Cindy is looking for a patient, long-term foster home, preferably with someone with bully breed, herding breed, or shelter dog-behavior experience, as Cindy has a lot to learn! Cindy needs an adult-only home and preferably all female, as she seems to have sensitivities to some men that we are still working on.
Cindy was brought to us after spending nearly half of a year in a shelter in Washington. Shelter life took its toll on her, and over time Cindy began to behaviorally decline. She has some nips on her record, including scrapes that broke skin a couple times, but has yet to deeply puncture anyone. For this reason, we are hoping to find a more experienced foster to be able to help us safely work on some of her behavioral and possible medical issues.
– Handling sensitivities. Cindy is getting treated for an ear infection and awaiting results of x-rays for a possible rear injury. She has nipped when being reached over, as well as when she’s been pet in certain parts of her body (ears and rear, especially).
– Barrier Reactive. She has a loud bark that can be intimidating to some! She seems to need a proper introduction or else will continue to get frustrated.
– Overall under-socialized and fearful. Cindy has improved tremendously since we first met her and she’s had the chance to get used to the busier Portland area. However, she can loud bark and become reactive to new stimuli. She is still getting used to a lot in this world and needs some help learning not everything is so scary! For example, she was fearful of voices on the radio before we taught her it was nothing to fear! She still occasionally will let out a bark or two if she hears voices through a speaker, including your phone.
We learn more about Cindy every single day, as she’s only been out of a busy shelter for a few weeks! Unfortunately, we had to bring her into our emergency kennel onsite at Animal Aid; the positive of this is that we have been able to better assess her ailments in hopes of setting her up for better success in the next foster match. She’s getting used to things here and has not shown any signs of shelter stress, but we know Cindy will thrive best with a person who can build her trust and work with our team of trainers to get this girl to a more well-rounded, comfortable state.
– Cindy is incredibly smart! Too smart for her own good, we think! She is looking for someone who is willing to be patient, open-minded, and give her the time she needs to properly trust and understand how to behave with people.
– Cindy is a people person! She likes to know where everyone is at all times and prefers when everyone is in the same room.
– Cindy is a great adventure partner! While she occasionally pulls at a squirrel or bird, Cindy walks well on leash and does not pull too hard. She loves to adventure and work her nose!
– Cindy LOVES other dogs! Once her medical is better understood, we’d love to set Cindy up with some structured play-dates so she can get some of her playful puppy energy out with another mouthy dog and not a human!
Can you provide Cindy the foster home she is looking for? Learn more about our foster program and fill out an application here: https://www.animalaidpdx.org/foster-dog/ or email us at foster.dog@animalaidpdx.org if you’d like to chat more about Cindy first. Even helping us spread the word about Cindy by sharing this post is helpful!