Trooper
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Hi everyone my name is Trooper! I am an athletic, sweet, loyal Shiba Inu looking for a person who will work with me and help me learn what it means to be loved.
- Quick Facts:
- Breed: Shiba Inu
- Age: 3 years old
- Weight: ~20 pounds
- Neutered: Yes
- Housebroken: Yes
- Good with other dogs? Would be happiest as an only dog, possibly with other Shiba Inus
- Good with cats? No
- Good with children? No
- Special Notes: Looking for a calm, peaceful person or people in a non-apartment setting. See background; CDR is offering a package of 6 individual sessions in your home with our wonderful trainer completely for free when you adopt me
Personality
- Once I know and trust you, I am the most loyal and loving and wonderful dog ever.
- When I'm excited to see you, I like to crawl up in your lap and give you lots of little kisses all over your face!
- I love chasing every leaf that crosses my path when we are out on walks!
- I love tennis balls, chew toys, and things with squeakers, but am also quite content sneaking into the recycling bin and making "toys" out of cardboard boxes, empty seltzer bottles, and yogurt containers! talk about resourceful and ecologically minded! :)
- I am always happy to go on a walk-- rain or snow--and I really enjoy smelling all the new smells along trails.
- I am usually pretty relaxed during the middle of the day and in the evenings, but I do need at least a good 1-1/2 hours of walking or dogpark activity over the course of the day. More is always better, but I can get along fine with 90 minutes of daily exercise.
- I like to lay and watch in the kitchen doorway while things are being cooked--I don't beg, I just keep an eye out for any clean-up actions that might need my assistance. I find this very relaxing!
- I'm not a big barker overall, but tend to bark at things I can't see or get to, like people who are talking loudly on the street as they walk home, a neighbor dog who is barking, and when people come to the door. I do not bark when I want something--when that is the case I walk around making very faint whining noises and maybe scratching at a wall or doorway. I'm told it's actually very cute!
- I like to be near someone when it's bedtime, but I never crowd you in bed. I like to sleep on the bottom of the bed, but I also like to sleep on the floor in a dog bed (I like a much bigger bed than you'd think for a dog of my size!), and sometimes I like to sleep out in the hall. No matter what though, before I fall asleep, I like having someone hold a Nylabone for me to chew... it's kind of like a kid sucking a pacifier before they go to sleep!
- I have an amusing tendency to pick up shoes and move them around the house (see photo!). If they're boots they're too heavy for me to move them far, but I will try to chew your stinky (yummy!) sneakers (especially the laces!).
- I would be great at agility! I am very clever about jumping/climbing up on things and pulling things off shelves, especially if I'm bored. My mom once came downstairs because she heard some thump-thumps, and I was very proudly walking around with an unopened can of tuna in my mouth that came from a shelf that everyone thought was definitely out of my reach! Ha! They underestimated my athleticism!
- I really love knowing that my person or people are near, whether this means watching them from my spot on the floor or sitting next to them on the couch. When I'm feeling very affectionate I might take a nap on your legs!
- I am very wary of strangers both on the street and in the house-- especially men-- although some people I just take to really quickly and easily for no apparent reason! I am often better when I'm not in my own territory, but am on "neutral ground." When I encounter people who are obviously inebriated or are acting strangely, I am especially wary and sometimes bark at them.
- I am not a fan of being bathed or having my nails cut, so you want to leave this to a professional. I have learned to let my person brush me (only for about five minutes at a time!), but in order to tolerate this, you need to continuously feed me treats through the whole process.
I am a deep sweetheart of a dog who deserves a big chance at happiness. I promise to work really hard to get over my fears and would be over the moon grateful if you wanted to work on it all with me. The rescue is offering a package of 6 individual sessions in your home with our wonderful trainer completely for free when you adopt me (if you live within 15 miles of Ithaca...if you live farther away, we will find a trainer closer to you and provide the same free training package!). The trainer will help you understand my fears and how to help me over them and will make sure you know how to manage things so there will be every chance of having no further nipping episodes.
Background
I am a wonderful little boy, but had a very rough start in life which has left me needing some special emotional help and understanding. I was adopted as a puppy by a couple who didn't treat me so well. The husband liked me ok but the wife didn't like dogs at all. They divorced and the husband couldn't take me, so left me with the wife who was neglectful and mean. She put me in a little crate in the garage and left me there pretty much 24/7 for over 6 months. it was very scary and lonely and freezing cold and confusing and just all around awful. She wasn't a very nice lady at all, and this has left me very cautious with people. I have such a sweet heart and a wonderful spirit, and it's sad that I have to be nervous and wary until I really get to know you.
I did really well in many ways with the new mom and dad that I went to live with...I bonded nicely with them both, was affectionate and adorable, learned their house rules quite well and made clear improvements in my leash walking behavior (passing by other dogs and keeping more of a calm manner) and my overexcitement about food and eating (I have better self control now!). I found apartment living a bit too stimulating though, and my new mom's high happy voice and her more energetic nature confused me into viewing her more as a littermate and less as one of my leaders. This didn't work well, because when I would get overly stimulated (by play or noise or food, for example), I would sometimes end up nipping her, as I might a littermate. This happened once in a while with my new dad too, but far less frequently.
Everyone has learned a lot about what helps me be my best, calmest self from this experience, and they reassure me that it will be ok...they know better now what sort of home and people will work for me and they promise to find this for me. They think that a calm and quiet setting (no more apartment living!) with one or two people (no kids) who have a very calm, quiet and confident natural style would feel most right to me. Also, a setting where I don't need to be doing daily walks near lots of hustle and bustle and of course where I am the only pet in the house (we knew that one already)!
So, I'm back with CDR and looking for a special new home! I am such a good boy in a million ways, I really hope some loving person or people will give me a chance. The trainer that works with CDR thinks that as long as I find a very stable, consistent, calm home environment with no kids and with people who will work with me to help me feel more safe and secure, there is every reason to think that I will do very well and make my family very happy.
If you are interested in adopting Trooper, 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.
