Quick Facts:
- Breed: Collie/Aussie mix
- Gender: Female, spayed
- Age: 9 year old
- Size: 40 pounds
- Good with…
- Dogs? Yes!
- Cats? Yes!
- Kids? 8+
Hello! My name is Dahlia (Dolly for short!) and I am the sweet-sweet-sweet!
History
I landed in a high-kill shelter in KY as a stray. Very bad luck for me, as many of the dogs there end up euthanized due to lack of space to house them or resources to care for them. But since I was clearly just the absolute sweetest dog imaginable, the shelter workers reached out to a rescue person in KY who reached out to CDR, and I got rescued! I am so grateful and am passionate about making every day a joyful one, and spreading happiness and smiles everywhere I go!
Personality
I am an extraordinarily sweet and happy girl who is typically pretty calm but has adorable bursts of enthusiastic energy! The things that make me happiest include being near and doing things with my people, getting their attention and affection, snuggling next to them on the couch, going for short walks, and yummy food!
I’m not clingy or Velcro, but I love to be near my people! My favorite thing in the world is to jump up on the couch next to you, snuggle in, and get a belly rub! Sometimes I will even crawl in your lap and then flop upside down to give you excellent belly access! Also, I like to give kisses! They are gentle and not drooly at all, so everyone seems to love them. My foster mom says I am an extremely happy girl with lots of big smiles who utterly glows when I get attention!
I love sleeping in bed with my foster mom, but sometimes choose to sleep on my dog bed next to her bed. I will often rest on my back with my belly up in the air and if you are near I will do this and wait-wait-wait and hope-hope-hope that you might come over and give me a belly rub!
I am a little bit reserved when meeting strangers, but warm up quickly and happily when they are nice. If someone walks in the house unannounced, I will bark once and then make friends with them.
I have lovely fur, with a thick undercoat (that needs some regular brushing). I enjoy short gentle brushing sessions quite a lot, and will tolerate longer deshedding sessions when needed. I LOVE my wet food and also most any kind of cheese, though I have grown suspicious of cream cheese because my foster mom has been hiding pills in it! I am a shameless beggar when you are eating, I sit and gaze at you with my big soft pleading eyes. My foster mom is doing a great job of not giving in to this, so my begging should lessen with time. If she wants to share food with me, she puts it in my bowl on top of my dinner instead of feeding me from the table!
I don’t really play with toys, but I do act playfully when I am getting a belly rub (so wonderful!) or a butt rub (awesome sauce!). I don’t chase balls or toys, but I do run around the fenced backyard when my foster mom gets home from work and lets me out! i
I only get a couple of 10 minute walks daily, because I have some old injuries to my right side legs (see medical section below), and I limp a bit when I walk, and limp more if I walk farther. I don’t seem to need more than these short walks to be happy, so it’s ok for me. If you are hoping for a dog who can go on longer walks or hikes with you, that is not me, sorry!
Cohabitation
I am wonderful with people! Maybe a tiny bit shy or reserved upon a first meeting, but I warm up very quickly.
I have only been around young children once since arriving, and I got terrified and ran behind my foster mom’s legs for comfort. Because of this, I should not go to a home with young kids in it please, I don’t want to be scared all the time.
I am great with cats and am sharing my foster home with one. I mostly ignore her, but sometimes she tries to play with my tail, and then I run away and hide. I barked at her once when she was doing this way too intensely, but mostly I just run away and hide when she’s doing things that I don’t like. I would be happy to live with a cat, but would prefer one that will be sweet to me and not scare me!
I have met a bunch of calm, quiet dogs while out on walks, and I am very happy to make their acquaintance. I have also met more energetic, jumpy, and barky dogs, and I don’t like them one bit! They scare me and stress me out and I run away and hide from them. I would be fine living in a home with a relaxed, calm, quieter, gentle type dog, but definitely not with a young energetic, barky, or jumpy dog.
Favorite Activities
- Cuddling with my people on the couch or in bed!
- Getting belly rubs!
- Cheese and other yummy food!
- Your attention! Learning new things with lots of positive reinforcement (aka treats!)
Medical
I am in excellent health! The only issue is my limping, and the vets think that it’s an old injury that has left me some arthritis and pain in both my right front, and my right back leg. Since it’s both legs, it’s a fair guess that I was hit by a car when I was younger, and things were left to heal on their own. The rescue folks have started me on Dasaquin (a terrific joint supplement), Fish oil (helps with arthritis), and Boswellia (an herbal anti-inflammatory medicine that works great and has no side effects), which take 4-6 weeks to start to show an effect. If my limping doesn’t improve at that point, they will probably take me up to Cornell Sports Medicine for further evaluation and treatment options. They did give me a trial of pain medicine (Tramadol) and that didn’t seem to make any difference in my limping, so they discontinued that.
Summary
I am a super sweet girl! I love people, love hanging out with you, love your attention and affection, and want to share a happy, sweet, joyful life with you!
If you are interested in adopting me, please fill out an online adoption application and live close to Ithaca , Syracuse, Binghamton, Rochester, or Elmira. We do home visits on every applicant, and can’t do home visits where we don’t have local volunteers.
