Sadie looks like she could be Bouvier crossed with Labrador. She has short coarse black hair (darker than it looks in the photo and somewhat less shaggy), natural ears and natural tail. She weighs about 80 lbs. She is spayed, up to date on vaccinations, and is heartworm negative and current on prevention. She is 5 years old.

What really matters is that she is a very sweet dog. She is timid with strangers, but she will warm up to a person reasonably quickly. (It took her about 5 minutes to figure out that I was OK.)

Sadie was an owner surrender to the SPCA of Northern Nevada in Reno. Her owners were "moving" and discarded her and a Mastiff as casually as one would discard a worn out sofa.

Because she is timid with strangers and is also afraid of loud sounds, being at the shelter must have been hell for her. None of the potential adopters gave her any serious consideration because she made a bad first impression, ie she was afraid of them. So now she is here with me (since 9/17/07). Sadie and I owe thanks to Christine Karkow who made many visits to the Reno shelter to socialize Sadie and who bailed her out and transported her half the distance to my home , and likewise to Laurie Munroe who transported her the second half of the journey. (My own car is now too creaky to make it over the Sierra mountains.)

Sadie is a sweet and easy going dog. She is quietly affectionate but not intrusive. It's not all that hard to gain her trust. She wags her whole body in greetings to people she knows.

Sadie is easily startled by loud noises. She is afraid of unexpected noises, especially if coming from behind her. But she does adjust fairly well. First morning here she spooked at the first sound of my coffee grinder but then by the third time I'd turned it on she was ignoring it. I would assume she would be terrified of the sound of fireworks or thunder, and will advise adopters accordingly to protect her.

Her history is that she was a backyard dog. (So maybe I should have said "she was discarded as if she were a piece of weather-beaten lawn furniture".) It is really obvious that she had little experience being in the house. Equally obvious that she was not used to being walked in town.

At this point she is very comfortable in the house. She quickly mastered the use of the dog door and she seems completely housebroken. She has shown no disagreeable behaviors in the house.

We went into town for Farmers' Market so that I could have the Lab rescue people take a look at her. They pointed out a few details in which she differs from a Lab cross, but to most people she does look a lot like a somewhat shaggy Lab.

Sadie found the noise and crowds of Farmers' Market to be stressful, but she managed to bear up fairly well. By the end of two hours there she was much more at ease.

We then went to the Dog Park, which was only lightly populated at that time of day. She got along very well with all the dogs, and she approached two of the women on her own and got them to pet her.

She gets along very well with all my dogs. Her social skills with dogs are excellent. She should fit into any dog household where the other dogs are peaceful towards her.

The Reno shelter advised she did not get along well with cats, but I do not know the basis for this opinion. Of course in my opinion a large dog is always to be considered "guilty until proven innocent" when it comes to cats because a large dog has the ability to inflict serious injury on a cat. My own opinion of Sadie is that she probably could learn to live peacefully with a cat if adopter carefully trained her to be so.

Sadie likes to pick up and carry toys and sometimes retrieves them.

Because on the second day here I noticed a bit of blood in her urine, I took her to my vet. We discovered that she did indeed have a urinary tract infection, plus high pH (alkaline urine) and struvite crystals. So she is on a course of antibiotics and a urine acidifier. The shelter had been giving her thyroid supplement, so we checked her level and found it was high, so we reduced her dose and will recheck in a few weeks. Although Reno is generally low risk for heartworm, there are nearby areas that are higher risk, so I had her tested for heartworm before starting her on prevention ; she tested negative as expected.

Her health should be totally normal within another couple of weeks. In every other way she seems to be of robust health.

Further plans and adoption information

I will probably keep Sadie several weeks before making a placement, but I would welcome visiting adopters sooner than that. I want to continue her socialization and get some basic training into her.

UPDATE 10/11/07 : Sadie is totally at home in the house and totally well behaved. She is very well behaved on walks. She gets along well with all my dogs. She plays very well with Freddie and easily corrects his occasional over-boisterous behavior towards her. She speaks her native language very well and has good social skills with other dogs. She is a very easy and enjoyable dog to live with. At this point she still needs to have more experience in town and meeting strange people, but her adustment to home and country life is as good as anyone could ask. She loves to swim. She is quite obedient to Sit, learning to Down, and after only one lesson is surprisingly good at Come.

If you want a dog with a Bouvier type of calmness in the house, an energetic walking or jogging or hiking companion, with an easy-care short coat (rather than the labor consuming coat of the normally shaggy Bouvier), you should be delighted with Sadie.

Note : she has just completed her antibiotics for the urinary tract infection and will be re-checked in a week for pH level, infection, and crystals, at which time we will also re-check her response to the lowered level of thyroid supplement. I'd like to get her completely stabilized in these regards before she is adopted.

Of course now that she is in my personal rescue program, my standard adoption fee will apply : $350. I might give some rebates for attending an obedience or agility class and for earning a Canine Good Citizen.

For more information or for an appointment to meet Sadie, please phone me at (530) 756-2997 between 10 am and 5 pm (California time).

Below is a photo of Sadie doing one of her favorite tricks, carrying a food dish around. It's not that she is trying to get me to put food in the dish, but just that she likes to carry it and play with it. Well, that's one more reason to feel pretty sure that she is part Lab. I don't have apicture of her swimming, but that's the other reason to be sure.

UPDATE 2/28/08 :

Sadie has become so much more confident. She welcomes vistiors to my home with outgoing affection and usually with a toy in her mouth. She usually grabs a toy whenever she is happily excited. She plays exhuberantly with other dogs. She remains very well behaved and easy to live with. Her thyroid supplement is now stablilized at 0.2 mg twice a day, and I will provide a supply to her adopter. Her coat is glossy and she has grown a cute little "mohawk" fringe of hair on top of her head.

For more information or for an appointment to meet Sadie, please phone me at (530) 756-2997 between 10 am and 5 pm (California time).

Sadie has been ADOPTED.

Update 3/3/08 : Sadie has been adopted by the best of all possible homes. She was adopted by the couple who had championed her at the shelter and had convinced me to take her into my rescue program. They had wanted to adopt her then, but their Bouvier bitch had vetoed the idea of sharing her home. Tragically that well loved dog passed away due to bone cancer. Sadie is not just a consolation prize. She is a treasure. So Sadie of Reno is back in Reno and she and her forever family are both jackpot winners.