Tess - West Yorkshire

Tess is a lovely 5 year old Black and pale tan long coat bitch, she is spayed. She is a beautiful looking dog and has orange eyes with black face. She is a small black and pale tan dog with a long coat and looks much younger than her age. Tess is house trained and ok to be left in the house for short periods of time, her current carer has only had Tess for 4 weeks and is rehabilitating her after fostering her from a family relative. During this short period of time with constant training and love Tess has learnt new tricks like giving a paw, lying down, retrieving her toys and can easily be treat trained. She enjoys attention and upon my arrival to her home, she was very excited to meet and greet me and barked for a short period of time ran around excited for a good few minutes, then settled. She is good with visiting children but would suit a home where she could command individual attention, a good owner could then boost her confidence and give her further structure. Tess clearly loves humans and just wants fuss from everyone, her carer says she prefers men but I think she just loves company. Tess has been ok with a dog savvy 4 year old who regularly visits her home but she may be better with older or no children as she can jump up excitedly at you. Although she loves playing in water and recently on a walk had a fabulous time splashing round with a group of children, everything is still "very new/exciting" for Tess at the moment. Tess is food orientated and will jump up and steal treats given the opportunity, so can be quite boisterous especially if you leave something yummy on the kitchen worktop. She isn’t food aggressive and she will let you remove her bowl whilst she eats. She currently eats dried dog food. She will need a confident owner who can shower her with love and teach her some etiquette, her current carer has made wonderful progress by encouraging her to sit and wait for treats. She loves water and will happily paddle, pat and play in water. She hasn’t been to the groomers so we can’t comment on how she would behave if given a “shampoo and set”. The current carer describes her as 90% a fabulous dog with just the remaining 10% that needs consistency and further direction. She loves a cuddle on an evening and can hog the sofa given the opportunity. Tess is like a kangaroo and can jump and climb, she can scale 5 foot easily and has escaped a few times from the family’s fenced garden area. She is clean and happy to go on her bed, she needs an owner that can show patience and continue with further socialisation techniques. Tess enjoys a trip out in the car, in the past she has sat on the car seat and will try to put her head of the window (given the chance). She can get very giddy when setting off on a walk but calms down after a few minutes and walks beautifully. Her recall is sometimes questionable - has been trusted off lead in remote areas but this can be risky as sometimes she can ignore you. She is very people friendly and does not react to other dogs when out on a walk, although she is currently walked on an extending lead. If there are no distractions around, then she has some recall and may respond to you. However beware that she can react to birds, cats and sheep by chasing them. In the garden, if not occupied she will chase flies, once inside she loves to look out the window as she is an avid bird watcher. Tess is ok with big dogs and has made lots of doggy friends in the short period of time she has spent with her carer. Tess is small (everyone thinks she's a puppy) she is a work in progress and needs further socialization; so she does have some demanding behaviours to content with. Her nemesis is cats, she dislikes them and will try to chase them given the opportunity, in the past she has been confined to a small garden so has stimulated herself by watching the birds/flies and will bark and jumped around chattering her teeth and she can if not distracted, fixate on this. Her current carer states that this behaving is decreasing only slightly since Tess has been with her and with time a patient handler can try to break this fixation. She will “when” been demanding jump on the worktops and kitchen table to bark out of the window (mainly at birds or cats) - and will not listen to commands and just bark at you. There is no doubt that Tess is a beautiful looking bitch with lovely orange eyes with black face, with lovely fluffy ears. In her current home her bed is in the kitchen, she is allowed to wander the house but only when it's time, for example she is not to go upstairs unless its bed time and she sleeps at the end of the bed. She has learnt to sit and wait when a door is going to be opened, instead of demanding and pushing past and she picked this up very quickly. Her carer states that she is picking things up very quickly and is more relaxed, with further stimulation and regular walks, even in these early days. Her current carer lives a few doors away from her previous owner and she doesn’t think her been so close to her previous home is going to be conducive for her recovery/forever home. Tess loves to play and socialise and is stunning looking too, there is some work to do she will need someone with a lot of patience and space (and high fences) but she will love them to bits - she just loves “love”. Tess doesn’t like the vacuum cleaner and can be spooked by the hairdryer, so still getting used to some domestic appliance noises. She loves dental sticks and she enjoys weekly visits to the pub, she is so well behaved and sits and socialises for a few hours and she loves it. I think she just wants to be with people after spending so much time alone but still slips back into her demanding confused behaviour, every now and then. Tess hasn’t had the exercise and stimulation she deserves and has already flourished in such a short period of time with exercise and showered with love and affection, she will make a great companion. She has so much love to give, but needs a home that understands her, and someone who can spend time with her.