Rachel

Poodle · Female · Adult · 4 years

Rachel is a very scared girl who has come to us from a breeder. When she first arrived she was extremely overwhelmed by her new surroundings and clearly hadn’t had much socialisation or handling before. Since being with us, she has slowly started to show small signs of progress as she begins to realise she is safe. Although she still finds being handled very frightening, her kennel mum can now stroke her gently when she's in her bed at the back of the kennel. She will need a calm and quiet adult-only home with adopters experienced with traumatised ex-breeding dogs who can provide the reassurance and stability she needs to continue building her confidence and learning about trust and kindness. Her adopters will need to allow her to settle in at her own pace and let her set the speed of her progress as she can still become easily overwhelmed. Rachel relies on other dogs for comfort and reassurance and will need at least one other kind and confident resident dog in her new home who can take her under their wing and help her settle into her new home. They will need to be happy to snuggle up with her and to let her rely on them for support. For some reason she is especially fond of Dachshunds, but she does love all dogs. When she forms a bond with another dog, she absolutely dotes on them and becomes the most loyal best friend to them. It’s so sweet to see. Day to day, she is a super happy and laid back girl. She LOVES toys and spends a lot of her time chewing on a bone or playing with a plush teddy in one of her beds. She also really loves her food and this has been a great help in gaining her trust and forming a bond with her. Rachel has never lived in a home before, so she will need very patient and understanding adopters while she settles in and learns all about home life and new skills like house training. She follows a daily routine beautifully, happily running out to the exercise yards and returning to her kennel when it is time to come back in. She is not currently 100% kennel clean, but she is likely to take to toilet training well in a home, as she toilets almost immediately when she goes out into the yard. Her adopters will need to give her plenty of opportunities to go outside while she learns the new routine. Rachel doesn't walk on a lead or harness just yet, but hopefully in the future this is something that we can introduce to her. The big wide world still feels quite scary for Rachel, but she is beginning to show curiosity in safe environments, and gentle time in the garden will be a great way to help her slowly explore and build confidence. She is not yet cat tested, but we feel cats are unlikely to be an issue for her, although this would need to be assessed appropriately. Although Rachel has been making progress and will now allow her kennel mum to gently stroke her when she's in a bed in the back of her kennel, she still doesn't enjoy this. She finds being picked up extremely frightening and will panic and does have the potential to bite purely out of fear, so it is imperative that her adopters fully understand her behaviour and are confident managing her needs. We really don’t think she’ll be this way forever, and she’ll get better and better as time goes on, but it would be a lot easier if she was in a home with someone who knew how to help her. Recently, Rachel needed to have her thick coat clipped during the warm weather, which unfortunately had to be done under sedation as she is not yet ready to be groomed. Despite how frightening this experience must have been for her, she coped far better than we ever expected, allowing herself to be carried to the vets and held for her injection once she was safely in our arms. We couldn't have been prouder of how brave she was. As her coat grows back, we will continue gently introducing her to grooming so she can slowly learn that being brushed doesn't have to be scary. Rachel has so much potential and, with time, patience and kindness, we truly believe she will continue to make progress and learn that she is safe and loved. She really is an easy dog to care for in every other aspect – she is wonderful with other dogs, thrives on routine and never puts a paw wrong. She just needs a truly understanding home where she can continue building on the trust she has started to develop and finally blossom into the dog she is meant to be. Rachel came to us with a pea-sized cyst on her shoulder, which was removed at the time of her spay. This dog can be homed with a resident dog.

Listed 6 months ago