Description
Willow is a fun loving ball of fur, she is devoted to us, to the point she will bark if the kids go too far in front of me while Im on my mobility scooter, on lead she will walk beside me nicely on her, but has upon occasions pulled me off! She is in need of more lead training, unfortunatly I had a skull frature at the begginning of the year and she is not getting the attention or walks she needs, this is leading to her barking a lot more when we leave and enter the home, it is this that my youngest autistic child is struggling with, who is having more meltdowns and crying if willow goes near her at times, willow doesnt understand as she has always been a support dog for my daughter, as much as I try to calm willow to reduce the barking, and my daughter is screaming, willow just wants to comfort her but unfortunatly she wont allow willow near her to do so now, its heartbreaking to see, but I am also concerned of my daughter lashing out and me not being able to step in in time to stop willow getting hurt, so far I have been able to remove willow before she gets hurt, but it has been close upon occassion.
Willow has also become aggressive towards our other dog, who is a lot calmer and quiet, that my daughter can cope with, so she allows sprinkles to comfort her, I think it is willow getting jealous, so I am concerned one of my autistic children getting hurt unintentionally, try to separate them.
Willow is excellent with children, babies through to teens, she has allowed mine to pull her into a hug when required. She was purchased with the intention of being trained as a therapy dog and although I have trained her myself, she hasn't formally been assessed, she would fail when it comes to food and pulling, her recall is really good as well, due to battaling breast cancer the year after getting her, I didnt complete the formal training, she is very easy to train, in most areas and picks up things quickly, she would make a great support dog for someone. She will bark if people raise voices, she is better then she was, I use calm as a command, which she is getting as everything is fine, no one is in danger.
Willow had a litter last year, where she had 7 beautiful puppies, I have people asking when I will breed her again, so if you intend on breeding I can give details of serious interest, all her puppies are local and we meet up often, I only sold one with advertising. Willow is raw fed and I will provide 4 days raw food, details where and what brand we use, how much she has and items she really doesn't like.
Willow moved to raw while pregnant as she went off her food, she is healthier, calmer, her coat is so much better, scratches less and generally less fussy.
I will often throw some chicken hearts and other chopped up meats, around the garden for her scent work, she loves to be fed her morning food this way. She will come with her lead and harness her 2 bowls, she isn't protective over food, you can remove it from her when eating, she does jump up, she is better then she was, she is crate trained and if you tell her to go to her bed she will go to her crate, she is used to being left for a couple hours a day, as I do long school runs, I tend to leave her with the radio and scattered meats in the garden, we have a dog flap, although if this is closed she will alert you to needing to go to the toilet, but if you have easy to assess bins I would move them as she knows how to get into any bin even if they have a child lock.
She will be a wonderful pet for family or couple, as long as you are able to take her for a good walk/run every day (she loves to go for a run when my daughter can take her, unfortunately this is decreasing on frequency as well), she is used to being in a crate overnight, she is generally quiet until I get up in the morning, despite my children having night needs and my partner can leave for work without her wanting to be let out (he forgets to). she loves a good brush but hates her back legs and tail being done, I groom her myself as she got very stressed going to a groomers, there is only one locally that is very good with her, so if she remains local I can give details. Unfortunately, her jabs have lapsed, due to me being in and out of hospital since my accident