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Sushi is a fiesty 2 yo spayed female currently located in Florida.  

Sushi’s journey has been a bumpy one.  She could write a bestseller that could be scripted as a TV movie on Lifetime.

Sushi was picked up by a Maryland shelter – she was found tied to a stop sign in the heat of the day with no shade and no water.  She was covered in fleas and had lost most of her fur due to the fleas and her allergy to them.  She was very emaciated and had a terrible respiratory infection.  

Rescue pulled Sushi and sent her to a wonderful foster home where she convalesced, gaining strength and much needed weight.  She learned what it was like to be loved and attached to her person very tightly. As she became stronger, she began to exhibit fearful behaviors and reactivity. She decided that she needed to ‘protect’ her interests and would be reactive to anyone that she perceived to possibly come between her and her person.  She appeared to feel threatened by other dogs.  Her foster mom worked with her to teach her to trust her and to ‘know’ that her foster mom would protect her.  She became less reactive and did great out in public.

She was adopted to a family and bonded immediately with the woman of the home.  The move to a new home caused her to revert back to previous behaviors and she began to be reactive to new people and protective of her person and the family did not feel comfortable keeping so she came back into rescue.

Rescue was blessed to have a professional trainer, Courtney Wolf, take Sushi into his rehabilitation program. He built a relationship with Sushi where she trusted that he was responsible for keeping her safe. This allowed him to teach her more effective and positive ways to deal with her surroundings and situations that had created anxiety and fear in the past. Thank you Courtney!

Here is Courtney’s assessment of Sushi:. 

She is an amazing, loyal, and obedient dog. She had issues that are common in fearful dogs that do not have proper guidance or leadership. But those issues are a thing o f the past as long as a few simple but crucial house rules are implemented in her day-to-day.  

This dog perpetually looks like she is up to something or just got caught red pawed.  She snarls, squeals, and cackles when she is excited. It sounds like something from Jurassic Park hatching when she wants out of her kennel. She snorts like a pig too. She loves to run full speed directly at you and then dart to one side at the last minute. I’ve found it best to just stand still and trust that she will not barrel into you at full speed.  

Sushi loves to train. She needs to burn a certain amount of energy each day in order to function in our culture and society. Practicing obedience in small, digestible sessions is most effective in reinforcing desired behaviors. Doing so also allows her to get both physically and mentally stimulated allowing her to effectively manage her behavior.  

We worked on holding commands like place or sit in new areas and around distractions. We have been doing a lot of counter conditioning to assist her in developing neutrality towards new people. The goal is not to create a social butterfly but to give her the life skills to behave neutrally with new people and dogs. 

With dogs like Sushi being harsh will do nothing to help eliminate her reactivity. You may be able to stop the behavior in the moment with a harsh correctio n but the underlying issues will still exist. 

Once Sushi understood a base set of behaviors it was in the proofing stage that the real magic began to happen. I started by going into public spaces and getting as close to stressors like strangers and other dogs as she would allow. Then once I found her reactivity threshold (the proximity that she will interpret another animal as a threat) I would practice obedience just outside of that invisible line.  

Through repetition and by establishing an expectation for positive experience while training her reactivity bubble began to shrink organically. All I had to do was make the process slow and smooth.  

I can take her into busy parks, pet friendly stores, and even around children on skateboards now and she will heel perfectly or hold a command like sit or down. While I do not generally let strangers pet any dog in my care she gives me no reason to say “no” other than by personal rule.  

Sushi needs a confident handler that is able to work with her and continue her rehabilitation.  But beneath her hard exterior is a sensitive, loving, and intelligent girl who just needs some compassion, proper guidance, and a confidence boost.

Sushi is dog selective so would do best in a home as the only dog or with a neutral male.

For more information about Sushi, please contact Carol via email at malinoisPArescue@gmail.com

Sushi's Adoption Application

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