It has been way too long since my last update on sweet Dory! She was working with a family since right after Goldzilla, but it ended up that this home was not going to be the best place for Dory. So, Dory is available again and just waiting to meet her forever family. In the last month, we have learned so much about this very special girl.

• Dory absolutely adores all people. She greets everyone happily and will often get so excited in her wriggling and tail wags that she ends up falling over in sheer excitement. Because she is so happy meeting new people, she does have a habit of jumping on them. This is something we are working on and she is responding very well to “down”. As she is such a petite girl - only 38 pounds - she won’t necessarily knock anyone over, but it is a behavior we are working on correcting.
• She loves to play with her toys and will entertain herself by zooming around with her toys and tossing them around. She is also learning to play fetch in the back yard and loves chasing the balls around with the other dogs.
• Dory has fit in perfectly with our two resident Goldens and does great with them. I think she would love to play with them, but they are older and have no interest in playing with her. She gives appropriate growls when she wants her space and respects their cues also when they want her to back off. Toys are not a problem at all and all 3 share everything with no conflict.
• Despite getting along great with our dogs, Dory is leary of new dogs. With slow and correct introductions she does great. Because she lived her life on the streets of Turkey where she had to interact with dogs of all temperaments every day, her wariness is understandable. While outside in Turkey, she could always retreat from dogs who barked, growled or snapped at her. She doesn’t have this luxury in a home or other inside areas and I have noticed that her stress level goes up when she meets dogs in a closed environment where she does not have the ability to flee if she finds them not friendly. If another dog growls or barks at her when in a confined indoor space, since she cannot flee, she will growl and bark right back at them. Once she is in this heightened alert state, she will react to all dogs. Giving her space away allows her stress to drop and we then go through intros again and she does well. Dory needs to learn that she is safe and will be cared for. We have begun working on focus exercises so that when we are in situations that may cause stress, she can focus on us and ignore the surrounding stimulus. This is going really well. Her new family will need to commit to continuing with this training to help her relax and not get stressed. Dog parks are not in this girl’s foreseeable future.
• Dory loves to go on walks! She is hyper aware of everything while we are walking but everything is still so new to her. She is one of the easiest dogs I have ever walked - does not pull and stays close by my side. While on walks, she loves meeting new people and she does not react to dogs at all. She is truly a joy and because of her happy nature and adorable looks, she gets lots of attention.
• She is an incredibly smart little girl. She has learned many commands and is just so eager to learn new things. I have never taken a dog through an agility course, but I think she would just love it. She is incredibly agile and loves running and leaping. Inside, she has the not so great habit of zooming and taking flying leaps over furniture, tables, or whatever is in her way. We are glad these moments of craziness are few and far between and do try to get her outside when the moment strikes. Once outside, she loves running around the backyard and will jump over anything in her path. Because of her history of roaming the streets, her desire to run, and her intense focus on small critters, I do want her to be in a home with a fenced in yard. She will not potty on a tie out, so that is not an option for her.
• While I work from home, I am often gone for 3-4 hours at a time at meetings or running errands. Dory does fantastic in her kennel during that time. I don’t trust her with free roam yet as she is a bit like a puppy and may get into mischief if left out. Fortunately, she loves her kennel and often goes in their sleep even when I am home.
• Most likely never given the opportunity to relax on soft surfaces, she now loves the comfort of couches and beds. And yet, sometimes, she reverts to preferring a hard surface and will make herself comfortable on our coffee table. I would hope her forever home will allow her on the furniture as she really does prefer that.
• Dory does alert bark quite often when she hears or sees things outside. She loves to sit by the window facing the front yard and watch all the activity. She will bark when she sees dogs or people going by. Most of the time, she will quiet once I acknowledge that I have seen what she is reacting to.

Dory’s personality is so sweet and loving and she is just such a happy girl. We are seeing more and more playfulness and youngster energy. She will need plenty of walks and playtime to help her expend her energy. However, she does settle in nicely in the house and is content at times to curl up and sleep on the couch. We know Dory’s perfect family is out there and that they will find her soon.