Li’l Princes

Lil Princess is a small saluki mix that came to GALT from a hoarding seizure with her littermate Jet. While we do not know all of what the “mix” part is, we strongly suspect some Dalmatian. This combination of saluki and Dalmatian makes Lil Princess special. She has the speed of a sighthound and the endurance of a carriage hound all in a tiny sassy package.

When the weather permits, Lil Princess gets two walks. Long walks! She enjoys walks that are 30-45 minutes long. While the other sighthounds in her pack are rested when we get back, she is still ready to do zooms in the backyard. When it is not too hot outside, she gets a bonus walk in the evening. In the summer, when it was too hot for that last walk, Lil Princess expended her energy with backyard running and indoor stuffy toy throttling. She will try to engage her packmates in play when she has more energy, and if they are not up for it, she is good at entertaining herself.

The big question now is this: Does Lil Princess’s energy level make it hard to live with her? Not at all! She loves her crate and eagerly runs in for bedtime and any time the main human leaves the house. She sleeps through the night and even on weekends when I want to sleep in, she lets me! Lil Princess lives with humans that work from home. Although she is full of energy, she is still a sighthound and rests quietly while the humans work. When she’s awake and a little energetic, she comes to the desk for pats to be let out or will find a toy that needs gnawing on. When I exercise inside, she has a bed near the machines and just rests while I run or ride anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes. She loves the small kiddie pool and will not only walk through it, she will lay in it like she’s at some spa retreat.

Lil Princess is mainly a one-person hound. She will pick her person and follow them around. She is never underfoot, and finds places to hang out in any room so that she can rest while watching her human. The only time I hear her bark at home is when she’s outside ready to come in or when she’s finished eating and I need to let her out of her x-pen. All this said, if another person is in the kitchen, she becomes a faithless traitor and sticks with the kitchen person.

While Lil Princess loves her human, she needs another dog to play with. In her current situation, she has claimed a very large saluki-grey mix as her primary bestie and a cattle dog cross as her secondary. She loves zooming and plays hard with the big boys. She has had several playdates with dogs of varying sizes and breeds. She has yet to meet a dog she doesn’t like. When she had a date with a whippet, she matched his speed and energy. What we learned from this is that neither was able to self-regulate and rest. Now we know she mixes speed with endurance! When she is on a walk with her two packmates, she is confident and a little harder to control on the leash. If she sees a squirrel too close or another dog on a leash, she wants to break free and chase or play. When she’s walked solo, she is better behaved and walks at the human’s side. Because of her wiley nature and ability to jump, she is walked with a harness and lead. She also has a collar that is not a martingale because she has learned to take a paw to the loop of the martingale and chew herself free.

Lil Princess loves to gnaw. As mentioned above, she will gnaw off the collar, and thankfully won’t consume it. Same with toys. She’ll work on little corners and then spit out the fluff or triangular ears, feet, noses. She also gnaws proper tougher chew toys; this girl loves variety. Because of this, keep your own things put away. While she has not shown any interest in shoes, she does love socks and scrunchies.

Basically, Lil Princess is a grown-up puppy. However …Lil Princess’s new family needs to remember that she came from a hoarder, and with that comes some issues. When GALT first took her and her brother in, neither would let a human near them. After months of hard work, the two started to show trust. Even now in a home where she knows she’s loved and is safe, she will show hints of fear. Lil Princess will choose flight over fight. When she is standing, she will walk away when I approach, then usually walks to her bed, turns, and sits. Then I can pet her and love on her. She improves daily, yet you can see that she’s still wary of a human approaching. Then she makes me a liar and is not afraid if she’s in her bed. She will not get up to move. She sees me coming and prepares her belly for scritches. I have even pulled her to me to lie on her back next to me while I read and she will stay that way (because she’s also getting belly rubs). For some reason, walking away from me is only an issue when she’s up and on all 4s and she walks to a bed. Touch is her love language, so the way to her heart is scratching at her bum by her tail, behind her ears, on her chest. We are working on click training, and since it’s a new thing, her suspicion is aroused. Still, she loves a treat, so she will soon learn it’s ok.

She has met many people and is better at trusting humans that come to visit or those she visits on playdates. She’ll bark, with her tail wagging and she will reach to sniff the hand. Eventually she sees that playdate humans are good humans. On walks when she sees strangers who want to engage, she keeps a distance and will not pull away. She takes her cues from me and the dogs she’s with on the walks.

I almost forgot to mention cats! She lives with 2 cats who find it amusing to occasionally swat at her legs. This sends Lil Princess off on her indoor sprints. They have shared furniture, proving peace is possible, sometimes she is just too entertaining for the cats. To them, she is a toy.

Lil Princess’ ideal home will have other dogs, a backyard with a high fence and people who love to go on long walks. The most important thing to remember about Lil Princess is that she is not perfect, she’s perfectly imperfect. Her new family needs to be very patient and take the time for her to know that she has a new home. Respect that she comes with a history and trust her to get to know you in her own time. Touches and walks are the way to her heart. She will be loyal, playful, entertaining, and your exercise accountabilibuddy!