Sophie #4203
What Sophie loves:
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- Being with her people whether working in the yard, going for a car ride or chilling in the house.
- Using her brain! She’s a smart cookie who eagerly engages in training and solving puzzles. She’s figured out how to open the back door to let herself in, and she can open the (unlocked) door of her crate to go take a nap.
- Toys that she can fling, especially those that spill kibble.
- Occasional belly rubs and snuggling up next to her people, but she isn’t a Velcro dog.
- Yard time, weather permitting, taking in the sights and smells of the outdoors.
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Great things about her:
- Able to relax on her own either in her crate for nap time or waiting in the car. She takes her nap time quite seriously.
- Fun and engaging personality.
- Active, but not hyper, she’s neither a couch potato nor a dog that needs to play an hour of fetch or run an agility course.
- House-trained. No accidents in the two months she’s been with her current foster.
- Not fearful of people or noises.
- She will bark, but only very occasionally, and it’s either an appropriate alert bark or an invitation to play.
- No resource guarding or aggression.
- Deferential to other dogs, but not overly submissive.
Sophie’s challenges:
- She’s an adolescent with the typical challenges of a dog who is not fully mature. She needs continued training especially with loose leash walking.
- She can be overly enthusiastic about engaging with other dogs. While she isn’t persistent, she doesn’t always respond to the first “no thanks” signal from another dog.
- She has hyper arousal disorder which is effectively managed with inexpensive behavioral meds. She takes her fluoxetine pills easily, of course it helps that they’re wrapped in cheese. Mmm, cheese! Getting her meds dialed in has calmed her buzzy little brain without sedating her. The goal of her meds is to bring her behavior to what is typical of a dog of her age and breed, and we have succeeded.
- She can be mouthy and jumpy and play a bit too rough. She is readily redirected to toys or something to lick or chew, and on a bad day, this requires about 10 minutes of management. She’ll continue to improve as she matures; we’ve already seen a vast improvement.
Stay tuned for updates!
May 17, 2025: A day with Sophie.
Woke at 7 AM, free her from the crate and take her outside. She stands in the doorway looking at the rain and says in her doggy way, “nope, don’t need to go that badly.” She’ll happily put her feet into the water feature, but she’s reluctant about rain, especially wet grass and having been spoiled by recent dry weather.
I wrap her morning pills in cheese, toss it to her, and it’s swallowed in a quick gulp. I fill her Snoop toy with kibble, and she enthusiastically flings it around and works for her breakfast. I enjoy my cup of coffee in bed with a glossy black dog cozied up at my feet.
It’s time to be productive, so we move into my office. For her it’s time to play, and she engages my younger dog in quite the wrestling match. He’s a challenging dog, slow to warm to her, but now they are good buddies. There is bias against black dogs as their features and expressions can be hard to read. This may have contributed to his reluctance. She so badly wanted a friend, and I find great joy watching their new antics.
They take a break, and she comes to me and gently rests her head on my arm. The dog who arrived in my home two months ago would have jumped up on me and frantically raked her nails down my arm. She’s learning that a chin rest or sitting near me are better choices to get my attention. Sometimes she’ll wiggle into my lap, but our encounters are no longer painful for me. I tell her “go find a toy”, and she does. She brings it, and most of the time she’ll “drop it”, so I can toss it across the room for her again.
After nap time for her and Zoom meetings for me, we head into the yard to enjoy the emerging rays of sunshine. She’s not into serious fetching, but she has a blast playing chase, wrestling and supervising my gardening. She checks in with me periodically and is quick to come when I call her. Dinner is al fresco with her kibble scattered across the patio so she can use her nose.
She has her evening cheese ball of pills, and it’s time for a training session. Tonight we focus on impulse control work which is key to many useful behaviors. I tell her “wait” and slowly place treats on her paws, and she looks at me until I say “okay”. The other two dogs join us and we practice “touch” and “chin”.
I end the day sitting and writing this with a wonderful dog stretched out next to me.
March 6, 2025: Sophie’s spay went well and she continues to be a happy, active girl who loves everyone. Sophie wasn’t decompressing the way we hoped after a few weeks in foster care, so Sophie has started working with an excellent trainer to help her learn tools to self-settle. We’re starting to see the results already, and the trainer is confident she will be highly adoptable, but she’s a work in progress. In the meantime, Sophie continues to love being with her people, enjoys her outdoor time, and looks forward to her daily walks (and is making great progress with loose leash walking).
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January 26, 2025: Sophie is celebrating one week in foster care and all is going well. One thing the foster is working on is having Sophie not jump up and be nippy and when she’s super excited. The foster mom is teaching Sophie “touch” instead where she gets rewarded for good behavior. The foster is also working on loose leash walking, and Sophie is picking it up readily. She’s also mastered “sit” and “down”, and “stay” is a work in progress. Crate training is going well too. While she’s not thrilled to go in, Sophie is doing much better settling quickly to rest.
January 20, 2025: Sophie slept the whole night through in her crate without a peep. Good girl Sophie. She also got to meet the cat. She was very excited but it wasn’t prey drive. It was more like “Ohh, I need to meet you.” One paw from the cat and Sophie got the message that the cat wasn’t ready to meet her.
Sophie loves to run around in the yard and also loves her toys and has been playing by herself pulling different toys out of the basket.
Sophie also hasn’t had a single accident or chewed something she isn’t supposed to.
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January 19, 2025: Sophie got picked up and driven to the Portland area to meet her foster. She was excited but well behaved in the car, although the transporter was glad to have her tethered with a harness in the back seat as it was clear that Sophie would rather ride shotgun. It didn’t help that Sophie could smell dog treats in the front seat!
Once back at her foster home. Sophie met the chill resident dog. She kept trying to get him to play and he kept telling her he wasn’t interested, but she’s hoping she might win him over.
Sophie had a long day and was more than ready for bedtime when the time came.
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Sophie’s Story: Sophie was surrendered by an owner who loved her very much but who has a health issue that made her unable to care for a young dog, so she made the tough decision to surrender her to GBR. In addition to her owner, Sophie lived with the owner’s small dog and cat and did well with both. The owner even brought a trainer in to teach Sophie how to use a treadmill as the owner’s health got worse.