Sweet Fiona is estimated to be about a year old, and still has a ton of “puppiness.” While not the greatest retriever, she loves a good romp outside chasing balls and parading around with them in her mouth. In fact, she’s a big fan of all toys in general. She’s very soft mouthed, and taking any toys or chews from her has been no problem. She LOVES food – like, really, really loves it, to the point where she can forget herself sometimes. But she’s learning her manners and will wait for permission to eat during meal times (with a little tap dancing in anticipation). She has shown zero food aggression or resource guarding towards people, but has shown some mild guarding towards other dogs when it comes to high value items. So she should be fed separately from other dogs to keep everyone safe and comfortable. Speaking of other dogs, she has been around a few other dogs in her foster home and has shown everything from discomfort to excitement and interest. The large, outgoing male boerboel in her foster home made her the most uncomfortable initially, but we’ve been working on slow, low pressure introductions, and she seems much more comfortable and relaxed knowing that he won’t barge into her space and overwhelm her. We’re still working on it and will continue checking it out more thoroughly, but she should do fine with another friendly dog with proper introduction.

Because Fiona didn’t receive much, if any, socialization or training during her first year of life, she will need a home that is patient and willing to continue working with her. Her leash walking skills have improved tremendously, but sudden noises or movements still startle her and make her worried. We are continuing to work on this, and plan to keep getting her out and exposing her to new things and environments, but we are moving steadily to make sure that we’re working at a pace that is fair for her. While she is incredibly sweet, she gets uncomfortable and overwhelmed if she is over pressured by new people (which is very typical of guardian breeds in general), so slow introductions (with plenty of food!) work best for her. Once she opens up though, she’s very affectionate and she is a real goofball with tons of puppy-like antics to keep you laughing.

She is very smart and learns super fast, so obedience training has been a breeze so far. She is great in her crate, and has had zero accidents in the house. While nervous at the vet, she has been very easy to handle. She does hate baths, but has been learning to tolerate them.

She’s a smaller girl and weighed in at 66 pounds when she first arrived. We’ve gotten her up to 74 pounds. While we would like to see a few more pounds on her, a healthy weight for her will still be under 100 pounds.