ADOPTED
This pretty girl is Sloane!
Sloane is a 4 year old Cocker Spaniel weighing just under 25lbs. She has a soft creamy coat and the most beautiful brown eyes.
Now I know some of you are already filling out your application for Sloane but please read this bio first as we are looking for a very special family for Sloane. Our sweet and sensitive girl was discarded from a large scale breeding organization after 4 years and she has been slow to adapt to the world outside that facility. 4 years without love or socialization have put some hurdles up for Sl
oane but good luck found Sloane when Pound Dog Rescue decided to pull her into their care and give her a chance. Now she needs one more dose of good luck to help her find the family who can support her through the rest of her life. Sloane is uncomfortable with handling and will take time to become comfortable with this, but she is getting there. Her new family needs to understand that right now, she is a dog that loves to be in the same room with you, wants to go for walks with you, and will eagerly greet you with a wiggly tail, but doesn’t want to cuddle or snuggle on the couch. I know when we find her family that they will get to see her transform over the next few years but please be honest about what you can handle and what you are looking for. Sloane is safe and loved in her foster home and we will take as long as we need to find the right forever home for her.
Sloane has taken many huge steps during her time in foster care but she still has a journey ahead of her. She is looking for a family with experience dealing with timiddogs, shut down dogs and/or dogs retired from large scale breeding operations. She needs a home that is quiet and patient where she can be given the time and space she needs to get comfortable. Sloane’s family needs to have experience balancing this space with encouragement forward. We don’t want her to become stagnant so she needs to be shown the way forward on a daily basis. It is easy to want to coddle and protect her but this will not help her adapt or evolve.
Outside of these needs, Sloane is a sweet and easy dog to have around. In the home she is crate trained and her crate is where she feels safest when we aren’t around and at night. She also has a dog bed in a the corner of our living room. This is where she likes to s
pend her time. She wants to be in the room with us, but likes the security of having her bed against the wall where she can watch the goings on from a safe spot. She is a social dog at heart and can often be seen wiggling her little nubby tail when we are around, she just isn’t comfortable with a lot of hands on attention yet. She is quite content in her bed and will quietly lie there, on the comfy pillow, either napping or just monitoring. We know in more time she will be a dog who wants more physical interaction with her people, but this is a long term goal, for now we take it as a huge win that she actively wants to be in the room with us and to be a part of the family.
Sloane has learned the routine of our home and she seems to find comfort in the schedule. She will come to the kitchen with the other dogs to see about dinner, although she is quick to run back to her bed once we notice her. It still makes us smile because this is relatively new behavior and signals real change in her confidence. She will also follow along with the other dogs when it is time to go outside to the yard or for a walk. Sloane thrives on routine and likes her days to progress in a similar manner. She is not one for frequent upheaval or change of routine…so if you are away at a cottage often or need a dog that can adjust on the fly and go many new places with you, she isn’t your dog, but if you have a pretty regular routine and can offer her structure then she would like that.
Sloane loves her walks and it is the only place we see her breed characteristics come to life. She will be nose to the ground taking in all the sniffs around her and her little nub tail will be wiggling. Occasionally she looks to us to interact but other times it frightens her so we just let her have her fun, encouraging her when she is happily walking along and sniffing and bursting with pride. She is a wonderful walking companion but this took months of work and we do expect that there will be some regression on this in her forever home. Sloane will need a rural area, quiet town, or secluded subdivision to be happy on her walks. She will not do well in an area where there is a lot of traffic noises, a lot of people, or in an area busy with bikes, skateboards etc. Her foster home is a rural area and our walks are nature filled and quiet and this is what suits Sloane best. When it’s time to go for a walk she will come out to the mudroom close enough for us to attach her leash and then we are off! Her confidence is more pronounced out on a walk and she will even venture out front at times, tail wiggling away. Walks are where Sloane’s inner happy dog really shines through. She’s happy to walk wherever we lead, for as long as we lead and pays little attention to anything else. She is not bothered by other animals or the weather, although she would prefer to NOT have a stranger get too close or pass behind her. It’s on our walks that Sloane seems to enjoy receiving some affection so we spend some time petting her at every pause. At the best of times Sloane remains a flight risk so she wears a martingale collar at all times and her new family must be ready to adhere to this same rule. When we get home she can climb back up the steps and into the home where this task used to take up to 5 minutes. We are so proud of how far she has come on her walks. When we first got her Sloane would panic on leash and it took months of slowly acclimatising her to the feel of a leash before a walk was successfully initiated. Then it took another few weeks of very short walks where we would carry her a bit down the way and then let her walk with us home, so to now have a dog that loves her walks and has discovered the joy of the sights and sounds of the world around her is such a sense of pride for us.
Sloane can do the full flight of stairs up and down now, with encouragement. She would be fine in a home where she can spend most of her time on the main floor, but is able to navigate the stairs now. The stairs outside on the deck have never been an issue for her. A very secure fenced yard is mandatory for her as this is where she is most comfortable going to the bathroom. She only recently started to go to the bathroom out on a walk but this can’t be relied on as her only option, so a safe, fenced yard where she can get her business done is needed. She also really enjoys her outdoor time and loves the smells associated with outside. Sloane is completely house trained at this point although she does not know how to signal she has to go out. We let her out regularly throughout the day and crate her when we aren’t home and this works for her. Her people just need to be proactive and let her out, rather than wait for her to let you know she has to go.
She loves to get treats for good behavior if they are set down in front of her in her bed, and we can pet her a bit in the house as long as she sees it coming and you approach slowly. We also lift her and sit with her on our laps for a bit and she tolerates this interaction but is not fully comfortable with it yet. Sloane is not a dog who seeks out affection at this point. If we touch her without her seeing us coming she will flinch and even run. When it comes to other things in life, Sloane handles them as we would expect from a terrified dog. She is cooperative at the vet and the groomer because she is scared and shuts down so she needs a family who will understand this and advocate for her in these areas. She has a coat that requires regular grooming so her new family must be ready to commit to an appropriate grooming schedule and seek out a qualified groomer who is experienced in working with a very shut down dog. She is starting to get used to the car but still finds it scary so she needs to be secured in either a crate for everyone’s safety.
Sloane has a healthy dose of ‘stranger danger’ so care must be taken when unknown people are around to give her a chance to adapt. Again, we don’t want to keep her away from everything new but we do want to be respectful of her fear so she can learn to handle new experiences with confidence. And that’s really what it comes down to – confidence. Sloane needs a family committed to helping her find hers. Sloane will do best in an adult only home as the action and noise of children will be too much for his sensitive girl. A home with teenage children would be considered. A home where children visit often would not be suitable either, but for a home where children visit occasionally Sloane would be just fine being in her crate when the kids visit.
The growth we have seen in Sloane in the time she has been with us makes us incredibly proud and we can’t wait to see how far she goes. The right family for Sloane has experience dealing with frightened dogs and understands the need to support her while encouraging her through the scary things. They have a quiet, adult only home that is full of love and patience for this sweet girl. Her family needs to be committed to investing in her future even if it takes time to see the results. At the same time her new family needs to love accept her for the dog that he is today. She is a sweet, sensitive girl who deserves this next chapter of her life to be full of patience, love and support. If you think you could give our beautiful girl what he needs to be successful and confident then please fill out an application and we would love to talk to you about her.