Meet Posey! Posey is approximately 7.5 years old, 12 pounds, and is a spaniel mystery mix. She is potty trained and crate trained. Posey came into rescue absolutely scared to death and inconsolable from Long Beach Shelter. She was supposed to be transported to an out of state rescue but her foster quickly realized there was no way she could go on transport, she was too scared. She has been loved to the max in her foster homes, first by Michele and now by Cheryl and her pack. Please read her bio in full prior to inquiring to adopt her. Posey is fostered in Brea, California and can be adopted within a reasonable, drivable radius of Orange County, CA.
Posey's new home requires the following, which we will then elaborate on...1. No kids under 12. 2. A house with a yard, not an apartment or any set up where she doesn't have her own yard to exercise and do her business.3. There needs to be another dog (or dogs) in the home to play with her, not an alpha that would bully her, however. A nice, friendly playful dog, male or female.AND Ideally:
4. A home where not a ton of new people are going in and out as she will be afraid of them and hide. We just don't think this would be her living her best life.
We are proud to say that Posey has come a long way since her shelter freedom day, but she is still in need of a special home, and we think she has finally come far enough that it is not too much to wish for that she find her special perfect home that accepts her social limitations in exchange for her love. This is a long bio because we cover everything necessary for you to decide if she is the one for you. We cover the good and the not so good or maybe "unique", when needed because we have no intention of bouncing her around into homes that aren't right for her. That would not be fair to her. We want to set her up to succeed and have a great life!
Posey is very pretty. Her coat does shed, so she simply requires normal baths and brushing. Her foster has her bathed, and nails trimmed and a sanitary clean up every 6-8 weeks. In her foster home where she is comfortable, she is playful and silly with the other dogs that will play with her. She needs to go to a home that has at least one other playful dog that she meets and meshes with well. This helps her self confidence and is a non-negotiable requirement because we want her to be happy and play. She gets along with all of the dogs in her foster home, she just wants to play with all of them, not all of the dogs want to play with her.
Posey is not on any medications, she has recently had a major specialist visit to make sure she is healthy. Years ago she had some sort of a sinus mass that was in a location which made it impossible to see, remove, or fully inspect. We chose to treat it like cancer and she had radiation, and nothing has been detectable since. The consequences of the unknown mass and the radiation is that she is a loud breather as if she is congested all the time. Like we said she isn't on medication, her foster does 3 things that help her. At night Posey sleeps in a crate (because her pack all sleep in crates, not for any other reason) in a room with a humidifier, and she gets eyedrops in the morning as well as a moisturizer on her nose. These are used due to the dryness that her radiation caused years ago. Full medical records are available, and her last visit was very thorough, and the specialist did confirm she is cancer-free..
We have mentioned that she is scared but would like to elaborate on what exactly that means, as we don't want you to think that it is all the time. Once she trusts her home she will have things that scare her, but in her safe zone, she is a great little dog! When she goes to play and do her business in the backyard she is comfortable. Out the front door and into the unknown is a different story. She just freezes up. She hunkers down and tries to make herself small. She never growls or bites. If a stranger comes over, she may run and hide. She hasn't been walked on a leash because she is just too scared at this point, and she has a large yard to exercise in and she is comfortable and happy with that. She obviously does leave the house for vet visits and lets the groomer handle her. She is just scared and shakes. Which is a massive improvement from when she arrived, as the odds of getting peed or pooped on were pretty high back then. In the car she travels in a doggie car seat, belted in. She lays down and does not move or make a peep. She only travels when necessary, not for pleasure. She did attend a couple of adoption events before Covid and she was positively progressing with her anxiety.
Posey does not require "special" food, just good food to keep her healthy and her hair healthy. She is very food motivated, which is helpful when working on her training.
She is good when left home alone with the other dogs. During the day when left alone she is not crated and does just fine. She does not have to have people home all day to keep her happy as long as she has a playful friend to keep her company. Posey isn't a fan of being picked up and won't jump on the furniture, instead laying on a dog bed. Her foster will pick her up and put her on the couch and she does like to lay there, but she won't jump up on her own even though she is allowed to.
While Posey's first foster described her as timid, shy, sweet, gentle and QUIET... she is not always quiet. This is because she doesn't really bark, she does more of a scream or fire engine like shriek. We feel like we must mention this because we don't want anyone to literally go into cardiac arrest when they first hear her sing the song of her people. We don't know who her people are. They are definitely not dogs. This is basically why an apartment or condo set up would not work. When does she do this? When she is excited! When is she excited? Basically, in the morning when she is let out of her crate, when her foster mom comes home from work or the store, and when her food is being made for mealtime. So it's not an all day thing but it is something we think that her adopter is prepared for.
Posey is a good dog. This bio may seem to be overly negative, but it is simply truthful. Frankly, some adopters simply want a picture-perfect plugin play dog, but that is not what we rescue. We rescue messes... emotional, behavioral or medical. Some people love special hard to place dogs, and for them, this biography is what they need to make a decision. Posey deserves a forever home that lets her be herself, and slowly and patiently works on things that could possibly be improved upon. Please don't let our honesty deter you from considering her as a dog worthy of adoption.
If you are interested in adopting our sweet Posey, please fill out our adoption application which you can find on our website, www.k9spirit.org Incomplete applications will be discarded. Please note that due to COVID, and in order to limit our volunteers' exposure to others we will require videos and/ or photos of certain areas of your home or yard. If you do not want to help us out with this step, please don't apply to adopt. We are doing our very best to still place our rescues in great homes, do doggie intros and meet and greets, and also keep everyone safe in the process. It is a delicate balance making sure our pups go to a great home and keeping our volunteers and potential adopters safe. Thank you for understanding.
