Katy

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Katy is a pretty girl, around 5 years old. She was surrendered by her owners to a shelter in PA. They said they could not afford to take care of her any longer. She arrived at the shelter filthy, infested with fleas, and with a uterus infection. Her skin is very dry, rough, and infected in places. She had lost much of the hair on her back. The shelter rid her of the fleas, spayed her, and tested her skin for mange. The test was negative. The vet believes the hair loss was due to an allergic reaction to the fleas, and that the hair should grow back. She is now on medications for her skin infection, and for an eye infection. She has a slight odor, but not offensive smelling. This should disappear as her skins heals.

Katy is very sweet and affectionate. She LOVES getting belly rubs. She is playful and loves her ball. She wants to take it along on walks. It is so cute to see her carrying her ball through the neighborhood. She is housebroken and crate-trained. She does not counter surf or beg. She eats all her meals in the crate, and sleeps in her crate in the kitchen at night. She does not have any separation anxiety. She is good in the crate when her foster family goes out. During the day, she is trustworthy loose in the house, as her foster mom works at home on the computer. She is a quiet, good girl and lets her mom work. She has good house manners. She seems mostly uninterested in getting on the furniture, however she did hop up on the couch once and on the bed twice, but she got down immediately when told to get off. She knows some basic commands (come, stay, down) however she does not seem to know the sit command. Her foster mom is working on teaching her. She knows several phrases, such as go get your ball and daddy’s home

Katy is friendly to all people. There are no children in her foster home, but she has met the neighborhood children as young as 6, and she was gentle with them. When given treats, she takes them very gently out of your hand.

Katy has shown some signs of being smacked in the head in her previous life. On two occasions, when someone approached her from the front and reached their hand down to pet her on the head, she flinched back and looked frightened. When she saw that she was not going to be hit, she came back over for pets.

Katy lives in perfect harmony with the resident springer, a 13-year-young male. They were good with each other from the very first moment they were introduced. However, Katy is NOT good with every dog (male or female, big or small, timid or bold) that she has met while on walks and in the vet office. She starts out ok with the other dog, but suddenly for no apparent reason she will growl, bark, and try to lunge and snap. On one occasion, the encounter was vicious. Her foster mom is looking for a trainer to work with her and Katy to stop the aggression with other dogs. Katy also could use some obedience training for walking on leash, as she tends to pull. It is unknown how Katy is with cats.

Katy really is a great dog, and her foster mom and dad really enjoy having her. Would you enjoy having Katy as member of your family?

Update 6/24/03:Katy is now in her forever home!