Georgia is a six-and-a-half year old Cockapoo. We adopted Georgia as a stray from the local humane society when she was three-and-a-half years old. At that time, she was half of her normal weight. Her fur was so badly overgrown that none of her facial features was visible. She was also terribly matted and smelled strongly of urine. 

Behaviorally, she was extremely fearful of brooms and other dogs, and she had no concept of house-training. She was very bright and friendly from the outset. She learned her name in a day and easily learned to sit, etc.

Georgia has an understandable obsession with food creates a challenge in maintaining her weight. She quickly learned house-training habits (by using food rewards - no surprise), and absolutely loves meeting new people. One of her favorite things to do is to go shopping at the local pet store because she gets to meet a lot of new people there.

Georgia still isn't crazy about brooms, but at least she no longer runs to hide in a safe place for the remainder of the day every time she sees one. Georgia is also still fearful of other dogs, although she has been showing some improvement in that area as well. As a matter of fact, we suspect she has a crush on the Springer Spaniel next door.

Georgia Update (Summer, 2004)

When we adopted Georgia, the Humane Society said she had a luxating patella in one of her back legs (essentially, a knee that slips out of place). After being with us for two years, her other back leg developed the same problem and we noticed that she just wasn't acting as spry on her walks. In consultation with her vet, we decided to have both back legs operated on. Each leg was operated on in 8-week intervals. Georgia needed hours of physiotherapy a day for a few months, but she came through both operations and all of her physiotherapy perfectly. She isn't perfectly built, and so she remains bowlegged and her back ankles roll in at times. At some point, we will probably have her ankles operated on as well, but her vet recommends we wait, since she's compensating very well. Other than taking glucosamine, Georgia is healthy and happy. She walks, runs, and jumps very well - much better than we ever expected. Luxating patella is quite common in smaller dogs. We now occasionally notice it on other small dogs we see out walking. If your dog is diagnosed with luxating patella and you would like to hear more details about our experience with her operations, we would be happy to talk with you.