squidy

Here is what Squidy’s foster had to say!

“ I wanted to send notes on my recent temporary foster, Squidy - I had the pleasure of having her for almost two weeks as a "heat wave break" guest. I'm so glad that the team recommended her for my opportunity to foster as we had a great time and I learned so much about her! If it would help to use any of this for writing a post about her, please do pull from it.

She has her own fans at BTR, so you know a lot of things about her, but having had a lot of fosters with different needs and assets, I was impressed with how much of the "whole package" that Squidy is. She stayed in my lower level which is fully furnished and slept in a crate in my guest bedroom:
She did not make one bark or peep the whole time she was in my downstairs space and I was not with her - she went in her crate with no problem and settled right in until I came back
Loves toys - and is a great self-entertainer. She can settle in with a tuff chew toy or kong and play with it for quite a while sitting next to you if you are working or watching tv
No separation anxiety - isn't nervous if she can't see you if you get out of her sight and waits politely for you to return
So gentle with treats and is never jumpy and pushy - she didn't even try to get on the couch with me!
Eager learner - we did nosework and worked on simple things like "stay" and she was so fast at picking it up
Not destructive - she might gnaw on a toy but she didn't pick up things that weren't hers or shoes or any objects in the family room
I have two adult dogs who were living one level upstairs and while they could hear each other, she was not interested in them or going over to the stairwell to see if she could figure out what was going on upstairs (and I had my dogwalker and a couple of other people walk in and out within her earshot)
Best of all - she loves people. Every human she had a chance to meet inside the house or on our walk, she did absolutely great and was so sweet and not jumpy or nervous. I got a lot of compliments on how beautiful she is! And she of course earned a lot of belly rubs..

Obviously she is working on her walks and not being reactive.
She's very strong on leash, mostly due to her prey drive (there are a thousand bunnies in my neighborhood right now), so whoever is her lucky family needs to be mindful of that because she's got a lot of power behind that pull.
She did a great job working on pulling and fixating on other dogs when they passed on the other side of the street - every day got better, to where we even had a couple cross within a few feet of us and she didn't get overwhelmed. No barking, just a lot of pulling.
I could redirect by having her do sit for treats most of the time. The bunnies and squirrels were the bigger attraction.

If she had a yard so she didn't have to be walked (I have a house in the city so my backyard is paver stones and not very accommodating), she would be such a happy girl and I don't think that's a lot to wish for! So many times I find rescue fosters and adoptions dealing with anxiety in the home and other issues and she's a treasure because none of that happened - just her stimulation when walking. I cannot say enough good things about her journey with me and I know that if someone respects decompression, she absolutely comes along the curve quickly, our walks being a great example.

Thank you for letting me spend time with her - I will be following her closely to see how her journey continues!”