Ellie 10-099 [1]

April 2, 2010: 

I would like to introduce everyone to Ellie! She’s a sweet, loveable, 88 lb purebred golden girl. She came to RAGOM because her owner was moving and unfortunately could not bring her along. She was very sad to leave her family, and her older sister Emma, but they wanted her to have a good home and someone to love and care for her. Even though I’ve only known Ellie for a few days, I know that this won’t be a hard task because she’s such a great dog!

Ellie is a gorgeous girl with a thick, soft red coat and fluffy tail, and she will be 2 years old on May 15th. I took her to the vet this week and am happy to report she is healthy and now up-to-date on all her vaccines. She has also been spayed and microchipped and both her fecal and heartworm tests came up negative.

She loves attention, belly rubs, and having her paws held and gets along great with our resident golden, Sydney. (We have also heard from her previous owner that she is great with all kids but haven’t been able to test her yet.) Ellie also hasn’t had any problems with our cat, other than sniffing her out of curiosity, but for the most part they ignore each other. She is also housetrained, doesn’t need a crate, and has been left alone with our dog in the house without any problems.

Ellie likes tennis balls and playing fetch with us and our other dog, and she is sometimes silly and even tries to play fetch with herself! She does not have any aggression or guarding issues with toys or treats so that is good as well. We have taken her for a few car rides and although she can be a little scared, she gets in and out with no problems. For the most part Ellie is very well behaved and knows commands like “sit”, “down” and “come.” She even let me trim her toenails the other day!

There are a few traits that Ellie needs to work on. First, she can be submissive and fearful to strangers, but mostly men. She does not bite or show aggression but mostly backs away and will bark. However, after she is introduced properly with petting and treats she will warm right up to them (as she did with my husband- now they are best friends!) Secondly, along with the fear Ellie can have some submissive urination. We have had no problems with her urinating inappropriately in the house except for twice when she was afraid, and both times were only a tiny spot (and a similar situation occurred at the vet). Finally, Ellie is a ball of energy when you come home after being gone and likes to jump on you to show how happy she is to see you! We have been working with her to make her stay down and usually she calms down after a minute or so – she’s learning!

I think it would be best if Ellie’s forever home included another dog to help her adjust and trust her human parents. She was very shy and timid when she first arrived in our foster care until she met our golden and instantly became a bubbling, energetic girl. Ellie is an absolute beauty and any family would be lucky to have her! Stay tuned for more updates.