8/23/03: As sometimes happens, Holly's foster Charles Gibson and family has decided to adopt Holly. In his words:

"Holly's already found a home: she's also been a silent expert at worming her way into our hearts. So as long as there are no strenuous objections, we'd like to keep her forever."

Other homes were considered, but Holly had some issues with other animals (such as rabbits and small criters), that would have resulted in problems at the homes that applied.
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Original Story 7/1/03: Holly was rescued from a shelter in Indiana. She has a condition called Dry Eye. So she was brought to a foster near Grand Rapids while she is seeing a specialist. In every other respect, Holly appears in good health! She is good natured, a knows some basic obedience ie. come/here, down, stay. She loves to play and retrieve a tennis ball, and loves "hose time" - playing with the water from a garden hose.

Being at least 50% beardie, she does give voice when anyone comes to the door. But she easily quiets, too. At night, she'll either sleep well in a crate or, she likes to curl up right at the bedside. In the car/van, she travels best in a crate. There are two possible ways of treating this and we are currently debating which way to go. She will either need eye drops two times every day, or we could have an operation performed called Paroted Duct Transposition done The problem with the operation is that the eyes would then weep out onto her coat and cause stains and eventually some odor (constant maintenance). We are still cnsulting with an eye specialist - and a change in diet has helped her dry eye situation (but she still will need some extra care) Holly has not had any problem with feeding time in her current foster home.....the three dogs are just separated. In fact, \ she is getting along with 2 beardie boys However, it must be remembered that the 2 guys are rather laid-back and very accepting of other dogs. She did show some food and toy agressiveness at her previous foster. Her current foster is working on her training (and is very qualified).

If her current foster was to evaluate her on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being not recommended for adoption, 5 being a very strong candidate for adoption), he would rate her a 4 1/2. Reason being: her current daily regimen of eye care, and her slight squeamishness when being brushed and combed out. He would gladly characterize Holly as an absolutesweetheart.

Holly has recieved a lot of attention by many people - and we hope that she will find a forever home that can open their heart up to a sweet girl needing a little extra attention.

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Nancy nancyakaj@aol.com

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