Millie (aka Millicent the Magnificent) is a sweet, loving 7 year-old girl who has led a less-than-stellar life. She came to GRR from a local shelter and is a perfect example of benign abuse. It appears that she had never been given proper protective immunization but this has been corrected by GRR. Her vet records indicated that early on her vet suspected thyroid problems but this was never addressed. When rescued, she had extremely low thyroid readings resulting in skin conditions and seborrhea (dandruff and scaly red patches). All the rest of her blood work was normal, so it appears that aside from her easily controlled thyroid condition, she is completely healthy.

Currently Millie is on inexpensive thyroid medication and Vitamin E oil twice a day. Millie’s tail was the worst affected area - when she first came to rescue we were not sure that the fur would grow back. We laughingly called it an armadillo tail. However, after two weeks of good food and proper medication there is some pale fuzz appearing, so her fosters are hopeful.

Millie is a little shy with strangers but warms up quickly. She is a very calm dog and rarely even barks unless her foster siblings really get going, and even then it is just a woof. She is great with other dogs, big or small, good with cats and good with kids. So we think she’ll fit into almost any family.

Millie enjoys a nice outing at the dog park with a tennis ball. She not only chases but retrieves, returns and drops the ball, a novel event in her foster family! She doesn’t jump up into the car, and climbs up on the sofa a little gingerly, so she may be a little arthritic or weak in the rear end right now, but most of the time it’s not even noticeable. It’s possible that she just needs to lose a little weight, or that being more active will build her up over time.

Millie walks on a leash and comes when called, but that is the limit of her training. She will ask to go out but currently has a doggy door. She is beginning to learn to sit and stay and that will continue to require work. But Millie lives to please, so she learns quickly.

Millie is a truly rewarding project that will result in years of love and devotion. She just needs a family who will understand that for 7 years she has suffered from a lack of attention and that it will take longer than a couple of weeks to get her back to the beautiful dog she can be.

With love and time Millie can really become Millicent the Magnificent – and she’s already started down that road. But her true beauty is already shining from her loving eyes and wagging tail!