3/11/2015

Will be Available to Join Her Forever Home 20 March

Doris will be ready to meet approved adopters at the end of next week, 3/20/15. She has had all stitches out, a nasty dew claw removed and will finish up the last course of her medication by the 20th, as well as a nice bath.

She has met my neighbor's 13 and 14 year old children and was wonderful with them - they have grown up with my dogs as well as their own. While her manners are improving all the time, and she wants badly to please her humans, she should not be considered to live with small children because she still does play a too rough for toddlers.

2/27/2015

As Doris is starting to feel better, some of her personality has started to emerge. She loves to play - inside with toys and outside with us and our own GSD, Molly. But she is very rowdy in her play - she will get excited and wants to jump on us or Molly. She would not do well around very small children, but older dog-savvy children might be fine. I will get a handle on that soon.

She is an absolute love, even when she was the sickliest, she was still all loveable, so none of this rowdy play is meant to harm. She adores me and my husband, and constantly wants affection and attention. She sleeps wherever she wants, but usually on one side of my bed on the floor - with Molly on the other side on the floor. She was not great with Molly at first, each is jealous of the attention for the other. They have come to tolerate one another, but not really friends yet.

She loves to run and because we have a huge fenced in property, she has that opportunity. She will often pick up a toy and run from one end of the house to the other and back. She could easily jump a fence, so a large yard with a 6 foot fence is a definite requirement. She doesn't like to be out without one of us, except to do business or chase a squirrel, then comes right back. She definitely wants human company and contact. She would make a great running companion.

She has a very high prey drive, so absolutely NO CATS. I am not sure if it would extend to small dogs - the opportunity has not come up.  Doris does not have any basic obedience training, other than to come when she is called and "no" when she is doing something you don't want her to do. She is not great on a leash, but we are working on that. She very badly wants to please and learns quickly.  She loves to ride in the car or the truck.

We are retired and I have a part time job from home, so one of us is almost always here. I am sure she hasn't had crate training, so I don't have a feel for how she would be left in the house all day on her own while her owner worked.

2/23/2015  Doris was found running as a stray in West Virginia and put into a shelter there. Not much was found about her background except that she had run free for a long time and had multiple litters. VGSR stepped in to rescue her and get her medical attention she badly needed. She is being treated for a severe bacterial infection that made it difficult for her to breathe and caused skin irritation such that she was constantly chewing and scratching to the point of bleeding in her back/tail/rear legs. The shelter had thought she was older, but they were seeing just a very sick dog.

Doris will be unavailable for adoption until she has been spayed, rabies vaccinated, and her skin condition is improved. Please stay tuned – she is proving to be a very sweet, lovable girl.

Approved adopters may contact Doris' foster at:  rlcsal@aol.com