Sophie
Mountain Cur Mix | Female | 1 year Old | 35 Lbs
QUICK FACTS: ✔️ Good with other dogs! ✔️ Good with kids! ✔️ Crate trained! ✔️ Housebroken! ✔️ Good in car! ❌ Working on leash manners! ❌ No apartments!
Sophie found her forever home on August 15, 2022!
Check out cute videos of Sophie here!
Updates
PUPDATE 3
The third time is going to be the charm for this sweet girl. She has come so far since her arrival in Wisconsin. We have learned so much about her. We learned she doesn’t like living in a busy city neighborhood and an apartment. She found a home in a suburban neighborhood, she loved that setting. Sophie is very in-tune to her human’s emotions. She understands happy, sad, sick, excited but struggles with reading anxiety and doesn’t know how to respond to it. She tries to play to make them feel better and it doesn’t work. Sophie’s family was the right family at the wrong time in their lives.
Sophie has learned so much. She tries to sit when meeting new people and at the door. She uses a gentle leader for walking. She is so much less reactive to sounds in the yard (the UPS guy is still sketchy). She started touch training and they felt she would enjoy nose work. She is a true hound in that respect! Her mom said she is motivated and a joy to train. Sophie knows sit, off, drop it, leave it, come and wait with pretty good success. She is crate and potty trained.
She loves her family and would also benefit from another dog in the house. She did not care for large group day care but would like small play groups if she is the only dog in the home. She crates well for 4-5 hours but would not do well with an 8 hour day alone. She plays well, for a puppy, with my 6 year old grandson. She likes kids and is learning to tone down around them. She has a good prey drive so cats would probably not be the best companion.
Sophie is the sweetest girl who needs to find the right fit for her forever family. She loves to be loved and likes to snuggle and cuddle.
PUPDATE 2
Sophie is back through no fault of her own: We have learned she is not a candidate for busy downtown or apartment living. It was too scary and there were too many noises for her liking and she became very vocal about her fears. This young gal is now looking for a quiet suburban neighborhood or even a country retreat to continue learning how to navigate this world. She would prefer a fenced backyard to run and play in: She’s a low to medium activity level dog so she does not need a walk every day and would do better to get comfortable in her new home - and then work on going out and about - where there are not runners and bikers at every turn.
Puppy classes to learn leash skills and socialization would also be beneficial before tackling walks in the neighborhood, while building her confidence and decreasing her fears. Sophie gets along well with other dogs and would love an older playmate. An older dog in the home would also give her confidence on walks. She currently walks with my 2 dogs with only a few corrections on her barking.
While inside, she is content to chew on toys and lounge on the couch. Her counter surfing has decreased but she is still food motivated when it’s around. She loves her snuffle mat that utilizes her hound sniffing skills. Sophie is good with kids and people coming into our home. She has a loud hound bark but in the right environment, she doesn’t bark as much. She is also crate trained and we recommend continuing her crating overnight and when home alone in her new home.
Overall, Sophie is a fairly easy-going puppy, she just needs a quieter and slower speed of life than most other pups her age.
PUPDATE 1
Sophie gets up at 6 am. Quick potty outside and then she eats breakfast in her kennel. She plays with my dog or chews on toys for about an hour, then snoozes on the couch. She goes out midday with my dogs. She does well in a kennel for 4-hour times. She plays with my dogs on and off during the day, alternating sleep and play. For a 9-month-old puppy, she is pretty chill. She loves to snuggle on the couch at night and watch TV. She kennels at night but I think she would do fine sleeping with her people. She lays on my bed a lot during the day.
Sophie can bark at people she meets but she also walks right up to people and greets them. Treat distractions, teaching her “Place” and having a consistent home will improve any fears. She does like to jump up on people but with a week of clear expectations, that has been reduced.
She does well with my grandson; she has jumped up on him a few times but never knocked him over. She just wants his attention. He is very good at working with dogs and firmly tells her “Off.” She will puppy play bite occasionally but usually when lots of activity and movement is going on and she is overly excited. Reminders stop that right away.
Sophie is medium energy. She loves a walk or a run in the yard but also is content with chewing on toys and snoozing. She is a puppy and will need ways to release energy daily.
Sophie loves my dogs (3- and 10-year olds) and plays appropriately. She honors their warning signals to back off if they are done playing. She will bark back at dogs in the neighborhood but comes in when called from the yard or is treat distracted on walks. If I can prepare her for upcoming dogs, she does better.
Sophie is crated when alone and shows no separation anxiety. She loves a few Cheerios in the crate when I leave. She was with a sitter for a week and did fine being kept in the bathroom when the sitters left the house for a full day of work.
Sophie rides great in the car but if the Walmart pick-up person comes up or anything startles her, she barks loudly. She is working on being redirected to a treat and responding to, “Settle, no barking.”
Sophie could do well in an apartment; her barking out the window has decreased tremendously in a week with consistent reminders and redirection. I hardly have to correct her. Other than at the window, she never barks in the home.
Sophie is a sweet loving pup that no one took the time to train or set expectations for. She learns quickly and just needs to replace bad habits with good. She is a hound so she has a hound bark and the hound need to sniff. She is also instantly devoted to you and wants your approval and love. She is medium weight but tall. Training class would make the world of difference with her. She will make a great dog with a little time and effort on her owner’s part. I am impressed with how far she has come with me in a week!