Karma

I am so excited to introduce you to Karma. Karma is an adorable little West Highland White Terrier who is 5 years old. Karma is about 18 pounds and has a beautiful wiry terrier coat! Karma is incredibly loving, playful, and silly! She’s a wonderful dog, and though she is skittish and nervous at times, her greatest desire is to enjoy life with her people by her side! If you’re looking for a sweet, intelligent, and playful companion read on because Karma just might be the dog for you.

Karma was rescued a few weeks back after she was discarded from a commercial breeder. Karma does have some nervousness around people and in new situations but is doing her very best to not dwell on her past, she is ready to find her happily ever after.

Due to Karma’s history she never got to explore toys before now and it’s so fun learning how playful she is! She loves her toys though she doesn’t always quite know how to play with them. We’ve tried fetch in the yard and though she loves to chase the ball, she doesn’t know what to do when she reaches the ball! The foster humans must go and throw it again to continue the game! With time and practice she will learn more on how to play, she’s already figured out multiple treat puzzles, Kong’s, and will toss her stuffed animals in the air! She is often so grateful that all these fun items are for her!! Karma never guards her toys from her humans and loves when new items are shared with her. 

Karma is a big kisser! Karma loves to run right up to you and give you a million kisses. She’s affectionate and sweet and will greet all guests who come into our home. Though she loves to say hello to everyone, she’s unfortunately quite skittish and gets frightened when people reach for her. When we have visitors, we ask that they just let her guide the interaction as she wants to love people, but her instinct is still to flinch and collapse to the ground when a new person reaches for her. Karma has come a long way with us as her foster parents touching and petting her. In particular she LOVES butt scritches! She does tiny little stomps when we get a good scratching spot, really getting into it. We still only reach for pets on her back end or under her chin and ears because she will still flinch if we reach for the top of her head. Though she loves affection she cannot help that her instinct is to pancake to the floor when a human tries to touch her, she’s not always had the kindest people interacting with her. It will take time after adoption for her to trust her new family completely and so we are looking for a forever family who won’t push her. She wants to love people and warms up as quickly as she is able, trying to force that would just be scary for her. Though Karma still flinches when pet, she is great about being picked up and carried, we just warn her it’s coming and she will allow us to pick her up. We carry her out to the backyard because she will try to leap the entire flight of deck stairs if allowed to do them on her own! To prevent any wrong landings she gets carried! 

Karma gets along fine with other dogs, but she’s much more interested in the people in her family. Karma lives with two cocker spaniel sisters, and she does prefer one over the other. The sister she does not prefer has odd, hover-y body language… to be fair, that foster sister is blind and doesn’t know she’s being inappropriate, but Karma doesn’t appreciate it. Karma has tried to play with her other foster sibling and gets along with her fine. Karma would be fine to have a small – medium sized dog sibling but it depends on your other dogs behaviour and mannerisms. She doesn’t love other dogs that try to steal her food or are too in her face, but is fine with dogs who give her space, or who might want to play with her sometimes! She will take treats and chews and eat them comfortably in the same space as her foster siblings, but we do feed her separately in her pen area as she’s a slower eater and likes to take her time. In general, she’s people oriented and is fairly indifferent to her foster dog siblings. Karma has not met any cats during her time in foster care. It’s difficult to confirm if she’d be completely fine as she does have a bit of the terrier drive but with proper intros and a dog savvy cat she’d likely be fine.  

When we leave the house Karma stays in an x-pen area and settles very well in that space. Though she’s never gotten into anything when we’re home, keeping her confined keeps her safe! Karma has been crated but prefers a large crate over a small more confined one and she’s happiest in her small penned in area. She never tries to escape her pen and settles well and mostly sleeps while we’re gone. Karma has been home alone for up to 5 hours at a time. Karma can be left alone daily for a few hours a day if need be. 

Karma’s biggest obstacle is her skittishness and nervous nature. Sometimes she loses her confidence and still gets scared sometimes. She is pretty good with household noise and people coming and going but there are moments when she falters and is unsure! Karma sometimes needs a day off of walks if she had one that didn’t go well, or might need a quieter day after guests visit! A bit of patience, gentle encouragement, and showing her she’s loved helps her move past fear. It’s a bit sporadic the things that make her unsure, normally just a random loud noise or someone reaching for her too quickly! As Karma gets used to the world fearful moments will become further and further apart but she will need someone who pays attention to how she’s feeling.

Due to her fearfulness and skittish nature her adopters will need to be HIGHLY aware that Karma is a flight risk. This means that she should never be in a home where doors are opening and closing that she could get out of, if her backyard has a fence it needs to be completely secure, and she can panic and try to back out of her leash on the rare occasion she gets frightened on walks. A properly fitted martingale collar is required with her remaining securely leashed any time she is out of a fenced space. 

Karma does love to go have walking sniff adventures when the conditions are right! She’s not a huge fan of the below zero-degree temperatures and likes it best when the neighbourhood is quiet! She can get in a good groove most days but some days we can just tell she’s too fearful and we will just skip walks that day, she normally bounces back quickly and can start walking again the next day. Karma would do best in a quiet neighbourhood and with a fully fenced backyard. She currently feels safest in the backyard and it allows her a place to do her business without feeling on edge. She has also been the most playful in our yard! When we had her first snowfall it gave her little mini zoomies and she bounded around with joy! Now she’ll play with us in the yard, running around us and bouncing up and down on her hind feet! She’s got an incredibly playful nature under her fear and it comes out most when she’s outside!

As Karma is still unsure of quick moving people and too much unpredictability, she would do best in a home where all family members are at least teenaged. She is playful, but she wouldn’t thrive with people who won’t let her guide the play, and that is too much to ask of younger children. She doesn’t need a quiet home per say, but she does need a family that knows she’s trying so hard to show her humans love the best she can and that they need to give her time to get fully comfortable with touch.

Karma has been checked by the vet and is in good health! Unfortunately, Karma went into heat a few days before her scheduled spay which means she has not been able to be spayed at this time. Karma will be adopted out on a contract which will require her family to return her to our vet in Cambridge to be spayed. The appointment timing will be made in consultation with her family but has to be done at our vet. Anyone interested in Karma must live within an hour of Cambridge to make this return for a spay feasible. 

Karma is housetrained but she is still learning how to signal. We take her out every 4 – 5 hours while she’s awake and that works well for her. She can hold it easily overnight for 9 – 10 hours as well! Karma rarely has accidents but sometimes when she’s SUPER excited she does let out a tiny tinkle. If a foster parent gets home after a day at the office she might have a few drips on the floor because she just is SO happy. Karma’s only other time she’s had accidents is when something happened outside that made her fearful and therefore she was too scared to go (car doors slamming, neighbourhood kids screaming), coming inside she calms down and has had an accident. This has happened less than once a week but moving to a new home might mean a bit of regression in this area as she figures out where she’s supposed to go and gets used to new people and a new area. 

Karma is such a wonderful houseguest and friend. Karma settles well and likes to chill just hanging out nearby her humans, but she’s not snuggly at this time. She is a little bit of a chatty girl and loves to communicate. In true Westie nature she loves to yip, yap, and howl depending on the situation if it’s exciting enough! When she hears breakfast getting prepared she whines and stands up on her back two feet and spins around! At this time she doesn’t bark that much but will sometimes alert bark if she hears or sees something she thinks we should know about. Given the fact she’s a terrier, she will always be a bit more on the vocal side. Due to that an apartment setting would not be a good fit as you might get a few noise complaints. When we’re out of the house she’s quiet in her pen but when we’re home she is just engaging with her humans and chatting back when we talk to her. 

Karma is incredibly smart and has adapted to our household expectations well, she is very engaged whenever she is being interacted with. At this time she’s still too nervous to learn some basic commands such as sit, as if we raise our hands she flinches, but with her intelligence she will be a fantastic learner once you’ve gained her trust! She learned how to conquer treat puzzles in minutes and is so interested in interacting with her family, she will do well with further training. When Karma is feeling comfortable she’s energetic and watches intently to see what is going on. You can’t sneak too much by her, she knows when you’re getting ready to leave the house, getting her a treat, or getting ready to take her out for a bathroom break! 

Karma is a WONDERFUL dog full of love and affection under her nervous outer layer. She’s sweet and loves learning about being a pet and a family member. She is looking for a forever family who will be patient as she learns to trust and who will enjoy all her spunky antics and her loving nature.