FC LIFE DECEMBER, 2016

Column by Lois Stern

Photography by Bob Cohen

Please call Lois to be featured with your pet. 626-5062

FERN PORTNOY and ROGER O. GOLDMAN adopted Oaklynn and Katrina, black Labrador Retrievers, from the Seeing Eye in Morristown, New Jersey. The Seeing Eye breeds and raises puppies to become Seeing Eye guide dogs for blind people. Oaklynn was trained to be a guide dog, but she has a short attention span and was not a vigilant guide. She had two placements, neither which worked out. We were fortunate to adopt her when she was three years old. Katrina was born in Australia and brought to the Seeing Eye as part of their international exchange program. She had several litters, but when she was four years old, Seeing Eye, decided that she needed to retire to a welcoming home. Both girls are now eight years old, but they seem to remember at least some of their earlier training. Oaklynn was trained to stay away from water, so whenever anyone goes into the pool, she gets excited and runs around the pool barking. Katrina on the other hand, having never been trained to protect her “person” from the danger of falling into the pool, loves to push her toys into the pool and jump in to retrieve them. She will play this game for hours. Fortunately, she only does it when someone is in the pool. The girls love their daily walks, playing tug of war with their toys and chasing each other. During the summer, they freely wander around their Berkshire home chasing ducks, turkeys and an occasional deer.

On the morning of June 18, 2016, Marilyn Greenberg called to tell me she had a puppy born on April 16th she thought we might be interested in. Sending her picture over the phone, I fell in love. I showed my husband, CHRIS and we decided to meet her in person. Off we went to the Justin Bartlett rescue adoption center and came home with a precious little Chihuahua-Fox Terrier mix puppy of 2 months. We gathered the family to choose a name and Rosie was the winner! She is just filled with love and energy and has brought us many hours of fun and enjoyment. She is 8 months old now and as lively and sweet as ever.

Everyone just loves Rosie!

JAN TIGHE

ROZ and HARVEY BUDKOFSKY with Charlie. In May, we lost Stormy. We told Marilyn Greenberg we wanted a small, fluffy white dog. Six weeks later, we got Charlie. He came from a single parent family home whose Mom changed jobs and had to leave him home alone 12-15 hours a day.

He is a 4 1/2 year old “white, fluffy,” 14 pound pure bred Maltese. He is completely trained and fabulous. We are in love!

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