Leigh

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Update 11/29/07: Leigh’s personality is fully emerging with more time in her foster home. She is a very loving and happy Springer. She loves being around her foster mom and is teaching her to type on the computer with one hand while the other hand pets her! Leigh plays a lot with the resident Springer puppy and is now playing with the 2-year-old resident Springer. She ignores the resident cocker and German shepherd with the exception of an occasional “kiss.” Leigh is starting to play with some toys. She seems to like the dismembered leg of a toy stuffed spider that lasted about half a day as a whole toy.

Leigh totally loves seeing the leash come out for her walk and will hop up and down and run in and out of the doggy door until it’s time to go. When Leigh is outside and her foster mom walks to a neighbor’s house, Leigh will bark when her foster mom is not in sight. Then she will jump up and down in excitement when she sees her coming back. When the other dogs run outside to bark at something or someone, Leigh is right with them to check things out but will not bark along with the other dogs. She still loves her car rides and will jump right into the car, always rearing to go.

When the season’s first snow arrived, Leigh was not too comfortable with the slippery steps going up to the deck. But she figured it out with the good sense of a senior. She will still run into her crate when something makes her nervous but not as much as she did at first. She has learned the routine of her foster home and knows exactly the time to eat and, if the time is a little late, she will give a bark to let her foster mom know she’s hungry! She will run into her crate to eat where she still feels more comfortable when the food bowls come out. With the handing out of treats, she does well alongside the others. She even tolerates the puppy “stealing” the broken pieces of treats that have fallen on the floor after she bits into them.

At night Leigh will readily curl up on her blanket on the floor next to her foster mom’s bed. And, when it’s time to get up and go out, she will join in the rush upstairs with the resident pack to be left outside. Leigh continues to do well with the resident cats, still not paying much heed to them– just a sniff here and there and that is the end of her interest.

Leigh has had her second Lyme vaccination which completes the follow up to a low positive reading during her initial vet exam. Her issue with giardia is all cleared up and the wound in between her toes is completely healed. Her fatty tumors have remained the same with no change in them, just as the vet had hoped.

Leigh is a wonderful, lovely, energetic Springer who will make a wonderful, doting companion in her forever home. She’s been such a good girl this year and would love to welcome the new year with her very own family!

Original: Leigh was turned into a shelter due to her owners no longer being able to spend time with her. The shelter contacted MAESSR and now she is in foster care.

Leigh was given a bath and grooming at her foster home and she did very well on both. She did not even mind having her feet and nails done and she did well getting her ears cleaned. At the time of her grooming, her foster mom found a wound between two toes and several fatty tumors. At the vet, along with her vaccinations and tests, her wound was treated and Leigh was given antibiotics to prevent infection. The vet recommended monitoring both the fatty tumors and an enlarged lymph node for any change. The vet thought that the fatty tumors could be easily removed. When she was at the vet’s for her visit, she did very well with everyone there.

Leigh was initially nervous around the resident dogs in her foster home. Now, she will approach them for some sniffing and kissing every now and then. She has even engaged one of the resident dogs in play. Leigh likes the resident Springer puppy, too, and she shows considerable patience with this youngster. When she lies in her crate, the resident pup wants to snuggle next to her and she permits this. She is still nervous when all of the resident dogs are milling around and about her, so she goes into her crate where she feels a bit more comfortable. The crate is obviously a place of security for her and she loves to rest on the fluffy pillow inside it. At night she sleeps on her pillow on the side of her foster parents’ bed.

Leigh has met the resident cats and the neighbor’s two cats and does very well with them. The declawed neighbor cat allowed Leigh to sniff her and then gave her a swat on the nose. Leigh did nothing but to look at the cat and walk away. She has spent a good amount of time with the resident cats and she basically doesn’t pay much attention to them, only sniffs them and walks away.

Leigh has attached herself to her foster mom and follows her everywhere. When her foster mom comes home from work, Leigh is very excited to see her and will give a cry of delight. She loves to be petted and wags her tail incessantly when getting this attention from her foster mom or other people. If her foster mom stops petting her just a second or two, Leigh will nudge her for more! She is not shy about meeting new people and goes right up to strangers for some petting, but she does not jump up on them. She is definitely more people oriented than canine oriented.

Leigh has gone on several car rides. She jumps right into the car and settles in the back seat or sits and looks out the window. Although she doesn’t know many commands she is good with “come” and is learning “dit.” Leigh LOVES to go on walks. She gets all excited when she sees the leash come out. She rarely pulls on the leash and if she does and is corrected, she will walk right beside her foster mom. She has gone on walks alone and also with each of the resident Springers. When walking with the exuberant resident puppy, Leigh is patient with the pup’s “bump and separate” walking style. As walking partners, she and the older resident Springers are fine taking turns on who walks next to mom. She enjoys watching squirrels and sniffing for rabbits on her walks also. Playing with toys hasn’t interested her, though.

Besides being crate trained, Leigh is house trained and has not had any accidents in her foster home. On her first day there, she discovered the doggy door! To be able to go into her fenced yard at will and to go back into her house when she wants is wonderful! If the doggy door is locked, she will bark when she needs to go out. Leigh also will bark when her foster mom leaves the house to go outside, but when her foster mom leaves for work, she won’t bark. She must know the difference between a work day and off days! Forget about having Leigh help with vacuuming; wherever the vacuum cleaner is, she isn’t to be found!

Leigh does not counter-surf or beg. She gets excited when the food bowls come out and will bark. She has learned to go into her crate for her meals. There, she can eat alone where she feels comfortable thus avoiding any food aggression that she has with the resident dogs. She does not like the other dogs to get too near her when she is eating. She has no problems with people being near her however. She takes treats gently, her bowl can be removed from her, and she can be petted while she’s eating.

Leigh is a very happy, friendly, spry dog who loves to be petted, talked to and taken on walks. Her dream home would consist of adoring people who are home most of the time to give her lots of love and attention. Her forever home could have cats and maybe another dog, but no dog packs, please! This freckled beauty is a real sweetie! Just look into her eyes and you see her love and trust!