BONNIE (was MANDY)

Sadly, Bonnie has blotted her copybook and has come back into our care again. Although her adopters loved her very much, she proved to be too rough for their male labrador to the point that he was becoming very withdrawn. Unfortunately, although she looks like an angel, she is very boisterous and fun loving and into everything and enjoys nothing more than a rough and tumble with another dog. She is now in foster in Devon with a very experienced labrador trainer who we hope will be able to bring out the sweeter, gentler side of her nature. She does need someone who will be prepared to continue her training and will be firm but fair.

Bonnie is a 19 month old, spayed, pure bred labrador. She was surrendered to us, at 16mths old, as her owner had an accident and could no longer manage her. She was clearly very much loved.

 LATEST UPDATE ON BONNIE FROM TAMMY 24.9.07
 
Bonnie came to me 7 weeks ago, she is a large labrador, but has the temperament to die for. She is great with kids, dogs, cats, horses and cows.
 
Since she has been here, I have been working hard on her training, as she had received little prior to coming here. She can now walk nicely on the lead, recall is 90%, she waits, stays, sits, downs, and knows the off command well. I have been so pleased with her training that I decided to enter her into two obedience classes at the IRR reunion this week, and much to everyones astonishment she was placed 3rd (89/100) and 5th (96/100), she also won the special rosette for being the happiest dog in the class.
 
She has come such a long way in her training, and many people do not recognise her for it. Don't get me wrong she still needs to be in the hands of the right family, who must continue with her training, and be firm but fair with her. Give her half the chance she will try and take advantage of any situation that you do not have full control of. Saying that she no longer tries things on with me as she knows that she will not get anywhere, so she has given up. 
 
With regards to her playfullness, she plays like any normal labrador does, which she is just excited about, but no worse than my own dogs.
 
She did not like cats when she first came here, and would bark at them outside, but she is now used to them and ignores them, to the extent that when I was training her outside for the obedience competition she was doing a down stay, and my cat came upto her, sniffed her and he then walked off, Bonnie stayed exactly where I left her. She is great with cows and horses too and completely ignores them all.
 
Overall, Bonnie is a fantastic lady as long as you have the experience to handle her.

EARLIER UPDATES AND PICS OF BONNIE

Bonnie was Mandy & Friends

           INITIAL THOUGHTS from Maria (who met her from Ireland)

After her long trip from Ireland we were greeted by an exuberant and pretty young lady who happily jumped into our car in the middle of the night and sat with Martin, she looked as fresh as a daisy. This is the first time I realised she was a flirt.

When she met Jasper (our 12 month old golden) she then began to flirt outrageously with him too, and she soon had him tied around her little paw. Boy did they love to play together.

Like most young ladies, Bonnie loves shoes, closely followed by handbags, especially if they are left lying around, her nose will be inside a bag before you can bat an eyelid and the way she collects shoes would give Imelda Marcos a run for her money.

Not one to eat quickly, we found it best to feed her separately from Jasper as he would steal any food in her dish and she did not seem to mind, as she is clearly conscious about her figure.

Bonnie pulls a little on the lead initially but soon settles down, and she does jump, but a firm NO is all it takes and a SIT to make her sit like the good girl she is. She does love the odd treat and will sit very patiently to wait for one. She learns very quickly and is an intelligent young lady, who will, I am sure, enjoy training.

She is very inquisitive, loves to swim and loves people, she loves everyone, and assumes everyone loves her and everyone she has met so far does.

Bonnie will make a wonderful family addition for someone who is looking for a loyal, affectionate and active companion. Another dog in the family would be a bonus.

Bonnie has a lot of love to give and needs love and affection back, she constantly looks for reassurance. She does not like being left alone and we have noticed, when anyone leaves the house she will cry until she realises that she is not alone, although, when she is with another dog, she is fine for a couple of hours.

She does not to appear to know her name very well and is a very bonny looking dog. She seems to respond well to the word bonny so the name Bonnie seemed appropriate for her instead.

BONNIE is one in a million, a very special girl.

  BONNIE: FROM JACKIE, WHO FOSTERED HER A FEW MONTHS AGO 

Hi I am Jackie I have taken over from Maria fostering Mandy, now known as Bonnie.

Bonnie has certainly settled in well here and got her paws right under the table so to speak, lol.

She is a very affectionate girl and loves to give kisses a lot . I would call her a lick lick dog lol.

She gets on very well with Bridie my GR they play A LOT.

I would suggest that she goes to a home with another dog who is very tolerant as she likes to hump. She is very vocal when she plays with another dog.

As usual, Gizmo, our 12.5yr old Shih Tzu, is his grumpy old self. He tells her off if she gets to near him as he likes the quiet life. She just barks back at him as though to tell him to shut up, lol

She has learnt to sit, which I think Maria taught her with a treat, and now she knows down. She pulled me on the lead but is getting better with a half check collar I find.

Bonnie has still got a few puppy traits like chewing everything that she can. She has a very strong jaw so needs sturdy toys not the thin type of squeaky ones as I found out she chews them up within seconds. I am trying to work on this chewing but it is going to take time so her new owners will need a lot of patience.

She gets bored very easily, so needs plenty of stimulation. I would suggest taking her to training classes.

She loves to play fetch with anything you throw for her and will leave after a while of telling her she is then ready for you to throw again

She will still bark and whine if left but, with time, she will, hopefully, get better. Bonnie follows me everywhere as she loves human company and cannot get enough of it.

I have not managed to test her with small children yet as I have no young ones myself but she would make a very nice pet for a family with older children .

My neighbour has 4 cats but Bonnie does not appear to have seen them yet (maybe they are hiding from her after all she is a BIG lab girl).

Overall, I would say that Bonnie is a lovely, attentive and very affectionate young girl who needs firm handling and lots of love and a boy or girlfriend to play with.

   UPDATE ON BONNIE FROM HER FOREVER HOME
 
Linda says " Well we've had Bonnie for 5 weeks now... She's unpacked all her bags and well and truly settled into the family.

And tonight at the obedience club they asked us to move up to intermediates as she has done soooo well with her training! I'm soooo proud of her.

She still loves her bunnying and goes a bit deaf when she's on a trail, but the rest of the time the recall is good, and she is finding it much easier to settle down and sleep when nothing exciting is happening. She rarely nicks anything from tables or bins now and doesn't even bother us when we eat off our laps. She loves the car as much as the other two and feels safe enough to choose to climb in and sleep there when we're out and about.

She coped brilliantly when my sister came for the day with her 6 month old - Bons was really gentle with him and kept sniffing his feet

She really is quite a lady and we consider ourselves very lucky to have her.

I'd also like to say a HUGE thank you to Tammy for all her support through the first couple of weeks, and to Lynne Jones for her help and advice and her flower remedies!!"

BRILLIANT NEWS (EIGHT WEEKS ON)
 
 Well Bonnie has been living with us for 8 weeks now, and last night she won 2 prizes at obedience!!

It was just for fun as it was the last Dog training of the year apart for the christmas party, so they made everything we did a little competition.

We're in intermediates now and we do it all off lead, though some people stay on lead. First was a heelwork and stay exercise. Basically walk across the hall, about turn, round a cone, dog in sit, wait, walk away, back past dog, then about turn pick up dog to heel to other end of hall and sit, then the whole thing again but the dog waits in down instead of sit. Bonnie started well and didn't get distracted and WON!! A packet of chicken treats.

A few more exercises and we got to the recall. SO dog sit wait, walk off call to heel, continue down hall dog in sit wait, then recall and finish. Again a WIN!!!

We finished with some stays, and then did a musical dog play (play with your dog when the music stops dog in sit (or down)) and then they all got a little toy as a christmas pressie.

I was SOOOO proud of my Bonnie dog - she's come SUCH a long way in 8 weeks. She's really settled now, and very good most of the time. We do still have a few Kevin moments after she has been fed in the evening, but she usually settles within about 20 mins, and the rest of the time she is good as gold!

PS - she still likes mud baths though

�2006 Irish Retriever Rescue UK