About Lydia

Background She is 2 year old American Staffordshire Terrier, 45 lbs as of last vet visit. The shelter told me that Lydia was brought in as a stray and that she had had puppies recently (not found with her). We've speculated that she may have been a breeding dog for dog fights due to her cropped ears but we don't have evidence of this. She is spayed, chipped, and is up to date on all of her shots Owner Experience Level - Mid/Experienced, would not recommend for a first time dog owner Training - Quick to learn/understand commands - Knows sit, stay, stop, come here, still needs work on following commands on the first try. We've practiced making her sit before we feed her and before we open doors and staying in the crate before we give her permission to get out - Currently working on 'easy' when taking treats and 'leave it' - Not fully house trained, must be taken out immediately after eating or she'll pee/poop inside, will sometimes signal that she has to go outside by going to the door but will also sometimes pee without warning. Needs to be taken out immediately after you hear her drinking a lot of water. After using the bathroom it'll probably be about 4 hours before she has to go again (assuming she hasn't eaten or drank a lot of water). Can hold it in crate for up to 7 hours. - Will consistently have accidents if left alone to free roam in house (see Separation Anxiety), not puppy pad trained General Behavior - Very sweet dog, loves getting attention from people and a bit of a Velcro dog, always wants to be around others and be a part of the action. Loves being the center of attention too - Loves being pet and will sometimes paw at you to continue if you stop - Mid Energy, becomes High Energy after being crated - Starts winding down around 9pm and becomes an absolute cuddle buddy, like curls up next to you and doesn't want to move for the rest of the night - Will also be more cuddly/relaxed on the days when everyone in the house stays home and hangs out together like on the weekends - Sleeps through the night and will usually wake up and start being active on your schedule once she gets use to it. - Alternates between sleeping on couch alone or sleeping in bed with people. Has not been trained to use dog bed - Quiet, barks very rarely, sometimes does a little howl when she stretches (Note: I have no clue if she barks when we're not home) - Very good on vet visits - Able to be handled with no effort when it comes to bathing, grooming, clipping nails - Becomes overexcited when guests come over and starts jumping/running at the guests/around the home - Can be mouthy/nippy when overstimulated/overexcited (No bite history in the time that I've had her, she will play fight with the other dog in the house but not act aggressively towards him, has never broken skin on animal or human) - Has run out of the house a few times (usually in response to stimuli such as a rabbit) but has never run away. Consistently comes back within a minute or so and never strays far (Note: her coming back is not trained behavior, subject to change) - Reactive to small animals such as rabbits, birds, squirrels. Will chase if given the opportunity, needs multiple redirections if seen on walks/out using the bathroom - Not reactive to moving cars, neighborhood dogs barking - Will sometimes go on alert if there is an unfamiliar noise (random car door slamming near the house being the most common one) and may start huffing or lightly growling but will settle down after a couple of minutes - Low reactivity to people/other dogs on walks, will stop and look but move on with a redirection (Note: I always make an effort to keep a fair distance from other people/dogs while on walks because of breed bias. I'm not sure how she'd do walking directly towards another dog in close proximity or in a dog park) - Experiences anxiety when riding in cars, will want to move around constantly and needs to be secured still (Note: she'll calm down a little if you give her treats throughout the ride) - Good on leash, minimal pulling, will occasionally get zoomies on leash if in large grassy area - Has never been around children in the time that I've had her, I don't know how she'd do I have more information than this regarding compatibility with other dogs, separation anxiety, health history, and misc. information DM me for more info.

Hamilton County
Chattanooga, Tennessee