GINA
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| Imagine unceremoniously dumping this stunning sable senior at a kill shelter at the tender age of nine!
Gina made it into foster care a bit uncertain as to what might happen next, and deservedly so. She spent over a month at the Humane Society which is quite a testament to her appeal; large breed, dark colored gals her age rarely make it out, but the staff saw past the challenge and wisely and thankfully continued to buy her time.
She is a gorgeous purebred black/red sable female with beautiful structure. When surrendered by her owners, she demonstrated pain in her hindquarters. Her hip X-rays indicated no sign of hip dysplasia and no degenerative joint disease! A month in a concrete kennel didn't help, but she is able to jump into our high truck with ease. She had a full medical evaluation and if one had to guess, we'd say it's simply a nine year old back..just like ours ;-) We think she was pretty sedentary, mostly outdoors and just needs to get mobile again. It appears that she might have lacked ample human attention and interaction; she is very calm and well behaved but lights up like a Christmas tree when she senses food..perhaps that had been the highlight of her days.
Gina doesn't seem to know many commands; she does sit and down, tries hard to understand what is being asked but not quite sure. She walks well on lead. We're going to let her settle into the realization that she's not going anywhere for now after which we'll get a better read on her. She is gentle, said to do some resource guarding (primarily food) with other dogs, fine if people take it away. She comes when called and checks in regularly for affection. Gina just wants to be your faithful companion.
Her former family says no little kids..teenagers OK, yet we think she's ready for an adult home. No cats or small dogs. Provided intros go well, one other confident large and friendly male dog will work or being an only, spoiled child sounds just as good. We don't know much else about her past, please check back as we learn more about her. Gina is house trained, crate trained, spayed, current with shots and will be chipped soon. This loyal and loving beauty will be an easy keeper for a lucky single or couple with whom she can share her senior years. GINA'S MOM'S DAY FOSTER UPDATE: Hi Steff: UPDATE 5/18: Our beautiful lady joined us as the park today and was a very good girl. She was introduced to both male and female dogs unfamiliar to her, did the appropriate sniffing and was as calm as she could be. Foster Dad Doug took her into the "flooding ring" where she is both surrounding other dogs and in the middle surrounded by them and was not at all reactive. She's no obedience competitor but tried her best to follow along with what everyone else was doing. She has been described as an "easy keeper." Despite her initial disorientation Gina has had no accidents in her foster home nor has she gotten into any trouble. She no longer demonstrates any rear end sensitivity and is moving normally with no indication of pain or discomfort. She's a gem and ready to meet you!
Hi Steff: Just got back from the cabin and Gina did great! As this was her second trip she was not quite as reticent to get out of the truck and into the cabin. She spent Saturday morning exploring but didn’t go more than about 20 feet away from me on our walk around the place; Saturday afternoon she spent on the deck watching me work – check out the pictures attached. On Sunday we took a longer walk and again she didn’t get far from us but sniffed everything within a ¼ mile of the cabin. She was a good passenger in both directions and in fact slept most of the trip except for the McDonald’s stop for breakfast this morning. We gave her a quick shower when we got home and found that she likes to run through the spray from the garden hose. All in all, a good weekend and she is settling in well. Doug
Adoption fee $175.00.
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She then did a brief stint at an HSUS staff veterinarian's home before going to our friends at Mixed Up Mutts. After a week there we were finally able to move her
in with our tried and true fosters, Doug & Wendy.
While now safe again and in good hands, poor Gina is worried about where the next stop might be. Nonetheless, she tolerated a lot of total strangers handling her with no sign of fear or aggression.
Gina will be going up to the high desert for the weekend and next week she will come to the park to play with us and meet some canine friends. She did well with a pack of seven in her last foster home. She's confident and stable, probably on the dominant side. She won't initiate but as a GSD should, will likely stand her ground if challenged.
UPDATE 5/26:
Gina spent Memorial Day Weekend at her foster parent's cabin near Snowflake
(lucky dog..we stayed here and played rescue ;-)
Here's Doug's foster report and the photos showing Gina relaxing at the cabin and getting her post holiday shower.
She's such a special soul:
