Ivy Australian Cattle Dog / Blue Heeler Deerfield, NH

Ivy is a wildly sweet and busy 6yo ACD. Her motto is "can't stop, won't stop" and she lives to do all the things, all at once. She's food motivated to learn and loves to play Ball on her terms (the squeakier and bouncier the better, and more than 1 at a time). Ivy's overall excitement for life makes her impulse control skills a bit foggy and sometimes turns off her listening ears. For her safety she needs a home dedicated to keeping her on leash or in a securely fenced in yard.

Ivy is dog friendly, but is dog wary. She doesn't believe other animals (human or dog) want personal space and gives off an energy vibe most dogs don't want to be around. She once lived with another dog that didn't tolerate her zest for life and told her frequently she needed to control herself. After a few disagreements about their differing opinions Ivy's developed resentment towards being told what to do by other dogs (even when she is the one being inapprorpiate). Therefore any future housemates of Ivy's need to be fully accepting of her commitment to her lifestyle. Ivy thinks all other animals that move are for chasing and biting (naturally).

She will not live peacefully in a home with cats or other small pets. While she currently lives the farm life, she's not a farm-friendly dog. She thinks chickens would make a great snack if she had the chance to taste them as well as the other farm animals. Ivy is crate trained and retreats to her safe space when she's ready for a good chewy bone, a carrot, a stuffed kong, or to curl up and rest from a busy day of being Ivy. Ivy is house trained but should never be left unattended because she is bound to get herself into trouble conducting quality control tests on all the inner springs of the couch or performing a thread count on the bed sheets. She needs humans to make good choices for her in situations where she cannot.

Ivy lives with kids but is not trusting or appropriate for all humans great and small. She needs to be managed in situations and situations also need to be managed for her to be safe and successful with new people and in new places.

Ivy will benefit from a home savvy about the typical mannerisms of herding dogs and more specifically ACDs, but she'll need even a bit more than most. Since her life experiences with other dogs, people, and the vet have left a lasting impression that can evoke fear and sometimes reactivity, she needs a calm, gentle leader she can trust, that sets realistics expectations and boundaries and fairly upholds those.

Ivy can be a chatterbox, she yips when she's happy, she whines when she's worried, and she barks when all other things exist in the world. Therefore she needs to live in a home that doesn't have neighbors that can't appreciate her communication skills. If you're looking to put in a dogs-life-time of work for the reward of slobbery-licks, head-butts, snoot-boops, finger-nibbles and to work out at least 1 good throwing arm a day, then Ivy would like to hear from you!

Ivy is being fostered in Deerfield, NH.
For questions please contact kblack.acds@gmail.com.

Complete an Application:
https://www.acdra.org/adoption-application