Rosie Red, STAR # 1652

“Rosie has been a pleasure to have as a foster dog.  She will make a wonderful pet for her furever family.

Rosie is a 4 year old red-tri female who weighs 51 lbs.  She is current on all medications and shots, is heartworm negative, and she has been microchipped and spayed.  She is housebroken and crate-trained.  She will go into her crate on command and also likes to spend time in her crate with the door open.

Rosie is shy and timid in new situations.  When she first arrived in her foster home, she preferred to stay in her kennel; she would come out quietly to spy on me, and would hurry back in.  Now she doesn’t hesitate to come out to interact whenever she wants.  She responds to a few basic commands but needs consistent training to reinforce them and build her repertoire of skills.  She walks well on leash, but again, training will benefit her.  She is not reactive to cars, people, or other animals while out for walks.  We had visitors in our home last weekend, and she was comfortable interacting with the humans and the dog.  She was in her crate (closed) when they arrived, and willingly came out when the crate was opened.

She is very sweet and enjoys being petted.  She is not a fan of bathing or brushing, but has tolerated both.

She is a medium (to low-medium) energy level dog.  She enjoys playing with squeaky toys and tennis balls and brings them back to be thrown again.  She has played well with her foster dog-brother.  He is quite a bit bigger than her, so sometimes she has yelped when they were playing race and chase, tug of war, or plain old dog wrasslin’.  She grows more playful with him every day and follows his lead often.  She doesn’t bark very much, primarily if she is chasing a squirrel in the backyard, or if she wants to play ball for a little while.  She does “mouth” my hand when we are playing, so I stop playing to discourage it.  It seems like it may have been a “game” in her previous home, but I would like to see the behavior extinguished rather than accelerated.  She does jump up on me at times, but not excessively.  I think she will be easy to train with consistency because she seems eager to please.

I think Rosie will do well in a medium activity home.  She is sweet, joyful and loving.  She hasn’t been tested with small children or cats in her foster home..

I have NOT observed the following negative behaviors:

Fear of thunder

Digging

Resource guarding

Counter-surfing

Destructive chewing

Bolting out the door

(Somehow that absence of negatives seems like a positive.)

Rosie is going to be a fabulous pet for a lucky home that is willing to be patient while she warms up to her surroundings and offer training to help her shine.  She is ready for adoption.”