Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Pet of the Week, Rain!

Yes, Rain is our pet of the week again. Unfortunately, she's still with us, but we've been experiencing great success with hard-to-place dogs recently, so I thought I'd re-post her.

You can read what I previously posted about here here. And not much has changed. Rain is a very sweet, affectionate dog who would do incredibly well in a quiet home with someone who is home the majority of the time.

Recently, Rain was moved to another foster home because her original foster home had a baby and I was lucky to touch base with the 'stand-in' foster home to find out how she handled the transition.

For the first couple of days Rain was skittish and startled easily, trying to adjust to the new routine and new neighbourhood sounds. She would watch her foster parents from a distance, observing these new people and their routine. Within the first week, she had settled and was right at home.

At first, she would get upset when her foster mom had to leave for work, but she quickly realized that the sound of the garage door opening was her coming back home. She would spend her days with her foster mom's brother.

In the new foster home, Rain remained very polite, curious about dinner time and human food, but always listened when she was told that was not for her. She is also very good on leash. She's not totally comfortable when other dogs are barking at her from behind a fence, so she tries to move to your other side to have a human 'buffer' between her and the barking dog. She is of course, still interested when she sees cats, squirrels and rabbits and gets very excited, wanting to chase, but if you tell her to never-mind the animals, she gladly will.

Rain will sleep in a crate at night, but she does like to be loose, sleeping in the hallway or bedroom floor, she likes to be able to poke her nose into your room to make sure you're still there. This is probably a side effect of her insecurities and is actually quite endearing if you ask me!

Rain still had some separation anxiety, but it's different than most would think. She's OK for about 30-45 minutes, then she starts looking for her people. Typically, she'll find her bones, rawhide or other miscellaneous items and move them around the house. She doesn't seem destructive, but just re-arranges things a little bit. She should still go to a home with someone around the majority of the time because she's clearly stressed when she's alone. We still think that she'd also be better in a home without children or other pets, though she's fine with other dogs in a neutral setting.

ARF is committed to working with Rain and her new family to ensure the transition period goes smoothly because we really do think she's an awesome dog who truly deserves that second chance at happiness!

If you are interested in Rain, please visit her at the Chinook PetSmart on Saturdays or fill out an application for her!




1 comment:

  1. Rain is really cute, she sounds like a terrific dog. One of my three dogs is a Shepherd and I have really come to love his hyper-alertness, and his patrolling of my property, very loyal dogs. I am praying for Rain to find a wonderful home, Love Mrs. Lou Ross-Johns

    ReplyDelete