Dog Handling Tips: Nicky – 9 year old female Beagle

Adorable Nicky is a 9 year old female Beagle who is in an Oldies Club foster home in Bovey Tracey, Devon, while she waits for someone to offer her a permanent home. Nicky loves dogs and she needs to live with other dogs for her to be confident and happy. She is fine with cats. Nicky is fine with children that she meets but she hasn’t spent a lot of time with them. She is a little timid so wouldn’t be happy living with noisy young children, but she should be fine with visiting children, or perhaps an older, calm resident child.

Nicky’s favourite pastimes are sniffing, being with other dogs, eating, sleeping by the fire, walks – especially on beaches. Nicky’s dislikes are being quite timid, she is scared of loud noises and sudden movements. She is reportedly scared of men but her foster carer has seen no real evidence of this. Definitely with another dog, not an all-male house, with plenty of walking on offer, and fairly quiet – no small children. Experienced dog people who will put time into building her trust and working on her recall.

Nicky is neutered, vaccinated, microchipped, wormed and flea treated. As a Beagle, she is prone to waxy ears and will need weekly ear cleaning. She has warty skin in places, probably due to a previously untreated infection, and so to prevent her skin getting itchy she needs a naturally hypo-allergenic diet (currently James Wellbeloved), or a grain-free diet might help. She also needs regular baths using a prescription type shampoo such as Malaseb. She has recently had some teeth removed and at the moment her food needs to be soaked in water before she can eat it.