Nani (ADOPTED!) (pronounced Nah-Nee), in Hawaiian means pretty or enjoyable - and that is exactly what this dog is. Nani is about a year old and weighs around 38 lbs. We believe she is a mix of Australian kelpie and cattle dog. She has a soft, very loving, and submissive personality. She bonds quickly and will follow her person from room to room. Nani is easy and sweet with well behaved children, warms up to women quickly, but is initially a bit hesitant when meeting new men. For a young dog, she is a moderate energy girl, although she does have her bursts of happy, youthful energy, when she playfully runs like the wind.
Nani is a joy to have as a companion. She loves to be near her person, give kisses and roll over for petting and one-on-one time. If you are busy, she will lay quietly nearby waiting for whatever is next. When you look at her or give her attention, her tail will reply with a low, happy wag. As a basically submissive girl, Nani meets other dogs her size or bigger, with respect, although she seems a bit nervous. She gets along well with other calm and friendly dogs, and even tries to make friends with dogs who ignore her. Our girl has a very warm and caring heart. After two days at her new foster home, the other dogs are tolerating, but avoiding Nani. Even so, on day two, when on a walk, her senior canine foster sister tired and stopped suddenly to lay down and rest, twice; and each time Nani showed concern and returned to her to nuzzle her, as if to ask if she was alright. She has also invited her older foster sister to play, but to no avail. Because of the way she wants to befriend the older dogs in her foster home, we believe that Nani would love to have another dog around her size or larger as a playmate.
She very much wants to please, and is always ready to cuddle or interact with her human(s). Nani isn’t sure of herself and doesn’t know if she is always welcome. Sometimes she will sit quietly and wait to be invited to join you, and other times when she cannot contain the happy puppy in her, she will leap up to sit by you on the couch or bed and shower you with kisses. Most of the time, Nani is calm and well mannered, quietly hanging out in the house. However, when she is excited and wants to show how much she loves you, she will need to learn that she should not leap up on people and furniture to get close to you. Nani is very observant and bright, and learns quickly. She watches her person’s face for cues, and her ears are like very expressive flags, moving up and down with her worried or happy thoughts. She is also extremely quiet and the only times she has let out one or two barks was in warning if she is startled by someone approaching or believes an intruder is approaching the house or room. If she is startled and barks, and is told to stop, she complies immediately.
On leash, Nani needs some practice. We believe she hasn’t been out on walks, and everything is new to her. As a result, she tends to wander from side to side and stop, depending on what she sees and smells. Otherwise she walks nicely and does NOT pull. Although she is unsure of where she is being taken with each car ride, she rides quietly in the car, and watches the scenery go by. So far, Nani seems to be housebroken. Barely out of puppyhood, Nani has already been uprooted from at least two homes and found herself in the shelter several times. She is currently a bit cautious during the first few seconds/minutes in a new situation or when being driven someplace. Also, she will not do her business during leash walks. She will wait until she returns home to go on familiar property, where she feels comfortable. We were told, third-hand, that this dog has high prey drive and should not be in a household with cats, and that she did not do well with a small dog. So far, we have not seen her with either of these, and cannot verify whether this is true. We will update this description as we learn more about Nani.
If you are interested in meeting and potentially adopting Nani, we ask that you first complete our adoption questionnaire, which is the first step of our pre-adoption process. At our website (hittgv.org), please click on the Adopt tab near the top of the page, and scroll down to find the online Adoption Form.