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Celie

Available for Adoption

Description

Name: Celie
ID # A154353
Estimated Age: 1 year, 1 month
Sex: Spayed Female
Estimated Breed: Shepherd Mix (or whippet/beagle?)
Weight: 35 lbs.
Good with Dogs: Yes with slow and proper introductions
Good with Cats: Likely not
Good with Children: Yes, older/calmer kids
Special/Medical Needs: Separation Anxiety
Estimated Energy Level: Medium/High
Current Location: Calgary, AB

Little Celie has been on quite the journey in her short life. From a stray on the streets of California to making her freedom drive to Canada and escaping a life sentence in a tragically over populated shelter this girl has done a lot of living in her first year. Despite all the wild changes she’s been through she’s maintained the sweetest temperament and wants nothing more than to be comfy, cozy, and adored by all people she meets. While initially a bit shut down/timid, Celie’s personality has blossomed during her short time in foster care and she is starting to show all the happy puppy behaviour you’d expect in a 1 year old dog. Celie is still at the puppy stage of exploring everything with her mouth first, and she does mouth fingers when excited but never hard. She is slowly realizing that bones and toys are for chewing, but table legs/wall corners/doorstops/socks/slippers are not lol. She has obviously never lived in a house before and is still learning the difference between a coffee table and the sofa, but to date has had no accidents in the house and is quick to do her business in the yard. She is nervous in vehicles but quiet, doesn’t get car sick, and getting better with trip out.

While Celie isn’t the most outgoing of dogs and still gets nervous easily with loud noises, she’s incredibly affectionate and gives the best hugs (although we try to discourage her from jumping up on people, she’s just so darn sweet about it!). Celie craves contact with her people and if she could curl up inside your clothes and live there, I’m pretty sure she would. Her affectionate nature does make her a door dash risk though, as she wants to be included in everything you do, but we are working on her door manners. She doesn’t seem to struggle with separation anxiety at all and may bark for a minute or two some days when you leave, but quickly settles to nap time. She LOVES her crate and has been fine for up to 6 hours during the day and sleeps without a peep for 8-10 hours over night. She has met some of our nieces/nephews (dog savvy 6&8year olds) and very much liked them, but I don’t think she would like to be in the chaos of loud young family all the time. If you have older kids/a calmer single child, or intermittently visiting grandkids/nieces or nephews though, I think she’d be absolutely fine with that.

Celie is a perfect size for pretty much any life style, a “pocket shepherd” type for those who love the look of the breed but maybe don’t have the space for a large dog or want the high exercise demands. Celie is about 35lbs and very leggy, so she can keep up with any active lifestyle, but does appreciate spending a good portion of her day napping. She is very athletic and within a few days at our home showed us just how much by clearing her 3ft xpen without batting an eyelash to force an intro to our resident dogs! With how smart and athletic she is, Celie would be an ideal agility/dog sport partner, provided she could take a good nap after. Celie could live in most household sizes and provided she has at least 1-2 good walks in a day, and occasional access to a fenced space to zoomie, could likely be fine in an apartment/townhouse. Celie doesn’t really know anything about walking on a leash (but we’re working on it), and tends to be like trying to walk an easily distracted noodle, but doesn’t pull much at all unless she sees a neighborhood bunny. She has barked at other dogs while on leash, but doesn’t lunge or seem otherwise aggressive so I’m tempted to say this may be fear based and could likely resolve with more confidence and some leash training. She’s a fairly quiet dog (but has a big voice when she decides to use it) and the most barking we heard from her was in the first few days when she would bark at our dogs from her crate to warn them to stay away from her safe space. We have heard less and less of her voice as time goes on.

Celie would thrive in both a single or multi dog home we believe, but does get very excited about the local bunnies so likely no cats. If living in a multi dog home, her adopters do need to be aware that Celie can be initially protective of creature comforts like dog beds/blankets and her crate (only towards other dogs, not people). This seems to be improving with time as she realizes our dogs want to share space with her rather than take the things she loves, but will need to be watched closely as she settles into a home. She loves to play with our two dogs and does accept correction well from our older female dog who is good with setting reasonable boundaries for good puppy behaviour. Consistency is key with this girl and she quickly picks up on boundaries with very minimal verbal corrections. She tends to have a puppy energy level when she plays, wild in short spurts lol, and mouthy. She keeps up with, and even sometimes pushes around, our 50 & 70lb resident dogs. We haven’t tried her with small dogs yet but I’m sure she’d be fine, as she changes her play style well for our gentle border collie compared to our bulldozer pit bull. Celie doesn’t show any resource guarding with toys and loves to take bones to her crate to chew. She could use a few extra pounds on her, but eats very meticulously slow and doesn’t require a slow feeder even with her past of likely not having enough food to eat.

Overall this little girl has had a tough start to life but is one of the most incredibly sweet dogs we’ve had the pleasure of fostering. She’s a joy to have around and I’m sure will brighten up the lives of whoever is lucky enough to be her forever.

If you are interested in meeting this dog, please fill out an application.

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Adoption costs: $650.00