Entered: 03/30/2008
Status: Adopted
Age: 1
Color: Black/White
Weight:
Gender: Altered Female
Location: Charles City, VA
Health: UTD, HW-, good in all areas
Temperament: Good with people as young as seven but timid, unknown with other dogs and with cats
Original:
Abby was surrendered to MAESSR because of her owner’s long work schedule left her home along too much of the time. She was crated for ten hours during the work day and then crated again at bedtime.
Abby has spent virtually no time in the crate at her foster home, except when the foster family has to leave for a few hours. She has been free to explore the house and play with her toys which she truly loves. She’s also a great tennis ball player, catching a thrown ball on a hop. Abby has shown a real interest in bunnies, and she will chase them but hasn’t caught one yet. Luckily, the bunnies are faster!
On walks Abby’s foster family has been using a Gentle Leader harness on her, because the little 42 pound girl can be all pull power! Abby know some basic commands – sit and down, but stay isn’t in her vocabulary. She also knows come on a limited basis. She is a good candidate for obedience training – a great opportunity to bond with her adoptive family. Her foster parents have just started her with some basic clicker training, and work with the leave it command.
Abby is housetrained and has had very few accidents. She can spend the night in her foster parents’ room with no problem, although she will try and sleep with them – something that she is not permitted to do. She will gently wake her parents in the morning to let them know she needs to go outside. But don’t plan on sleeping in – she’s usually up by 6:00 a.m.!
Abby has a healthy appetite. She really didn’t like the dry food that came with her, so her foster parents have added some beef chunks with gravy to the dry food, and that apparently hits the spot! She already knows to sit at the pantry door when coming in from a walk – that’s where all the puppy cookies are. She always takes treats very gently.
Abby is another Velcro puppy, or as her foster dad has nicknamed her Caboose to go along with foster mom’s train engine role. She will follow you everywhere, including the bathroom! Abby rides really well. She may seem unable to jump up into a vehicle, but if you sit in the back seat and call to her, she readily jumps in. She recently went to the vet for a heartworm test and her foster parents discovered the poor girl is very afraid of a vet’s office. She was fine with the vet tech and the female vet– not overly friendly, but absolutely no aggression nor barking. Her health report card was excellent! Abby tends to be very shy with people she does not know, but if they ignore her, she comes to them for a sniff and then she’s on her way to making a new friend. Her surrendering family said that she was good with children as young as ten and good with dogs, but she has not had any opportunities to meet any of these two and four-leggeds in her foster home.
Abby will make an excellent addition to a family that has the ample time she needs to flourish.