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Sugar

Available

Description

Age: 5 years
Sex: Spayed female
Estimated Breed: Lab/bully X
Weight: 58 lbs
Good with dogs?: No
Good with cats?: No
Good with children?: Older children
Special/Medical Needs: Arthritis, is on daily medication for this. Previous thrombocytopenia, will require twice a year blood tests to ensure this is under control.
Energy Level: Low

Adoption Fee: $375

Foster Home Location: Calgary

Sugar is as sweet as her name. She loves to be outside as much as possible when it’s warm. Whether that means going on walks or just being outside in the backyard chasing birds and squirrels, eating grass, or sunbathing on the deck. Sugar does love her walks and usually takes two of them a day (2 x 20-30 min walks). She is currently training on her leash so she can pull when seeing cats, rabbits, and dogs. With proper training and correct encouragement she usually calms down and can continue her walk with ease.

She loves to follow her human friends around and sit near them so that she can watch everyone and everything while she “naps”. Sugar has been tested with kids and babies and is very gentle and calm around them. She can get excited while playing and taking treats so I’d recommend children be supervised when around her when playing (throwing ball, giving treats etc). Sugar does know to take treats gently when in the palm of someone's hand and she can catch treats when thrown in the air. She has no issues with people coming and going, loud noises, and knows to stay inside when the front door is open. She only barks when overly excited or when people are outside of the house (one quick bark).

Sugar does not do well with animals. So she has to go to a family without any dogs or pets as she is reactive! She only is reactive when a dog is in close range to her as with lots of hard work she now knows not all dogs are bad but still she loves her personal space from them. She is easy to walk as long as other animals are not too close.

Sugar is crate trained but does need a few treats to settle in. Once she’s in she’s usually calm and ready for bed. She does however love lounging on our sofa and bed when it isn’t bed time. She has also slept on our beds a few times and is great then too. She is house trained and has had very few accidents inside the house (only when we first got her). She lets you know she has to go by sitting right in front of the door or even pacing back and forth between you and the door and whining.

Sugar is easy to get into a car and doesn’t mind car rides. She normally lays down and naps during the ride. She loves her hard rubber ball and her bone and will usually spend her day chewing on them or napping.

She takes two pills and takes them with cheese easily as she has been diagnosed with thrombocytopenia or low platelets in her blood. This is an entirely treatable condition, potentially caused by a reaction to vaccinations or a tick bite. The disorder is not expensive to treat and her prognosis is excellent. At the moment her blood levels are normal and she is maintained on a very low dose of steroids every other day. The vet has cleared her for adoption with the understanding that she will need regular blood tests twice a year and may need to avoid future annual vaccinations and therefore will need to limit her interactions with other pets. There is the possibility thrombocytopenia will recur at some point, but again, it is a treatable condition.

Sugar also has some knee arthritis. She is being treated with gabapentin pain medications and the foster reports improvement in her mobility. She has lost over 20 lbs since arrival in Canada and keeping her weight maintained and adding a glucosamine supplement will continue to help manage her arthritis. She is currently 58 lbs (25.5 kg).

Overall, Sugar is amazing and would make any home sweeter!