4/12/08: This beautiful black girl is called Joy. Joy is a very friendly, loving little girl. She's not very big, only 38 lbs. She's close to being a mini. Joy loves male dogs, but doesn't much care for other females. She will be spayed and have her eyes fixed on 4/19 or 4/26, then she'll be ready for adoption. Joy is crate trained, vaccinated and on heartworm preventive.

4/19/08: Joy had an emergency trip to the doctor on Wednesday. She had a terrible abscess on her rear leg from an old bite wound we think. Doc lanced it and Joy is feeling much better. She's taking an antibiotic for a week to make sure all the infection is gone.

Joy is house trained and loves people. She loves being in the house. Joy is very social with our dogs, both male and female. If you had seen Joy 3 weeks ago and again now, you would not believe she is the same little girl.

4/23/08: Joy has recovered very nicely. She REALLY likes being in the house!

6/9/08: Joy Bean surprised us on 4/25 with 5 beautiful little peilings. Because Joy had been vaccinated, there was a chance that the puppies might have some medical issues. But, lo and behold, they are happy, healthy little peibies. They have their own page. Go check them out, but come back if you're interested in applying to adopt Joy Bean.

7/17/08: As bad as we hated to see this little girl go, we know she is in a great home. I think Leslie and Steven were really happy with how beautiful Joy is. It's going to take a little time for Joy to warm up, but we know she will. She's a very smart little girl and it won't take her long before she realizes what a good life she's going to have. We miss you, Joy Bean.

7/20/08: Leslie writes - Joy and I are making great progress! She wakes me up at 5:30 a.m. with a kiss. She loves going for walks and she comes when I call her. I have only tested that inside. She follows me and comes to me periodically for love. My husband and Joy ae slow going, but do seem to be making progress. We left Joy by herself for almost 2 hours today and came home to fnd her asleep and not a scratch on the door or anything else for that matter. Things look like they will turn out great!

8/22/08: Joy is doing really well! We just love her so much. We are really having to work on socializing her. She is afraid of people and has an agressive posture when it comes to dogs. There haven't been any problems but she will not settle down enough for group obedience classes. We thankfully have a neighbor who lets his dog out for us to meet in the street for practice. I am going to take her to some private lessons. I hope this will help her.

She has been to the vet. He has given us medicated ear wash and antibiotics to keep on hand. The ears he said might be an ongoing battle. Nothing unexpected. I was suprised that she weighed 36lbs. with how much she eats. That is down 2lbs. from when we got her. She does however get a ton of exercise. She takes us for very long and frequent walks. Sometimes she decides they need to be stepped up to runs. This keeping all of us in good shape.

She is so happy and loving! It was such a great feeling when she no l onger looked down when I spoke to her or tried to pet her and looked me in the eyes and made her decision to trust me. Those little black eyes peak through her wrinkles and tell me every time I see her that she has overcome her fears and her past and trusts me.

I am so grateful to have the opportunity to share in Joys life! An opportunity we would not have if it wasn't for you and the others that make up Tenn. rescue. Leslie

Just an update on Joy. She is doing well at home with myself and husband. She has almost mastered come, sit and down. We work with her all the time. She is just so afraid of the unfamiliar that outside is to distracting for much training. She is learning to walk well on a lead! She will hesitate if a car is not parked in its proper spot. If someone has a visiting car she is very apprehensive. She seems to have an inventory of the neighborhood and is very nervous of any change. We have along way to go but are enjoying getting there.

9/6/08: Just an update on Joy. She is doing well at home with myself and husband. She has almost mastered come, sit and down. We work with her all the time. She is just so afraid of the unfamiliar that outside is to distracting for much training. She is learning to walk well on a lead! She will hesitate if a car is not parked in its proper spot. If someone has a visiting car she is very apprehensive. She seems to have an inventory of the neighborhood and is very nervous of any change. We have along way to go but are enjoying getting there.

I read a article about adopted/rescued animals and their flight instinct. They said to give them a year before you ever think of having them outside without a lead. This is going to require some creativity in her training. Sometime in the future her training switches to off the lead. We are going to borrow my mothers yard and the fenced baseball field that is inside another fence. The article really scared me. So we are very careful!

She is such a good dog! She is always by my side and now is very comfortable with my husband. She lays out on the deck for long stretches of time now that we have had some cooler days. She is enjoying the outdoors! Leslie