Dominique !
(Female,  1 year, small-medium)

Dominique spent her entire year of life chained under a porch, suffering from generalized demodex mange and not receiving the proper nutrition that a young puppy requires.

(See the latest photos of Dominique in the January update, near the bottom of this page!)

This little girl is approximately 40 pounds and will be spayed this Monday. Currently she is on a one month course of antibiotics to clear up her secondary skin infections, high quality food and soon supplements will be added to her diet.

She is a timid little girl, fearful of sounds.  She tries to curl into a small tiny ball so she can keep herself safe from harm.  Dominique takes food very gently from her loving foster Mom's hand, she only wishes to be loved and to have humans understand that she doesn't know what kindness is.

Please read more about generalized mange here: http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_demodectic_mange.html

Update: 23 December

Dominique has now been spayed and is beginning to understand that those in her life love and adore her. 

She has had her first bath, some little hairs are beginning to appear on her bald patches and she is demonstrating a feeling of comfort.

Dominique does weigh 40 pounds (not 25 as we originally thought) and may gain a little more as she is eating a very healthy diet.

Update: 6 January (from Dominique's Foster Mom)

Dominique is doing well. She is a fabulous traveler in the car. No anxiety, no carsickness. Looks around for a while, then curls up and goes to sleep. Gets out when asked to take a bathroom break, then hops right back in again.

We took the dogs to the school field for a run and a ball toss on January 1st along with some treats to work on recall, responding to her name and get some good exercise.  She did very well and now responds most of the time to her name. We use it a fair amount and she's getting the hang of it.  

This little girl a smart dog who learns well and will make someone a great companion. She knows sit, and down, come is in progress as is off, eat your dinner, cookie, leave it, around.  She knows that we sit to get our leash clipped on, and then sit again in the house to have it taken off (this is sometimes followed by a cookie).

She is learning to leave the cat alone, and hasn't really chased her lately, (although this is hard to gauge as kitty is a good hider and isn't out that much).

Her fur is growing in nicely, although she is slow to put on weight. You can see the improvement in fur growth, although with her colouring it doesn't show up that well with my camera.

She is a jumper, and she jumped out of the yard over the gate - about 3 1/2 feet with no apparent effort or evidence of even touching the gate. She also jumped from the hall to the third stair from a standing position in a kangaroo-like move - very impressive. She bounces up the stairs in front of me and often goes up back legs first - she seems spring loaded in those long legs of hers.

Whoever gets this little treasure will have to be willing to travel down the road in baby steps, understanding that she takes a long time to trust.   She has learned to play with us and the dogs, and enjoys being with us, but you can definitely see that in the back of her mind she is prepared, "because you just never know".

If you are interested in adopting sweet little Dominique please send Gail an e-mail at spiritsmission@shaw.ca

Note: We adopt within a two hour drive of the lower mainland and Vancouver/Gulf Islands only

www.bigheartrescue.com