Entered: 6/20/2023
Status: Adopted
Age: 7
Color: Liver/White
Weight: 32 lbs.
Gender: Altered Female
Location: State College, PA
Health: UTD, HW-, general good health, significantly sight impaired, receiving antibiotics for Lyme disease, receiving treatment for whip worms, recovering nicely from spay surgery
Temperament: Good with people as young as three (younger unknown), not a fan of other dogs probably because of her vision loss, good with dog-savvy cats
Original: “Maggie is a relatively low-energy girl who loves attention and hanging out with her people.”
When her Pennsylvania owner had to enter a nursing home due to declining health, sweet Maggie was taken in by the owner’s great niece. Maggie had been strictly an outdoor dog in a kennel previously, but she quickly adapted to an indoor life. Although Maggie’s overall health is good, the great niece discovered that Maggie was sight-impaired when she started to bump into the sofa after it had been moved. A smart and adaptive girl, Maggie quickly learned the new layout of the house. She loved being indoors and claimed the comfy sofa as her own for resting and sleeping. Unfortunately, the niece did not feel that she could continue to care for Maggie so she contacted MAESSR for help.
This little gal is as sweet as she is pretty. All people are her friends. In her previous home she lived with the niece’s two sons, ages three and six, and was their snuggle buddy. Maggie is good with greeting strangers, although she is cautious to start due to her blindness. She’s met many neighbors on her walks at her foster home and charmed them all. She waits nicely while the humans talk.
In her foster home, she lives with three indoor cats, some outdoor yard cats and a resident six-year-old female terrier mix. Maggie clearly has strong hunting instincts and has had a few run-ins with the cats who are generally dog-savvy The cats now keep clear of her for the most part, with some human oversight. She tries to track the yard cats outside when walking on the leash and has “sprung” them from some tall grasses when her foster parent didn’t realize they were there.
Maggie reportedly lived with another female dog in her original kennel home; however, she does NOT love living with another dog in her foster home. Despite working on “get to know you” techniques, Maggie remains antagonistic towards the resident dog and they must remain separated. If she senses she’s walking near another dog outside, she will try to lunge towards the place she thinks the dog is. Her foster family has tried the supplement “Compose” without any noted change and will trial a mild sedative to see if that helps.
Since coming to her foster home in early June, Maggie has proven to be a sweet, generally low-key girl. She had one accident the first morning and none since. She doesn’t have any discernible sign for needing to go out, other than some restlessness. She is taken out right after eating and regularly throughout the day, and has no accidents from last call around 10:30pm until morning around 6:30am. At mealtime Maggie is fed separately from the resident dog and is an enthusiastic eater with no issues with foster mom reaching in to pick up the food dish while she’s eating.
She was entertained by a Kong containing treats and if a treat is involved, she does seem to know “sit.” All of the garbage cans in the foster home are lidded, so it’s unknown if she would dumpster dive. Maggie will try begging if her people are eating. On the whole, her house manners are good.
In the niece’s home, Maggie was crated when the entire family left the house, but she would bark in protest. During her first week in foster care, she was crated at night and initially only complained by barking and pawing at the crate bed for a short time before becoming quiet. By the end of the first week, she would only fuss occasionally. Since she has had no incontinence, she now is just gated in the main room at night and is very content with that, sleeping either on her dog bed or a rug. She is gated there with no issues when the family is away. She navigates the three steps into the house without difficulty once she had the routine down.
Other than sitting for a treat, it does not appear that Maggie had any formal obedience training. She walks well (slooowly) on the leash and rides well in the car. She is walked on leash as the foster family doesn’t have a fenced yard. She does the distance around two soccer fields plus another block or two, but slowly. She will only work up a short-lived trot when she starts following a good scent and begins the Springer zigzag. With some encouragement, she will continue walking forward again.
There is nothing wrong with her sense of smell or hearing! She has a great sense of smell and a strong drive to track whatever scent she’s picking up, but being blind will run into unseen objects. At 32 lbs., there isn’t a lot of pull on the leash and she doesn’t go very fast. She doesn’t have any separation anxiety or fear of thunderstorms, but she does startle with sudden movements and near noise due to her sight impairment. Her reaction then is to retreat to a safe spot.
Maggie doesn’t have any grooming issues and loved it when the niece took her to the groomer, probably for the first time in her life. She has since had an additional grooming appointment and did great. She was easily handled at the vet, too. This good girl has no problem with having her ears and feet touched.
Maggie reportedly loves to snuggle, holding her person’s hand gently in her mouth as she relaxed with them on the couch. She hasn’t been on any furniture in the foster home, yet though. It’s not that she is forbidden to get on furniture; she just hasn’t thought of it yet. I n the past she reportedly played with a sock, but hasn’t shown any interest in that or any other toys in her foster home. It is not known whether she has had any experience swimming.
Maggie is a relatively low-energy girl who loves attention and hanging out with her people. At this point Maggie would be great as a loving companion and only dog of a family or person who takes her for sedate walks, maybe has a fenced yard for off leash safety, and is mindful of some basic safety in-house, such as closing doors to stairwells and remembering she doesn’t see you; you need to see her. Don’t worry about her being able to find her way around the house. She’ll quickly learn the layout of her new space. Just don’t move the furniture too often! Is Maggie the snuggle bunny for you?