| One Friday morning a couple of weeks ago, after one of the last nasty weather systems that passed through, my husband went outside to scrape the ice off of his car, and an ice-covered dog crawled out from under my SUV. We brought her in, gave her a bath (as her apparent encounter with a skunk prompted one), and introduced her to our three dogs. When I offered her food, she almost seemed unsure of it, which makes me wonder if she had either been left out to fend for herself for a long time, or wasn't fed properly to begin with.
After contacting the Sheriff's department, the local radio station, and calling every neighbor in a two-mile radius that Friday morning, we waited through the weekend. We have no leads except for one neighbor's comment:
"Well, my husband saw a dog like that wandering around (such-and-such) road a few days ago. Was following cars like it had been dumped off and was looking for it's owner."
So we've been trying to find a good home for this sweet girl ever since.
She seems to know sit, lay down, and tries to 'stay' but if you try to walk away, she gets that look, like, 'don't leave me!' and comes to you again, as if she doesn't want to be abandoned. But we think she may understand the basic concepts of these commands.
She appears young, but is what we assume is full grown, about 45-50 lbs. Slender -- unsure if is all just due to her build or if also a tad underweight. Looks like she could be German Wirehair/Border Collie mix (?) since she moves sometimes like a Border Collie and face looks like that of a wirehair, along with the coat texture. Black and white, the white has that flecked appearance; long tail with white tip. (see pictures)
Early on, seemed to be a little dominant with our other dogs, but not in an aggressive manner.
More so just trying to make her place in the "pack" I think, but listens to me when I think things are a little too serious... but by no means do I get concerned when they are all together running around and playing. I've seen enough dogs throughout my lifetime to know that what they've got going on is all "talk" and no bite, even though it's "vocal" play. As she's become more accustomed to our other dogs, she's really started coming out of her shell, and basically all interaction between them is roughhousing and playtime. Likes to wrestle around and play tug-of-war with toys. (When she first showed up, she didn't seem to know what toys were, either!)
We have a 70 lb lab/coonhound mix that she initially seemed to be mostly concerned with proving herself with, but she's the most playful with our 20 lb terrier mix who thinks life is all a game anyway. Their behavior together makes me think that she is
definitely young -- because she's really starting to enjoy the whole concept of playing!
She did take a couple "caution nips" at our old black lab (the only other female) but nothing that caused any sort of serious correction on my part. I wonder, though, since not all dogs are accepting of our old black lab (pact instinct of health, etc. maybe?) since she has a
tracheotomy, has mild seizures, and possibly has cancer -- and the trach causes her breathing to sound funny, and not all dogs that she's met have
understood/accepted that easily. So Emma's behavior toward her didn't surprise me, really. Now after a couple weeks, there is no aggression at all that I have seen; our old lab is very non-confrontational and just keeps her distance from all the commotion of "playtime" happening.
We brought Emma in the house a couple of times right away and was nose-to-nose with a couple of the cats with no problems (we were right there) although you could tell she was kind of like "what is that thing?" and curious... once when she saw a cat from across the house, she did a border-collie type movement (crouched low) and took after it, but it was long gone by the time she got there. I turned her over in a "submit" position immediately and in a firm tone said "no" and she sure knew what I meant. From that point, she didn't even look at a cat directly again, but we've had her outside since then anyway, just to take precaution for the cat's sake. But just like our dogs, I think she's realizing that they are "off limits" for chasing. I did, however, see her take after the one farm cat outside. Our dogs go after her, too, but I still can't tell if it's just the idea of going on a chase, or if there's any aggression involved. I assume it's the chase, as Emma especially likes to go after killdeer along the road and sure perks up her ears if geese or ducks land in the full ditches.
She barked once at the horses when she first saw them, but not aggressively, more like a "what's that thing?" bark. Been around them every morning and night when I do chores and take the other dogs out for a romp, and hasn't "said" anything to the horses since that first time, unless they are feeling frisky and running, then she lets out a bark or two.
Doesn't seem food aggressive; I've fed her and moved the bowl around and she doesn't say a thing to me about it, just lets me move the bowl wherever and starts eating again. Despite her initial hesitation with dry commercial dog food, she is a healthy eater, now, and likes her mix of dry and canned foods! Her initial reaction to treats, too, were to bury the rawhides and milkbones instead! She doesn't seem to be a digger in general (no attempts to get out of the backyard or anything), but digs just enough to bury something for later, and even uses her nose to "pack down" the dirt after covering it. It's actually funny to watch! She now likes the
milk bones, and still saves the occasional rawhide for later in her various dirt savings accounts, but she now eats those, too. She has also sat around with the other dogs and chewed happily on a rawhide bone with no food aggression issues.
We don't have kids, so I don't know what it would think of "little" people, but from what I've seen of her, I don't
think she'd have problems, except maybe lick you to death! Most new people she seems fine with meeting, but certain body-types of men she seems a little cautious of.
Emma is a mellow dog and likes to just be close to people, sit at your feet, and watch the activity. But when she gets a
chance to run and play, she can burn some energy. I think she would do really well on a farm, or someone that knows she'll need plenty of attention and playtime. Another dog would probably be great, as I think she'd be happier with a companion during day hours if new owner is at work, plus it would help deter from wandering.
Haven't tried putting a collar or leash on her, but from her behavior IN the house, it seems like she's used to being an
Outdoor dog (just doesn't seem quite sure that she should be indoors). We have put her in a crate inside the house at night, and haven't had any "potty" accidents. She just whines for a while knowing there are people around, but tends to fall asleep fairly quickly since it's dark and things are quiet. I don't think it would take much to house train her as an indoor dog, she seems very clean. She even likes to wait until she gets out of our fenced-in backyard before going potty; does most of her business when we're out walking around the farm.
Overall, a very nice dog. We're trying not to spend too much time with her because we don't want her to bond with us; we're letting our dogs do most of the attention-giving, but I think she'd be the type of dog that would bond with her owner and love to be at your feet all the time. A little love and compassion for this girl would go a long way.
Definitely wants love more than anything.
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