Macy
	Gender: Female Age: 18 Months Height/Weight: na / 38 lbs Housebroken: Yes Fenced yard required: Location: Mid-Michigan Foster Home:Bill and Jean	Crate-trained: Treat-motivated: Toy-motivated: Likes Car Rides: Good with cats: Good with kids: Commands:

We took a long ride to the Mackinac Bridge to meet the lady from Wisconsin for the exchange and were a bit in doubt when we saw this big long nose and long tall dog emerge from the crate. Macy was pretty subdued and none too lively as we gave her a walk around the parking lot before the long trip back home, but away we went. The trip was uneventful as she rode well and was fine with a couple water and piddle stops.

Getting her home and, we were amazed (or more actually shocked) at how thin she was although she had her height and decent enough, but dry and brittle, coat. At that point she was barely 30 lbs. We were told by the shelter that they were giving her about 5 –6 oz. of dry food twice a day, way short of what we thought would be appropriate. She would down that much pretty much in one ravenous gulp like she’d never had food before. Several days and nights of throwing up food and having potty accidents in the house plus trips to the vet proved she had intestinal parasites. Meds for that helped but we also found she simply had a problem with normal dog food. Not only was she not getting enough food, but she didn’t get much value out of that. We switched to Science Diet Sensitive Stomach food and quickly the problem stopped. Since then, the Science Diet SS food plus Wysong canned meats as a little topping has put her back on normal track and she has put on her normal weight of about 50 lbs and lots of daily activity has given her an excellent physique. Her coat has returned to a glossy rough coat. We suspect the trip and 2 returns to the shelter were unwillingness to get to the root of the intestinal problem and /or figuring she could not be housebroken.

Macy turned out to be more people oriented than expected, a real affectionate gal wanting to be wherever we are. When outside with Kitsel, our other BC (see 2006 Happy Tales), and Manfred, our Great Pyr, she had no problem being adopted by them and joining their activities. Kitsel is our great hunter and pretty much taught Macy the art of hunting moles and voles in the high grass in our back field. Now they are pretty much inseparable buddies. Macy took quickly to the Invisible Fence collar and has never challenged or gone beyond the wire, even on the occasional time when the fence is off because of critter damage. She does, however, love to go places and if a car door is inadvertently left open preparing to go anywhere, there she is, sitting patiently in the passenger seat with that “please take me with you” look.

Her sport of choice has turned out to be the tennis ball thrown long so she has a good run and a shot at the first bounce catch. She can get WAY off the ground with her long legs and really enjoys a successful high catch, coming prancing back with what I swear is a “did ya’ see that one?” look. Frisbee hasn’t worked as well; she thinks it should bounce and waits till it comes down. Still working on that occasionally. Tug is another favorite in the evening with the usual tug ropes which she eventually destroys. She does not have much of the BC “eye” except sometimes with the cat. She also does not do flanking moves but prefers the straight-on chase, catch and retrieve.

We suspect there is a bit of Retriever in the blood line somewhere. More than one person including 2 vets have opined that she might have something like Borzoi hound in her because of her long body and legs. We finally couldn’t stand it and had her DNA tested. The answer came back pure BC; but that means they couldn’t find more than 10% -15% anything else. Whatever – she’s definitely on the long tall lean side of the BC spectrum and a beautiful dog for it all. She’s now a “keeper”. We didn’t try to adopt her out; we decided she made a great companion for Kitsel after the demise of our 13 year old BC gal Jill, and adopted her ourselves.

We have since had other foster dogs (See Myles and Chester on the 2010 Adopted Dogs section) and have had no trouble with their temporary presence. Sometimes, it’s just the luck of the draw, but Macy won our hearts after a rough start and we’re glad to have her.

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