About Tulip

Tulip is 14. She is a couch potato and sleeps a lot. She is not a lap dog, but she likes when people are around. When I am home she frequently comes to me for some affection, but she is not insistent. On walks, she loves to pause and sniff. She cannot be off leash because she does not come when called and she will follow her nose. She wants to meet other dogs, but only to make sure they check out - she will snarl if she detects aggression in other dogs, but she will be fine with mellow dogs of any size. She does not play. When she encounters a puppy she will give it a snarl if the puppy tries to put a paw on her, but only to send a message. She is currently being walked 3 to 4 times a day and she poops frequently. If she's left alone for hours and she has to poop, she will find a place to go indoors, so frequent walks are a must. Tulip cannot live with any cats. On walks she will charge at any cat she sees if given the chance, and will bark and pull until she is lead away from the cat. She will also bark at houses if she knows there is a dog she does not like living there, or if she knows a cat lives there. And she will bark if she is tied outside and she wants to come back in. Tulip is fine around children as long as she is not grabbed or treated roughly. If small children are running around and making noise near her, she will sometimes leave the room. Children should be told not to put their faces near hers. She has never bitten but has growled on a couple of occasions. Tulip is fully mobile. Her hearing appears to be diminished but she can still hear. She is lumpy with some benign fatty tumors. She had a mast cell cancer about the diameter of a nickel removed from her lower abdomen several years ago and there has been no sign of recurrence. For the past 4 years Tulip has been receiving a Cytopoint injection in late summer/early fall to address her allergies (which make her skin hot and itchy). These injections provide immediate and durable relief. We don't know exactly what she's allergic to, but it's apparently something that occurs around that time (perhaps ragweed or goldenrod). One injection has been enough to get her through the fall and she's good until next year. She has no springtime allergies. Lately her diet has been 1/2 cup of Pedigree Adult Roasted Chicken, Rice and Vegetable flavor (dry kibble) and a heaping tablespoon of Pedigree Chopped Chicken and Rice canned food well mixed, morning and evening. If she is fed table scraps she will quickly gain weight.

Cumberland County
Westbrook, Maine