I just got a new foster dog, Nilla. Nilla is a sweetheart of a dog.
Ms. Nilla
Nilla is young and playful, as you can see in the video below. She’s around 18 months old, and very healthy. Nilla has pale blonde fur, thick and lustrous, and weighs around 60 pounds. The vets at the Buckhead Animal Clinic think she is about at her full weight and growth, though she might go to 65 pounds. They also think she is an English Creme Golden, possibly purebred, which makes her face look a bit like a GP. (The vet’s exact phrasing, when I asked whether she thought Nilla was purebred, was, “Well, you never can tell for sure. She sure looks like a Golden to me.”)
Nilla is good tempered, and I can take food away from her. She respects Justin’s eating–though woe betide him if he so much as raises his nose from his bowl before he is finished! Nilla has basic commands–she knows her name, and knows SIT and OFF. I haven’t had time to do much else, as Tuesday and Wednesdays are my long 9AM-11PM work days. Nilla shows no sign of being dangerous to cats, though she is fascinated by Molly Squeak and wants to know what that wonderful-smelling thing with the enticing squeak is!
Nilla seems to be housebroken, but she has had an accident or two. They were small and likely caused by the change in routine. So far she hasn’t had the run of the house, because I have been gone so long; I have confined her to the hallway, spare room, and study, and so far she has not shown herself to be destructive in any way. She likes squeaky toys–I left plenty for her–but she prefers to play with other dogs. She is definitely more dominant than Justin (not hard!), and is working hard, but completely politely, to establish her position. That’s also being the new gal on the block, and as with other fosters, I suspect she will sort things out in time. I suspect also she won’t last long enough — there are already people interested in her! This girl will get a good Forever Home very soon, I think.
Right now the only “negative” I see with Nilla is that she is a little jumpy (heh, so is Justin), but bouncing her off with my body gave her the scoop FAST. So I can say that Nilla is smart and observant as well, and she is desperately looking for a Hooman to call her own. She is going to make a completely fantastic dog for someone!
Check out Nilla and Justin playing: