Bindi (ADOPTED!) is a super sweet 16-month-old ACD/Blue Heeler with a lovely long white tail. Weighing 35 pounds, she is on the smaller side for an ACD. She wants to form a strong bond with her immediate person or family. Bindi loves to nuzzle up and be cozy with you whenever she can, exuberantly wiggling her way into your arms and heart. Typical of her breed, she is 90% velcro dog, who wants to be by our sides or at our feet most the time, but will go off to do her own thing too. In the mornings she has a burst of anxious energy, then settles down and for the most part she models her energy level to whatever you are doing.
At night when we watch TV, we’ll ask Bindi to “go lay down” and she will go to her bed and curl up. On occasion we will allow her to curl up on the sofa or bed with us and she relishes the opportunity. As a very young dog, still a pup, Bindi loves to play with and chew her little bouncy ball. She’ll fetch it with gusto, but she’s not yet bringing it back. She loves her treat stuffed Kong toy, and is readily entertained by it. Otherwise, she does not chew or otherwise destroy anything inside or outside our home, though we do keep her in her crate when left alone at home. She has NOT shown any desire to dig.
Bindi tends to be reserved and fearful when first encountering people, but is curious and happy to meet other dogs.
Bindi enjoys sniffing everything and occasionally friendly touching of noses with the next door dog through a knot-hole in the fence. She is well behaved and eager to play with the dogs we have met on trails, though we have not let her off leash with dogs other than our own dog. We know that Bindi was occasionally visiting a dog park with her previous person so we expect her to do well with other dogs, but we haven’t put this to the test. On the trail with us, Bindi and our dog are side by side exploring and sniffing everything. However, at home when worked up over the doorbell or the mailman, they have re-directed on each other and gotten in a few arguments. While Bindi is generally very mild mannered, once the scuffle begins she doesn’t back down. She likes to test her boundaries with our dog, possibly wanting to be top dog. For this reason, Bindi may be best alone or with a more submissive dog as a companion.
We have leash-walked her past cats, and so far she has paid no attention to them. However, with her strong reaction to moving objects, if a cat ran, she would surely chase.
When meeting new people, believe she is slightly more trusting with men, but she needs to be allowed her own time to warm up to all new people. This is much more apparent in our home or a place she sees as her territory. At first, several months ago, it took Bindi a very long time to warm up to our first several visitors, cautiously circling and barking. Since then, we had many ‘strangers’ visit. Her time frame can vary greatly, but she is now often being petted by strangers in a matter of minutes. In a controlled environment, strangers simply need to completely ignore her until she has sniffed around and deemed it safe. Even very young visitors have not had issue with Bindi when they were properly advised to ignore her until she was calmly welcoming to them. Plying her with treats will ensure her approval. On or off leash, this is definitely the one area where you need to be attentive and she can use more training. Bindi’s people must watch and prevent strangers from suddenly approaching her, until she gains more confidence and trust.
Bindi is a very quiet girl, who rarely barks, but she definitely will let you know when someone is approaching the door. Currently, we thank her for notifying us, then have her go to her crate while we greet the person at the door and/or bring them into the house. Sometimes before, but always after she hears us talking for a few minutes she calms down and we let her out of the crate and she’ll quietly and cautiously inspect the stranger, to whom you’ve already given the ‘ignore’ information explained above.
Bindi was raised in a small travel trailer where she didn’t have a yard and was alone for long periods, did not receive any training or exercise, and had almost no exposure to new people, animals, or situations. She has been with us since November and we had to begin with potty training and work from that up through basic obedience. Now, with her immunizations and basic training intact and having just been spayed as of Jan. 2nd , we believe she is finally ready to find her perfect forever home.
Bindi is a quick learner. When she came to us she was not yet house broken, however she quickly showed us how smart and eager she is to please her people. We now open the back door, say ‘bathroom’ and out she runs to one of her designated spots do her business. She is extremely food motivated, making for easy training, but with work we have also been able to train her with the ball as her reward. We have crate-trained her and she usually eagerly runs to her crate when we tell her to. She sleeps in her crate all night, but on a couple of rare occasions has been allowed to nap on top of our bed with us, which she loves. Using food, treats and the ball Bindi quickly learned basic obedience, including wait, sit and lie down and she’s even nearly proficient with a few tricks like beg (sit pretty) and roll-over.
We make feeding time a training session for both our dog and Bindi.They are to sit or lie down and wait while the food is being prepared and served. If they move from their spots, food preparation comes to a stop. When the food is placed they must ‘wait’ in their spots until the ‘okay’ is given. They are sometimes tested further by having to wait while we walk away to another room without them approaching their food bowls. There is zero sign of food aggression, I can reach right in at any time to take the bowl and both dogs have even been muzzle to muzzle in the same food or water bowls at times without problem.
As a very bright girl, Bindi knows the harness means we’re going somewhere and she practically jumps into it when we have it in our hands. When we walk the neighborhood or busy local trails both dogs are always on leash. On more remote trails we have recently let Bindi off leash several times when there were no other people or dogs in close proximity. In these circumstances she has done very well running up alongside our dog, frequently checking back to us to be sure we’re okay and often staying with us. Off leash, she’ll run right back when called, however if she finds an interesting distraction, it takes a loud whistle or yell to get her out of her trance. While on leash she is quite good, usually adjusting her pace to match yours, but she’ll pull moderately some of the time, and stop to sniff things frequently.
Bindi rides well in a car. We connect her to a short leash in the back of the car, to keep her in place. She does not get car sick, having been tested by many hours-long rides with us on twisty mountain roads.
Young, energetic and eager to learn, Bindi’s ideal forever home would be in a calm household with active people, who will not leave her alone for long periods. We believe Bindi would be fine with young adults or teenagers, but she would not do well around young rambunctious children. Her people must understand an under socialized dog and be willing to slowly expose her to new experiences to help her learn about the world and gain confidence. As a ‘teenager’ she is energetic and eager to learn. She will need plenty of play time, solid training and daily walks or runs outside the home. In return Bindi will protect your home, give you her utmost obedience and the warmest coziest snuggles and kisses.
If you are interested in meeting Bindi, please begin our pre-adoption approval process by completing our online adoption form, at http://hittgv.org/index.php/adopt.