November 28th - We went up to the lake for Thanksgiving and once again Shyla was so very disappointed the lake was frozen over. She promptly ran down onto shore and was expecting water, instead she ended up sliding and falling over on the ice. As she did last year, she runs to the lake every potty break just to check to see if she can go swimming yet. Since the lake is frozen solid, she's been busy making up her list to Santa. It's quite a list so far and her foster mom most definately needs to edit the list. For some reason she thinks that a box of Oreo Cookies and Andes mints should be on there. She might be getting her list and my list confused :)

September 9th - We visited the vet again for another blood panel on Shyla's hypothyroidism and things are continuing to look great. We will maintain her medication and do another blood panel in a year. She has successfully lost her winter weight...just in time for winter again! This weekend we we made our last trip to the lake for the summer. Shyla once again was thrilled to be in the water and I think even made a couple jumps without stopping at the end of the dock. She slowed down, but at least didn't come to a complete stop. Shyla did great this summer and our goal of dock diving was accomplished! Maybe Skijoring is next? I think she would love to do that, however it sounds pretty dangerous letting her have full control of where she wants to go...we should probably just stick to dock diving.

July 7th And dock diving is mastered! My first jump wasn't so great, but I really enjoyed it! Foster mom was really proud of me, I think she was just glad that she didn't have to jump into the water first. My foster family says that my technique is actually better than my foster brother's (but we don't tell him that, he's kind of spoiled). Now, I just need to work on not stopping at the end of the dock and just jump from a run so that I can get more distance. I started to learn not to stop on the last day of our vacation at the lake, but will continue to work on that next time. I really enjoy dock diving and can't believe that I haven't done this sooner!

June 19, 2009 - Well, summer time is here! Foster mom mentioned something about the lake and is now packing our suitcases! Yippee! I told mom that I will just wait in the car until Friday when we leave, but she said that wasn't a good idea, so now I will just wait by the door. All winter long, my foster mom, dad, and labrador brother have been discussing dock diving with me. I didn't want to do such non-sense last summer, I still don't understand why my brother enjoys it so much, but have told mom that if she jumps off the dock first, then I will take the plunge. Mom doesn't quite believe me, she thinks that I will just run back to shore and enter the water that way. Darn it, she's onto me! Well, I better go and make sure that mom packs all of my stuff for the lake and get back to waiting by the door! I can't wait for Friday to come and the swimming to begin!

xoxo Shyla

February 19, 2009 - We made our trip to the vet again for blood work on Shyla's hypothyroidism. Everything is fine and we will have another re-check in 6 months. The bad news was that over the past 6 months Miss Shyla has gained 6 pounds. She is well aware that weight will be coming back off. =) Spring is just around the corner, so that means more time at the dog park and the ice off of grandpa's lake, so this winter weight will be lost soon.

We also hope this spring we can get Shyla back into obedience classes as she did very well in Beginner's Obedience. We still are working on "shake" and "roll over", the "beg" command was solid by day number two. No surprise there!

January 10, 2009 - Santa brought Shyla a few things on her list of goodies which included a dog bed, which she absolutely loves! And of course, she got some treats, which she really really really loves! She was however disappointed that Santa didn't melt the lake for her. She was very confused why the water wasn't there. She continued to check the lake on every potty break, just incase the ice situation changed.

She is enjoying the dog park even with all of the snow, she runs and leaps through the snow chasing her foster brother with a huge smile on her face!

We recently found out that she enjoys to play with a laser pointer. She can't quite figure out where the red dot goes, but she is determined to find it! We swear she might be part cat with the way she pounces at the dot, it's very comical to watch her. Since she is obsessed with the red dot, we don't play with the laser pointer often as we don't want obsessive behaviors to start, but it does provide a few minutes of comedy relief each week.

We have been working on more obedience commands, we hope to get her back into obedience classes soon. She knows sit, down, stay, come, leave it, and back. We are working with shake, roll over, and beg. I am sure the beg command will be mastered shortly =)

She is doing MUCH better with nail trimmings. We no longer need to muzzle and lay on her in order to clip her nails. She doesn't like it, but she is tolerant, and she knows that if she is good she gets a treat. Of course, Shyla will do anything for a treat even if that means being nice during the dreaded nail clippings!

We will make another trip to the vet soon for another blood panel to check her thyroid levels. We aren't expecting any changes with her current medication that regulates her thyroid. She continues to do very well on her medication.

Shyla is a very loyal dog to her owners. She is very bonded with us, but she will bond with her forever family and will love you until the very end. If you can provide Shyla with a forever home, please fill out a pre-adoption application.

October 12 - Shyla continues to do very well! We have a few bunnies in the backyard that she is intrigued by. She is positive that she could chase them down, but I think they would be way too fast for her! She would chase them if given an opportunity, but is respectful with leaving them alone as we have worked on the leave it command and she listens very well.

Shyla is not thrilled with the rainy weather. She doesn't like to go outside in the rain for potty breaks and has learned to do her business quickly and head back inside. This is surprising since she loves to swim and be in the water....very silly dog.

Her and her foster brother enjoy playing tug and wrestling, but when it's time to settle down they both understand "enough" and will calm down and rest.

The weight loss continues, but has been slowed down as she really only has a few more pounds to lose. However, her diet and exercise still continue. She continues to do well on her hypothyroid medication and still firmly believes it's a treat. Shyla is trying to convince us that she can have some Halloween treats (dog safe of course!) because she has done so well with her weight loss over the past year. With her cute little head tilt when she begs, she didn't have to do work very hard on convincing us!

July Update - July has marked a milestone for Shyla...we have finally reached the 25 pound weight loss goal! Good girl, Shy, Shy! She still needs to lose a bit more weight, but we are very proud of Miss Shyla. When she came into our home she weighed 97 pounds and now is 72. Absolutely amazing! We recently visited the vet in which she had her check up on her hypothyroidism. Everything is good and we will maintain her current medication, she will need another blood test in 6 months. Silly dog still continues to take her daily pills as if they were treats. We continue on working with her behavior around strange dogs, she understands what "be nice" means and while she may growl if they sniff too much. There are some strange dogs that she is fine with, so it all depends on the dog. We went to the lake over the 4th and she enjoyed swimming again and went on her first boat ride. She enjoyed the boat ride and was fine with the fireworks. Shyla will be a great dog for the right family.

June Update - We went to the lake and Shyla loves to swim, even more than what I thought she would. This labby is a big time swimmer!! She goes out to swim, just to swim. No need to throw a ball, she just likes to swim. She will carry a ball back onto shore, but if you are too slow to throw it back into the lake, she will just enter on her own and swim around. She doesn't understand why her foster brother jumps off of the dock after his ball. She seemed interested in following, but isn't quite sure yet. With some more experience on dock diving, she may enjoy it. Her endurance swimming is remarkable....she could and would swim all day if allowed. Even the neighbors at the lake commented how great she looked since they saw her this past fall. They couldn't believe she was the same dog! She did well with the kids this weekend. Children need to be taught not to touch her paws as she does not like that. But, she did very well with taking a ball gently from her one year old human cousin, she understands the "gentle" command, but needs to be told "gentle". She seems to enjoy extra attention from children and could do okay in a home with children as long as there are rules with where they can touch her. She does get crabby when her paws are touched, but we are continuing to work on that. We will go back to the vet for another blood panel at the end of June to check her thyroid functioning. She continues to take her thyroid medicine very well. We have found out that Shyla loves the cat food, so we have had to block the cat food access. Her weight loss has stopped due to the extra cat food she was able to sneak, but now that we have found out her sneaky ways the diet is back on, much to Shyla's dislike. She is holding steady at 20 pounds lost, hopefully next update we can increase that amount. We continue to go out to the dog park. Shyla is very good with dogs that she knows. She shows bossyness towards strange dogs still, but will chase her ball and leave them alone. She doesn't pick fights, but still feels the need to boss. With proper introductions and time to adjust she would do okay in a home with other dogs.

Recent: Shyla graduated from basic obedience and is still continuing to do very well! She is now enjoying the dog park and is slowly trying to make friends and play with strange dogs at the park. She still enjoys to fetch her favorite chuck it ball and roll in the grass. I know that she is dying to go swimming this summer as last fall she really enjoyed the water! She is doing very well on her thyroid medication and her tail fur has grown back completely!!! We will do another vet check in June to check her thyroid functioning and make adjustments if needed for her thyroid pills. She still thinks her medication is a treat...silly dog! She still continues to lose weight and now is quickly approaching a total of 20 pounds lost since she first came into our rescue program in August. With the extra exercise and swimming that this spring and summer will bring, I am very optimistic that she will continue to lose weight. She still has some extra pounds to lose, but we take things slowly as she was a very unhealthy weight when she first came to us. She is looking great and feeling great and will be an awesome dog for someone!

Previous update: We are week 3 into obedience classes and I must admit that Shyla is doing better than I expected! She is one of the smartest dogs (and well behaved) in her class. She catches on very quickly and seems to enjoy the praise that she gets for doing things right. We are learning "place" which has been helpful at home, so that she is not right underfoot in the kitchen. Instead she will go over to her "place" and lay down. Staying out of the kitchen is really hard for Labs as they want to eat all the time, so we are really proud of this very food motivated girl that she listens and responds to what we ask of her. She continues to enjoy her foster Lab brother (still a bit bossy to some strange dogs) and continues to be good with the cats, even when they are in front of her food dish at supper time. For those that are looking for a mellow Lab, Shyla is your girl. She does not have the typical Lab energy and is really content to lounge around and sleep at your feet, but is still excited to see you when you come home from a long day of work. She would be best suited in a quiet home with an owner who is open to future obedience training with her.