Ruthie in Charlotte, NC

Update 2-15-25: We’ve received several promising applications for this pup so aren’t taking more for now. Thank you!

Ruthie is one of the sweetest Cavaliers we’ve fostered: she’s an extremely affectionate, petite and active Ruby female. With just three months until her second birthday, this young girl still shows signs of puppy behavior. She was placed with Cavalier Rescue USA when her previous owner decided she needed a home with more time to devote to her and her adolescent behaviors and personality. Ruthie is very healthy, up to date on her vaccines, spayed and heart clear.

Ruthie had very little training in her former home and wasn’t socialized as much as a puppy should be. Because of this, she will need a family that is both experienced in handling young dogs, will be active with her and spend a fair amount of time providing her with structure and formal obedience training. Although Ruthie has some reasonable obedience skills such as sit and come and has begun to sleep through the night in a crate, she exhibits signs of separation anxiety when left alone for longer periods. She is extremely excited and anxious when she leaves home or sees her family leave her behind. Her new owners will need to be committed to training techniques that help Ruthie feel safe and overcome her separation anxiety.

Ruthie is also excited to greet her people when they arrive home. She tends to bark when she’s excited, particularly before meals, when she is left alone in her crate or when she sees activity (dogs and walkers) outside the house. She also tends to nip gently, like a puppy, when she’s excited and is a bit bossy with the other dogs. Outside of the home she tends to be relatively timid when exposed to new situations. Ruthie is cat-like in her ability to climb on the backs of sofas, walks on them and launch herself off, always landing on her feet! She is quite the little athlete!

Her foster family has been working with her to address her more challenging behaviors: building on the basic obedience commands, reducing her desire to be airborne, helping her crate train, finding less stressful ways to arrive/leave home and help relieve her anxiety. Her new family will need to be committed to training Ruthie. She really is an absolute sweetheart. She just needs consistency, socializing, structure, boundaries, and lots and lots of love.

Ruthie is bright, a good learner and after a little warm-up is very friendly meeting people and other dogs. She’s had interactions with children and appears to enjoy their company. Her face lights up when she sees her friends and often follows them around the house. Ruthie likes walks in the neighborhood, but what she really loves is car rides! She is very toy oriented and loves to run, chase balls and play fetch. She might be a natural for companion events (like agility, Fast CAT, obedience, rally, barn hunt or scent work) and these may help her build confidence and overcome her anxiety and timidity.

Ruthie would do best with a family experienced with training dogs, especially young active ones. She needs a home where someone is home much of the time with a decent sized physically fenced yard. Respectful, older children with dog experience in the house to play with her would be a plus. A family that has no more than one other dog and has a great deal of time to devote to Ruthie’s training, exercising her, and enjoying life with her is very important.

If you think Ruthie would make a perfect addition to your family and you live within a reasonable driving distance to Charlotte, NC, please fill out an online application if you haven’t already, and then contact Angie Hansing at nccavalierrescuemom@gmail.com to let her know of your interest.

Online Application