31/08/2026
KUDA UPDATE ❤️🐾
Kuda is doing great, we’ve been learning so much about her in such a short space of time.
She wants lots of cuddles and reassurance all the time, this has improved as she has settled in and has accessed proper enrichment and stimulation for her busy brain!
Elphaba has very clearly been hit/beat in the past. She would duck and flinch very often at any movement and was very prone to going into submissive positions. This has been immensely improving now that she trusts us and she knows we would never let that happen to her. She had very clear negative and anxious associations with the name Kuda 😞 every time we said Kuda, she would put her ears back, duck and just go really submissive, start anxiety panting, etc . We tried Kuda for 2 days and it just wasn’t making her comfortable, so we started trying random names and she reacted really well happily and excitedly to ‘Elphie’. So! To give her a fresh start, she has started to be named ‘Elphaba’ or ‘Elphie’ for short (or even ‘Elf’), which has made the biggest difference in her anxiety. It definitely wasn’t our first choice of a name, but she loves it so that’s what she will be!
She loves her food, every day she has a frozen slow feeder bowl for enrichment. This is an essential activity for Elphaba- her future family will need to be very educated in providing enrichment activities and food games within the home to keep her mind content. We have been muzzle training her, which has been going successfully, to keep everyone safe. Elphie is very loyal, very affectionate, very clingy, great at learning new things and is so adaptable to new situations. She has been fantastic off lead and loves a bone or enrichment toy when relaxing at home to keep her busy and unwind. Elphie has been fully non reactive in public to other dogs, cats, children, people, etc. She is going through lead training as she can pull especially when she is excited, but is already making progress with this.
Through the assessments we have done, she will definitely be adoptable! This is fantastic news, however she has a very specific criteria and her needs must be met perfectly.
Due to her dominantly having a collie brain, we are looking for her to be homed where she will have a job, this is a dog who needs to be worked every day. We will be continuing to train, socialise and assess her, she has a long way to go, but is making postice and steady progress already.
So far, this is Elphie’s criteria (this may change in the future)-
* Working home- such as a farm dog. Elphie needs consistent mental stimulation and access to a large space to run around. She would also thrive in agility and other dog sports.
* Elphaba needs an experienced handler. Elphie has a history of dog aggression issues and can behave unpredictably. Due to this, she will only be homed to someone with extensive experience in this and who would be very confident to manage and continue to train/support her anxieties.
* We would also prefer a home with experience in collies or similar working breeds. Elphie can be mouthy when she gets overstimulated, this does always not mean aggression.
* Cat friendly
* She would be best as an only dog. There is potential that she could live with another dog, but under very specific terms, which aren’t likely to be met very easily. Elphie loves to play with other dogs, but can suddenly become triggered and attempt to attack. Due to this, she would only ever be homed with a larger dog and ideally only 1 dog, her human(s) would also need to be very experienced in handling any potential issues.
