Marla

Marla is a cute fawn female with a black muzzle born approximately April 1, 2009. Since her mom, Katie Anne, was a known stray for at least 8 months, the likelihood of Marla being a lurcher is about 99.9%! However, all the pups look similar to GALT’s previous puppies at this age.

This 5-month-old girl is a lovable puppy who will steal your heart away.  She follows me all around the house, probably because she is hoping that I’ll accidentally drop a tasty treat on the floor!  Marla loves to play fetch, and she has also “loved” the stuffing out of several of her toys.  She’s very smart and learned the “sit” command right away. In the beginning, she chewed some of the usual objects of puppy affection (like shoes) – but now she tends to just play with them and responds well to a firm “No!” Since Marla is currently teething, I am giving her CETA rawhide chews, and these seem to keep her focused on chewing the right things.

Marla loves to play and wrestle with our Pomeranian, Buddy -- and he seems to enjoy these sessions as much as she does. I always supervise them closely, however, to make sure Marla doesn’t get too rough with her much smaller foster brother. Buddy is helping her learn to “play safe.” When he gets tired of Marla’s “puppiness,” he just ignores her or goes to one of his secret hiding places! Our older grey, Posh, is not quite as accommodating in the play department, but she tolerates this high-energy intrusion in her life as well as can be expected. Marla has not been cat tested, but -- based on neighborhood observations -- my instincts say this socialite would be happiest in a non-feline home with another puppy or medium-sized dog as a playmate. She has had limited exposure to small children, but no problems have been observed to date in this arena.

This sweet girl is very food-motivated, so housetraining seems to work best when she is kept on a regular schedule and given lots of positive reinforcement. Marla is currently on the W.D. diet, so we are trying to keep treats to a minimum – but the judicious, well-timed use of “treat therapy” has worked wonders in breaking some of her puppy habits. She is just now getting big enough to think about counter surfing, so we are working hard to nip this behavior in the bud and teach her to be a good citizen of the household.

Marla prefers her x-pen when we are gone, but we are trying to get her more acclimated to her crate. She is an affectionate girl who loves to be close to us at night. She also loves to be held, but she is growing fast and may have to settle for just keeping her head in our laps in the future!

In short, Marla is a puppy – who is going through the usual puppy learning-curve issues. She doesn’t pull on the leash as much as she used to, and we are trying to limit her “hobby” of digging holes in the back yard. Marla is a friendly girl who has never met a stranger, but she is learning that not everyone wants to be greeted with a jump and a big sloppy kiss. It’s hard to discourage such exuberant behavior, however, because her goofy grin and frantic tail wagging are just so darned cute!

Marla's Foster Mom