Pickles

Description: Pickles is approximately 3 years old. She is a spayed, female mixed breed, and appears to be a vizsla/bully breed mix. She weighs 50 pounds and wears a size medium harness. She has several small scars on her face and limbs, and a larger scar on one of her elbows from a deeper wound she had when we found her. Her Story: We found Pickles on the morning of July 4th, 2023. She was very dirty, very dehydrated, exhausted, and extremely thin. She had many cuts and scrapes all over her body, and a perfectly round small scar on her back. We immediately took her to a vet and scanned for a chip, which she did have, and took her home while we waited for the registered owners to call back. In the meantime, we contacted the local Humane Society and listed her as found on their website, sent her description and photos to animal control and the SPCA, made "Found Dog" posts on Craigslist, Facebook groups, Nextdoor, petFBI,and many others, hung signs in our neighborhood, and called all the apartment complexes in the area. By July 8th we still hadn't heard from the owners, so I contacted the chip company, Petlink, myself and completed another found pet report, prompting a second wave of attempts to contact her listed owner. Petlink informed me that her name is Pickles, and her microchip was placed in July 2020. We have now had her for exactly one month today with absolutely no response from the person listed on her chip, making us feel that she was intentionally abandoned. Her Temperament: Strengths: When we first found her, she was very timid and made no sound whatsoever for almost a week. She was afraid of Philip at first, but quickly warmed up and wanted constant physical contact. She now is very much a lap dog, wanting lots of cuddles and pets. She gets bursts of energy where she plays and jumps straight up in the air, all four feet off the ground, but its over pretty quickly and she wants to go back to snuggling and napping. She stayed with another family for a day and was around five children, the youngest being four years old, and loved being around them. She was gentle and didn't knock anyone over or play too rough with them. She is crate trained and house broken. She has been under our supervision at all times she is not in her crate, but she does not appear to have any destructive tendencies. She is incredibly sweet and very easy to love. She is also highly food motivated, so responds to training treats well when trying to train. Opportunities for Improvement: Pickles appears to have a strong prey drive, chasing squirrels and lizards on our walks. She has made progress with some training, but still needs more training on leash walking and being calm outside. She doesn't pull terribly hard, but darts around when something catches her attention. She knows "sit," "come," and "crate" commands, but still needs more work on other basic obedience skills. She was around one other dog when she went to stay with the other family for the day, and after 12 hours of getting along, they fed them together which caused Pickles to guard her food and fight him for it. No one was hurt, but it is unclear if she just flat out can't be around other dogs or could work with an experienced person on improving her relationship with other dogs. She is hesitant and nervous around new people, but warms up quickly once she is comfortable. Current Health: Pickles is currently in good health, gaining weight and healing her cuts and scrapes. She has been treated with several flea baths, and her fleas appear to be gone. She was treated with her first dose of dewormer on 7/24, and will need a second dose on 8/14. She is spayed. She saw a vet on 7/24 who determined that other than testing positive for hook worms, she was in good health as long as she kept putting on weight. Her top back teeth are in need of a deep cleaning.