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My foster dog Sophie

Sophie's up for adoption!

Sophie is finally up for adoption now. I expect she will bond to people in her new home quickly, but before they stat handling her a lot, her adopters will need to give her a chance to settle-in and get to know & trust them before they handle her (it'd probably just take a day or two).

Off-leash at the dog park or beach, she's perfectly fine running around strangers, even taking treats from them, but she will not be comfortable with a stranger trying to pet her or pick her up. She will attempt to back off, but if the stranger persists or corners her, she might snap at the person (this is very true of so many dogs, but still, I feel obligated to point it out).

Sophie gets along great with other dogs. She has not met any cats since I've had her, but my educated *guess* is that she would be OK with a cat in the household, as long as they were properly introduced.

Sophie does live in my home with my own two small dogs. I think she'd be OK in a home without any other companion animal in it, as long as a she got to spend a lot of time with a human. She is fairly young & is playful at times, but is mostly calm & quiet inside the home, as well as outside on walks. She does like & need the opportunity to burn off some energy by running around off-leash occasionally.


Sophie is accustomed to sleeping in my bed, and sleeps soundly throughout the night, curled up under a blanket.


If you're interested in Sophie, please put some thought into everything, and then contact me via Dogster. You will need to email me some information about your current past dog experience, home environment, etc. and include your phone number, as it seems like Dogster for some reason will filter out your email address, unless you write it out like "abc (at) xyz.com" I get some emails simply reading "Please tell me more about the dog" & I ignore those mails because the people obviously didn't read or comprehend all the info I've given, and the request they provide some information about themselves.

Two week report

I've had Sophie for a little over two weeks now, and pretty much everything I stated in her prior diary entry about her being a sweet, affectionate, playful little Chihuahua girl still holds true.

She enjoys playing on the beach, is good in the car, loves affection (especially belly rubs), gets along well with my own dogs & my other foster dog, and totally trusts the human(s) that she's bonded with -- they can cut her nails, give her a bath, pick her up, touch her paws, etc.

She likes playing at the dog park, and walks well on-leash. She tolerates all other humans, HOWEVER, she is definitely timid towards people she doesn't know well trying to handle her.

I've been able to set her down on someone else's lap & have that person give her treats & pet her, even after I walk away, however if she gets off the lap & the person tries to pick her up, she does warn them not to by snarling & snapping. While obviously this is not an idea situation at all, it is something that's pretty common for small dogs. We're continuing to work with her, but my thought is that she could be adopted out to the right home that understands her minor issue, and once she bonds with her new humans, they'll have no trouble handling her as I've been able to do.

She is NOT officially up for adoption yet, but if you are *seriously* interested in her, feel free to contact me via this page, and give me a phone # to call you at, as well as tell me about your current home situation & dog experience.

First 48 hours with me

Once in my home, Sophie quickly established herself as being a calm, happy & friendly little girl! She is very affectionate with me -- greeting me at the front door when I come home, excited when she sees me pick up her leash & collar, eagerly jumping up into our car to go for a road-trip, and very playful with my other foster-dog Wiley (who is about the same age as Sophie), while mindful of & not obnoxious to my own 'senior-citizen' MinPins.

All of this makes me at a loss to explain how/why anyone would surrender her, claiming she was aggressive.

Pretty much right from the beginning, I've been able to bathe her, trim her nails, pick her up & flip her onto her back to rub her belly, etc. -- any of which should have triggered some aggression if she had that sort of disposition.

I can't take credit for her wonderful behavior, though I will take credit for noticing it.

I want to give her a full week with me in order to expose any 'issues' that she might have, and barring anything of concern, I will then suggest that she be made available for adoption.

The biggest thing we'll be working on over the next couple days is to see how she does with other people.