Are you by any chance a morning person? Do you like to jog or hike? Brandi is looking to be your best friend. She wakes up ready to go and wants to be a velcro pup. After being here for a few weeks we've gotten a chance to see a little bit more about her. She is a pokey puppy. She loves to poke her nose everywhere and get the latest news. I also think she might have been best friends with a cat at some point. She constantly rubs up against everything just like a cat-- starting at her shoulder and curving down to the tail. So cute!

She would do best in a house with a little space from neighbors. She sings the blues when left alone and talks in yips and barks about her day regularly. She also barks loudly at people outside the door. Not characteristics that would be loved by apartment neighbors! 

She is housebroken when kept to her schedule and sticks to her potty spot. She knows sit, in the crate, and down, and we are working on targeting/touch. She shows great potential but would do better if allowed exercise to calm her busy brain before being asked to focus. 

I think she would be best with older children only. She likes to jump up and lick your face when she is anxious or needs to check back in with you. We are working on correcting that habit but she can't get any exercise right now which doesn't help. She also can be a bit mouthy and she has tried to catch hold of my sleeve (not my arm) a few times. Surprisingly though, she doesn't bite down on your hand when taking a treat. Your whole hand can end up in her mouth with her exuberance to get the food. But, at least she doesn't bite down on you. She is very food motivated and very food-focused right now. She will try to take food away from my dog so she would do best with a dog that is not food protective. I think she would do fine in a house with other dogs that tolerate teen rough-housing, or in a house without other dogs. She could use the exercise provided by a pack but would be fine if you plan on being that exercise source. She does very well with our routine and knows where she's supposed to be and, most importantly, which meal is supposed to come next. Did I mention she's food fixated? 

She is not the best gardening buddy. Her favorite thing is to sit right in front of you, right on the dirt you just dug up so you could plant something, sticks her nose in the dirt to check the news, and then tries to give you a kiss right on the mouth. She will help dig though! She is prey driven, however, so she does keep the rabits, birds, and squirrels away from the garden very well. Hard toys only for this pup. She eviscerated a stuffy, grabbed up the pieces and chomped like she was going to swallow them in less than a minute. Fortunately, she is also very distractable (with the promise of food of course). 

She is very ready to find her forever family. If you're looking to add a happy, bouncy young lady to your home, please consider her!

Brandi really is a special girl; she is a true GSD and loves with all of her heart and every piece of fur (even the stray ones on the floor!). Despite her previous hardships, the battle wounds on her shoulders, and coming in grossly underweight, she loves fiercely.  Thankfully, her foster family continues to diligently work on helping her to heal from the trauma she experienced during the first part of her life. Unfortunately we don’t know much more about Brandi’s past, but given her wounds it is clear she was mishandled.  As a result, she is timid and fearful with new people, in particular, men.  Therefore, multifaceted and multiple approaches to warm up to Brandi would go a long way with her!  Think of slow, gentle, yet confident, approaches with some tasty treats!  Once the introduction and ‘dating-phase’ is locked-in, we know Brandi will just melt hearts and be an incredible, protective, typical GSD for the right family. She will do best in a home with a family who is familiar or eager to learn the ways of a true GSD - while providing the essentials -  training, structure, boundaries, routines, and continued guidance.

Once Brandi warms-up, she has proven to be a ‘LOVE WITH EVERY FIBER’ gal and will absolutely thrive with a calm, confident and patient handler(s), and a forever family that will patiently give her the opportunity to re-learn that she is loved, cared for and that her new life will be filled with all the things she was missing: love, structure, boundaries, routines and guidance. Providing her with these basic needs, you will watch Brandi blossom in front of your eyes.  Her foster family got a sneak peak of her potential (socialization skills, crate trained, house broken, sloppy kisses and more), she just needs a forever family to get her the rest of the way to completely blossom into the beautiful, fiercely loving and fun pooch she has the potential to be.  Brandi will form a healthy bond with her forever family and greatly benefit from continued training once she has had the time to complete her decompression and recognize she is safe with her forever family. 

LETTER FROM BRANDI:

Scene set: Brandi sitting nicely in place; Anti-Hero by Taylor Swift playing in the background…

“It’s me…Hi…It’s me…Brandi!  Where do I start?  I’ve had a really rough life before my Heroes at MAGSR picked me up.  I can’t really remember exactly what happened, but the scars on my shoulders, and how grossly underweight I was because of the lack of food are really good indicators that I was badly mishandled.  I want to love you, I want to love all the nice humans who are trying to take care of me, but the humans that had me before were pretty much the anti-heros…so, it takes me awhile to trust anyone that I won’t be (mis)treated like I was before.  I am trying my hardest, and have been through the best training a dog can receive (Mason Dixon K9), this I am really really grateful for!  I am slowly rebuilding my confidence, learning that I can trust all humans again, but it takes me time.  I like to sniff you out, get used to you and see you a few times.  Once I trust you, I will protect you with my life! I really really want a forever home, a family to protect me, and in return, I will be your fierce protector ‘FUR-ever’! Will you take a chance on me?  I will if you will!!