This is Sadie,
She is a 3 to 4 year old female sable Sheltie. Sadie is looking for a very particular home. She has had a troubled life and has been traumatized by her experiences. Sadie originally came from a puppy mill, one of the local mass breeders up here. She was sold as an older pup, past her socialization period. She went to a farm home already traumatized. There she ran away constantly, afraid of the people. Those people then locked her in a chicken coop with no windows to stop her from running away. She was in there a good long time before she was sold again to some very nice people. They had her for a year, the female owner working with her and trying to help her overcome her fears. One day, her husband scared Sadie beyond reason and Sadie fought back. She bit him, hard enough to draw blood. Sadie was dropped off to me the very next day (thank you to the SPCA folks for sending them my way, dropping her off at the SPCA would have meant euthanasia as biting people is not tolerated). She stayed with me a short while, scared and hiding under the table, but never biting despite being leashed, handled, groomed, walked. She was adopted out to very nice folks. Young, dog experience, sheltie experience, no children and no other dogs. A good choice for an unsocialized dog that needed to overcome fears I thought. Unfortunately it was not the right choice for Sadie, and again she bit the gentleman of the house out of pure fight or flight response when being leashed. After six months of working with her she was returned to me in December.
So here we are in March and Sadie is ready to try again. This time we are going to be very specific about the home she needs. I've learned a lot about little miss Sadie over the last year and she is looking for her forever home.
Sadie's wish list:
- Middle aged single woman adopter
- house with a secure back yard
- one or two well adjusted other dogs
- an owner who is willing to accept her for who she is, and not push her beyond her breaking point. Someone who is understanding, has the patience of a saint, and is willing to just let Sadie be who she is.
Sadie is relatively happy here at my house, she plays with the other dogs, and barks at the door like all good shelties should. She still hides under the kitchen table for the most part and hides herself in a corner when I need to put a leash on her to interact with her. She does not come to me for petting, but when caught will sit on your lap and tolerate petting. She does like to beg for steak! She is a good little dog, and now needs someone with one or two other dogs to help her get to the next level (with 8 pushy drivey dogs here she is too intimidated to get too close into the group).
