Jem, her sister Joni, and their mama Justine were found in the backyard of a house that the Orlando Police raided. They found the dogs were friendly, but seriously malnourished and full of worms. Luckily for this little family, one of our special officers was on the scene. He called Judy and drove right up to our shelter.
Jem and Joni are adorable! Right now, we're making sure they get proper medical care and lots of good, nutritious food. They are typical, curious and very friendly puppies. Jem is quite a lot bigger than Joni, but we believe they will be 40-45 pounds fully grown.
Jem is currently in a foster home! Here is what her foster family has to say about her: She is very sweet and loves to snuggle. She'll fall asleep in our laps.
She is good with our other dogs; submissive but not skittish, and plays well with them even though they are much bigger. We feed all dogs separately so there is no food aggression. I have never seen her get aggressive about toys either. Sometimes she curls up with my lab for an afternoon nap, but she is just as happy to run around the yard with them and play.
Jem is good with our cat as well. They are about the same size, so Jem thinks they should be buddies. The cat is very tolerant of dogs, so this is fine. Again, no aggression, just play.
She is also great with kids, and is always happy to play. So far she likes everyone she's met. She's a typical curious puppy with a sweet nature. We are teaching her not to jump up on people. Since she's so small right now it's not a big problem, but we don't want to let her establish bad habits.
We are trying to show her how to walk on a leash. So far she just wants to chew on it. We are working on housetraining as well. She goes almost every time we let her out, so that's encouraging. She does pretty well in the crate, with only a few accidents. She likes to go in her crate to nap or chew on a toy. We just leave the door open during the day so she goes in when she wants to. At night we lock the door, and she does not whine or cry, just settles down to sleep.
She eats dry puppy food, about 1 1/2 cups a day. I would guess her weight is up to around 10 pounds.
I think Jem would make a great addition to any home, since she adapted so easily to being in our hectic home!