About Riley

Riley is a senior (9 y old) lady with spunk. Inside the house: She is very easy. She sleeps either in the crate or on the dog bed, she has a memory foam twin mattress as a bed and she really likes that - she is long, so she can stretch out and it is easy for her to get up. She chews up her toys, but she does not touch anything that does not belong to her. We have left her for about 2+ hr in the house and she was fine. She is fully house trained, no accidents. She loves to eat and she eats fast so we use a slow bowl. She sits and waits before she eats. She may bark to remind us that she is hungry, or when people eat and she does not, she stops when ignored. Riley is a happy girl. She likes people and toys. She sleeps a lot at home but gets little bursts of energy in the evening. She often follows us around the house, but she can also go to another room to lie down Health: She has some arthritis but with a lot of walks she seems to get stronger every day. She has some problems with stairs, but in the last few days she started to climb our carpeted stairs. So probably occasional stair climbing will be ok, even though a one level house may be best. She also seems to handle our hardwood floors better than a week ago. We put some yoga mats and she likes to lie on them but she can get up from the bare floor. She can get into the car, she prefers to get on the floor first so the car that has more space for her to do that is easier for her. If there is not enough space in the back, she tries to go through the front seats. Sometimes she settles herself on the floor. Walks: Riley absolutely loves her walks and does a happy dance when I get a leash. We are walking about four 30 minutes walks, but less if it is hot. I don't think she ever walked on the leash before, she is all over the place with her nose to the ground, she wants to check out all the smells, people, dogs, etc. We are working on loose leash walking, but she still has a long way to go. She appears to like all other dogs and greets them politely, but she gets excited by little yappy dogs and starts pulling. She is learning to check with me when we walk ( I carry a lot of treats) but since we do not have a big yard, I can't test her recall. She could probably benefit from a yard where she could run/explore a little before the walk, or the company of another mature dog, however, a young energetic dog could be too much, because she gets tired quickly. Overall Riley is really good company and when she learns to walk on the leash a bit better she will be close to perfect.

San Diego County
San Diego, California