Gizmo is such a happy little girl with a lot of love to give. She always wants someone to play with or just snuggle up to. She sometimes acts more like a cat than a dog, rolling over onto her back and just batting at your hands as you dangle them in her face. For a small dog, she never gets underfoot and seems to have some concept of personal space - unless you are sitting, in which case you are fair game for a snuggle. Her general house manners are very good and while she does need some work, she would make any family happy. She is approximately 2 years old and weighs approximately 10 lbs.
Here is what else her foster family had to say:
This adorable little girl loves everyone! She loves people and shows no fear or aggression to anyone. She wants to run up and be everyone's friend. She may be a bit reserved at first if in a new place, but settles down after a few minutes. When meeting people in a place she feels comfortable in she is perfectly fine though. Gizzy is not shy at all. Sometimes she will bark at a new person coming in the door, but as soon as they are close enough she runs up to say hello, tail wagging the whole time. If she is in a new place, say visiting a friend's home, then she is timid and a bit afraid but she will settle down after 5 minutes.
She does well with other dogs as well as cats. She has not spent too much time around cats in our presence, but when visiting a friend's she kept trying to play with their cat - it was not a reciprocal relationship. I was never worried about her hurting the cat and while she did keep pestering him to play with her I think she would be happy enough to have a cat in the home, as long as the cat food was kept out of her reach (she's a piggy!). She gets along well with our 80 lbs dog and they enjoy checking out the yard together. I think Gizzy would love to have another dog friend to play with; in saying that, she would also be content to be an only dog.
I would say she is low - moderate in energy. She doesn't like to spend too much time outside in the snow right now, but loves to play indoors. When it is warm enough outside though she loves to do laps around the yard. We carved a track in the snow for her around the yard and she loves to race back and forth around the whole thing. She is happy enough to play on her own with her stuffed toys and will lie down when we aren't too involved with her. However, she is happiest when someone is playing with her.
As long as she is loose she is very quiet. However, she does need to be crated when left alone for longer than an hour at this point, and whenever she is in her crate she sometimes whines a bit if you leave the room. She does whine when you leave the house if she is in her crate as well, but I don't think this lasts longer than 5 minutes. She appears to be low to non-shedding. I suffer from allergies and she doesn't bother me very much at all.
She isn't always underfoot like other small dogs often are which is nice. She likes to know what's going on but doesn't need to be tripping you to find everything out. She is currently learning 'sit', 'wait' 'come' and 'off' but will still need a lot of work with those commands as well as the other basic ones. However she is eager to please and training won't be that hard for her. She is also very food motivated which helps.
Gizzy is partially house - trained. I think she knows that outside is where she is supposed to do her business, but sometimes she just can't hold it long enough to get there. I think this cold weather has made it harder to judge her housetraining abilities though as it's just too cold for her right now! Once her nice coat grows back in it will probably be a little easier for her to handle. As she is not much of a barker or a whiner, I think it would also be of a benefit to the family to train her to knock some bells at the back door when she needs to go out, or some other method of signaling. Unfortunately, the way my apartment is set up we can't do anything like this at the moment.
Gizzy walks very well on a leash. She could use a bit more training on it, but she usually doesn't pull too much and is usually just happy to trot along beside you. If bicycles go by though she will try to chase them. She doesn't bark at them though which is nice!
Gizzy is such a sweetheart with so much love to give. As long as a family is willing to work through her house-training I think they will be very lucky to have her. She just wants a best friend to love and will easily settle down into a new home.
Gizzy would do well in a family where someone will be home with her all day or most of the day. She doesn't need a big yard but she would love a fenced area somewhere where she could run around off-leash as she does love to do laps and stretch her little legs. She would also love children to play with or another dog as a companion- though I think she would also love being spoiled as the only dog.
If you have a place in your heart and your home for this little darling, please submit an application for consideration.
