Hazel was rescued from a high kill shelter in Texas with her best friend Renata. The girls arrived to Virginia on August 21st and were placed together in a foster home as they are a bonded pair that must be adopted together.
Renata and Hazel are pint size balls of fun who play hard and love harder. While they are still working on their confidence, their foster has seen big improvements!
Energy levels – Hazel is still technically a puppy so she loves to run and play like one, especially with Renata. Hazel loves to jump on Renata, chew on and play tug of war with toys, and chase the squeaky green ball. Renata can be higher energy when prompted by Hazel, but she is just as happy hanging out on the couch with her human. Both girls would be great running or hiking partners if desired (once Renata is HW negative) but would also be fine living with less active families as the girls tire themselves out inside.
Chewing/Destruction – As mentioned, Hazel is a puppy and she acts like one meaning she still is a little mischievous and likes to chew things she finds when bored. Generally she will do this on her toys and bones, but she has on occasion felt a few electrical cords looked tasty when FoMom was working and not watching closely. Both girls have also chewed up stuffed beds/crate pads, so these are not recommended for their crates for the near future. With some time and monitoring/correcting, the girls should grow out of these behaviors.
Isolation & Crating - The girls are crated half the day due to being on crate rotations with their foster brother, and they sleep in their crates overnight. It can take them a little bit to settle as they are sad to be away from their human, but eventually they settle in. Renata takes it harder than Hazel as she is the bigger love bug who just wants to be with her human.
Car rides – Hazel jumps right in and Renata often needs to be lifted in. They both enjoy car rides and settle in quickly.
Kids/Adults - The girls need to go to a family with either no kids or kids that are 10 years+ due to a bite incident with Renata. The bite occurred when the girls were separated shortly after arriving at the shelter and there has been no sign of any aggression since as she is a big love bug who just wants to be by your side. Both girls love all humans, and they love to cuddle.
Cats - While both girls didn't fail the cat test, they were a little too interested (mostly Hazel) so we would only want to place them in a home with dog savvy cats and owners that will put in the time, effort, and supervision to make it work.
Dogs – When the girls first arrived, they met their non-dominant 75lb GSD foster brother and had several very positive intro walks, but once inside they (most Hazel) seemed to be a bit fearful causing some snaps in his direction. They also were very reactive to other dogs at early adoption events, leading us to believe they were likely under socialized and lacked confidence. However over time they’ve made lots of progress accepting their foster brother and reacting much less when at events. They aren’t quite ready to play with their foster brother yet, but they spend the evenings out of crates together and the reaction triggers have noticeably reduced over the past two months. While the girls would likely be best in a home with no other pets, if adopters are willing to do very slow introductions (several weeks+) then it may be possible for them to have a dog sibling who is lower energy.
Heartworm - Hazel is heartworm negative. Renata is heartworm positive and has completed her 30 days of doxy and is shortly switching HW preventatives to Advantage Multi.
Training – Both girls know their names, sit, down and have been working on touch and place. All of this training will need reinforcement along with additional training to strengthen the bond with the adopters and learn other important skills like ‘leave it’.
Potty training - Both girls are mostly house broken but not fully. They will go weeks without an incident, and then pee several times within 2 days. Renata had a UTI early on which caused some of her inside pottying which Hazel then seemed to mimic thinking it was ok. The girls are taken outside immediately after being let out of their crates which has been very successful, but there are sometimes setbacks so their adopters will need to have a little patience and work with them on this. Also, it is very common for potty training regression during the first week or two of an adoption even if the dog was fully potty trained, so invest in a good carpet cleaner
No food aggression or allergies observed. Reluctant bath takers but stayed still so they could be bathed.
Updated: Fri Nov 5, 2021
Hazel 2136 must be adopted with her companion, Renata 2134 (adopted).
Hazel 2136 must be adopted with her companion, Renata 2134 (adopted).
If you are an approved adopter and are interested in this dog, please let your case worker know. If you are not yet an approved adopter but are interested, please complete an adoption application!
If you are viewing this animal on Petfinder, please see our organization’s Petfinder home page, linked below (on mobile) or to the right (on desktop), to read about our adoption process and to start your journey!
If you are viewing this animal on Petfinder, please see our organization’s Petfinder home page, linked below (on mobile) or to the right (on desktop), to read about our adoption process and to start your journey!
