ORLA – 8 years old, located in Missouri
Dog ID: 240703-P-B-OK
Intake date: 5/24/24
Available date: 11/7/24
Orla is an estimated 8-year-old pointer who was dropped at a shelter in Oklahoma and narrowly avoided euthanization thanks to PRO. We don’t know for sure what her life was like before that–based on her body condition and behavior, we suspect she was used as a breeding dog and spent most of her time confined to a kennel. Orla was underweight, infected with heartworm, and appeared to have recently given birth when PRO sprung her from the shelter. She also tested positive for giardia and coccidia. Since arriving at her foster home in St. Louis, she was treated for those infections and began learning how to enjoy life as a beloved family dog. She has gotten up to a healthy weight of 55 pounds, learned how to walk up and down stairs, use a doggy door, go potty outside, play with toys, and sit on command. She gets daily leash walks and also gets to explore off-leash at the dog park a couple times a week. She still does some zig-zagging on walks and has a tendency to wrap her leash around the legs of the person walking her if they pause for any reason.
Orla’s personality is sweet, playful, and affectionate. She does well around adults, kids, and other dogs who know how to conduct polite (gentle sniff) greetings. Over-stimulation makes her anxious but she can adapt to new environments through repeated exposure. Orla’s perfect furever home includes a securely fenced yard and a family who will include her in their day to day life and give her all the love she deserves.
Orla could live happily as an only dog or share a home with a low- or medium-energy canine sibling. She does not enjoy being crated and prefers sleeping on the couch or in bed with her humans. Orla is the happiest girl in the world if her humans play with her a couple times a day and take her on regular walks and car rides. She just wants to be wherever her people are! Her house manners have come a long way but she struggles with getting over-excited and jumping whenever someone is getting ready to leave because of the possibility she may get to tag along. She learned how to do dog puzzles while resting after her heartworm treatment, and they are a good way to refocus her energy when she gets wound up.
Orla currently weighs 55 lbs and is estimated to be around 8 years old. She has no known food allergies and is not a very picky eater. She had some issues with flipping over a food bowl the first couple months she was in her foster home, so we switched to feeding her kibble from a snuffle mat. The bowl flipping has decreased over time and she now gets canned wet food from a bowl daily. She has some arthritis in a few joints and needs help climbing in and out of a car. There is some wear on her teeth that looks consistent with chewing on the bars of a metal kennel in her previous life. No major dental issues were detected by the vet. She has a few lumps around her body that appeared once she got up to a healthy weight that our vet assessed are most likely benign fatty tissue.
Orla is up to date on vaccines, has been spayed, microchipped, cleared of intestinal parasites and treated for heartworm.