Joy

My story

Meet Joy! A 10-year-old West Highland Terrier. White. 20 pounds. Joy and her housemate, Gigi (now Poki), came to Hedgesville Hounds after their owner moved to a memory care facility. In her foster home, Joy lives with four adult dogs ranging in size from 13 to 52 pounds, and she currently plays with a 70-pound boarder as well. She has shown no aggression to the resident dogs at all, but she has bossed the boarding dog around. As a small 10-year-old/20-pound dog, Joy should not pose much of a challenge to a 2-year-old/70-pound Pit Bull, but Joy’s pure terrier nature means she must get the ball first, run the fastest, and get to be the fun police where the rowdy youngster is concerned. Their interactions out in the fenced yard are quite hilarious to watch. Terriers tend to be very focused, stubborn, and hard to train. Joy does not seem to have had any formal training, although she had been using a doggy door with occasional potty accidents inside. But her foster mom got her crate-trained in just 3 days. Frequent potty breaks got her back on track with her house-training, and she has been accident-free ever since. Joy arrived with a reputation for not being very affectionate, although she did want to be in the same room as her person. Since coming into foster care, Joy has really blossomed. Watching Joy bloom, her foster mom says, has been like peeling back the layers of an onion. Each day has brought a new revelation, a new character trait, or some new behavior to laugh about. Joy now adores her stuffed toys and usually carries one around the house. She has gathered several in her crate, where she happily snuggles with them. If another dog picks up one of her “babies,” Joy will pursue the other dog until the “baby” gets dropped, when Joy will quickly claim it. She has only been possessive about a toy when foster Mom is playing fetch with Joy and the Pit Bull. Joy wants that ball so badly that she will try to outrun the much larger dog to get to the ball, and, failing that, she will launch herself at the other dog’s neck repeatedly, until he finally drops the ball. The Pit Bull considers this great fun! For this reason, usually two balls are thrown at a time now. Joy doesn’t actually retrieve the ball, but she runs with glee in the opposite direction, clenching the ball in her mouth. Two cautions about Joy. First of all, she is a TERRIER! That means smaller animals that move and smell funny fascinate her. We recently found a turtle in the vegetable garden, which is off-limits to dogs. Joy had dug a sizeable hole under the fence to get to the turtle. She would not hesitate to go after a field mouse, a garter snake, a rabbit, or a squirrel, so it is critical that her yard be securely fenced and pre-checked for holes at the bottom. The second caveat is that Joy fails to understand that she is a West Highland WHITE terrier. Her absolute favorite thing is to roll around in freshly mown grass. Don’t be surprised if her feet or back look green or brown. She will need to be professionally groomed about every 6-10 weeks to keep her in good shape. Luckily, her foster mom found her easy to bathe, and she behaved well at the groomer. Socially, Joy has been good about meeting strangers, both men and women. While curious, she tends not to jump on visitors or seek their attention. She is generally not a barker, the UPS/Amazon/FedEx trucks being the exception. If she sees the truck first, she will alert the household with her high-pitched bark. Joy is normally found in the same room as her person, and occasionally will ask to be picked up for lap time. Sometimes she will stand up on her back feet and stretch as high up my leg as she can (to about my knee) and look me straight in the eyes to say: “I’m here. Pet me now!” She has clearly formed a happy relationship with her foster mom and canine companions. She couldn’t care less about the two cats in the house. Joy would appreciate a home with at least one other easy-going dog, especially one who could help her learn the house rules. Without a securely fenced yard, Joy will need to be leash- walked several times per day, and some off-leash time in a secure area will be great enrichment for her. If you are interested in adopting Joy, please complete our nonbinding application: click here to send a non-binding application

If you have any questions or would like to adopt Joy, please reach out to the adoption group directly. PetSmart Charities does not facilitate the adoption process. Thank you.