Harper

Just a quick update on our Harper girl!  She is doing well and loving the warm weather and her foster Dad playing with her outside and taking her on a nice long walk every day.

She is a sweet, wonderful girl who is quite a character-in a good way!  She likes to roll around with her foster furbrother they have a great time together.  She seems to like most dogs.

Harper continues to have issues with people she does not know.  She is better with women than men, but will over-react even to a woman out of fear of the unknown.-for example, while on a walk. As an example, when she came into foster care, it took several weeks of hard work for her foster dad to be able to get near her.

Due to the issues she has with new people, we feel that Harper will need an adopter who lives close enough to her foster home so that the potential adoptive family can come and visit with her several times over a few weeks so she can acclimate to them.  That will allow her to feel secure that foster dad and mom are there but also give her the opportunity to warm up to a new family.  

Harper is truly a great dog-but she does require a committed adopter and a bit of work.  Trust me, it will be worth the effort if you think you're up to it!!!

Hi everyone!  It's me, Harper and I am so excited to be able to talk to you myself.  Sometimes folks think that they know you but it's so much better to let others know who you are all by yourself!!

I love it at my foster home.  I have lots of other dogs to play with and I love that - and, I have three of those grown-up folks who take great care of me and the food ain't bad either lol  I never have accidents in the house since that is certainly not lady-like and I am surely a lady!  I love my crate and rarely bark as most of my needs are met here before I even know that it's a need!!  I do bark when I am outside if I see folks that I do not know but I never run at or after them, I just bark.  My bark can be a bit scary but it's just a bark lol

I am a great BIG girl and I know that sometimes that scares some people.  But, I really am a sweetheart and I love people, it's just that when I first meet someone, I am very scared.  Because I'm frightened of new things and new people, I bark and hoot and holler to make sure everyone knows how I feel. That can be somewhat intimidating even though I am just scared.  My foster dad says that it's because I intimidate some people with all that carrying on,  but I told him that really, it's that they intimidate ME!!   I just need a bit of time to get to know new people and then I am their best friend. ( It's for that reason that we are hoping to find a new home that is interested in Harper in our immediate area so that they could come and visit with her and let her get to know them.  She likes people a lot, it's simply that the fear gets in the way sometimes. )

Harper loves the new harness that her foster dad got for her.  It has lots of patches and insignias on it and she just loves when he brings it out because she knows that means she is going in the car with him.  They are working on socializing her in new situations like Petsmart or PetCo for example.  So, they have a Sunday morning routine and take a ride to one of those stores and if there are not too many people there already, she is able to take a walk inside.  It's a gradual process but the only way to desensitize her to new situations and new people.   She also goes to the veterinarian's office often, just for a toenail trim.  Yes, she needs her nails cut but really, it is mostly to, again, desensitize her to more things.   She is muzzled for the procedure but is also cooperative.  The muzzle is used just as a precaution.  Harper has never bitten anyone-human or dog-and does not attempt to do so.

Now that the warmer weather is approaching and most of us are confined to our homes because of the coronavirus, Harper will be able to spend a lot more time learnig new things since all of the adults in her life will be home for the time being.  Harper is very bright and eager to learn.  You can watch her wheels turning when you are working on anything new with her.  She loves to work on new things and also loves the praise she gets when she succeeds-of course, the training treats help too lololol

Harper is very anxious for her furever family to find her and she promises, she will love and protect them forever!!

I had the pleasure of taking care of Harper for almost 2 weeks while her foster parents were away.  While Harper was with me, I learned a lot about her.  Harper can be very sweet and lovable, goofy and playful and she is very smart.   Harper has a lot of wonderful qualities which all come out once she relaxes and acclimates to her surroundings.  Unfortunately, Harper's nature seems to be very overprotective.  It appears that she willingly accepts everyone in the household, but is leery and unsure of any new people.  After discussing it with her foster family, we feel she acts this way out of fear.  We believe that with patience and training (for the owner as well as Harper) she may, stressing the word MAY here, MAY be able to over come this.  So at this time, we are not recommending she go to a household with small children or even teenagers because all the busy in and out will definitely stress her out.  The ideal environment for Harper would be a home with an older couple who don't have children or a quieter household.  

As far as other dogs go, Harper loved my boxer who is a very tiny and petite 4 year old female boxer.  Like any boxers, sometimes the play was rough, but I never had to intervene or separate them or shut down the play.  I also crated Harper at times to see how she would react, she crated completely fine.  I did gate her in my family room at night and she slept thru the night quietly with no issues.  She does all her business outside and eats her meals when they are served to her.  She responds to her name and comes when called, she also gives paw and sits.  

Harper has been in rescue too long, she needs to find her forever home.  She is still so young and would make a great addition to the right household.   She really is a wonderful dog who just needs a chance to thrive in the right situation.  

Harper came into rescue several weeks ago.  Her foster mom has been working with her a bit since she is selective about the men that she meets.  She loves women and older teenagers but she hasn't had any exposure to kids in the home.  She is steadily improving with men and it simply requires allowing her the time and space to warm up. that could be several days or even longer.

Harper is a big girl lol  A whole lot more to love I always say-but she doesn't know her own size so she is a bit clumsy lol and since she is really still a baby, folks expect more from her since her body is big but she isn't sure how to manage it!  She responds very well to commands-she will sit on command and stay for a bit (we continue to work on it) and she will give you her paw.  She eats in her crate and sits before presented with the food.

Harper is crate trained and goes in with a treat every time.  She sleeps in her crate at night and is quiet until it's time for the house to rise in the mornings.  She eats three times a day now, but she could be fed twice a day in her new home.  She eats about 6 cups of dog food per day with additions of vegetables, rice, some wet food and/or some yogurt.  She loves food and would eat just about anything.  She was thin when she arrived but has put on some weight and looks good but needs to have that amount of food to maintain her girlish figure!

Check back as we will update her progress!  I almost forgot to say-this girl is absolutely GORGEOUS!  She really is-in fact a couple of the pictures that are posted are simply to show her markings.  She is difficult to photograph as she is pretty much always on the move lol  She is curious and loves to explore her environment.  She also gets along with all the dogs in her foster home and there are 5 who live here all of the time and several more who visit on and off as the foster mom dog-sits.  She has done well with just about all of them.  She is probably best placed with another big male dog.  She gets along with the female in the foster home, but sometimes females do not get along as they get older so we do advise an opposite gender match.

If you think you can provide Harper with the home that she needs, get your application in.  We adopt only into NJ and limited parts of PA/NY and CT (within about 60 miles of Central NJ).