Tristan has been adopted!
Sponsored by the Taylor family, with much love for their big boy Bear
This spunky little character joined our home this weekend. She immediately made herself at home. She gets along well with all the other dogs and the cat. I should mention though that if she is challenged, she will not back down. I have to watch her with my alpha female. They seem to be ready to battle for territory. We are currently not leaving any food or toys lay around that they may argue over. Otherwise, Tristan gets along well in the group. She has been bugging everybody to play with her. She has so much energy and I am pretty sure she has springs in her feet. She can bounce just like Tigger. When she wants to be held or get attention she just bounces right up to my chest. I have pretty good reflexes so I have managed to catch her every time.
Tristan is going to need a family who will do training with her. She does not seem to have very many manners. She is very sweet and loving and friendly but she does now know her basic commands and she is pushy with getting what she wants. We are working very hard to get her house-trained. She is smart and I think she will catch on to this quickly. We have also been very good with trying to make her sit before she received any attention or treats. I think she has already caught on to this. I told you she was smart. We are also working on some other commands with her just for fun because she seems to like a challenge.
Tristan is crate trained. We have her sleep in her crate at night for her own safety. We don’t want her getting into mischief when we can’t watch her. She cried for a bit but settled after 20minutes or so and slept through the night. She was very happy to be let out in the morning. We took her outside for a short walk and she did her business. She is not great on the leash. Because of her energy level, she likes to run around but if you pull on the leash, even slightly, or she hits the end of the leash, she starts to pull away and try to break free. She is definitely a flight risk. We have a harness on her as well as a collar when we take her outside. We do not leave her outside unattended either because I would not doubt that she could jump a fence pretty easily.
Tristan seems to want to be that special dog for somebody really badly. I’m sure she will be a very loyal dog for her person. I am seeing that she could also be protective of that person and that is not a healthy trait for a dog. She tends to be protective of her person and if someone approaches while she is on your lap, she has growled and showed her teeth to warm “stay away”. Once off the lap, she will allow that same person to pet her. This is an area she needs work in and because of this, she cannot go to a home with children. She likes everybody in the family but seems to want to be the one and only. We will continue to help her realize that people and other animals are not a threat to her. This is something very important that her adopters will have to follow through on. She needs to be socialized and shown that she is not the boss. She requires boundaries and an owner who will not let her get away with trying to dominate any situation.
So far she does not seem like she barks very much. I love that! Many little dogs can be very vocal. This may come as she gets even more comfortable in our home and sees the other dogs bark. We’ll see.
For her first day at home alone, I have left her in our back hallway with a blanket, some toys and a pee pad. I did not want to keep her in her small crate all day so we will see how she does with this. I am sure she will not be able to hold her pee for 5 hours and I am hoping she will use the pee pad when she has to go.
So far Tristan seems like a nice little dog with a very strong personality. She would prefer an active house without children. Owners who can spend a lot of time with her and keep her busy so she stays out of trouble. An owner who has dog experience and can show her that they are in charge without scaring, threatening or hurting her. She seems a bit skittish sometimes and I am wondering if she has been yelled or hit for her behaviour instead of using positive reinforcement to correct her.
Tristan was lovingly fostered by Angie
