Annie Rose

Update 11/19/2018: “Because she is smart and willing, the behaviorist recommended adding tricks to make her training sessions more fun.”

Now 10 months old, Annie has recovered nicely from her spay and rear dew claw removal. When she had her bandages and stitches removed, the vet recommended that Annie visit a veterinary behaviorist because of her extreme fearfulness. The behaviorist prescribed a daily anti-anxiety medication and an additional medication before stressful events such as veterinary visits. Additionally, Annie was placed on an intestinal diet and a probiotic because of the increasing evidence for a link between the gut and brain.

Since anxious dogs struggle with uncertainty and thrive on structure, Annie’s foster family came home from the visit with a lot of homework to improve Annie’s outlook on life. Annie is on a “learn to earn/nothing in life is free” program where she works for food, treats, and attention. Because she is smart and willing, the behaviorist recommended adding tricks to make her training sessions more fun. She is being acclimated to a muzzle through games and lots of treats. The goal is to help Annie overcome her fears and to prevent fearfulness from becoming fear aggression.

Annie is getting such good care and structure from her foster parents and MAESSR. Watch for more news as this smart little cookie learns that life doesn’t have to be so scary.

Annie Rose’s original family from Pennsylvania relinquished her to MAESSR when it became clear that a bundle of Springer puppy energy was just too much for the two older, smaller dogs in the household.

Annie’s foster home includes a 4-year old resident MAESSR boy, and his and Annie’s relationship was a bit tenuous at first.  Even though she is much smaller and younger, Annie initially made it clear that ALL the dog beds and ALL the toys in the house (as well as the foster mom!) were to be hers and hers alone.  After about a week, all the animosity got sorted out and the foster home is again quite peaceful!  Her foster home has adults only and Annie has not been around small children.  Her foster mom feels Annie could potentially be pushy with or afraid of them. She loves visits from the teenager across the street.  Annie barks at cats through the fence but has not had a close encounter with them.

As she is still a puppy, Annie’s furever owners will need to make a commitment to take her to an obedience class.  Please note that MAESSR only places puppies in homes that are committed to training and bonding with the pup in obedience classes. Puppies require a lot of care, attention, and patience, and they do chew on things! The decision to get a puppy and raise it to be a healthy, happy, and well-adjusted dog is a serious commitment. To reinforce this commitment, MAESSR requires all adopters of dogs one year old and younger to enroll their puppy in obedience classes within 60 days of adoption. Annie is very smart and a quick learner so she will do well in class.

Annie already knows “sit” and “down” and is working on “wait” and “come” as well as on her leash walking skills.  She has responded well to clicker training in her foster home.  Extremely fast and athletic, Annie is a good prospect for agility, as well as for other dog sports like obedience, rally, tracking, and/or scent work.  She settles nicely in a crate in the car, so it will be no trouble to get her to class!  She has learned that counter-surfing gets her a quick “uh-uh” and that’s enough of a deterrent to make her stop.  She’s still a “work in progress” with regard to jumping on people!  (Hey, she’s just a puppy!)

Annie came to MAESSR with a UTI which was treated with antibiotics and cleared up.  She is now recovering from her spay surgery and from the removal of her rear dew claws.  She has NOT enjoyed her visits to the vet.  Annie was very fearful and skittish on her first visit to the vet, and was prescribed Trazodone to “take the edge off” her anxiety when she came in for her spay.  The vet techs, aware of her fearfulness, were extra gentle and calm with Annie on her surgery day; good vet techs combined with Trazodone, made her second vet visit much easier for everyone, Annie included.  She was also microchipped, got a much-needed pedicure while she was under anesthesia, and got UTD on vaccinations.  Annie does not like to have her feet or her ears handled, so her new family will need some patience in desensitizing her to nail clippers and ear cleanings.

There were a couple of potty accidents in the house early on.   Now Annie is confined to areas of the house where she can be under observation by her foster parents and there have been no accidents.   She has not yet learned to signal that she needs to go out, so her foster parents make sure that she gets regular opportunities to eliminate outside.  Reluctant to crate at first, Annie is now easily bribed with a cookie and is crated when her foster family is out of the house and at night.  She also eats in her crate. 

At 8 months of age, Annie is still quite petite, only about 32 pounds.  She will probably not grow a lot more, and her small size makes her almost a lap dog.  Although she is very affectionate and loves a good snuggle, Annie is a high-energy girl who loves to run and play!  She and her foster brother have a large fenced yard where they can run and wrestle.  Annie’s foster parents try to clear the yard of fallen apples before she goes out; she thinks the dropped apples are candy for her and would probably have quite a belly-ache if she ate all she wanted.  Although she has plenty of “real” toys to play with, her favorite is a plastic water bottle tied in an old sock – makes such a great crunching noise!

Are you ready to bring a Springer puppy into your family?  You will need to help her burn off her energy daily through play and lots of walks.  Taking her to obedience classes is a must too.  Of course it will be easy to give this little princess lots of loving.  For all of this dedication, you will have a lifetime partner who will shower you with love and happiness and laughter.