My name is Venus, and like the song by Shocking Blue, “I’m your Venus!” If you are looking for a 4-star cuddle buddy, I am your girl! My foster mom loves the little freckles on my nose and the Holstein-like patches on my body. I was found with my brother roaming around the desert in New Mexico. We made the long trip up to Minnesota, and I love it here!
I haven’t lived in a house before my foster mom took me in, and I love hanging on the couch and cuddling, and all the warm and comfy blankets and beds available. Even though I hadn’t had any training and my manners were questionable when I arrived, we have been working very hard on learning the way of being a “house” dog. It helps that I have an older brother and sister at the foster house that can teach me, and believe me, I pay attention and soak it all in! I get along really well with my foster siblings, and they have been very patient and understanding with me learning the ropes. I also love cuddling with the resident dogs, and they even let me look out the front window when I want to.
As I mentioned, I have been working on a lot of training! It helps that I live with a professional dog trainer. I have mastered “sit” and “down”, and calmly taking treats (and sitting for them like a polite girl). I am working on “stay” and “leave it”, and doing well. We also do fun things like learning tricks, and I can spin and army crawl a bit. We are working on impulse control because jumping is super fun! But, I am learning that jumping is not super fun for humans, so I am getting better at being polite with a quick “uh uh.” We are also working on leash walking, and my foster mom said I am pretty good at not pulling until a big distraction (oh, squirrel!) comes along.
I am mostly kennel trained, and sleep in my kennel at night. I bark for the first 5-10 minutes because I miss you, but after that I settle in and sleep until morning. I am fed in my kennel and that makes me like my kennel much more. I am beginning to realize my kennel is one of my favorite places. I do get really excited when my foster mom comes to let me out, and that is the time I get most of my jumps in. I am 99% potty trained! I don’t know what happened to that extra 1%, maybe it’s because on the first day here I had a couple of accidents. But since then, my foster mom rings a bell and takes me out on a consistent schedule, and I haven’t had any accidents since. I am starting to ring the bell when I have to go, and my foster mom seems to think that is the coolest thing!
I wasn’t great with toys before I got here, but boy are toys fun! There is a large crate of all kinds of things to munch on and play with – like rope toys, stuffed and squeaky toys, antlers, nylabones, etc. They are all good! I really like pulling them all out and then picking one to spend some time with. Because there are so many toys, I haven’t destroyed anything in the house. A couple of times I went after some pillows because they looked like toys, but mom gave a quick “leave it” and now I know pillows are just for cuddling with. I am very attentive to commands and don’t have to be told twice to leave something alone.
One of my favorite things is counter surfing because I want to be a sous chef. But I am learning some boundary training and the command “off” so now I just wait for things to fall on the floor. I am a very curious and confident young girl, and am learning that asking permission politely is the way to live a very good life.
I haven’t met any kids, but have loved all the people and dogs I have met. I am not very big (about 38 pounds), and am a licker far more than a “mouthy” dog, so my foster mom thinks I would do well with kids. I haven’t met any cats, but if you have a cat, I can go get “cat tested” and will probably pass because I am a good student!
I would love to live with a family that will play with me, take me for walks, and maybe has another dog I can play with and learn from. I would love to be your little shadow, and cuddle with you when you’ve had a long day! Remember, “I’m your Venus!”
