Catahoula Leopard female

BEATRICE's Info...

I am already spayed, housetrained, purebred, a special needs pet, in need of an experienced adopter, up to date with shots, good with kids, and good with dogs.



BEATRICE's Story...

PLEASE READ THE COMPLETE POSTING BEFORE INQUIRING

Beatrice is a beautiful spayed pure bred Catahoula Leopard female dog who will be 2 years old this December, she weighs 60 pounds. Beatrice was born deaf, but follows hand signals well and has never let deafness hold her back. She is very smart, sweet and high energy. She likes all people, big and small, get along with other doggies well. She would do best in a family that has a lot of time for her and has at least one other high energy dog to engage her and to play with. She loves to go on walks and it is the perfect jogging partner. She is a loving, kind and gentle.



We rescued Beatrice back in February 2015 when she was 10 weeks old from a breeder who brought Beatrice to a veterinarian to be euthanized as breeders do with defective puppies. The veterinarian asked the breeder if he would consider surrendering her to a rescue and he agreed. We were able to place Beatrice with a foster the first day we had her, she was such a beautiful furry baby. She turned out to be an absolute dream puppy. She was immediately house broken and crate trained, got along with the foster's other special needs dogs, a blind and deaf dachshund and a senior black lab. Beatrice learned hand signals very easily and soon she learned to sit, stay, come, acquired good leash manners and loved taking walks and being a jogging partner. She was such a delightful puppy, that the foster’s decided to adopt her.



On December 2015, when Beatrice became 1 year old, we got a call from the adopters telling us that Beatrice had developed a compulsive behavior and that they needed help with resources to correct the behavior that started out as her just chasing her shadow outside, pouncing at her shadow on the ground and sometimes barking at it and had turned into something pretty constant and no longer dependent on her shadow. Inside, unless she was given constant attention she displayed the compulsive behavior running into things, knocking things over, but stopped completely by placing her in her room (the laundry room). Outside, she did not always displayed the behavior if she was with other active engaging playing dogs, but alone outside, she would scratch the house siding, chewed on hoses and dug holes.



We had Beatrice seen by a Veterinary Neurologist and were told there was no obvious cause for the behavior other than being some sort of Petit Seizures, seizure medications were totally ineffective. We then arranged for Beatrice to be seen by Veterinary Behaviorist, Beatrice was tried on meds with Namenda being the most effective, the medications had some effect and her overall behavior to the point that we feel they are manageable. Unfortunately, Beatrice parents have decided to return her to us. We will continue working with Beatrice’sthe Veterinary Behaviorist.



The reason we feel that Beatrice behavior is manageable is that lately we have had Beatrice stay with us at the kennel for up to 15 day periods, here, she does very well, she stays in a room with 6 individual kennels 4 ft x 6 ft each with a doggie bed and toys. She is let out around 7AM with at least two other doggies for about 15-20 minutes on a ¼ acre grass area, then she comes inside, she is fed and then around 8 - 830AM she is let out again in the company of 1 to 5 very engaging playful doggies for about ½ hour, she has a blast and hardly ever displays any compulsive behaviors, then she goes back on her kennel. She is fed around 4PM and let out around 5:30 in the company of the same doggies she went out in the morning stays out for about 30 to 45 minutes, I go out to interact with the doggies and practice Beatrice’s visual obedience cues, then she comes in for the night. Sometimes after she comes in I take her out for a walk on leash, I am to old to run with her for long distances but, we are told that she jogged with her parent daily for about 3 miles, she is a sweetheart on leash while either walking or jogging. Throughout her daily routine here, she is quiet in her inside kennel, we hardly see any compulsive behaviors from her even though she is able to see people walk by her. Beatrice needs to be in a home with a young high energy playful dog and with parents that understand her compulsive behavior and are willing to manage it, understanding that Beatrice is not able to be inside the home like any other normal doggie and will need to be confined to her kennel most of the time while inside. It would be a plus if she is with parents that jog daily as she makes the perfect running partner she enjoys running, it is exercise but most importantly is the bonding ritual . Maybe not the ideal situation for a normal doggie, but for Beatrice is the only way, if she can go out and play with a doggie twice a day and be taken for a walk or jog once daily she will be content, and who knows, with time, she may outgrow her disability.



If you are interested in fostering Beatrice or to give her a forever home, come meet her, take her for a walk or jog, she will love it. Beatrice is up to date on all her vaccinations, heartworm negative and microchipped. Please call Miguel at 817-798-8416, Kelly at 817-296-1427 or Holly at 817-965-5307.