Gisele (ADOPTED!) is a 45 lb., happy, bundle of love, with a fun personality, who adores being with people. She is around 3-4 years old, LOVES life, exploring new places, and making new dog acquaintances. We can truly call her a vivacious young lady, and everyone who meets her falls in love with her.
Gisele has been friendly with everyone she’s met, including children, and she is NOT a protective watch dog. Our girl loves human attention and being petted (not too rough though!), and will roll over on her back for belly rubs. She seems to think she is a little dog, and goes right up to peoples’ laps to nuzzle them.
Gisele is curious about other dogs as well as people. She will wag her tail and vocalize when she sees other dogs on walks or at the beach. When you let her go up to them, she meets politely, and is satisfied to just sniff and say hi. She is not one to run off wildly to romp and play with another dog. Her focus is people and her person.
Gisele exhibits a few classic cattle dog characteristics, including being a velcro dog. She follows her foster mom around everywhere, and if they have been apart even for a short time, when Gisele sees her, she will wiggle her butt, have a big smile and put her ears back in glee. She also has that quality that we admire in the breed, of embracing life and having almost no fear of the unknown.
This girl came straight from the streets of Oakland, then was cooped up in a shelter for 3 months. On her second day out of the shelter, Gisele had a day at the beach at Fort Funston. She followed her canine foster sister right into the water with waves coming at her, with no hesitation or fear. Besides being perfectly happy and comfortable in an overwhelming environment full of people and dogs, she also showed off her swimming skills. She has an amazing spirit, and seems to be a natural born water dog!
She is super smart and will need various activities to keep her brain engaged each day. She is very attentive to her person, even when on outings in different situations. When having fun at a beach or park, if you call her name to get her attention focused back on you, she will happily heed you and come running back. Although it has only been a few days, since Gisele has been out of the shelter, and she has been great in several semi-urban, busy situations. She didn’t react at all when a young person rode past, right in front of her, on a scooter, and more impressively, she also didn’t respond AT ALL when a skateboarder went right by!!
When inside, Gisele likes to chill and lay down, but is always looking forward to her next walk and park visit. She does not chew or have destructive behavior even when left alone. She is also crate trained, and will happily sleep all night in her crate. Gisele has good manners when she greets people, and does NOT jump up all over you. She shows her excitement by coming to you with her happy smile, her ears back, and a vigorously wagging tail.
She has the potential to become a ball dog. She does love chasing around soccer balls. She was trying to play with a soccer ball that some children were kicking around, and she let them take it the ball from her without any objection.
Gisele is just learning the everyday things that her foster siblings take for granted - such as riding in the car. She’s not sure how to jump in, she will get her front paws in but then will whine as her foster mom tries to encourage her to jump into the car. As a solution, she has been riding in a crate in the back of the car. She will enter the crate easily with just a gentle tug on the leash. She is comfortable hanging out in there during the ride and doesn’t get car sick.
The other everyday item that worried Gisele are stairs that have no risers, and you can see through the gap between each step. Gisele would go up a few stairs, then hurry back down, and then whine and bark a little in distress. After almost an hour of trying to coax her up the flight of stairs, her foster mom draped beach towels along the stairs - think Hollywood red carpet style - so they were no longer see through. Gisele then she ran all the way up the stairs, no problem! After doing the towel thing two more times, they didn’t need them anymore and Gisele began scrambling up the stairs on her own, knowing she wasn’t going to fall down.
Gisele is a wonderful dog, with an unflagging, happy, indomitable spirit. She would be a super companion for anyone who is fairly active. She just wants to be with her people. She is also just as happy hanging with you at home (if she has had her daily exercise). As a very outgoing girl, who is excited to be out and about, and looks forward to exploring what’s around the corner, Gisele would make a great hiking and camping buddy.
If you If you are interested in meeting Gisele, please begin by completing our adoption form, by clicking on the "Adopt" option, above, near the top of our home page, or use this link http://hittgv.org/index.php/adopt. Please download and print the form to be completed. If you have questions, email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or leave a message at (707) 583-9583.
