Grace - 8 year old female Labrador Cross

May 3rd, 2008

Grace (ref 65d) is an 8 years old very gentle and sweet-natured close-coated female black Labrador cross. She arrived at Derby RSPCA Centre when her last owner, who owned a very large number of dogs, found herself no longer able to cope with so many animals.

She is by nature a friendly dog, but is very timid at the moment because so many things are new to her. She is used to living with dogs rather than with people, so she is very wary of humans on first acquaintance, no matter how friendly they are.

She is rather baffled by many things which other dogs would take for granted and doesn’t at present know what playing is, but she seems willing to learn very gently and enjoys being stroked once she has got to know the person who is stroking her. She is just beginning to investigate the idea of going for a walk and is gradually starting to make sense of the outside world, but needs to do it very slowly and quietly so that she doesn’t get alarmed, especially by strangers and noisy traffic.

Grace would be suitable for a calm, gentle and loving household where she would be allowed plenty of time to adjust to life and where her new owners have experience and understanding of dogs.

She will need plenty of exercise and to lose a certain amount of weight, so an active but non-rowdy home would be the place for Grace. Any children living in the household would need to be aged 15+ and very kind to a shy dog like Grace who needs lots of understanding and nothing which might make her panic.

She is used to living with dogs and seems to ignore cats, possibly because she has never met any before. She has had very little training, but is a pleasant and intelligent dog who should be reasonably swift to learn.

Could you offer shy Grace the patient, loving, caring, dog-friendly home she needs to turn her into a normal, happy animal?