Heidi is a 5½-year-old Golden mix. Her owner had gotten her from Craig’s List four years ago, but she had to move to a small apartment where she could not keep the dog. Heidi is sweet but quite wary of strangers, even to the point of exhibiting submissive urination. Once she warms up to someone, she is a good girl. She needed our entire standard vet care, as she was not current on vaccinations. She was already spayed, though, and tested negative for valley fever and heartworm. The urinary incontinence has mostly resolved with medication. Heidi has become more comfortable in her new home with her adopters. Because of Heidi’s sensitivity and reactivity to strangers and exhibiting some resource-guarding behavior, the AGR Behaviorist did several home visits during which she emphasized to the humans their need to exhibit strong leadership with Heidi and learn to observe her body language. After the last such visit, she wrote:

Heidi with the adopters has come a long way and she is responding better to both of them, especially to the man. She is much more relaxed and friendly and I was able to pet her, take her favorite toy away, she gave it back etc... she initiated much of our interaction together and is coming out of her shell more and more. She and their caretaker are getting along much better and Heidi wags her tail and is happy to see him when he comes over now. The adopter recently commented: Heidi’s favorite squeaky toy is an eight-inch green dragon with an extremely shrill screech guaranteed to wake even the most serious napper. When she goes to the back yard to take care of business, she carries the toy with her and lays it on the gravel fairly close to her chosen spot. More often than not she carries the toy back inside and places it somewhere my power wheelchair is sure to travel which requires me to move it or squish the toy. Squishing the dragon produces the same noise mentioned above, so I choose to move her toy. This entire process is repeated several times each day. I feel she is the canine version of the Peanuts character Linus with his security blanket. In between trips outside with her dinosaur, Heidi mostly ignores her toy, choosing instead to sneak it where I am sure to travel. My wife says our goofy dog is very similar to her goofy husband. Now, where is my blanket? We are very glad this little girl finally has a good life in front of her with people who love her.