I'm ready for my new family!

Hey everybody, it's me, Donut.

I'm a 6 year standard poodle. I was a breeding dog for a doodle breeding farm. Although I lived with the livestock (cows) outside in the barn, I like people. I like when they pet my head and rub my body. I specially LOVE my people.

Now I live in a house, in the city and I'm good with that too! As  long as I have a yard and go on walks. I learned that I still had to go do my business outside, and I'm good at that now. I love my comfy dog bed in my foster parents' room. Sometimes I like to take my foster brother's bed. Rex (my foster borther) let's me. Speaking of foster sibblings, I coexist very well with them. They have taught me a lot. I like getting treats when my foster mom calls me over (she has treats all over the house). I love chasing balls and then trotting around proudly until my foster mom asks me for it back. She says I have a "soft" mouth...I think she means that I let her take whatever she wants out of my mouth and I'm ok with that.

I also live with a cat. None of my foster siblings "play" with me or with each other and I like that. I don't really like to play with other dogs. I like to sniff, walk, run and explore with them. We find the coolest things when we do that....sometimes things that my foster mom doesn't think are so cool.

My typical day starts with a morning walk with my foster mom (fm) and 2 other foster siblings. FM says I'm a good walker. I don't care about other dogs or other people when we're walking. However my foster siblings seem to know all the nice people in the neighbourhood that have treats, so I will let them pet me after I've sniffed them. But really, I prefer my FM. When we go to the park, I stick close to her. I always know where she is. I don't like to be too far away from her. During that morning walk, we stop at the park so we can chase balls and get some exercise. We go back home about 30 to 45 minutes later and we all get our meds and breakfast. I'm a fast eater and I LOVE my meals so I'm always really excited about that. I still eat too fast, so fm gives me 1/2cup  at a time in a large bowl to slow me down. If I finish before my siblings, I wait patiently for them to walk away from their bowls to eat up their leftovers. They never leave any behind sigh!

After breakfast we all relax while fm does "email", chores, or runs errands. By mid morning, we take a break outside for a few minutes. I love being outside, but not alone.

At lunch time, foster dad (fd) and fm take us for another very short walk (15 min). This is mostly for fd to stretch his legs because he works from home and has been sitting at his desk for a few hours.

In the afternoon, I am back to relaxing and following fm around. Sometimes she leaves the house and I'm left behind. No worries, I lay down and wait for her to come home.

If I'm bored, I pick out a chew toy from the doggy toy box. I don't chew them very often, but they are there if I need them. If I pick a stuffy, I tear it apart, so FM redirects me to kongs, nylabones etc .

My fm is trying to teach me "basic training"... whatever that is. She says sit, and I look at her waiting for the treat, but she doesn't give it to me...so I look around, turning in circles, walk away...WHAT is she asking?  So I give my cute smile and puppy dog eyes ...doesn't work. I know "wait". Isn't that all I need to know? Sheesh.

Just before dinner, we all go for another 30 to 45 minute walk. Sometimes we hop in the car and go to some special places where we run, sniff and explore but most of the time we stay in our neighbourhood and stop in at the park to chase the ball. We all love doing that! And we get all our zoomies out!

Back home we eat dinner and do what my fm calls "putter" around the house.

By 8 o'clock I'm ready for bed. I go to the bedroom, then after a while come out to see if fm is coming to bed, but  when she's not ready, I just go back to the bedroom. At around 10pm, fm makes me go pee (I don t always want to) because she says that otherwise I  wake her up too early to go.

Fm says I'm an easy dog to have around. I am nice to people, cats and most other dogs. I don't  like strange dogs in my space until I get used to them. All my dog acquaintances at the park (from Milly the pug to Toffey to malamute mix) are fine, but I prefer hanging around my family. 

I will chase a squirrel and a rabbit, but fm thinks that I may just be doing that because foster siblings do that. She thinks I'm perfect. 

My fm says I'm cute with my snaggle tooth (I have a crooked nose...maybe one of those cows kicked  me when I was younger?) and my monkey tail ( I can't straighten the tip, so sometimes things get hooked up in it). Don't worry, my crooked nose doesn't impede my breathing or eating. The vet confirmed.

Fm says I'm gentle and huggable.  I don't cuddle with her on the couch or anything, but I love when she pets me, cuddles my head and gives me head kisses. I always go in for more.

She says this is the kind of Donut that she needs and wants on a daily basis....me.

Check out my snaggle tooth and monkey tail!

If you are interested in learning more about Donut, please email standardpoodlesinneed@gmail.com to start the conversation.