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Barley is a 3.5 yr old spayed female who weighs around 40 lbs. She is housetrained and up-to-date on her vaccinations. She was found starving on a trash pile in Morocco.

Species: Dog
Breed: Moroccan herding mutt
Age: 3.5 years
Sex: F
Size: medium (40-45 lbs)
Color: black and white
Spayed: Y
Declawed: N
Housetrained: Y
No small kids: check

Barley was found as a tiny puppy on a trash pile in Morocco, where her owners were living as Peace Corps volunteers. They lived there for the first year and a half of Barley's life, and then moved back to the U.S., which was a pretty traumatic journey for Barley, as she is wary of strangers and didn't like the baggage handlers very much!

Barley is a sweet dog, but is suspicious of new people and situations, and will react defensively. Since being in the U.S., she has improved a great deal, particularly on meeting new people in her home (meeting strangers on walks is still difficult). She doesn't really like other dogs, but after spending a lot of time at Happy Dog daycare, she can often tolerate other dogs' company. Sometimes she doesn't like other dogs at all though, and she would be happiest in a home without other dogs (or cats, she wants to chase them down!).

As for kids, she's really never interacted with small children. She can be quite moody about her personal space, and is very food crazy, so a home with small children would not be a good situation, and is the reason she needs a new home.

Barley is easy to train (she'll do almost anything for a treat), and she loves to run around at the beach (when others aren't around...). She knows basic commands (sit, stay, lay down, come here), and is okay on a leash - her owners use the "gentle leader" to control her pulling. She behaves excellently indoors, never destroys anything or chews on anything (with the exception of mail that comes through the mail slot!).

The "breed" of dogs that Barley came from are valued for barking and guarding their house - and so, Barley does love to bark and makes a good watchdog. Despite the guard-dog mentality, she has always been good about meeting new people in her house, and once someone is her friend, she remembers!

She was crate-trained at one point, but since she doesn't have any destructive behaviors and is perfectly housetrained, she hasn't been crated in over a year and a half. Unfortunately, her owners do not feel she is a good fit for their household, as they just had a baby and often have small children visiting, which requires Barley to be kenneled.

Once Barley gets past her initial suspicion, she is ready to play and make friends, and is a blast to play with! She's a pretty active dog, and needs to run around in a yard or go on a walk once a day. She would do best in a home with no small children and with owners who have the patience to work with her on socializing. Please give a good dog a chance!

For more information and to meet Barley, please call Kristin at 315-886-6289 or email lafevers.abroad@gmail.com