…Chako had not pulled her from the Sacramento Shelter. Lucy was one of our Canine Good Citizen (CGC) training candidates at the Sacramento shelter. During her time in the shelter, she went from being a sick, lethargic dog to a happy, wiggly, healthier dog. As her health improved and days passed without anyone adopting her, she began to exhibit aggression toward other dogs. She’d bark and lunge at them as she passed kennels. She would even bark at dogs that were on leash elsewhere.
But she was and is a total sweetheart with people. Because of her developing dog reactivity, the shelter staff pulled her out of the adoption area and put her into the “isolation ward.” She was slated to be euthanized. The shelter emailed us, but it pained us to tell them we were completely full. We couldn’t take in another dog.
We put out several calls for help. In a last ditch effort, I contacted Tia Maria with Villalobos. I know she’s full, but it never hurts to ask. Tia agreed to take Lucy, so Rachele and I went to the shelter and bailed Lucy out of doggie jail.
While Lucy waits for her transport to Tia, she’s staying with me. She’s borrowing Savvy’s comfy indoor-outdoor run (he hardly uses it, so he doesn’t seem to mind as long as she doesn’t start decorated his bachelor pad with girlie stuff). So far, she has been a perfect little angel.
She hasn’t snarked at a dog since she’s gotten here. In fact, she seems to want to play and even had a very nice on leash introduction to Savvy. At one point, she was nose-to-nose with the cat and gave the equivalent of a doggie shrug as she sniffed briefly and then moved on. She doesn’t “do her business” inside the kennel (she does it in the appropriate outdoor area). She walks well on leash. She comes when called. She sits. She stays. That CGC training really paid off! She even laid down quietly inside for some crate time. She doesn’t chew up her bedding. She doesn’t tip over her water bowl. She doesn’t try to climb out of the kennel.
About the only thing she does, occasionally, is whine and bark when she sees one of us outside and tries desperately to make us let her out of the kennel (which I do about three times a day for play/walks). Poor gal. We’d love her to find a home where she doesn’t have to spend most of her time in a kennel, but alas, this is the only temporary spot we have for her while she waits for her transport to Tia (and her spay, which is tomorrow).
Lucy wouldn’t be alive right now if we hadn’t been able to get her out of there. It amazes me that such a wonderful dog almost didn’t get a second chance at life.