 |
 |
| MEET: KAYLA |
 |
 |
| STATE: ME AGE: 14 Months DOB: WEIGHT: 59 Pounds SEX: Female NEUT/UTD: Yes/Yes COAT COLOR: Brindle DOCKED TAIL: Yes CROPPED EARS: No CHILDREN UNDER 4: Yes CHILDREN OVER 4: Yes SEPARATION ANXIETY: No OTHER DOGS: Yes CATS: No CRATE TRAINED: Yes HOUSE TRAINED: Yes LEASH TRAINED: Yes OBEDIENCE TRAINED: Some MICROCHIPPED: No ADOPTION FEE: $300 |
| SPONSOR ME!!
A dontation of as little as $5 or $10 can make a difference in a dog's life! Click here to make a safe, secure, contribution to a dog's journey to find a forever family! |
| UPDATE 1/9/11 - Two months in, we are still thrilled to have Kayla in our lives. She has a fantastic personality and we can completely trust that she will be gentle and loving with everyone she meets.
Over Christmas she went on several long walks in the woods, including a snowshoeing adventure. We are still struggling with her socialization with other dogs. Taking her to the dog park at this point is still very stressful, not knowing if she is going to react with other dogs. We are working on some training tactics for her type of behavior, and we hope that she will get better as she gets older. UPDATE 12/5/10 - Kayla is doing very well at most things. She is a dream inside and with other people - no destruction, very very few accidents, loves everyone. Outside with other dogs and squirrels, she is not that great. We were surprised by the level of aggression she shows other dogs while on the leash. We often have to turn around mid-walk because it gets so bad. We hope her class will help with some of these issues. We think we may need a private trainer, though, to eventually quell some of her excitement. She seems very happy and healthy otherwise - nothing negative to report on those fronts. She is OBSESSED with tennis balls - absolutely insane for them. When she kicks one under the couch, she'll just stare under the couch and cry until we get it. So pathetic and so funny. UPDATE 11/13/10 -After a week, Kayla is adjusting pretty well. In terms of in the house, we had a few accidents in the beginning, but it was more about getting her on a schedule. She has been accident free for five days now! She is all around really great in the house - no chewing, food stealing, etc. She is a great cuddler as well. In terms of behavior outside, it is a bit of a struggle. She is very reactive when she sees other dogs outside on the leash. She barks and gets up on her back legs and all around stops paying attention to anything but the approaching pooch. When we have gotten her closer to other dogs, she gets quite aggressive with most of them - barking and fighting (it may be play-fighting, but we are not sure). Our trip to the dog park proved to be stressful and frustrating. It is hard to get her attention when she is outside. We are starting obedience classes next week and we are excited to start to hopefully beginning to correct this behavior so we can have her interact and make new friends! 11/5/10 - Kayla has been adopted! 9/26/10 - Kayla had her first heartworm treatment on Wednesday. She came through it like a trooper. You'd never know she went through anything. It didn't slow her down one bit, which means I had to force her to slow down. Let's just say we're on day four of being crated, and there's a reason I know exactly how many days its been. I'm surprised I don't have the count down to minutes. Its more than a little difficult to keep a baby boxer down. We're doing our best, she and I. I've moved the crate into the living room so she can be with everyone. This has cut down on her barking wonderfully. She isn't even bothered by the other dogs and, surprisingly, Quinn doesn't torment her from outside, either. We had one time when the neighbor and her 19 month old came to see how she was doing. Kayla got soooo excited just to see the little one and hearing "Layla!" that she had a coughing fit. I got scared, so I'm not even thinking about bending the rules about keeping her crated and quiet. She's stuck in there no matter how much she rattles the windows barking to get out!! We've actually reached an agreement. She doesn't bark and I don't reach for the squirt bottle. Now, when she barks, I know its because she needs to go out, not only because she's bored. She isn't coughing any more than before her treatment, so I think she's going to be just fine when she's done with them. If you apply now, she'll be ready for you just about the same time as you're ready for her! 9/18/10 - Little Missy met the neighbor's cat yesterday- well, sorta- the neighbor came over and the cat followed. Kayla was beside herself to get at the cat. She saw the cat go under the car and managed to get out the front door. She ran around and around and around the car looking underneath for the cat. Meanwhile, the cat had walked out and my neighbor picked her up. Kayla never saw that and then she expanded her search area. She kinda ran all over sniffing for the cat. We kept calling her and trying to show her the cat, but she was too busy sniffing to actually LOOK. Then she went back to running around and around the car, still looking. I was trying to lassoo her with a looped leash, but we were all laughing so hard, nothing was working. Kayla, however was still intent on a mission. My neighbor even picked the cat up by the scruff and held it up for Kayla to see- NOPE- we just cracked up. Soooo, I'm putting NO for cats because of her intensity about getting AT the cat (and someone else's chickens), but having said that, I'm not sure she'd know what to do with one on the remote possibility that she'd catch one. Two great things learned during this whole hilarious incident, though: 1) The neighbor's 2 year old was standing right in the path of Kayla's search and, even as fast as Kayla was running, she never once bumped into the little girl. She was able to put the breaks on and divert around the little girl. She has a special thing for kids. 2) She was surrendered to the shelter because she was an "escapee" and kept getting picked up by the dog catcher. She's gotten out the front door twice since she's been here and come immediately back after checking the neighbor's front door (to see if the kids were there?). Causes me to wonder more and more about just how attentive her former home was. Frankly, she wants to be WITH people too much for me to believe that she would focus on escaping them. 9/16/10 - Little Miss Kayla is still waiting to start the treatments for heartworm. We confirmed that she IS positive for worms, but not for the larvae, which is great! Still, trying to find a time when the right doctor is in the office is proving to be problematic! You'd think it was an HMO! Meanwhile, Kayla is the darling of the house. My boy pups are starting to pout. She's a people dog. Given the choice of a treat, another dog, or a child, she'll chose the child everytime (but try to cnatch the treat on her way by). She wants to sleep with me and cuddle on the couch with me- always be next to me. She's a licker. She lovesssss to lick. Lick lick lick. Licky licky lickereeny. But, give her a tennis ball and she's one happy little camper. She can play with that thing for hours and hours. She'll bat it and pounce it, chase it and trip over it, dig it out from under the couch, bury it in the couch cushions. She's a riot to watch. She does this little pouncy/jumpy thing to get the ball to start bouncing. Her ears flop and she looks like a bunny. She's also got this thing with her tongue. Its like she forgets to put it all the way back in her mouth. I'll look at her and it will be in the strangest places around her face. I finally caught it on film today. 9/2/10 - Kayla's a little girl who came to us today from one of our favorite shelters. GOOD NEWS: She's FANTASTIC!!! She is very sweet, social, and loving. She wants to meet everyone NOW, RIGHT NOW. She goes gaga for kids. Every kid she sees, she wants to be with. Adults don't exist to her once she sees a child. She's super gentle with them, even though she's just as spastic as a 14 month old boxer baby should be. She tones it down with the kids. We haven't had in-person meetings yet with the other dogs in the house, but she tried to play with the neighbor's cat (they have kids!) just as if the cat were another dog. You can guess how well that went over. Funny for us, though. BAD NEWS: She's heartworm positive. She'll have to undergo the painful and drawn out treatments to get rid of the little buggers before she can go on to live her normal healthy life. That means she'll spend a good part of the next month in a crate and on a leash because she can't play as she'd like while in treatment. GREAT NEWS: I get to keep her with me the whoooooooole time! YAY!! She's so pretty. She's so gentle. She's so sweet! |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |