Looking to Adopt in Illinois
We live in Naperville IL and I would love find out more about any dogs or puppies that are available. About Us: We are a family of 5, with kids 8, 10, & 12. We are all dog lovers. We have another dog, Isabelle – a 5 year old Golden Retriever. Isabelle is a very friendly dog. She loves people and is usually neutral with other dogs. Sometimes she will play with another dog, if she knows them. Otherwise, she ignores them. She and Maxine got a long well. I am 100% confident that there will be no issues with Izzy and a new dog, especially a typical OES. I work from home most of the time, but I do travel occasionally. My wife leaves for work between 8:00 and 8:30 am and my daughter is home from school by 3:15 pm. My wife works 6 minutes from our house, so it is easy to check up on things. I would love to find about any OES that are available, especially in the Midwest area. You can email me directly at EricHale714 (a) hotmail.com. |
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| Welcome! Sorry to hear about your loss. It's nice to see that you want to adopt an OES - there are so many out there that need homes!
There is an OES Rescue in IL - Chicagoland OES Rescue. They only have 1 listing on petfinder right now - but you should contact them - complete an application and talk to them about become an adoptive home. http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/IL194.html You can find the contact information at the above website. Good Luck! Kristen |
| I think other state rescues will place dogs out of state. The NEOES Rescue website has links to other state rescues. Petfinder is great and of course there is Grannie Annie. And G.A. has 5 OES who need homes ASAP. There is a post about them in "Dogs in Need." Eric, there's a bunch of us in the "greater" Chicago area so you won't feel isolated. Good luck on your search and keep us posted. And thank for considering an adoptee.
Paula O.--who doesn't have a sheepie. Yet. |
| I want to thank everyone out there for your help. What a great community this is! I received many messages and spoke with several people around the country. I received a lot of encouragement, support, and suggestion.
Big THANK YOUs to Nancy Hakala from the Minnesota OES Rescue and Dawn Bain – a volunteer in Sioux City, Iowa. . Nancy put me in touch with an OES (they named “Shaggy Maggie”) at Animal Control in Sioux City. Dawn Bain had been trying to find an OES Rescue to get Maggie placed. By coincidence, I needed to be in Omaha this week and it is about 90 miles south of Sioux City IA. I flew to Omaha and drove about 1.5 hours to see this OES. “Maggie” was an utter mess. She was badly matted about the head and chest and smelled horribly. When one of the workers (Cathy) brought her out to see me, she wanted nothing to do with me. Her focus was 100% on Cathy (the one who does most of the feeding and handling). Outside on leash she was spastic. Jumping all over the place, body-slamming Cathy, biting and tugging on the leash – she was crazy. We took her inside where she could settle down a little. They don’t really have any good place to visit with animals. I went in kennel with her. I petted her and she leaned up against me, but kept her attention on the commotion in the kennel – people walking by and other dogs. Her teeth are very white and sharp. She still has some black on her back. I am guessing that she is about a year old. I decided to adopt her. The main reason was to just get her out of that kennel. She had been there for about 3 weeks – this time. She was found as a stray and previously adopted by someone who kept her in their backyard. Apparently, she kept jumping the fence. So, they returned her to animal control. That was on January 22. Dawn Bain helped me to get the dog to a vet and get her groomed. Saturday 02/22/05 I picked her up and she looked much better. (She still smelled like the kennel, though) I didn’t realize that Maggie had black circles around her eyes. It’s kind of freaky. The circles are like a raccoon or “a bandit.” Actually, her eyes remind me of an Irish Wolfhound’s eyes. Everything else about her is 100% OES! The vet issued a health certificate, but said he thought he heard some leaking in on of her heart valves. That’s a concert that I need to address with my vet. We flew back to Chicago and she got a lot of attention at both airports. Since Maggie still smelled of a dirty kennel, we took her to Petco for a do-it-your self wash. Maggie was easily groomable. She took the water, drying, and combing better than my previous OES (who hated the dryer). When I got her to the house, she met our Golden Retriever – Izzy. Their first meeting was not so good. Maggie growled and snipped at Izzy a few times. After some reprimanding and coaxing they were able to tolerate each other. Once we got them in the house, the dogs were fine. They aren’t buddies, but they coexist with each other well enough. She has been here for about a full day and she appears house broken. She’s terrible on leash. She’s always at the very end and pulling. She also likes to bite the leash and play tug. Maggie seems to understand some basic commands. When you tell her to sit, she will and presents her paw (her left paw – We need to work on that! Shaking with your left paw is rude. lol). She also understands “outside” and “ride.” Apparently, she has not been introduced to “No.” All in all, we feel pretty lucky. I was hesitant at first and I was really scared when we introduced her to our other dog. But, now I think this is going to work out very well. She hasn’t met the kids yet (8, 10, and 12 – we got a “Brady Bunch” situation and they are with the other parents this weekend). However, I am confident that this will go very well. We are planning a surprise “treasure hunt” for them when they get home. They are going to be VERY surprised, especially since I have been telling them for a year “No way! We are NOT getting another dog.” I will post some pictures if I can figure-out how to do that. Thanks again for all the support. God bless the OES Rescue community! Eric |
| Thank you for the update !!!
Congratulations on adopting Maggie, she is so lucky to find such a good home!!! Best of luck. The children will be happy with their new sheepie. Its great that you found a nice match ! Please let us know about the reaction of the kids to this new family member !!! Best Wishes to Maggie and family... |
What a great story, I hope everything goes well, and please let us know how she takes to the children!  Did the shelter do any temperment testing to see if she was ok with kids, or other dogs, or cats that might have given you more of an idea what to expect? |
| Congratulations!! Wonderful story and I hope all get on just fine!
Best wishes, Cathy |
| Yay!
Be sure to keep us posted once in a while! Good luck -- we're here to chat if/when you need encouragement! |
| Hi Eric and Maggie,
Welcome to the forum! My stomach was doing flip flops when I was reading your story- from your description of Maggie, I thought you were going to change your mind. Whew!!! I was thrilled to hear you adopted her and are going to give her a forever home. I've done this three times before, Big Dog, and Shaggy were pound dogs and my lastest rescue Panda came from a puppymill in Hong Kong. Except for Panda, the other two were horribly matted messes that barked, All three weren't housebroken and destructive. People thought I was crazy to keep them. There will be days you might wonder what caused your temporary moment of insanity but those days will eventually become distant memories. Replaced instead by a dog who will be devoted to you for life and a forever companion to Isabelle. It just takes time. Shaggy eventually became a therapy dog and we even were put under contract with the Humane society to provide educational pet talks to the public. Not sugar coating anything as it took about a year for her to settle in and become the good dog she was meant to be. Currently, I have had Panda introduced to my household (aprox 9 months) and some days for every step forward it's a step back - yet I couldn't imagine life without him. It's a bit harder as I had two existing dogs in the household and throwing a third is the mix is chaotic somedays. One dog always had to emerge as Alpha amongst the dogs, and you and your kids have to be Alpha to the dogs. Somedays things might not go well but don't give up on Maggie, it will eventually sort it'self out between her and Isabelle. I'm sorry for the loss of Maxine as no matter how much time has passed , her memories with your family are still much alive. You may want to post something about her at a future date. I can't wait to see the pics of Maggie and Isabelle! Again welcome and don't ever hesitate to ask a question as you've seen for yourself how friendly everyone here is. Marianne and the boys |
| Congrats! I'm so happy for you! Maggie is one lucky girl! I'm sure she will be best of friends with your other dog in no time. She just needs to realize that everything is going to be okay and she's in her furever home.
I heard from Nancy that Maggie was adopted by someone in Illinois and I hoped that it was you! I'm thrilled! Good Luck! Kristen |
| Hi Eric,
Congratulations on adopting Maggie. I adopted Mollie (OES) from a Arkansas shelter, almost 2 years ago, and she too wanted to body slam and pull on leash. When I took her to training classes the trainer said to put her on a haltie and now she walks without tugging. I too, already had a dog in the home. He is a male shi/poo and is almost 12 years old and Mollie and Tahje get along very well. We recently got a OES puppy, he is Mollie's playmate. Good luck and keep us posted on your adventures. Looking forward to hearing how surprised your kids were. Karen, Mollie and Beau Michigan |
| Wow! Thanks for all the responses and encouragement.
Maggie gets better by the minute! We decided to stick with that name – it suits her well. Actually, she will officially be Maggie-Bear. Already, she seems to know her name. She is completely house broken. If fact, this morning she woke me at about 5:45 am. I assume that she need to do her business, because that is exactly what she did. We came back inside and I got another hour of sleep. She stays in her kennel when we are not at home. She doesn’t seem to mind her kennel and she is protective of it when Isabelle tries to in there. The KIDS were totally surprised when they got home. We did a treasure hunt sending them all over the house for clues, while I waited in the final hiding spot with Maggie. The kids came to the basement and they were shocked and happy. They were a little scared, too. Maggie has black circles around her eyes. I have to admit, it’s is a little scary and takes a little getting used to. After a couple of minutes the kids were having a blast with her. She’s very affectionate. Lot’s of kisses – yuck! Maggie is soooo good with the kids. They all played “chase around the basement furniture.” This was a favorite of our Maxine. I guess it’s typical of OES’s; they love to herd things… especially children. We are establishing the Alpha situation with the family. I don’t foresee any problems there. As far as Maggie and Isabelle, I know that will work it out. Any suggestions there? Do you let them fight or break it up every time? How do you mediate that situation? There have been a few incidents over the favorite bone and once at feeding time. On a long walk today, Maggie was much better on the leash. I gave firm commands when she tried to jump or tug. She’s going to be a very good dog. She just needs some love and attention. Our family is very happy to have her. In only 48 hours, she has positioned herself as a permanent part of our family! We feel really lucky. Eric |
| Eric,
This brings tears to my eyes! In terms of getting along with your other dog - give it some time and try not to interfere too much (as long as there isn't a risk of them getting seriously injured). They'll work it out in no time. Good Luck! Kristen |
| They do seem to work it out on their own, but it's always a good idea to supervise of course until you are confident that they are familiar enough with each other and aren't going to actually fight.
I'm so happy for you and Maggie! And also, your avatar is the most amazing picture.... |
| Eric-
Congrats to you and your family with the addition of Maggie! Im so happy for you all that she fits in so perfectly! Sincerely Becky, Millie and Oliver |
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