Feb 4, 2013

Introducing Miss Hannah Banana, 2 year old Golden mix (possibly some Vizsla in her) weighing in at 70 lbs. She was surrendered to RAGOM due to the family's change in living situation. 

She was treated for an ear infection in January, otherwise she is healthy. In the few days she's been here, I noticed she will rub her eyes with her paws. I'm starting to feed her grain free kibble and coconut oil to see if that helps her. I'll make sure to update on how this is going in a couple weeks.  

Hannah has shown me that she is housetrained, no accidents so far. The first 24 hours I would let her out often, to get used to the door we use for potty time. By day 3, I think I've caught on to her signal when she needs to go potty. She'll go sit by the door or I'll hear the training bells that are hanging from the door handle.  

When Hannah gets excited, she will jump on you. A Gentle Leader is necessary for her when going on walks, as she likes to pull. To me her pulling isn't too bad, as one of my Goldens weigh 20 lbs less and pulls a lot harder than she does on the Gentle Leader.  

She knows the basic commands. Hannah is smart and a quick learner. Once adopted, her future family would greatly benefit to bring Hannah to an obedience class.  An example, as I scoop everyone's food into their dishes, I have them sit and wait 10 seconds. She caught on within the second time I fed her. So far she hasn't shown any resource guarding over her food.  

In her previous home she was an only dog living with 3 cats. When she came to my house, she met my 2 resident Goldens without any problem. After 10 minutes of doing the doggy sniff, everyone was running around in the backyard with wagging tails. Since she previously lived with cats, she pretty much ignores my 2 cats.  

Things to think about for her ideal home:  

1. A physical fence. She has tons of energy and likes to run throughout the entire fenced in area at my house. For the most part she does have a good recall but not when she's engaged in something else like playing with the dogs. If you don't have a physical fence, she would benefit more with someone that tends to go for runs instead of walks.
2. A large breed dog. She loves to play with my 2 dogs but can be a little ruff at times.      My male dog did have to let her know that she was being too much for him. As far as her playing style, I notice she does try to be the dominant one but this could change once she is spayed. Playing with dogs might be new to her since she used to be an only dog. A large breed dog would be best as of right now until I see her playing more fair with my 2 dogs. She would do fine as an only dog too, but I think she likes the companionship of another furry friend.

Hannah on the left, Mollie on the right, and Ollie watching

Some other info about her:

• Her previous home mentioned she lived with 3 kids, but don't know the ages. I see her having no problems with being aggressive, but maybe in excitement could knock a little kid over.  
• Hannah does like to entertain herself, usually with something bouncy. She'll throw the ball and then chase it repeatedly.  
• Foster Dad loves her. While watching tv, she climbed up on him and fell asleep in his arms. I think we even heard some snoring from her.  

She currently is recovering from her spay surgery. In a week, she'll be ready to meet anyone who thinks she would be a great match for their family.