Shila - aka Peeky and now Sefera
I made the trek down to Howell visit everyone and the ultimate reason behind the trip...to bring Shila home. Her family has tried very hard to make it work, but though no fault of her own, it just wasn't. She's a beautiful big sweet sweet Malamute - gentle, friendly, loving. Now that she's settled in, we have fallen in love. Dan & I couldn't bear to part with her! So she's staying - or at least she was. She'd been working so hard to fit into "the Borg" and be 7 of 12. Then the perfect home came along.
She missed being in a 1 or 2 dog family but was adjusting to the craziness here. She is very affectionate, friendly, loving and likes to cuddle (on her terms of course!). She loves long walks and is something of a Diva...she was giving the other dogs - even Superman and Theodore - the cold shoulder (they would say she's being stuck up - but hey, it's hard to lose your family). She's made friends with Superman - they are best buds now - and got all happy when she could be 'computer dog'. Generally she had no bad habits or problems and frankly, we just love her! I'm told she's got a dominant streak, but I haven't seen it....she's been appropriately submissive to the other dogs and hasn't picked any fights with the other girls. She DOES have a jealous streak though and really doesn't want to share you and shows it by gently pushing the other dog out of the way (but then ALL girls do that!). She's an absolute sweety to adults - wanting to be near us, loves being petted, but is not a needy dog. I'm told by her previous owners she's been aggressive to other females which is pretty normal for female Malamutes (has not happened here). She's been nice to all the girls here and has made friends with Mocha. She just turned 4 years old, is housetrained and has great house manners. She loves watching TV and going for walks. Shila was great getting a bath and blow dried, and cooperated nicely getting her nails done and feet trimmed (but it did tickle). She enjoyed getting combed out. She is crate trained and rides quietly in the car. She can be a picky eater, and isn't very food motivated - which after a few days is no longer a problem since being here LOL. She walks very nicely on leash and LOVES long walks.
She is active, has a great coat, beautiful tail set and structure. Her family liked to take her camping and she really enjoys walks in the woods here. Her most endearing trait is one ear that flops over. When she's excited they both stand up, but most of the time it's down so it gives her this cock-eyed cute appearance. She's a larger girl...I haven't weighed her but am estimating she's about 80 lbs. You can meet her parents Superman and Pod, and brother Max who is a brat compared to her! She's from our iPod litter.
We had planned on interviewing homes, even had a strong potential, but it just didn't feel right and we had fallen in love. We've also pretty much changed her name back to her puppy name...we called her Peeky....then we got "the call". Rigg's sister Moya had died at the ripe old age of 12. Her family was heartbroken. They needed someone to fill a really deep void in their hearts. Peeky seemed like the perfect one to do that since we aren't having puppies for awhile. They asked about her. I didn't anticipate that, but what a great idea! It FELT right....they loved her one floppy ear - Russ said it gave her 'character'!
Krystn & Russ came up for a long weekend and took the time to get to know her and fell in love! I am positive it was mutual. She loved them from the moment she met them (and especially after the first couple of walks!). Best of all, I know she's going to a great forever home because I've known them for going on 14 years....so that made it a whole lot easier to do what was best for HER and let her go to a home where she can be a princess again. She's already enjoying the constant attention, the walks, the fenced yard with squirrels! She has a zillion toys and doesn't even have to be in her crate at all or share her people with anyone. Krystn lets me know every day what she's up to and it's going great. She looks happy and tired! They just ADORE her! And the feeling is mutual! So while it was so hard to let her go....it's so wonderful to see her happy!
Link to her puppy pages - her puppy name was "Touch" (but we called her Peeky eyes because she was the first one to open them! LOL) She has since been named Shila, and finally Sefera. (adapted old Chinese proverb - a dog with many names is much loved!)