Makita

In June 2010 we adopted our dog Makita as a 5 month old puppy. She had been rehomed and returned twice and came with the description of stubborn, not good around kids or other dogs and couldn’t be trusted with small animals. She had even bitten someone before. We made it our goal to socialize her and make her great with everyone and to teach her every trick we could think of. When we got home with her we found how stubborn she really was! She wouldn’t come to us when called, she wouldn’t stop jumping on people, she would snap at your fingers when trying to pet her and she didn’t want anything to do with us. We started thinking “oh boy what did we get ourselves into” but being as determined as we were we didn’t give up.

 

Every day we exposed her to different situations, people, kids, animals. We took her on walks in public places and we never left her alone. Although I’m sure she would have liked some alone time she never got it lol. After about a month we noticed a huge difference, she actually wanted attention and she wanted to be around us, she got excited to go for car rides because she knew we were going somewhere fun. That was a big deal to us and a great feeling!

 

Recently turning 2 she has turned into one of the most reliable and loyal dogs I have ever had or met. She follows us around and never leaves our side. Everywhere we go people are amazed as to how loving she is and how obedient and loyal she is. They all love seeing her do her tricks, especially people who know her story, she has become very well known! We have taught her every trick we could think of from sit, to holding a treat/toy on her nose, to hunting to playing dead. She is now great with dogs and animals of all sizes and even plays with my friends young son. She gets excited when she hears children instead of getting stressed out and running away and she LOVES her kitties.

 

About 8 months ago we got two kittens with the hope that they would get along with Makita, little did we know they would all become best friends. The kittens sleep on her, eat food with her, and even sometimes try to nurse on her (that’s always hilarious). She thinks they are great! At first she thought we had gotten her, her own personal squeaky toys and would try to carry them around like they were her babies.  Now that the kittens are older they all run around the house and play and even play outside, like they are playing tag!

 

All in all she is one of the greatest dogs that I have ever owned and we are so happy that we stuck through the hard part! We hope to soon adopt another dog from you guys so that she will have a friend other than the kitties. I attached some pics of her and her friends (dogs, kitties, and horses)!

 

-          Jami & Steven