Happy Gotcha Day Paddy Mae!

SAY HELLO TO PADDY MAE!! This sweet southern belle is about 3 years old and the newest member of LFS. We think she’s possibly mixed with Boxer or Shar Pei, as her muzzle is a bit shorter and she’s got some extra skin around her neck. Paddy was found as a stray and ended up at the shelter in March, but sadly no one came to claim her. She’s a very scared/timid girl right now, and while it’s unclear what happened to her in her past, the numerous scars on her face and ears sadly suggest that she might have been a bait dog in her previous life. Despite this, Paddy likes other dogs and seems to be more comfortable when other dogs are around. She has been sweet with everyone, and the shelter volunteers reported that once she builds trust with you, she is very loving.

Paddy Mae has been spayed and had surgery to repair cherry eye in her left eye. She will be ready to go to a foster home after the long weekend, where she can start to build trust and learn what the good life is all about. Paddy will need a strong but patient family to help show her “how to dog.”

At this time, Paddy would likely do best without small children in the home, as loud noises and fast movements scare her. A home with a fenced in yard would be ideal for her, as she will run if given the chance.

Foster Update 07/09/2020: Here is a video of her playing this morning. She is a happy, playful girl who wants to please. We take early morning walks now to beat the heat so she’s very excited for them right after breakfast. She does really well on walks with her leash manners, plus cars and people do not bother her, and she has gotten a lot better about passing other dogs, even though she wants to be friends with them all. Her crate training has progressed, she stays in there at a couple hours at a time with no fuss. She sleeps in the bedroom on a dog bed all night, like our two do, and that has worked really well for her. We have not found her to be destructive or a chewer, she is just high energy without exercise. She really loves to wrestle and play tug-a-war with her foster siblings. And it is worth mentioning that with all of the afternoon storms lately, she is luckily not bothered by the thunder.

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Foster Update 06/29/2020: Paddy is doing really well, especially with her leash work and crate training. I attached a short video of her at the park showing how nicely she walks on leash. She is an active girl who gets excited and loves to play outside. When she is inside, she follows us around and is usually by our side as we work or cuddled up with her foster siblings taking a nap! She does not bark practically at all, we’ve only heard her once or twice, and as we updated before, she’s housetrained. She took her first trip to a store and really seemed to enjoy sniffing everything and was not nervous. She has really come out of her shell and is ready to make someone the prefect addition to their family! 

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Update 06/5/2020: Paddy has continued to gain more confidence everyday and show us her fun, goofy, loving personality! She is potty trained and still learning that the crate is a good thing! Without knowing her past she seems to have anxiety from small confined spaces so we have found that putting up baby gates for a room eases her anxiety rather than the crate, though I feel confident it will just take time for her to learn. She loves to run and play and has the “bounce run” like Boxers! She settles right down inside and has really learned to love the dog beds! Haha. Her leash manners are coming along as well. She wants to give you all of her love so anyone who adopts her will have a very loving and committed companion.

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Update 06/1/2020:Paddy went on our first neighborhood walk yesterday, and she was wonderful! Her leash manners are already improving and we are planning for a car ride and park walk today hopefully! Also, she seems completely potty trained now as well, we only had an accident the first night. We did notice her itching her eye yesterday afternoon so we had a cone handy and went ahead and put it on her. At that time, it did look inflamed but she was also extremely tired so I wanted to wait to send a picture until she got a lot of rest last night. Please see the attached picture that I took a few minutes ago and let me know your thoughts!