Sponsor this Pet!

Kira is a very sweet GSD estimated to be 6 years old. She was abandoned by her previous owner when they moved, leaving her without food and water. Being the loyal Shepherd she is, Kira stayed at the residence and waited for her owner to return. When she was finally rescued by a good Samaritan, Kira was very underweight. When she came to HUGS, she was found to have pancreatitis. After receiving some excellent vet care and being put on a good low-fat diet, Kira is feeling so much better, has reached a healthy weight, and is ready to find her furever home with someone who will shower her with attention. Unlike many Shepherds, Kira loves to be petted and loved on. Kira would enjoy the company of another medium-energy dog, but might also enjoy being the only dog and having all the attention to herself. Her foster home has three dogs and Kira gets along fine with all of them. A home with no cats would be best. Kira is known to be afraid of fireworks and thunderstorms, so she'll need your reassurance and a quiet/safe area during storms, and possibly trazodone (definitely needs trazodone when there are fireworks). Kira is housebroken & crate-trained, and can be trusted overnight in or out of a kennel. She knows several commands (Sit, Wait, Free, No, Leave-it, Come, Let's Go, Place), but your delivery of them is key as she will cower and shut down if you are too firm. For this reason, positive-reinforcement training with a cheerful voice works best. Like many dogs, Kira doesn't want dogs she doesn't know getting in her personal space and she can be a little bit reactive if they do, but she does well if you advocate for her. Kira really is a very easy dog to live with. She enjoys going for walks and walks nicely on-leash. She has a playful side, but doesn't quite know what to do with toys. Kira is a true Velcro dog & really just wants all of your love and devotion.

Like any of our dogs, this sweet girl would make a great addition to an active home that will provide the love, structure, good leadership, activity and mental stimulation that her breed needs. Because of that, Kira's ideal owner will have prior GSD or other herding breed experience. Even if you exercise and play with your dog daily in your fenced yard, please remember that you MUST still take your dog out on daily walks and outings, in order to provide sufficient stimulation, ward off boredom, and work on leash skills, and manners.

Kira's adoption fee is $225, all of which goes back into offseting our high-cost vetting expenses and rescuing more dogs. We are a 100% volunteer-run rescue group and rely on adoption fees and donations to continue saving lives. Adoption fees include spay/neuter, current on age-appropriate vaccinations, fecal, deworming, flea/tick and heartworm preventative, heartworm tested if old enough (and treated if positive), and microchipped. Please visit http://heartlandgsrescue.rescuegroups.org/info/adoption for more information about our adoption process and requirements, and to apply.

Why are Sponsorships & Donations so important?

HUGS provides dog food, supplies, necessary vet care (emergency, acute, routine), heartworm and flea/tick preventative to the HUGS foster dogs while they look for their forever homes. This can be quite costly and challenging in many ways. Additionally, some of the dogs that we rescue arrive sick or injured and require hospitalization, expensive surgery or long-term medications or other treatment. This places a huge strain on our vet fund, and can affect our ability to help future dogs.

Sadly, without sufficient funding to transport, vet/treat, feed the dogs that we take in, we could not continue saving them. As a volunteer group that runs solely on donations and adoptions fees, we truly need your support.