Nikki's Story
Meet Nikki! Nikki was born in November 2022, and she is a Lab/Shepherd mix on the petite side, as she is only 45 lbs. She is fostered in Huntingtown, MD. PLEASE NOTE: As sweet as she is, Nikki has demonstrated that she does not like other dogs and needs a home as an only dog with no expectation for socialization with other dogs (including dog parks). She can be dog-reactive, and her foster family has been working on her social skills. Perfect home for Nikki: an experienced owner with a fenced yard. Someone that can give her the exercise that she needs without having to take her out on walks all the time. She still needs some leash training. No cats, and someone who is home more than not. Males and females are OK with Nikki. Older children would be fine, as Nikki tends to jump when excited and we would hate for her to accidentally knock down a young child with her exuberance. Nikki finished a course in basic manners at Wag Workshops and in the opinion of her foster momma was the best dog in the class. She knows “sit” and “down.” She is a perfect student, because she is so motivated to get her “payment” for work well done! She would excel with advanced training and enrichment work. Nikki has a medium energy level. Give her some fun activities in the morning to burn energy, and she will chill out for the rest of the day. Nikki would be an excellent hiking/running buddy, but she also likes her naps! Nikki is housebroken and has full house privileges. Nikki does not chew anything she is not supposed to, and she loves her chew toys. She is polite and understands “NO” when redirection is needed. When playing outside, Nikki loves her frisbee and will drop it at the foster’s feet as a sign to foster to throw it again (and again, and again). She loves the sun and sunbathing. When she gets dirty, she waits by the door for her paws to be wiped. At 5pm, Nikki knows it’s play time! She brings the ball to her foster (so that she stops working)! Nikki puts the ball on the couch, and she rolls it with her nose to let foster know it’s time to throw the ball. Nikki is wonderfully sweet and snuggly with people. She might be a little shy when she first meets you but warms up to a crowd quickly. Nikki will give you unconditional love and give endless kisses when she is excited. Nikki stays in bed with fosters for 15 mins or so at night. She is then asked to get down, gets a cookie, and she goes in the crate, which stays unlocked. Occasionally, she will get out of the crate and go back to the bed. She is allowed to stay there for the rest of the night. Nikki will be a devoted and loving best friend, who will fill your day with her silly sunshine! If you'd like to meet Nikki, please apply at www.puppypawsrescue.org. If you're not ready to adopt but would like to learn about fostering, please send us a message to get started. We are always looking for fosters! PLEASE NOTE: We review veterinary care for applicants. This includes regular well visits, core vaccinations, spay/neuter, heartworm, tickborne tests, regular monthly heartworm prevention, and flea/tick prevention. You MUST contact your veterinarian’s office to give them permission to speak to us BEFORE we call them to verify the care you have provided for your pets. Applications are available at www.puppypawsrescue.org If your application meets our adoption criteria, we will contact you within 1 week. At that time, you will be contacted (usually by email) to schedule a phone interview and a virtual home visit (Facetime, Skype, etc). PLEASE CHECK your SPAM folder for emails from Puppy Paws Rescue. Due to the volume of applications, applications that do not move forward to an interview may not receive a reply within that time frame. Our rescue is an all-volunteer team managing families, our paying jobs, households, foster dogs, application processing, interviews, home visits, follow-up, transports, and much more. We ask that you are courteous and patient with us. If you’re seeing this listing the dog/puppy is still available. Please do not send an inquiry asking if the dog/puppy is available. All of our dogs/puppies are kept in private foster homes. For this reason, we DO NOT schedule meets until after an application has been processed and approved. If you are interested in meeting the animal, you MUST first submit an application on our website- www.puppypawsrescue.org.
