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BackBirdie (Alberta)
Adopted
Description
Name: Birdie
ID#: OS20230419-1
Estimated Age: 2 Years
Sex: Spayed Female
Estimated Breed: Lab x
Weight: 50lbs
Good with dogs: Yes
Good with cats: Unknown
Good with children: Yes, Older
Special/Medical Needs: Food sensitivity to what is believed to wheat, chicken and beef. Causes dry skin and itchiness. A fish-based protein diet that is helping to alleviate these issues.
Estimated Energy Level: Low - Medium
Current Location: Calgary, AB
Birdie is such a sweet girl and very loving of her humans. Her energy seems to adapt to the situation, very calm and studious, but very energetic and playful when the opportunity arises. She will bark a bit when she gets excited, but will very quickly roll on her back and look for some tummy rubs.
Birdie’s first meeting with our friends’ dog went really great, after a quick outside leash walk and monitored introduction inside, Birdie was running around with him all over the house, she is a herder!
She really likes her daily walk that we’ve been using to work on her healing, sit, stay and leave it exercises. At the same time, when it was too cold out, she was perfectly happy to forego her walk. She knows when it is time to go for a walk and waits patiently while I get my gear on and sits nicely while I put her halti on. Birdie is food motivated and she has a super soft mouth, no finger biting! In addition to our outdoor leash exercises, we’ve also been practising sit stay, down stay and recall exercises in the house. She is very easy to train in the house, still distracted on walks when we come across strangers and other dogs, but getting better every day.
Birdie only really seems to bark and get her hackles up when someone she does not know approaches the front door. We’ve had several trades come through our house to develop our basement since we started fostering her, so she’s been forced to deal with unusual people, hours and noises in the house. We have taken the opportunity to work on her “settle” command and it has been relatively easy to get her to lay down and relax in the living room behind a closed door with us, even with trades coming and going. We can let her out on our back deck that overlooks the street on the side and a walking trail out back and she does not bark, just observes.
Birdies does not seem to be scared of sudden movements, loud noises, vacuums or any common house noises like the TV or noisy pots & pans.
Birdie is house trained. She has been left in the house without crate while at work and has not had any issues. We had our nephew come midday to walk her and break the day up. She was untrusting at first, but nothing a bunch of treats did not fix. He said she is a really good walker.
Birdie does have some separation anxiety, but it is not destructive. As mentioned, she has had access to the house without being put in a crate and has not wrecked anything. We have house cameras and she largely just lays in the sun on the staircase and looks out the window to the front drive.
Birdie sleeps through the night on her dog bed in the corner of the bedroom. She only comes to the side of the bed to see me on weekend mornings when we sleep in!
Birdie is very easy to get into vehicles, we have an SUV and a truck, she is super athletic and just jumps right in and out. I think she might be an amazing agility dog once she gains more confidence around new people, dogs and situations. In the vehicle she is calm, will stand by a backseat window and stick her nose out, but does not demand anything. She likes to go on vehicle rides to be with her people. She is still very caution of strangers, she growled at one of the gas station workers that approached her near her open backseat window this weekend.
We’ve recently changed to venison food and treats to help with food sensitivities. She seems to be getting better as we made the mistake of giving her beef liver treats when we first got her. Still a bit of dander, but much less scratching. Per her previous home, Birdie has food sensitivities to what is believed to be wheat, chicken, beef and pork. The side benefit of having food sensitivities is she is not much of a beggar as she does not get any dinner scraps.
Birdie is getting better every week with allowing me to brush her and examine her feet and ears. She is a good patient too… I unfortunately clipped one of her toe nails too short and she was amazingly calm and cooperative while I found and applied the kwik stop. She laid down and settled while the kwik stop took effect.
Finally, Birdie is also a great WFH companion too, she will settle into her bed in the corner of the office and not flinch as I roll around on my work chair.
Birdie’s perfect home will be one that will benefit from her flexible and sweet demeanor but that will also be willing to work on her socialization and build her confidence.