This lovely girl is 4 year old Fleur and she is looking for a new experienced home. If you are interested in helping her, please email us, or send us a message.
Fleur’s mum rehomed her just over a year ago. Her owners said they could not cope with her energy levels. She is a very loving dog and adores humans and the GSP she lives with. She likes playing with him and they will often be quite rough, without any issues. She loves being snuggled and warm, and gets covered over with a blanket when she is sleeping. Overnight she sleeps on the sofa or in mum’s bed.
Fleur is now left alone regularly for about 6 hours and she is very stressed by this, even though the other GSP is fine. She will settle for very short periods, but mainly barks and howls and will also sometimes chew, depending how stressed she is. Since adopting her, her mum has found out that her separation anxiety was part of the reason why she was rehomed. She wasn’t told this at the time.
Fleur is fine with some other dogs, and will greet them happily, but can be reactive towards others. She will show her teeth and has attacked some unknown smaller dogs. Family members’ dogs visit regularly and she even dislikes one of the female GSPs and will go for her. It isn’t obvious what the trigger for this behaviour is. Her mum puts a muzzle on her sometimes, for peace of mind.
Fleur loves retrieving tennis balls. She also likes squeaky toys, though she will chew most types up. She’s not keen on the bath and though her face shows she’s a bit nervous, she will happily let her mum pick her up, put her in and wash her.
Fleur will bark at the sound of the letter box or if someone walks up the drive way, so is a good guard dog. She also barks at people walking past the house with or without a dog.
Fleur is a healthy an active girl. She is known to have had 1 litter and is now neutered. She is fed on Purina pro plan, with supplements, daily plaque off and salmon oil. She grazes rather than eating at set meal times. She was underweight when she first joined the family. She is polite and takes food from hand very nicely. She will sit patiently and wait for her food. She likes cucumbers and carrots and has some everyday but doesn’t like bananas or blueberries. She loves filled kongs and cow hooves. She has been prescribed Pexon to help with separation anxiety but it doesn’t seem to be helping.
It is thought that Fleur would chase a cat and cause harm if she caught one. The same goes for other small animals like a rabbits. She has a high prey drive. Fleur is good around horses, cows and donkeys.
In the 14 months with her current family she has been around children between the ages of 2 and 12 and she has been very gentle and kind to them. She also lived with children in her first home, so she could join a home with children, depending on how her reactivity would be managed.
Fleur walks on a Halti head collar and extendable lead. She mostly has good recall but in some areas, like woodland, where scent is high, she will go off running for some time, with only occasional check ins. She responds to a whistle, when she chooses to. She is therefore usually kept on a long lead. She knows sit, stay, paw, roll over, touch and lay down. She travels really well in the car. She’ll happily jump in and out of the car on command, and will settle for both long and short journeys in the boot.
Her mum has started to work with a dog trainer, specifically for the separation anxiety but she knows there is no quick fix. The combination of her separation anxiety and her negative reactions to some dogs has made her mum make the difficult decision to rehome her, feeling that it might be better for Fleur to live in an experienced home where she hasn’t got to be left as often and where she doesn’t need to meet so many other dogs, until she has learned more positive behaviours. Her mum will share any advice from the trainer.
Fleur is currently in the Southampton area. If you think you could give this girl her forever home, where you will continue to work on her behaviours towards other dogs and her separation anxiety, then please email us on gsprescueuk@gmail.com. Fleur will be rehomed with Agria 5 weeks insurance, under our Adoption Contract and GSP Rescue UK terms and conditions apply.
