the shelter mgr. agreed to let us handle her adoption.
Tippy has had excellent care. She is a bit overweight. She received a grooming monthly as her senior owner was unable to bathe her. She was kept on flea/tick/worm preventatives.
We have been told that Tippy is totally housebroken and will scratch at the door to go out. We were told that she will walk on a leash but doesn't like to. We were told she rides ok in a vehicle but doesn't like to.She is said to get along with children, other dogs, never tested around cats or other animals. She sleeps on a chair on her blanket.
We have contacted the owner's vet and verified that she is spayed & UTD. We will be evaluating her house manners for the next few days prior to adoption. We will safely test her with the resident cat. She walked nicely on the leash for us. She rode very quietly in the vehicle in a pet taxi.
We will update her profile as more is known about her. She will be microchipped prior to adoption.

Update 10-10-05 - Thus far, Tippy is a very social girl, definitely housebroken. She gets along with the resident cat, the other dogs, and her favorite spot is on a thick pillow in the living room. She goes to the door to go outside, does her duty, then comes right back to the door.
Update 10-22-05 Candy attended Trina's obedience/behavior modification class today. Trina found Tippy quite friendly, following her nose as beagles love to do. She suggested more leash walking.
After class, Tippy headed off to a foster home to spend more social time with their only fur-child, another student of Trina's class.
Note 10-26-05 We checked in on Tippy with the foster home. Sisters Erma & Mary, with their fur-child, Phoebe, are all getting along quite nicely. Tippy was able to get out of their fenced back yard, thus they now take her out on a leash. She has made herself at home on one of the chairs.
Note 10-27-05 Tippy is now back in our rescue. She needs very secure fencing so she may go outside in cold weather without being on a leash.
Note 10-30-05 If snoring bothers you then this would not be the dog for you.
However, if you miss your snoring partner lying on the couch, then this is the perfect replacement! She loves the couch and she has the cutest snore.
If you take out your hearing aid at night, doubt you would ever notice the snore.

Update 11-08-05 Tippy has been spending a lot of time, even some sleepovers, with Elijah (4 yrs. old) and Forrest (6 yrs. old). She is definitely very child friendly.
Priscilla, mother of the boys, has offered to have different dogs to their house for child friendly social time when the boys are out of school and on week-ends. What a God-send their help is.
The boys helped Priscilla bathe Tippy. She has visited with classmates of Forrest after school and loves all of the children. She is very child friendly.
She is great in the vehicle, great on a leash, excellent house manners and needs a family of her very own.

Update 11-11-05 from Priscilla
Dear Judy,
The boys are already asking when Tippy will come back. She is such a well behaved dog and lets the kids play with her all the time.
They build "houses" with their bed, blankets, pillows etc. for her and she just sits there contented to play.
She goes to the door whenever she needs to potty. Sleeps late, will even go in the bedroom to sleep more after we are up.
She is a begger at mealtime though so we put her in the back room while we eat supper.
She does seem to learn quickly and will obey when you tell her to "stop" something or "go lay down".
She will try to get outside to run though as we learned, we need to make sure the screen door latches are securely closed.
We look forward to another visit soon.
Priscilla

Update 11-28-05 from Priscilla as she took Tippy home for an overnight to spend time with her 4 & 6 yr. old boys.--
Dear Judy,
There is not much new to tell about Tippy. She is a great dog. Only one new discovery. Tippy is much more needy when she is not the only dog. She wants to be the center of attention!!

Update 12-02-05 from Priscilla
Dear Judy,
Just thought I would let you know how Jaxs and Tippy did as a pair this week.. I think they both did very well. Jaxs makes Tippy play with him and I think it is good for her. It took almost the whole week but they are content to let the other one get the attention once in a while. They would both do well with another animal in the family, but I think especially Tippy would prefer to be an "only child".

The two of them are laying on the couch side by side under a blanket right now. What a pair!!

Tippy is shown with Forrest and Elijah.

Note 12-22-05 Jaxs asked if Tippy could sleep over a few days and enjoy Christmas with his new family.
Shown here with Tippy and Jaxs is the new family Jaxs has. Included are Elijah, Priscilla, Jerry and Forrest.
Jaxs talked his new family into getting a little something for Tippy to put under the Christmas tree.

Note 12-24-05 from Priscilla
Dear Judy,
Well, I witnessed a Christmas miracle. Jaxs has some rawhide chews over here and I did not bother to pick them up before Tippy came. Jaxs was chewing on one tonight then decided he was done and put it down without hiding it (which is unusual in itself). Not two minutes later...there is Tippy chewing on it right in front of him. He watched her awhile and then she took it in on the bed. He followed her, I was concerned so I followed too. He just looked at her and then walked away without getting upset. The true season of giving, huh? I praised him of course for sharing so well with his friends.

Tippy is doing well. She has been eating and continues to be social. Jaxs will put her in her place sometimes but she has plenty of space and attention around here.

Note 12-27-05 Tippy saw Dr. Candy today. She weighs 19.5 lbs. She has been placed on a Rx for 30 days M/L and we will closely monitor her. Thus, she will be staying here at the sanctuary, quiet and resting.
We are extremely grateful to Priscilla for the close eye she kept on Tippy. She noticed some changes, notified us, we immediately took Tippy for a check-up.

Note: We have had a long-time beagle lover visit with Tippy. He feels she is much closer to 10 yrs. of age than 7 yrs. It is so difficult to tell, yet felt we should add this opinion to her profile.
Tippy is spending a lot of time sleeping, yet is always anxious to go outside. She prefers to sleep late, then go outside to explore. She is quite comfortable on either a chair or pillow or the wonderful Kuranda bed she takes turns sharing with the others. Sleeping is a good thing. She STILL snores! Sometimes so loudy we just burst out laughing at her.

Note: 01-26-06 Tippy went to visit the Good Samaritan Care Center. While she visited everyone there, she was also requested by a beagle loving resident to come sit a while in her room, go walking and watch the birds in the aviary. She was even able to take a stroll outside as the weather was gorgeous.

Then Tippy went to stay with Jaxs, Priscilla and family for a sleepover. She gets along so well with everyone. She is excellent with small children.

Update 01-29-06 Tippy has a pending adoption with a family with 4 children, 4, 6, 8, 10 yrs. of age. We will post a family pic. once Tippy has passed their vet check.

Note 01-30-06 from Laura
Tippy seemed to do very well last night. She ignores the cats, even though the younger cat tries to stalk her while growling. Tippy just layed on the couch while the cat paced back and forth across the back of it. Last night we started her in the crate because she kept jumping onto our bed which is our older cat's bed. But my husband let her out of the crate about 3 am, she settled in the center of our bed and the cat just snuggled up with my husband. The kids are thrilled with her. We have yet to hear her make any noise other than snore or her little whine when she wanted out of the crate. She slept in this morning. My husband couldn't get her out of bed as he planned to put her out while he had his morning coffee before leaving for work. I had to coax her out of bed at 7 to potty when I got the kids up for school, that should be nice for lazy Saturday mornings. I plan to make her my walking buddy as I've been walking in the mornings after everyone is off to school and preschool.

She sees the Vet tomorrow at 2:00. I did notice the cough when I took her outside this morning, so I'll note that for our visit tomorrow

Update 01-31-06 We have been advised by Jo Anne that she has spoken with Tippy's parents and the vet check went very well.

Tippy's cough is consistent with the cough and sneeze beagles get from always sniffing the ground. The vet did not find anything out of the ordinary.

Tippy takes turns sleeping on a different bed each night. The children are loving it.

Update 02-01-06 from James-
Thanks for the follow-up phone call last night on Tippy. She is fitting way too well with us and I am especially excited about the whole idea of a definite positive dog experience. We have yet to hear her bark. Her relaxed personality fits in well with the dynamics of our family routine. She is a definite lap dog and everyone fights over who gets to sit with her!!! And you know she just thrives on all that attention!

As I mentioned last evening, her vet checkup went well. The snorty-coughing thing is a type of reversed sneeze--common to beagles. The vet said she is a mix of lemon and chocolate beagle, based on her markings. They think she may be as young as five years old. They also said her teeth had some tartar but told us what type of food to look for to help with that. She is at the ideal weight for her body build and Laura was told that prior to her surrender to your santuary she weighed in at 27 pounds. Tippy is a bit nervous and shakes when other people stop by our house but calms down once she realizes that she is not going to leave. She loves the car rides and sits in the back seat and looks out the window. She has not done any scratching at all on doors. She has claimed the loveseat as hers which is fine. She makes the rounds at night to all the bedrooms and the only objections come from the cats. Go figure.

We have a digital camera and will take a picture of the family and send that to you.

I've been spreading the word of your santuary to people here in Sedalia. You've greatly impressed me with your information, facility, and follow-ups with the adoption. This is one occasion where I can gladly eat some crow as I said I would never get another dog. Tippy is definitely the perfect dog for our family.
Sincerely,
James

Update 02-03-06 from Laura
The reverse sneeze is something she does a couple of times a day, is that cause to worry and get her re-checked? She seems to be getting a little more comfortable. How long does it take on average for rescue dogs to settle in? I've read that it can take months, but I would hope she feels like she belongs before then. We're finding she loves to go for rides in the car! I have a big online shopping cart at Petco.com for her and in it is a doggy seatbelt harness, I'm a big advocate for kids riding properly restrained in carseats and boosters, so why not the dog? Jim just laughs and shakes his head at me, but that's okay.

She got a little too close to the younger cat who still has her claws and got a scratch on her nose. Poor thing. But other than that the cats are doing great with having Tippy around. The beagle across the alley wasn't too impressed with Tippy, but the big mutt next door likes her and his children like to take him for walks with our kids and Tippy. I'm assuming that keeping her socialized with other dogs will be good all around, correct?

7 Bells Note: Rescue dogs take different periods of time to settle in. Tippy lived for a few years with her senior guardians, then came here into rescue as part of a pack, missing all the one-on-one attention she used to get. Now, she has a family with children, is getting lots of attention, yet there is no way to accurately predict how long an adjustment period may last.

Just as with skin children, changes in their normal health should be observed and if the change persists for more than 24 - 48 hrs., a phone call or visit to the vet may be in order.

Social skills have to be developed and the only way is to introduce her to new people, places, other pets. She is such a friendly dog, tail wags constantly, so she should do very well riding or walking, greeting pets and people.