Senna Is Adopted!
Senna, now known as Bowie, being younger received a lot of attention from interested parties wanting to adopt, however, she wasn't a candidate for everyone. Younger GSP’s need a LOT of exercise and continued training. In addition, there are sometimes challenges that need to be managed. Fortunately, Shel and her family were up for the challenge of adopting a younger GSP and while they have had their challenges, they are making progress! Here is a recent update from Shel.
Hello!
Bowie been the best addition and has become our daughters little girl. Bowie will follow Mikaela anywhere. Since Bowie was crate trained, we tried to keep her in the crate at night, but we once found her in Mikaela's bed (with Mikaela asleep) with a blanket wrapped around. We didn't have the heart to move her into the crate.
She likes to sneak in Floyd’s dog bed and get some snuggles or some playful nibbles. They have the best relationship! Zeppelin, the black lab, tolerates their energy. He will move out of the way of their zoomies or wrestles.
One thing that we noticed is that her gaze has softened since she has settled. She always had her thinking eyes which we thought was cute. Now, she has her big ol' puppy eyes. Which, are still cute.
We are still working on the counter surfing and snack stealing. She is doing much better with off, drop it, and "out of the kitchen" commands when it comes to food that isn't hers. Especially with our messy eating kids. She did steal our son's bratwurst right out of his hands recently and we told her to drop it and she did. Progress!
Her prey drive is intense! Which is completely natural, but her recall is so good too. We do get a lot of bunnies in our neighborhood and when she gets her running in, they're hopping everywhere! She's ready to lead us towards them.
Just yesterday, Maddux let her in our garage and he had no idea it was open. Bowie saw a cat, he tells her, "Bowie! Come!" And she stayed in the garage. I was surprised to see her in the garage hanging out when I finished cleaning out my car.
We love her pointing. Three main things she will point at, her leash, her kibble vault, and one of our trees that always has lizards running around.
As for advice, be patient and put the time/work into meshing the pup into the WHOLE family. We were very clear with our kids that although she wasn't a teeny puppy, she was still like a baby and had a lot to learn. Everything Bowie had access to was hers to explore... So, if you don't want her to explore your toys, don't leave them out for her. If you leave out your string cheese, she was going to take it! They learned the hard way with a stuffed Spiderman too. Kids weren't too upset since they forgot to put him away when they were done playing.
We started having friends over to meet her last week and they have all commented on how happy she seems. That tail has a speedy wag.
I could keep going, but I'm going to cut myself off there. She's great, we all love her, and so happy she's part of our family.
Thanks,
Shel
A big thanks to Shel and her family for their commitment and determination to manage Bowie. We know rescuing and adopting a young GSP isn't always easy, however, if you think you have what it takes to adopt and manage a GSP, we encourage you to submit an application from our website.
