Ladybird Coonhound Rockville, MD

Ladybird – Redtick Coonhound - female/neutered – red and white coat – 8 years old - 65 pounds

Ladybird is a wonderfully sweet dog who wants nothing more in life than love, food, and comfy fluffy beds. While some hounds can be particularly aloof, Ladybird is super special in that she *loves* to be and cuddle with her humans. She will follow you from room to room just to be at your feet. If her foster mom is sitting on the floor, Ladybird will walk up and almost bulldoze her head in her foster mom's chest for snuggles. She is incredibly endearing and sincerely loyal.

Before she was rescued, Ladybird was found wandering the backroads of West Virginia. She was a tad skittish, so she was likely a failed hunting dog, but that makes her the perfect pet! When she first came into foster care, she hid under the couch for about 6 weeks until her foster mom was able to kindly and gently coax her out permanently. Scared and unsure at first, probably never having lived indoors, she took her time coming out of her shell. Now, after some love and the predictable routines of domestic life, she thrives as a wonderful, loving, and humorous hound dog.

Ladybird is fully house trained and knows some basic commands (sit, wait, come, down, leave it, speak, high five). She is also crate trained and well versed in leash walking. She has been trained to use a gentle leader harness, but does not have to wear it to be well behaved out on a walk. Although, she has been known to tree the occasional squirrel, and bark up the next tree over so as not to arouse suspicion that she might be good at a regular job. Because she likes to chase wildlife, and then follow her nose leaving no leaf unturned in true hound fashion, we recommend a yard with a secure fence so that she does not escape and get lost in nearby woods.

As is typical of hounds, Ladybird sleeps and relaxes with blissful abandon on the sofa or her soft bed, and this low-key energy level changes at those joyful moments when her foster parents return from an absence, someone knocks on the door, or mealtime when she will dance for her food bowl. At these times she becomes gleefully animated with delight and excitement. Ladybird is extremely affectionate and will shower her foster mom with snuggles, and then promptly flop over in her lap just to soak up every last drop of love. Ladybird is also highly food motivated. We see traces of her likely former deprivations through her interest in food - she eats as if she will never have enough food and shields her food bowl from any wandering external attention. Because of her relationship with food, we do not recommend that Ladybird be placed with small children.

Ladybird does well with and enjoys other dogs, however, she can also easily be a solo dog. Ladybird likes her food and treats, so if you do have a dog, Ladybird should be fed separately. Because of her penchant for chasing squirrels, we have not tested her with cats.

If you are interested in Ladybird, please visit www.hedgesvillehounds.com to apply.