Lunah

Adoption Profile

Background:
Lunah’s background before coming into rescue is largely unknown. What we do know is that she came from a home where she experienced abuse and had a very difficult beginning to life.

Lunah has been in foster care since August 10th, and she has made incredible progress since arriving. Despite everything she has been through, she continues to be a happy, loving girl who adores her people.

Her past may have been hard, but Lunah hasn’t let it take away her sweet spirit. She is learning what it means to feel safe, loved, and cared for—and she is blossoming every day.

Description:
Lunah is a young, silly, affectionate and incredibly intelligent Husky/Shepherd mix with a HUGE personality. She is playful, adventurous and eager to learn, with a natural love for training, hiking, exploring and being involved with her person.

When she first arrived, Lunah was very timid and unsure of the world around her. She had little foundation for life as a pet dog and was not potty trained, did not know her name and was uncomfortable with handling. She has since blossomed into a confident, curious, goofy young dog who loves life.

Lunah is incredibly smart and fun to train, but she does have behavioural needs that her adopter will need to be prepared to continue working through. She will thrive with an experienced, active adopter who can provide structure, consistency, training, management and plenty of appropriate outlets for her energy and intelligence.

🐾 Dog Friendly:
Lunah is not recommended to live with another dog. While she can be neutral around dogs in many situations and has enjoyed some positive interactions in controlled environments, her behaviour around dogs can be unpredictable. She can escalate very quickly and has demonstrated serious conflict with another dog, including attacking and latching onto the neck.

She also has significant resource-guarding tendencies when other dogs are involved. With appropriate management, she can be around dogs in structured environments, but she will be safest and most successful as the only dog in the home.

🐱 Cat Friendly / Prey Drive:
Not cat friendly. Lunah has demonstrated predatory behaviour toward cats and has a medium-to-high prey drive. She is also interested in squirrels and other small animals.

She should not be placed in a home with cats or other small animals.

👧 Kid Friendly:
Yes, Lunah has had positive socialization with children. However, due to her resource-guarding tendencies, we would be cautious about placing her with young children.

An adult home or a home with older, dog-savvy children who understand boundaries would be preferred.

🦮 Leash Skills:
Lunah has a strong foundation in loose-leash walking and heeling. She enjoys walking, hiking, running and exploring and continues to improve with her leash skills.

She is an active dog who will benefit from regular exercise and opportunities to explore and use her brain.

🚻 House Trained:
Lunah is making great progress with her house training and does very well when kept on a consistent schedule.

Her adopter should continue to gradually increase her freedom rather than assuming she is immediately ready to be left loose for long periods.

She is also crate trained, settles quickly in her crate and sleeps through the night. She is an excellent little escape artist, however, so secure crate management will be important.

🍖 Food & Training:
Lunah absolutely loves food and is highly food motivated, making her incredibly fun to train.

She has developed a strong foundation in:

• Name recognition

• Engagement

• Basic obedience

• Loose-leash walking

• Heeling

• Place/settling

• Crate training

• Lure work

• Toy engagement

• Tug

• Impulse-control foundations

• Leave-it

• Handling and grooming

She learns very quickly and genuinely enjoys training. Her food motivation can also be challenging, as she is an opportunist and will happily take advantage of unattended food.

Lunah has significant resource-guarding tendencies around high-value food and chews, particularly around other dogs. Her adopter will need to understand these behaviours and manage them responsibly rather than testing or challenging her.

🚗 Vehicle Behaviour:
Lunah travels very well and can ride loose in the vehicle or in a crate.

🐾 Other Behaviours to Note:
Lunah is a high-energy young dog who needs both physical exercise and mental stimulation. She loves hiking, walking, running, sniffing, exploring, tug, flirt-pole play and learning new things. She has also been introduced to canine cross and is doing well with it.

She loves water and may enjoy activities such as hiking, canicross, obedience, trick training, Barn Hunt or other scent-based activities.

Lunah has made tremendous progress with handling and grooming. She is now comfortable with her foster handling her body, picking her up and grooming her, but her comfort with unfamiliar people handling her is still relationship- and context-dependent. Her adopter should continue building positive associations with handling and veterinary care.

She has previously shown fear-based reactions during veterinary handling when uncomfortable, so her future family will need to understand her communication and respect her boundaries.

Lunah is also independent and can entertain herself, although her curiosity can sometimes lead her into mischief. Continued supervision and management will be important while she learns how to appropriately use her newfound freedom.

The ideal home for Lunah:
Lunah would thrive with a single person or couple without other pets who genuinely wants a young dog to train, adventure with and build a strong relationship with.

She needs someone who enjoys having their dog involved in their life and who is excited about hiking, walking, running, training, exploring and potentially participating in dog sports.

She is not a dog who should be expected to arrive perfectly trained or immediately have unlimited freedom. She needs structure, consistency, clear boundaries, appropriate management and plenty of opportunities to use both her brain and her body.

Most importantly, Lunah needs someone who will enjoy the process of helping her become the incredible dog she has the potential to be.