issue with hips/rear legs
Marney was found as a stray in Sonoma during the devastating fires. She stayed in the Sonoma Animal Shelter for almost two months. The shelter staff were hoping that once everything had settled, Marney’s owners would come looking for her. They never did.
Marney is a beautiful, small GSD. She is very people friendly, when she is with a confident handler. When we first met Marney, she was shy and then within minutes was rolling over for belly rubs. Marney has not had much obedience training or socialization. She began weekly training once we accepted her into our program. It was also clear that she had not been socialized with other dogs. She is fearful of them and if they get too close she will snap at them. We started socialization training with Marney as well. She attended a reactive dog class that works on getting under socialized dogs used to being in close proximity to other dogs without reacting aggressively. By the end of the class, Marney was able to stand over another dog and vice versa without a negative or fearful reaction, in a very structured environment with a professional trainer.
Marney will need a strong and patient handler who will continue to take her to obedience training and will continue to socialize her with other dogs and people. Marney is a very intelligent dog, she learns very quickly and gains confidence through her handler.
Marney is a level 3 dog living in a foster home in San Jose with a cat. Marney is working on crate training. She is now fully house trained as well. A change in her environment was confusing and she initially had a few accidents in the house. She is cat workable. Marney and the cat, Cindy, will hang out in the same room together with no problems. When Marney tries to play with Cindy, she gets a swat on the nose and Marney retreats. If Cindy runs, Marney will chase. She now knows heel, sit and stay and will sleep all night in her crate after howling for a few minutes. Marney does jump up in an attempt to be a lap dog. She is all about her people and very smart. Marney has also shown that she can be a little protective of her family. When meeting a new person, Marney will bark and growl. A slow introduction to new people is necessary for Marney. She is comfortable and affectionate with new people if re-enforced by her foster. She is very perspective and will take cues from her foster on how to behave.