Savannah

Savannah Pictures

August 2015.  Next we fostered a two year old hound mix with a couple of issues.  At the shelter Savannah tended to be very reactive to people when confined behind a fence, especially after being given a bath.  She was also reactive to certain men, especially if they did a lot of arm movement.  She had been adopted out from the shelter once before, but was returned after being overwhelmed by her new environment.  So we took it nice and slow.

It didn’t take Savannah long to make herself at home in our house and backyard.  In fact I was unable to see any of the reactive issues others had reported until I began bringing her to the shelter each day.  We fortunately had different family members stay with us during her foster so we could work on her issues with men.  Behavior-wise she improved pretty quickly.

Unfortunately her house training wasn’t going so well.  She didn’t seem to have any destructive habits, but she had a problem not peeing in the house. I took her out throughout the day as if she was a three or four month old puppy, but she still seemed to pee inside at least once a day.  On a few occasions she seemed to do it while lying down.

After a medical check (before which I had to follow her around with a ladle to get a urine sample) the vet decided to put her on an incontinence medicine.  That seemed to help, but we still had issues with her peeing inside sometimes that seemed difficult to predict or prevent.

She woofed down her food like a vacuum cleaner, so feeding her and Boomer meant me waiting for Boomer to leisurely finish his food before giving her a few more kibbles to reward her for calmly but expectantly waiting.

Boomer and Savannah would have one or two play sessions a day, in which they would take turns chasing each other and sometimes play tug-of-war.  Savannah would also amuse herself chewing on rope toys.

At first she tried to jump up on the furniture and bed, but after a few days she gave up trying.  She was a very happy dog that enjoyed going for walks and living in our home.  She also did better and better with meeting new people and going to new places.

After three weeks with us Savannah had her first interview and was adopted by one of the shelter's volunteers.  We'll miss our big girl but are glad she has found her forever home.