She's tiny... she's cute... and she's a handful (of fun)! She's Goofy Goober!
Goober arrived to RACC as a stray, so her history is a bit mysterious. Despite this, we've learned a lot about her during her stay, and she's shown us that a HUGE personality can truly exist in a small, 25 pound package!
What do we love about Goober? Goober is a prime example of a young, incredibly smart dog who will absolutely thrive with the RIGHT human. Goober needs a confident and dog savvy leader who will patiently work with her through basic and behavior modification training. Goober LOVES people and LOVES to play. She's also incredibly smart and thrives when she has a job. We think she'd make an excellent agility dog one day!
What needs to be worked on? Goober is what is referred to as a resource guarder. Dogs like Goober show these guarding behaviors when they're nervous about losing what they value. Resource guarding is something that can be worked with in the home with positive reinforcement training. One training strategy is to have the dog drop the object of value, give her a treat and then give her back the item. This will help her learn that it's worthwhile to release things. Due to the guarding behaviors, we are recommending she go to an adult only home, or one where children are 10+ and dog-savvy.
Goober has also shown that she is not interested in being friends with other animals, so she will need to be the only pet in the home.
Despite these quirks, Goober is a dog who thrives on human attention and affection, which also makes her a great candidate for training. She is likely to be a great sidekick to her next human, so long as the human is committed!
If you're interested in adopting or learning more about Goober, please e-mail Christy.Hemsworth@richmondgov.com.
