Just Ellie The Awesome Foster Dog

Ellie is going back to the rescue today.  It's a sad, sad day.  She's going back, because Catty (the cat) does not like her.  And Ellie likes her too much. 

Catty is such a push over cat - I think if she were more growl and hiss - Ellie would leave her alone and realize that she isn't a furry toy that runs.

Catty has been living in the basement since Ellie arrived.  She is not a happy cat.  I bring her upstairs for visits, but she is very nervous and clingy (read: claws stuck into my chest/arms/neck).  I thought Catty might adjust and get used to Ellie.  After all Catty is BFFs with Tibby, but Catty's behavior has gotten worse every day.  She sits and cries in the basement.  Sad Catty.

If I didn't have a cat......I would be VERY tempted to keep Ellie.  She is THE PERFECT dog.  She's a dog dog.  If you can think of a thing that dogs do (good things ie. play with toys/swim/loves belly rubs) Ellie does it.  She is awesome.

She has tons of drive for food and toys.  She can switch between toys - not so much food to toys, but when the food is gone she will play and play and play.

She tugs like a maniac.  Loves to play tug.  She will play tug until your arm falls off.  She will play with anything - work gloves?  must be a toy!  plastic bag?  must be a toy!  orange cone? must be a toy!

Her favorite toys have squeakers.  She will do ANYTHING for a squeaky toy.  If you get tired she'll happily lay around squeaking the toy and wait for you to come back.

"I do tunnels right?"

Nothing scares her - not tons of people or loud noises.  Anything that looks different, is just a toy she hasn't discovered and it needs to be investigated right away! 

Her favorite thing to do: just be next to a human.  You don't need to pet her or pay attention to her.  You just need to be there.  She would like some scratchies, but it's Ok if you are busy....she'll wait until you are ready to pay attention to her again.  She might lean up against you, but only so you don't forget that she's there :)

One neat thing she does - she NEVER poops on the lawn.  She'll try to get as close to the fence as possible before she poops.  Smart dog!

She's 100% potty trained.  A couple times there were some could-have-been-an-accident moments, but she woke me up or told me that she needed to go and she made it outside every time.  She's quiet in her crate and is getting a very solid drive into the crate and wait to be released from the crate.

We did some heeling/reinforcement zone playing around last night.  She did really well off leash.  She likes to work.  A lot!  I think she would work for play with out any problem.  Treats and toys aren't even needed, because she loves interaction with people SO much.  But she also likes treats and toys, so she's the whole package! 

I was seriously very tempted to keep Ellie.  Even though I chose to foster her because she was the farthest from (what I thought) was my 'ideal' dog.   Instead of what I thought I was getting I found a funny little sweet doggie that wanted to play with me.  I'm not sure how much Ellie has learned from me, but I've learned a lot about how a normal dog acts and plays.  It was a fun experience.

I will miss you Ellie!