Mia
Click pictures for larger view
Use your browser's BACK button to return here.
Mia Has Been Adopted!
Hi! My name is Mia, and I am a super sweet, beautiful, deeply affectionate and loving, 40 pound, 4 year old, spayed female Australian Shepherd mix! I came to Central NY from a high kill shelter in Kentucky and am looking for a loving person or family with whom to spend the rest of my wonderful life!
A few things about me...I am pretty laid back and absolutely enjoy curling up in a dog bed or on the furniture if you will let me. I strike a lot of adorable little poses while I rest and relax, and my foster parents keep telling me that it just makes them smile to look over and see how much I am enjoying the soft things I am laying on.
While I could nap happily at your feet or by your side all day, I also really love to go for walks and run around in a fenced in yard! When I do go for walks, I get very excited and tend to pull a bit, so my foster mom uses a Sense-ible harness for me and that helps slow me down quite nicely. She says I can be easily trained as I am a good listener and really like to stay by her side, but that only works when I am indoors or on leash. Unfortunately, I have a very strong prey instinct, and no amount of training-- or my good intentions-- can keep me from zooming off after a squirrel or chipmunk if I am not on leash. Really. I know that a lot of Aussies can be good at not running off, but I promise you that I am not one of them! A terrific person worked on training me to be ok off-leash for 6 months and…no dice! But I don’t mind a leash and I am grateful that it means I will never get lost or get hit by a car.
I currently live with other dogs and cats in my foster home, but I don't necessarily need other dogs or cats in my forever home. I do love cats very much, and actually was so over the moon for them at first that they probably thought me a bit of a pest with the nonstop kissing and licking, but as I got to know them better, my adoration calmed down and I became more relaxed around them. I still love them just as much, I just don’t need to be kissing on them 24/7 now!
I pretty much ignore the other dogs, but am glued to my people. More specifically, I am glued to my foster mom! So much so that she says that my new home needs to have a Mom (or two) for me to be happy. Even though I am fine with men, I attach much more deeply to women and show a real deep need to have one in my life. I follow my foster mom from room to room--not being nudgy really, just wanting to be where she is--and when she leaves the house, I run around looking out all of the windows for her and/or I wait by the door for her to return. When she does return (“Oh joy!!!”) I get so super excited I can hardly stand it! I leap around and dance in circles and try to give her huge enthusiastic hugs and kisses! While she appreciates the sentiment (it does make a girl feel loved!), she is working to teach me that sitting more calmly for attention instead of jumping all over her is actually a better way to go. Though this is very hard for me, I am starting to learn!
If you become my new mom, I will follow you everywhere you go, and will love you unconditionally. I will try to give you kisses, and will be so happy if you let me! I often ask my people for attention by coming over and gazing softly up at them with my big brown eyes. And then when they pet me, I lift up my paw and place it gently on their arm.:)
I enjoy playing with squeaky toys and sometimes shake them around in a way that cracks up my foster parents. Other things that make them laugh is the way that I run circles in the fenced yard and weave in and out around them and the trees with such delight. I also love giving kisses to the cats in the house which apparently is super adorable (in moderation), and I wake up my foster mom every morning by licking her face (if she is facing out!) which she says is a pretty perfect way to start the day!
I bark when people come in the house, but once I get to sniff them and check them out, I relax and go lay down. My foster mom thinks I would probably be good with children as I am so sweet, but not with very small children since I am still working on getting control of my excitement and enthusiasm. I would love to have a fenced in yard, but if you promise to take me for daily walks that would be ok too!!
If you think you'd like to adopt me, please fill out an online adoption application and live close to Ithaca , Syracuse, Binghamton, or Elmira. We do home visits on every applicant, and can't do home visits where we don't have local volunteers.
