Story brought to you by our Adoption Partner The Rioux Baker Team! Thank you to every single person that adopts from GTHS. Each story is so special. Seeing over 1,000 families open up their hearts to GTHS animals each year is the most beautiful thing.
Over a year ago, a young dog named LULU made her way to the Georgian Triangle Humane Society all the way from Sandy Lake, Ontario. When she arrived at the GTHS she gave the Team quite the surprise…she was pregnant…and due soon! LULU’s story captured the hearts of the south Georgian Bay community and even more when she gave birth in foster care to EIGHT little stowaways on Family Day – February 15th, 2021. HERE you can read her Family Day Surprise story. Now, a year later, we are wishing all eight of these beautiful Northern pups a very happy FIRST BIRTHDAY! Enjoy the wonderful updates from all the pup’s families below. So amazing to see how much they have grown – mama LULU too!
Here are the puppies when they were only a couple weeks old and then with their foster mama on surgery day ❤️
NAVAN now Gwendolyn
We adopted Navan. Her name is now Gwendolyn. She is absolutely stunning in her markings and is a wonderful family pet. Gwen has grown to be very tall! She weighs more then 85lbs! She shares her home with a cat and her human family. We have acreage for her to roam, however her favourite past time is to bring treasures to her front yard.
Gwendolyn has been an incredible member of our family. She was crate trained with absolutely no issues.
She loves her family, her ball, snuffle mat, snuggling and brining sticks of all sizes to her yard!
We feel very fortunate with Gwen joining our household!
IVEAGH now Ivy
We adopted Iveagh, now Ivy (easier to spell!). Ivy was a feisty little pup, loved to bite us, wanted nothing to do with a harness or collar. She bit my daughter the entire drive home (2.5hrs) and I thought she was being dramatic until we got in the house and I experienced it myself! 😩
That said, with some training we have a wonderful girl. She is very playful, quite snuggly, LOVES to play ball and actually brings it back, is good with people and other dogs. She is loving this snow we have as well! We’re still working on leash walking, but we have come a long way!!! 😁
She is about 58lbs now, vet says she may be about 65 but that is purely guessing!
WICK now Louie
We adopted sweet Wick now called Louie. We absolutely love him. We did notice early on that his heart murmur was not getting better so we got his heart tested down at Guelph as our vet recommended it. We found out he has a severe heart defect (left side does not talk to right side so he does not get the full good oxygen he needs) and we have been told his life span will be maybe 2 years. They cannot do surgery on this type of heart defect. We were pretty devastated at this news as Louie has been the best dog, so we are giving him the best life. He goes for slow walks, loves hanging out with us and watching football and is the best office dog. He loves kids and meeting new people. He is going to be an older brother in April, so he has been sticking pretty close to me these last couple months. We love our little Lou!
INNES now Fine
I’ve got Fine (pronounced “Finn” and formerly Innes). He’s probably 80lbs now but definitely doesn’t know his own size. He was spooked by a nine-pound Havanese just the other week! We’ve enjoyed quite a few canoe trips together this summer with only one leap out of the canoe to realize he’d never want to do that again! I take him to work with me every day at a therapeutic boarding school and my students love him. So, the lucky guy gets lots of pets and love!
He loves other dogs more than he loves me, which I’m working on getting over, haha! But lately it seems as he gets older, he’s getting a little more cuddlier. (Just a bit though!)
PEARCE now Memphis
…My husband and I have often said that we should have gotten info of the other people who adopted the other pups!
We adopted Pearce who is now Memphis and we are absolutely in love with him!! He is such a sweet boy who just loves everyone. He loves to play outside with his soccer ball and go for nice long walks/hikes. We recently adopted another puppy for a companion for Memphis.
I think its a fantastic idea to try to get the pups together when its ok to do so! Count us in☺️
What we know so far is Memphis is part Great Pyrenees/husky. He is 62lb and vet says she thinks he is full grown.
Here are some pics of our sweet Memphis
HYDE now Zeus
We are so lucky to have adopted Hyde now named Zeus. Zeus is the sweetest boy and loves everyone he meets! He currently weighs 60lbs which is what we expected from his DNA test. His Instagram is @zoomieswithzeus if you would like to keep in touch.
KEGAN now Remy
Kegan’s (now named Remy) family here! He is getting be quite a big boy, weighing in at almost 70lbs, and he sheds a ton!! It is so great to hear about all the other puppies!
BRAY now RAYA
Raya is named after the Disney Princess from Raya and the Last Dragon. Raya also means friend in Hebrew. She came into our lives as we were piecing our hearts back together after saying goodbye to our big husky/lab/saint bernard mix. We said we wouldn’t add another pup to our lives until everyone felt like their hearts were ready….they weren’t ready for anyone other than this girl. We were lucky to foster her and her brother INNES (Fine) for a month or so before they became available for adoption and we just knew right away that she was always meant to be part of our lives. She loves her tiny humans and makes sure she always has a paw right by their toys so they know she is playing too. Her favourite thing in whole wide world though are her balls! She could chase her balls alllll day long. Her favourite human is her dad and most days you will find her passing the time staring at him or giving him hugs. Joining in the on the GTHS Walkathon has become a family tradition and we can’t wait for this year to go on even more hikes with our beautiful Northern girl – hopefully her siblings too!
MAMA LULU
While the pups are growing up in the south, Lulu spent the first year-plus of her life as a northern dog in the Sandy Lake community. She brought down many unique and fascinating characteristics of her life in the north and many of the pups seem to have inherited her best traits. Lulu is an independent girl although very loving and kind. She gets along and is friendly with most dogs (due to her pack upbringing) although she can be fiercely protective and brave. Lulu loves the outdoors and especially the cooler days and is right at home in the snow (check the weather for Sandy Lake). Loves sticks, soccer balls, fascinated and wants to play with all children and kids big and small (especially the little ones). We took her to her first ski race at Craigleith yesterday and she greeted everyone like they were her family and she got tons of attention.
She has supersonic hearing (can hear a chip bag rattle at 50m) and a great sense of smell with her nose in the air, catching a whiff of something nearby or far. Lulu is a speedy runner, a trait that may have helped her to survive in her northern community and we encourage her to run, to feel free and unrestrained whenever we can allow.
We love her like crazy and we feel fortunate to be connected to her community of offspring. We often wonder if the bond survives between mom and pup and would be interested to see if there is a connection if she were to ever meet any of her pups.
We recently adopted another northern dog, a pup from the James Bay area so Lulu now has a sister, a puppy sister or creature or foreign annoyance sometimes…. But even though new pup Millie can be a major pain, Lulu’s mothering instincts and caring, playful nature shine through.
We sent a few pics of Lulu for a visual comparison. Many of her pups seem to have inherited the white cross on her chest and white underbelly and some of her markings (pic 1). She has an amazing bushy tail and a mass of fur/hair on her hind quarters which insulate her from the cold ground (pic 2). She can actually curl up in a ball in the snow and sleep, her tail coming right around to cover/insulate her nose. Picture 3 shows her on one of her favorite spots, the front hall bench overlooking sister Millie, awaiting the next attack!
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