Rizzo Shepherd Wichita, KS

Meet Rizzo. She lives up to the name. She is a little salty and a little sweet at the same time. She is very obedient with her foster and shows constant love and affection with her and now has several human and doggie friends.

Rizzo showed up on my mom's porch one morning and decided to stay there. I don't blame her, it's a nice place. I went to pick her up and she came right to me and submissively rolled over and let me completely harness her with a harness lead. She could not lick me enough! She was a fearful mess when I had to take her to the shelter for her stray hold and continued to get worse. I decided it was worth it to crate and rotate and just get her out of there when she was released. It took some time for Rizzo to warm up to my very patient dog. Since then she has welcomed, loved on and played with multiple fosters with no issues. She is my easiest dog to intro to new dogs in the home. Her best friend is fellow foster dog Tommy so if you are looking for a cute couple to take into your home, here you go!

Rizzo is not entirely trusting of people. Sometimes she acts as if she wants to be but when approached she flips her head and starts to growl. This improves with humans she meets consistently and once trust is earned she loves hard. Please note, her behavior is not guarding her owner but herself. She is doing very well in social settings as long as the humans ignore her and toss treats occasionally. This girl is smart so she will pick up training quickly. Rizzo needs to trust you to love you. She has transferred to two other fosters homes while her foster was out of town and did great and the fosters were petting her within a day or two. She thrives off of structure/routine in the home and is very easy once settled in the home.

She is small but stout and has a medium energy. She doesn't get very energetic about much other than playing with her friends or sometimes letting them know they are getting too out of hand. She is part shepherd and heeler so those herding behaviors can kick in with group play. She is kennel trained and actually loves the kennel and regards that as her safe place. She is potty trained. She eats in her kennel and is food agressive when it comes to the bowl of food or chew bones. She has learned leave it or out when she has food in her kennel so that you can retrieve it if needed. She does treat training with her fellow fosters outside the kennel without issue.

She shows love with lots of licking and rolling on her back for belly rubs. She will get up on the bed with the human and other dogs but also prefers her space under the bed. She has a memory foam floor mat under the bed and when she is scared (storms, fireworks etc) that is where she prefers to be. Rizzo loves car rides, leash walks (doesn't pull but a little all over the place) and FOOD! She loves any food including all the dog approved veggies.

Rizzo does have barrier aggression so if a dog is barking on the other side of the fence she is fence fighting. We have been able to curb this by standing between her and the fence or keeping her in the smaller fenced area to play outside so she doesn't have access to the one section with small dogs that bark a lot. She will be a wonderful companion dog and little shadow for the person willing to give her a chance.