Adoption Pending
Bernise (Nisey) is a 3 year old girl that was given up due to health issues of her old family. A beautiful dog with a great disposition. Bernise loves everyone. If you look deep into her eyes, you can see right into her heart, and she will make you melt.
She was sold at a pet store when she was 5 months old. She was taken to a veterinary hospital by her new owner and was diagnosed with hip dysplasia. The owner (person who purchased her) returned her to the pet store. Because of her size and age, she was not able to fit in a cage at the pet store. So, their options were either to euthanize or ship her back to the breeder. The pet store was reluctant to give her to anyone and just wanted to euthanize her because shipping her back to the breeder was costly. But, an employee at the pet store knew an animal lover who just happened to be a vet tech, which would care for her. So, they agreed to release her to the vet tech. Intentions on giving her a life-long home has changed due to an unforeseen illness. Bernise is a great dog. Good with other animals. She has lived with cats, birds and dogs. Great on leash even though she is 90 lbs, you wouldn’t even know she was. House trained, doesn’t chew on anything except her bones. She is very sensitive, needs a soft toned voice. She has some manageable allergies. Hip dysplasia has not slowed her down. Her X-Rays were reviewed by the head orthopedic surgeon at MSU and it was advised to do no treatment other than supplements at this time. So we started her on Glucosamine to start building her up. She may or may not need intervention in the future.
She has never been with toddlers, but loves small children and other dogs. We prefer a home with a above ground fence for her so she can play at will without having to worry about containment. Nisey is a very sweet girl that is a “Velcro” dog and will stay with her owner all day. It was reported that she has fear issues with some men, but has attached herself to me, like she has been here all her life.
Very nice older dog (7 y/o) who has had no formal training but a good background on basics of sit and walking on a leash. GREAT apparent health for a 7 yr old…very physically sound appearing. Our concerns are only that she really needs to learn to accept people in her home! She has potential to be a fear biter if handled wrong. She growls and barks and looks generally menacing when you first arrive but does have a good recovery time. Once she settled down she was very very friendly. Other things I saw/tested and info I got: Reasonable pain and manipulation tolerance – should be OK with medium to older kids…maybe even young kids. should take all logical training well but won’t handle a rough hand/highly negative training techniques Loves other dogs,did well with our test dogs. Sierra rushed over to meet and play. Owner occasionally takes her to local dog park where she is very social unless “dogs want to hump her…she doesn’t like that”. Greets dogs with minor submissive mouth licking, tail slightly down, some minor crouching goes quickly into minor play bow and invites. Owner works her on choke (which we do not recommend) but I think with some minor training she will be easy to control on a flat buckle collar. She is very eager to please and listen to anyone. As indicated some minor insecurity that may get worse initially with a transition. This is a one owner dog since Sierra was 7 weeks old. Shots are not confirmed as up to date. No real serious flea control has been done. Heartworming is also questionable. Grooming has been very reasonably kept up on. Coat in good health, no mats, nails need trimmed. She is a bit foot shy but if you insist she will let you work with her feet without resistance. Housebroken, crate familiar. Raised for four years with a Pomeranian …good with little dogs but sometimes plays a bit rough. Spayed, loves car rides, takes food from hand well but could use some better manners here … no obvious food aggression. Because of Sierra’s issue with new people, she will require an above ground, physical fence. NOT the invisible, shock type, as this will make her more fearful.
