OPHELIA, a young bitch, was surrendered to another rescue worker and then transportated by a BCNC volunteer to a BCNC foster home in Stockton, CA. Information from the owner was that Ophelia is incredibly sweet, playful and nice with other dogs, and she was RAISED WITH CATS and is GOOD WITH CATS !!! Ophelia is less than 2 years old. Housetrained, nice manners, but is not leash trained. As her photos show, she is rather overweight, but that is easy to cure by diet and excercise. Remember, a dog cannot take your car keys and wallet and go to McDonalds for a fatburger and super-sized fries. Her foster home will be grooming her and probably trimming off the heavy excess coat to make her more comfortable for summer. She gets along well with the foster home's senior male Bouvier.
Her foster home reports as follows :
She is a great, funny clown of a dog. She is VERY bright and really eager to learn and please. I am not sure, but I think she has had little or no formal training before coming to me, but has learned "wait" & "sit" so far, as these are things that she needs to know in my house in order to get along. She learned to walk quietly on the leash with the help of a pinch collar, just a few feels of it and she did not pull at all. I think she will also be a good candidate for a "Haltie" lead. As soon as I have more time, I will see what else she can pick-up on.
She is active outside and fairly quiet in the house. She is quiet while I work in the kitchen or office, and will follow me from room to room looking for pats along the way. She is a happy dog. Does not seem to be a barker while being left alone and figured out the doggie door immediately.
She will make a great family pet and companion.
More information from her foster home follows :
I just want to give you as much info. as I can, so I will tell you that with that clown-like behavior comes some sometimes-annoying behaviors as well.
She is used to being the center of attention and will ask or demand it. She does this by putting herself into what ever it is that you are trying to do, like making a bed, she wants to jump under the sheet and roll around. She can also be kind of mouthy when she does this. She doesn't bite, but likes to mouth the fabric. Again, not bad behavior, just clown-like. It's very cute, but can be annoying. She has no problem when I ask her to stay out of a room or back away. I just say "OUT!" and she understands.
She wants to be close to her person, but also has the habit of asking for attention with her paw : while petting her if you stop she will ask for more attention by pawing at you. This is cute, but can scratch children and nylons. I correct her each time and the behavior has decreased, but she will need consistent corrections to stop this completely. My favorite dog quote is: "Each moment you are not training your dog; your dog is training you."
This paw behavior is also evident when she is outside and wants to get in : she will bang on the sliding glass with her paw (a lot). It's hard to ignore, but I never let her in when she bangs. This behavior is harder to correct quickly, unless someone uses a correction collar. Usually not rewarding the behavior will lessen it over time.
I have also seen her jump up on the edge of the counter looking for food. A sharp "NO" works, but I would not trust her with a juicy pork roast sitting on an unattended counter. Again, catching the behavior and correcting, it as it happens, is the only way for her to know what unacceptable indoor behavior is. But as I said earlier, she is quite bright and has learned very quickly what is right and wrong. She is not a "bad" dog, just a dog that has had no boundaries set for her. Once she knows the boundaries, she settles right in.
I hope I have given you a balanced observation of Ophelia. Each dog can behave differently in different surroundings, these are some of the things I have observed. She is probably the nicest house guest (foster dog) I have had in years. Some have come in with severe baggage. Ophelia is a gem of a dog. I have totally enjoyed her!
She is being fostered by club member Liz Schuler who can be reached at "Liz E Schuler" <obizzyb@comcast.net> or (209) 941-2233. Those of you who have CATS should be aware that it is very RARE for us to get in a Bouv who has a history of being peaceful with cats. You should put in your bid to adopt Ophelia IMMEDIATELY. But you do have to be aware that this is a smart dog who uses her cuteness to try to get whatever she wants. You have to be consistent in setting limits. Otherwise you will come to regret the truth of Liz's dictum : "Each moment you are not training your dog; your dog is training you."
UPDATE : Ophelia has been ADOPTED by a loving and responsible couple and their two children. Ophelia is delighted to have so much attention and affection. She took to the children immediately. The family cats are initially wary of this stranger dog, but the parents are supervising carefully and taking the introductions slowly.
UPDATE 9/18/04 : Ophelia is coming back to Rescue after a summer with her adoptive family. Seems that Mom went back to work, kids went back to school, leaving Ophelia alone and lonely. No one has time for her now. She will be fostered by me , Pam Green (530) 756-2997 , initially, but then may return to her original foster home with Liz Schuler.
UPDATE 9/18/04 : Ophelia is here !
Ophelia arrived a little while ago. She is in good shape physically and mentally. She was initially a bit intimidated by the crowd of my dogs around her, but soon adjusted and began playing.
Her surrendering adopters says that she has been a wonderful dog. She presented no real problems, but since the wife went back to work and the kids back to school, most days no humans are home for 10 or 11 hours.and when they are home, they were not giving her much attention, and little exercise. For the first week Ophelia was OK with this. but then she started chewing, not the furniture, but apparently her legitimate chew toys.All this sounds very normal to me. After the day's lonliness, when people returned , her greetings were getting hyper. Again, this sounds pretty normal to me. (Most dogs will greet you with some degree of enthusiasm if you have merely gone to the mailbox and back; nearly all will greet vigorously if you have been gone all day.) during the summer , she was absolutely fine with no humans home for stretches of 4 hours, which was common, and was OK with occasional absences of 8 hours.
With their cats, she was basically affectionate. With the one cat who never ran and was unafraid of her, she was immediately OK. would lie together and so on. One cat was initially afraid and ran, leading to Ophelia chasing but in a playful manner; if she caught the cat, she just sniffed it.
With their children, aged 6 & 7, she was wonderful : very gentle, very tolerant. When a friend's 1 year old child came over and would lie on her, she was quite accepting. (yes, child's parents were told to not allow this , since many dogs will not accept it or will be caused pain by it.)
They commented that she tended to use her paw to ask , then to demand, attention. Pretty common in Bouvs, and I can't say that she does it to excess.
The surrendering adopters have realized that their lifestyle does not accommodate a dog's needs for social interactions and exercise. They realize that they should stick to cats. They are basically decent people, but did not think ahead enough and seem caught up in the American over-busy lifestyle. When they realized their mistake, they fulfilled their responsibility to return her to Rescue so she would be safe and get the home she deserves.
UPDATE : 9/26/04. Well it's now a week later. Ophelia fits in very well. She adores playing chase, wrestle, and bite-fencing with Poirot, who is truly the perfect playmate for her ; and she plays well with Pix, Chris, and Shady. the first hour of the day is wild and wooly play time. Almost enough to waken the dead, but all in good fun.
This is a smart and active dog, who needs a home with physical and mental exercise. I would love to place her and Poirot together and would give preference to a home that wanted them both. No signs of any problems staying home without me, but of course she has the other dogs for company.
Both the photos on this page are from the time of her first intake. She has lost some weight since then, but still is chubby. thanks to the exercise she is getting playing with my dogs, I don't think she will stay chubby very long. A cute girl, and she knows she is cute.
For an appointment to meet Ophelia , phone Pam Green at (530) 756-2997 between 10 am and 6 pm, California time.
UPDATE 10/23/04 : Ophelia is spoken for to be ADOPTED next weekend. The adopters are "repeat customers" who adopted an older Bouv from BCNC some years ago. This dear old lady Bouv passes away a few months ago, leaving bereaved people and a younger Bouv lonely for a companion. While I normally don't publish adoptions until they actually take place, I am pretty sure this one is a "go".
