Lucy
maltese/Poodle Mix | Female | 13 years Old | 9 Lbs
QUICK FACTS: ✔️ Good with other dogs! ✔️ Can free roam when alone! ✔️ Crate trained! ✔️ Good in car! ✔️ Walks well on leash!
✔️ Good for beginner dog owner!
Updates
Lucy found her final home July 8, 2021!
PUPDATE 3
Lucy has been loving the hot weather and will sleep in the sun outside all day if I let her. I have taken her for a few short walks and she is ok with it, but I can tell her joints hurt her so we keep it to about half a block. She is very well behaved in her crate now and never barks unless she has to potty.
Her potty habits continue to be the only time-consuming thing about her. She has accidents in her crate most nights, even if I wake up in the middle of the night to let her out. During the day she can make it about 2 hours but then will have an accident if no one is home to let her out. I use a washable potty pad in her crate so it’s easy to clean.
Lucy is very good with grooming! She trembles a little, but is not aggressive. The same goes for bath time. She gets cold easily, so I make sure to dry her with a blow dryer afterwards. She is a great eater and loves her meals.
Taking care of Lucy reminds me of taking care of an elderly family member, except she’s more portable and easier to clean. It will take a very special person who is willing to adopt this sweet little old lady, but she is hoping that person is out there!
PUPDATE 2
Lucy has gotten so much more settled into the routine in my house in the past few weeks. She still wakes up early some days, but usually will sleep till my wake up time at 8 am. She is used to sleeping in a crate now and settles right in. She gets cold if it’s below 70 degrees, so I put a space heater in her room and she is happy as can be! On hot days she loves to lay outside in the sun. She will sit out in the yard for hours by herself, happy as a clam. When the sun goes behind the trees, she will come to the back door and bark to be let back inside. She went to a Fetch event last week and was very good with all the people and other dogs. She ignored the other dogs but was very interested in the people who had treats for her. She is a very easy dog who just wants a spot on a couch to live out her final years. If you give her food and a soft warm bed, she will be your best friend. (I’m pretty sure she is my spirit animal.) Lucy wants you to know that there are many benefits to adopting a senior dog! She never chews on anything, she doesn’t dig holes or get into trouble, and she doesn’t need exercise. Plus, she takes up less room on the couch than a throw pillow. Is there someone out there who has it in their heart to let a sweet senior dog into their home?
PUPDATE 1
Lucy is a very sweet senior dog who is looking for a loving home to live out her golden years. Her favorite things to do are eat and sleep. She sleeps in her crate at night. She would love to sleep in bed with me, but she snores so she has to sleep in a crate downstairs :) She was unhappy about this at first and would pace and bark, but now she will settle in and go to sleep. She wakes up early to potty, around 6:30 am, but will go back to sleep after you let her out. The rest of the day she spends sleeping in various places - the couch, her dog bed, outside in the sun, or in her crate.
Lucy is shy with people and will run away from strangers. She has never been aggressive at all and is fine with being picked up, but she will tremble if a stranger touches her. She will bark at strangers if they walk past the yard when she is outside. She has not been around children.
She is not interested in going for walks. Lucy potties in the backyard and then finds a sunny spot to take a nap.
Lucy lives with five other dogs. The three older dogs ignore her, which she likes, but the two puppies sometimes try to play with her and she will get annoyed and bark at them. She would do better with older dogs who will leave her alone. She likes to be in the same room as everyone else but will find a corner where she can sleep and not be bothered. Lucy has not been around cats.
I have had Lucy for about 3 weeks and I still wouldn’t say she is fully crate trained. When I first got her, she would bark in the crate the entire time I was gone. This lasted about a week and now she doesn’t bark in the crate anymore, although sometimes she will pace in circles when I first put her in. She can get pretty worked up and will pant and drool. I correct this behavior by saying “quiet” and rattling her crate, which works very well and she will settle down and go to sleep. She was doing very well but then regressed a little when I moved her crate to a different room. I think she may need a week or so in a new house to learn not to bark in a crate, and for that reason she might not be a good dog for an apartment. However, she does do fine being left out of a crate as long as it is for short periods. With longer periods I would worry about her having potty accidents.
Lucy has to go out to pee about every 3-4 hours during the day. She also wakes up early in the morning to potty, around 6:30 am. She will need an owner who is home enough to let her out often; she wouldn’t be able to last a full workday. She is fully potty trained as long as you take her out every few hours.
Lucy has a few minor health issues given her age. She has cataracts although she is able to see, and she seems to be hard of hearing, although she’s not completely deaf. Her bloodwork showed that one of her liver enzymes was mildly elevated. The vet did not feel this was concerning, and recommended monitoring with senior bloodwork every 6 months. Lucy walks with a funny stiff-legged walk. She is able to go up and down the two steps coming into my house, but has to be carried for a full flight of stairs.
Lucy has curly hair and does not shed, so she will need haircuts every few months. She came to Fetch with a severe flea infestation and a secondary bacterial skin infection, so she was missing patches of hair on her legs. Now she is flea-free and is so much more comfortable. She just got a haircut to even out her hair length and get rid of her mats, so she looks like a shorn sheep right now, but she will be the cutest fluffy cloud when her hair grows in.