Entered: 12/01/2006
Status: Adopted
Age: 3
Color: Black/White
Weight:
Gender: Altered Female
Location: Richmond, VA
Health: UTD, HW-, recovering from a surgery to correct a spaying issue
Temperament: Good with people as young as small children, good with other dogs, will chase cats
Original: Moving from a puppy mill in Pennsylvania to an intermediate rescuer and then into MAESSR’s care, Addie has been busy with a total transformation of her life in the last month. She is a petite girl who has gotten over her fear of many things we typically consider normal. When she first arrived at her foster home, she was afraid of mirrors, ceiling fans, reflections in glass, and the list could go on. After a very short time, she is building confidence that she is safe, and all is well. In fact, she now walks around the yard without running three feet and stopping to see if she’s being pursued.
Addie gets along very nicely with her foster brother. Her foster parents have seen her playfully bump her nose into her foster brother’s rear-end several times to get him moving a little faster. She also has coerced him into allowing her to sleep next to him when she feels like it.
Housetraining is in progress for Addie. She is also learning that she doesn’t have to counter surf for food. Currently, she stays baby-gated in the kitchen when her foster parents are at work. Once her housetraining is complete, she will have full run of the house, just as her foster brother enjoys. Addie does not do well in a crate and will thrash about and cry. Having lived most of her life in a crated environment, her foster parents feel that she deserves her freedom and will work with her preference while she is in their home.
When she rides in a vehicle, Addie gets excited, but she calms down when she reaches her destination. As she rides more and more, the hope is that she will understand the ride is not going to have an unhappy ending for her. Since she learns quite a lot from her foster brother, she should catch on fast. Addie already understands a large variety of words and commands. At the end of the day, she is ready to hear “night, night”. She is a true Velcro dog, sprawling over her foster dad while he watches TV. It is not unusual to see her asleep with all four feet in the air and her head hanging off of where she is sleeping – too cute!
Since Addie’s arrival the neighborhood cat does not visit as often. He learned quickly that Addie will chase him. She doesn’t show much interest in birds or squirrels yet. She is great with children and is a very loving girl once she meets people of any age. One note: when Addie tries to bark, it appears that she may have been de-barked. A sad thought, but hopefully she doesn’t even care, for she is showered with love and affection, not thinking of anything in her past that may have been unpleasant.
Soon Addie will be ready to claim a special family for her very own. With the new year she’ll at last have the love, security and human companionship that every dog deserves.