About Mabel

[Read About Natural Seizure Care] This is Mabel. More than anything else in the world, Mabel wants to be a good dog. But sometimes it is just really tough. Let me start with the great things about Mabel. She is incredibly loving. Once she trusts you, which usually doesn't take more than about 15 minutes, Mabel would gladly let you rub her belly for hours on end. And she loves giving kisses. She is an athlete. One of her favorite things to do when she gets excited is to show you how fast she can run around the yard-or even better-the dog park. She has lots of energy and loves to spend it running after balls (but is not so keen on returning them), chasing squirrels (has never caught one and wouldn't know what to do if she did), and following you around wherever you go (never gets tired of that). She is hopelessly devoted to-and protective of-her family. You will NEVER have to wonder if someone is at the door. Mabel will be sure to let you know-loudly. In fact, if she ever thinks there may be someone at the door, or approaching the door, or if the wind blows against the door-just to be safe, Mabel will sound the alarm. And of course, she will continue sounding the alarm until you come to inspect the door and make sure everything is fine. Which brings me to the not-so-great things about Mabel and why-after working with her for years-we feel that we need to find her a home more suitable for her needs. Mabel is very high-energy but also a bit neurotic. Despite being a mid-sized dog and athletic, she is initially afraid of most people-especially men. She is protective of her yard and will aggressively bark, hair-raised on her back, at most everyone who passes by. She generally likes other dogs but will nip at them if she meets them on a walk. We are not experts, but attribute both of these issues to her tendency to be (over)protective. She also sometimes has seizures. They are not common-maybe once every few months. And the vet can't pinpoint the cause. Our best guess is that it comes as a reaction to Mabel eating something she shouldn't. Which is another issue-Mabel will gladly consume most anything she finds in the yard: random sticks, plastic toys, etc. And I don't mean chew up-I mean totally consume (unless you catch her in the act and take it away, of course). That said, she does not chew up stuff inside the house. Finally, and why we ultimately decided we have to find her a new home, Mabel is not the best around small children she doesn't know. She will aggressively bark at them if they approach her yard. She can sometimes become afraid of them and-for the first time this weekend-bit two of them. Thankfully, it was not severe. But she did break the skin on one of the children. And we just can't risk it happening again. We live in a tight-knit neighborhood with more than a dozen children under the age of 7 just on our half-block. One of the great things for these kids is that they run around the neighborhood yards having fun. We have a fence, but the kiddos sometimes approach it and can stick in their hands/legs/etc. After this incident, we know that Mabel needs a place that does not have so much activity around her yard at all times. We have tried a variety of training-including group classes and in-home visits. And while Mabel shows a propensity to being trained (she is highly attentive and food-motivated, for example) we have not been able to 'train away' the more challenging behaviors described above. I suspect that a better set of dog owners would have more success-unfortunately, we do not seem up to the task. As far as her 'history,' we adopted Mabel from the Moberly animal shelter when she was roughly 4 months old. She was listed as a lab/boxer mix. Our family has had boxers, so that is what initially drew us to her. But as she has grown up, it seems clear that she is probably more likely a lab/pit mix. We've had her for almost 5 years. She has had consistent veterinary care (at Noah's Ark Veterinary Clinic in Columbia) that whole time, is up to date on all vaccinations, receives her Frontline and heartworm preventative treatments as scheduled, etc. Other than the seizure issue, she has no medical issues to speak off and seems incredibly healthy. She does not need any ongoing treatments-just food and water twice a day (which is enough to get her to literally jump with joy). We very much hope that there is a home that is well suited to Mabel. If she sounds like a dog that you can love, she will definitely return it to you and then some. It is tough to have to post this, but we know that, for all involved (including Mabel's own well-being) we have to remove her from a situation that she is just not suited for-no matter how much she would want to make it work.

Boone County
Columbia, Missouri