Our newest family member - Vanilla
It took us a while to reach that point of yes we are ready to welcome another member to the family, but it came finally and we now have a lovely little munchkin named Vanilla. I just call her Nilla most of the time. As Addy said, it's a mouth full when you are saying it constantly (like very 5 seconds as she is into everything)
She is 11 months old now, and a puppy mill survivor. She was adopted twice and each time returned, she is a hand full that's for sure. She was set to be euthanized, when the rescue I got her from pulled her from the shelter and now she is ours.
She bites at our fingers when she playing (mouthing) which we need to stop and will nip at you when you pick her up or move her and she doesn't want to be moved. Those things we have to nip in the bud as soon as possible so she doesn't inadvertently hurt someone. She doesn't try to bite, but I don't want it to get to that either. She is super stubborn and pushes her limits to see what she can get away with. So you have to be strong, because that little face, she just could get away with anything if you don't have your own stubbornness to back you up.
On the other hand, she loves all people and wants to be picked up and gives kisses and cuddles with abundance. She is the most loving dog I think I've very had. She curls up and puts her face in your neck and just goes to sleep or watches you. She is so very affectionate, it just makes the heart grow.
She isn't house trained, so we are working on that too. It is hard to do that successfully as I'm at work so much, but we're trying. We'll probably have training sessions soonish.
She is aggressive to dogs, and from what I can tell, its out of fear. She is terrified of some dogs and will try to climb your leg to get away from them. (big labadoodle puppys for one) and smaller dogs she tries to intimidate herself. I was told she may never play with other dogs. Well, pffft she is now friends with my friends cockapoo Coco and they play fine, although we are taking it very slow. Coco is easy going so the perfect dog for Vanilla to learn to play with and walk with. I think she would love to be friends with all dogs as that Is her base personality but she gets scared. The puppy mill had small dogs and large dogs and I have heard nothing good. This is at least the 2nd dog from that puppy mill that has ended up in the rescue I got vanilla from and I'm wondering about my molly, as she came from the same area of Quebec and had some of these same issues when we got her.
We both just love Vanilla to pieces. She is our baby for sure. I know as she is with us longer, that she will become more adjusted. So in 6 months or a year, we'll see where she is at. I can't imagine how anyone could have given her up and even considered killing her. I'm so glad she is ours now. She will never have to be afraid again.
Speaking of afraid, I'm curious about how she'll be in a thunderstorm but so far she has had no anxiety about anything noise related. Other than she doesn't like to hear dogs barking at night outside on our walks. She will head for the front door as fast as she can. A car engine, or siren, rain storms and she doesn't even flinch.
And she likes car rides just fine. Lays down and chills out.
Vanilla is actually the one we tried for first and it took so long and they didn't respond right away, so we didn't think we'd get her and applied for two others. We were approved for all 3, and went with Vanilla the first one we applied for. (yes we were straight with the other rescue that we had already applied for Vanilla but there were over 100 applications for her we found out) So they were understanding when we told them of our decision.
I know this post was kind of all over the place. Trying to put thoughts together as my toes are being licked.
You can see pictures of her in her new album
http://www.k9cushings.com/forum/album.php?albumid=1245
I actually posted these a few days ago, before I got around to writing this post introducing her.
Kathy you said a diva in the making on the picture comment... I think so. Molly will always be the queen of diva though. hahahah this might be the princess of diva, we'll see how it plays out.
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