Bella is adopted.

Bella is a 7 year old entire bitch. She came to us as her owners advised she has same sex aggression with their other bitch, but she is ok with their male dog.

She has lived with children from 7 to 17 y ears old. She does not like cats or chickens, there is a resident chicken at the kennels!

She is friendly with everyone she meets.

She is not very toy orientated and would rather potter around sniffing, she is however food driven and will do anything for a treat but watch those fingers she can be a bit snatchy.

Out walking she is great, not reactive to any dogs or anything else, can slightly pull but is very manageable.

She has been free running with the dogs and bitches at the kennels with no issues, however due to her owner saying she has same sex aggression she has to live on her own or with a castrated male.

Bella is a very affectionate girl who loves cuddles, do you have room in your life for her and a spare seat on the sofa? If so please fill out an application.

She had her assessment on the 14^th March, please note the assessor has erroneously put her age at 8, but she is in fact 7 years old.

Bella’s Assessment

Kennel behaviour

Bella was happy to approach and took treats straight away. She showed no reaction to dogs in adjacent kennels. She did pull on the lead coming out of her kennel and was happy to get to the paddock where we released her off the lead. She ran around the paddock but was not over excited and wanted to engage with us.

Handling

Bella was pro-social and friendly and enjoyed a fuss. She did jump up a little in greeting but did respond to a Sit cue to resolve this.
I touched her feet, hindquarters, head, ears, tummy, tail and she was not concerned about my handling of her. I knocked into her to test for any reaction but there was none.
She was responsive to cues and very willing. She is motivated by treats and recalled well for a reward. She does snatch at treats a little in excitement but this could easily be remedied.

Sociability

There were no negative reactions from Bella and she is of good temperament. She did not want to play with a ball and does not appear to know how to play with toys. She did show some interest in a tug toy but did not take it in her mouth.
Another dog approached the fence and barked at her. She barked back briefly but then ignored the dog and turned her attention back to us.

Arousal/Reactivity

Please give details of reactivity on a scale of 1 to 5 (where 1 = low & 5 = high)
Reactivity – 0
There was no reaction to anything in the environment other than a dog which barked at her first. Even then, this reaction was very brief and what I would deem to be very normal dog behaviour. There were lots of distractions during our assessment – other dogs, people, workmen in hi-viz, building machinery, noise etc – and Bella generally ignored everything.

Possession

There was no evidence of any resource guarding. She showed very little interest in toys but was a little over-enthusiastic with treats. She would benefit from some impulse control training. In the short term, rewarding on the floor would be beneficial.

Comments

Bella is a sweet natured dog who wants to please. She enjoys interaction with people and enjoys a fuss. She does need a little training but is very motivated by treats and so, with some good, reward-based training should be an easily manageable dog. She is calm and relaxed but does enjoy play with people. She is very willing and amenable and should easily settle into a new environment with an adopter.