Penney: Training to be a therapy dog!
| Penney |  |
| Motto: | I’m cute, love me! |
| Breed: | Maltipoo |
| Where did you get your Baby from: | Animart East Towne Mall |
| Likes: | Play, chew bones, and hide bones |
| Pet Peeves: | Being groomed |
| Favorite toy: | Zebra toy & giraffe toy. Plastic bottles. |
| Favorite treat: | Rawhide, pig ears, vegetables |
| Best Trick: | Sit |
| Barking dog needs some training! I’d like her to qualify to be a therapy dog. | |
| Bio | I adopted Penney in late Feb 2014. She weighed 2.5 lbs. She’s now a year old and weighs about 7.5 lbs. She’s a very rambunctious puppy. Very energetic and LOVES people. She wants to play with everyone. Unfortunately, she is also part kangaroo and likes to bark at anything in her territory. She’s very affectionate but is always begging for food. She just has so much energy. She’s very wiggly. But I love the little bugger! She doesn’t walk well on a leash, and she doesn’t always listen well. She loves hiding bones in couch cushions, her bed, my bed, anywhere. She then pretends to dig the area and push the fake earth over it. She only does this indoors. It’s the funniest thing, but I know its a bad habit. She’s just now starting to run after cars that pass by. This is a brand new habit that just started a week or two ago. She likes jumping up on people, which I don’t know how to curtail, and she has a small issue with biting. Since summer 2014, she’s had a lot of urinary issues. She would pee unexpectedly in the house. I don’t think this is a behavioral issue, though. The vet has been ruminating on the cause, but so far, she has to eat a special diet to keep things under control. She gets struvite crystals and UTIs. She can be picky when eating. Sometimes I can’t get her to eat her food unless it has people food added into it. She does a little bit of food guarding. If her food gets put down in front of another animal, she will rush over and make sure the other animal isn’t eating her food and growl a little bit to keep them away. So far, I’ve noticed she doesn’t really like to be outside all on her own for very long. I find it strange, because I know she likes the outdoors. She’s very fearful of larger dogs and doesn’t play with other dogs too often. It’s very rare I find that she wants to romp around with another dog. She’s better around older dogs who are calm. She gets better with bigger dogs if she meets them, but she usually barks at them a lot. This is my first dog, so I’m just a little clueless when it comes to raising her. I haven’t figured out how to teach her any tricks. I’ve had a hard enough time trying to keep her barking under control. She loves going to the dog park. I take her once a week to doggie day care at Central Bark. I try to socialize her as much as I can. It’s just me in the house, though, so I feel like she gets bored because I work so much. I work from home, so I’m always there for her, but can’t devote a lot of time to her because of work. Overall, she’s a great dog. I love having her! She’s such a great comfort. I just think she needs more confidence and obedience. I would like my neighbors and guests to feel the same way about her as I do, and that means she needs to behave! 🙂 Ultimately, the goal is to train her to be a therapy dog. Right now, I don’t know how to accomplish that goal. |