OLIVE - Special needs dog

 

Olive is almost 6 months old. She is a hoot! so sweet and always smiling...she is a typical puppy in many ways but she was born with Cerebellar hyperplasia.  This means the Cerebellum of her brain was not fully formed before she was born and there is no more development of the brain after birth.  Her symptoms will not get worse and as she matures and grows, she could learn ways to compensate.  Many dogs and cats that have this developmental problem with symptoms even more dramatic than Olive, have learned to adjust and are expected to live a normal life span for their breed and species. 

 

Olive’s sense of depth perception and her equilibrium are affected so she can be a bit clumsier than your typical puppy, especially when she gets excited.  She walks with an exaggerated prancing type of gait and often stands with her legs placed out farther than normal to hold her balance.  When she gets excited, she often spins in a few circles and when she shakes herself, she falls over if she is not near something to help balance herself.  After she falls, she just gets right back up and continues on with whatever pursuit she was engaged in – she does not feel sorry for herself and the other dogs are not teasing her for her disability so there is no reason to pity her.  She is a happy little girl right now and needs the usually home that will teach her kind and consistent discipline as they would any young dog or puppy.

 

Olive can only manage to go up and down just a few steps.  Since she doesn’t weigh much right now, it is not a problem if you have a full flight of stairs.  However, her adult weight will likely be close to 50 pounds so then it won’t be very easy to deal with.  She will need to go to a home that is mostly on one level as she will not be able to navigate a long flight of steps to go outside or to go into a yard.

 

Housetraining is going pretty good most of the time but she is likely less mature than most puppies this age as she can easily get “busy” and forget that she is suppose to go outside to eliminate.  She will, however, wear diapers without ripping them off so that is an option if one is busy and not able to watch her or work with her on the routine of going outside.  She is very good at going into her crate – she knows she gets a doggie cookie when she goes in there – and she lays down and sleeps without any fuss or noise. 

She has not met any cats yet and at this age may terrorize them although she has learned to leave the older small dogs alone after they growled or barked at her when she wanted to play.  She loves other dogs and loves to play with them and she would likely benefit from having an older buddy to learn from although it not a requirement for her adoption.

 

The adoption fee for Olive is $300 we will also require a $200 deposit that will be returned after proof of her spay is received. We recommend waiting another 6 months until she is fully developed.

 

Click on the video below to see Olive in action.