Last Updated: February 25, 2023
Date of Arrival: October 6, 2022
Age: Approx. 4 yrs old
Breed: Papillion X
Size: Approx. 20 lbs
Gender: Female
Adoption Status: Tina is available for adoption
Personality: Tina is back in our care after a short stay with a family. They loved her and she loved them, but the family recognized that they weren't the right fit for each other and so they made the difficult decision to return her to the rescue.
Tina is a sweet girl, but easily concerned about anything and everything. Her foster is helping her learn to live in a calm state of mind instead of following her natural, anxiety-based, impulsive decisions. Tina is getting better at working through her insecurities, and is learning that she can trust the human as her leader instead of living life in a constant state of fear and reactivity. Tina will feed off of the energy of the humans around her, and when they lack confidence or feel a lot of stress, she feels the same. Tina has a history of bite reactivity; with correction and guidance from her foster, she is learning that there are better ways to handle her stress. Tina's first inclination had always been fight or flight when she encountered anything she considered scary (which was almost everything). Now she is learning that not everything is a threat to her existence - a person biking by, for example, doesn't have to be a big deal. Her foster will provide information to Tina’s forever person/people on how to continue her positive training. Tina has been trained to respond to an e-collar to help her regain her focus and calm mindset, and she sometimes wears a muzzle during her down time. When Tina has the muzzle on, she will often quickly switch from stressed and anxious to calm and peaceful. Muzzle training is not something every dog needs, but nor is it only for “dangerous" dogs. A muzzle can be an excellent tool for many reasons, and it helps Tina work on her calm, non-reactive approach to various situations.
Since her biggest issue is finding a way to let go of things that stress her, her foster has been working with her on this skill in the home as well. Tina is learning to allow her brain to slow down so she can just exist calmly and peacefully. She is doing great, but does still need reminders about this - a firm, "Tina, lie down," is usually enough to stop her anxious twirling or other unsettled behaviours, so she can put her head down, exhale, and rest.
Tina loves being near her humans, but she also does well when left alone at home. She is a smart and sensitive dog that responds quickly to correction and wants to do what's asked of her.
House training/Pee Pad Training: Tina is outdoor trained.
Walks/leash training: Tina has learned to walk nicely on a leash, and works hard at having a non-reactive approach to things that have been triggers for her in the past. Tina loves her walks but they can be stressful for her if they are unstructured. She tries her best, but will sometimes react to other dogs, and needs someone who will correct her mindset. She has shown huge improvement after starting to wear a doggie backpack on her walks. Sometimes all you need is to know what the expectations are and what your job is - for Tina, it's walking politely beside the human, and carrying her little backpack!
Tina out for a walk with her canine foster brothers. The backpack helps her stay focused on her
job, and the leash over her nose helps with head control and gently reminds her not to pull.
Children: Tina is okay with older, quiet, dog savvy children. She enjoys pets from them and supervised leash walking around the yard. Having said this, we will not adopt Tina to a home with children under age 16, as she does not do well with a lot of high energy/active kids and would be better suited to a calmer home.
Dogs, Cats and Other Friends: Tina is doing well with the other dogs in her foster home. They don't snuggle or play together, but are able to co-exist peacefully. She has shown a bit of toy possessiveness (towards dogs), and she should not be left unsupervised with other dogs. Given the opportunity, Tina will chase cats and other small animals, so she needs a feline-free home.
Best Home Environment: Tina will do well in a home that is focused on rewarding her good choices, and has clear expectations of the rules and boundaries. She will do her best with a calm and confident owner who is committed to not babying her, but giving her all the love they can, by being her leader and a human she can rely on. She sometimes reacts negatively to a newer person coming into her space (into the same room or just coming closer to her), and will need an extremely structured environment for the foreseeable future, with humans that advocate for her, so that she can learn that she is safe and can make good decisions.
Health: Tina is a healthy dog and has completed her vetting. She is currently on medication for anxiety and we are seen some positive results from this.
History: Tina was a transfer from Winnipeg Animal Services.
Adoption Fee: Tina’s adoption fee is $400.
Please download our application and follow instructions to apply for any of our dogs in care. Please note we do not accept or process any applications until a dog is ready for adoption. Please do not submit applications until such as time as we indicate we are ready to consider applicants.
Due to the high volume of interest in our cupcakes dogs, we regretfully cannot provide personalized responses to applicants at this time. We also are not maintaining any adoptions waitlists. Please visit our FB page where we will update everyone on how our dogs are doing as often as possible. Thank you for your understanding.