Penny Lane
	Gender: Female Age: 2 years Height: Weight: 38 lbs House-trained: Yes Fenced yard required: tbd Location: SE Michigan Foster Home: Jo	Crate-trained: Yes Treat-motivated: Yes Toy-motivated: BC Experience Required: Good with dogs: Males and non-dominant females Good with cats: tbd Good with kids: 10+ Commands: No (aah), leave it, sit, down, stay, off, go to your place

Week 1: A spirited girl with a friendly personality and the cutest head tilt ever. Found as a stray in Texas, she was transported to woman in Michigan where she stayed for 5 weeks before coming to GLBCR. This 2 year old came in with limited training and a lot of energy. Imagine a child being born at age 7 without prior parenting. This girl had “to learn HOW to learn”. Despite her auspicious beginnings, she had been 100% housebroken and crate-trained. Through week 1, she was being taught: sit, leave it, down, come, shake, stay, off and ‘go to your place’ which is a mini trampoline. Penny Lane is learning house manners and has shown continued improvement on all of these commands. She has great recall in a fenced yard.

At first arrival, her way of getting your attention was to use her mouth to grab your hand – not in an aggressive way – but a mouthy way. She has been learning not to open her mouth at you; she is catching on quickly. One of the issues that came up very quickly was she didn’t understand ‘dog language’ or how to invite another dog to play. Her method was to lightly nip them in the butt. Her 3 resident dogs quickly taught her that THAT behavior was not acceptable. Lately, I have seen her use her neck and muzzle to rub up against them to invite play – cute as can be when she does it. Penny Lane is high energy, muscular and athletic but not particularly graceful; like the Eveready Bunny, she can keep going. If you need a watch dog, this is your girl. She loves to look out the window; she notices and hears everything and will alert.

And, as much as she loves dogs, she prefers her human. While working in my office, she will lay on the dog bed calmly (she is lightly snoring at this very moment while I’m typing). If I am on the couch, she wants to be with me. She will curl up next to me to be petted and rubbed. If she wants your attention, she makes this growly noise which is hard to describe, but that is her talking to you. Penny Lane likes to play fetch (mostly indoors). Tennis balls and Jolly balls seem to be toys of choice. But TUG with a big rope is her favorite!!!

Week 2: Penny Lane continues to improve on all commands performing them quicker. Initially, when approaching her crate with food, she would lunge at the door. She has learned to sit quietly and wait for the crate door to be opened and food placed inside. She can resource guard her food a bit so she is fed in her crate. When taking food from a human, she will line up with the other resident or visiting dogs (as many as 5) and wait her turn. When the crate door gets opened, she must sit and wait for the release command “ok” before she is permitted to leave her crate. Again, still a work in progress, but she gets it about 85% of the time the first try. Penny Lane still needs leash trained and would benefit greatly from a dog training class. She will be spayed on November 6 and ready to go after that.

This girl would flourish in a home with an active owner(s). The right companion dog would complete her world but would not be necessary. Because she can be mouthy (especially in new settings), I would suggest no kids under age 10.

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