Lily has been adopted!
Sponsored in memory of Penny, Jayden and Angel. š
Lily is looking for a home with another calm dog to help her learn how to be at her best and a family that can will enjoy her boundless energy and enthusiasm for life but also give her gentle guidance.
Lily is a young dog (under a year) who is fully grown and weighs 8 lbs. She is a Cocker Spaniel/Poodle cross which means low shedding but not necessarily hypoallergenic. She will need grooming. She is good for nail trims and baths and gentle brushing. She did well at the vet, has been spayed and is very healthy.
She spent her first six months in a basement so when she arrived she was very scared and had a lot to learn, even today the world can be a bit distracting – but she loves exploring and then coming back to her safe spot (usually her humans). She is playful but startles easily. She looks to the other dogs in the house for guidance, if they are calm she will be calm, if they are anxious she will copy so a home with another calm dog would be the best fit for Lily. She doesn’t mind how big the other dog is – she lives with 3 big labs and a golden in her foster home.
Lily bonded very strongly with her foster Mom, maybe a bit too strongly as she wants to always be very close and if given the chance could resource guard her humans, this is easy to fix if you don’t let her sit on top of you and put her down anytime she tries to send the other dogs away. She is not agressive at all with humans or with dogs but like many small dogs she can be a bit possessive unless she knows that isn’t the proper way to be. Lily will need guidance around what is appropriate and not in the home, and more importantly she will need a puppy proofed home. Given a chance she will steal food, chew socks, and sneak into the cat litter but as long as those are not available she will be fine. She understands “off” and mostly comes when called but hasn’t figured out sit or down yet. Her favourite place is snuggled right beside you on a couch or bed.
Because she is not trustworthy yet she is kept in a crate when we go out, she does fine and is very happy when you get home but she cannot be left for more than a few hours a day. We use the crate at night too and she does very well.
Lily would be a good companion for someone who works at home, she hangs out in the office and naps in her bed under the desk. If there are strange noises she will check them out and could bark a bit (small dog!) but never for long.
Lily loves to run and play outside – her zoomies are amazing. She is learning to walk on a leash but it is still early for her so an enclosed fenced area is important and she should not be left alone outside. She is a flight risk because she arrived with fear of being chased. For the first month the only way to “catch” her was to sit on the couch and let her catch you. This improves every day but its a quirk that her family will have to work with. At home she always comes right back but if she got loose on a walk she might panic – we suggest using a collar and a harness for the first little while (normal for any new rescue in the family). She is a young dog and will need lots of time for play. She will need a jacket in the winter.
Her biggest challenge at the moment is unlearning her pee pad training. She was kept indoors for 6 months and knows to use a pee pad. We do take her outside when she wakes up and after she eats and anytime she heads for the pad and most of the time she will do her business outdoors but sometimes she forgets because she got distracted by a smell or a stick or anything at all. At this point she is not fully housetrained and it is likely that for the next while she will continue to seek out a pad as her first option so her family will need to be able to respond to that quickly or manage with a pee pad around for a bit.
Lily would be fine with calm older children but she is likely to gravitate towards the adults in the house. She is fostered with cats and is fine with them, happy if the cat will let her snuggle together.
Lily’s Facebook page has more pictures and some video: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61557894603617
