Dogs For Adoption

About Alara

Meet Alara, a bright-eyed, black-and-tan female Doberman with natural ears and a docked tail. She is approximately one year old and weighs 55 pounds.  Alara is a lover and adores having her ears and shoulders massaged. She loves resting her head in your hand or on your leg.

Alara entered foster care with DAR&E in early February. She knows “sit” and has been working on crate training and the cues “wait/release”, “laydown”, and “leave it”. She’s very treat-motivated and has been doing great with training. Alara loves her crate, thinking of it as a big treat dispenser, and often goes in by herself to take a nap. Currently, she’s been practicing with shorter periods of time in her crate. It will be a while longer before she can be left for hours every day.   

Around the house, she’s fairly independent in playing with toys and trotting around. Outside, she adores walks and walking around the yard. Overall, she doesn’t seem to mind the chilly temperatures and navigates walking on the snow/icy spots well. As a young pup, daily exercise is very important. 

She’s a bit nervous at the vet and around new things, showing her nervousness with barking. She responds well and is able to reset and settle in a short amount of time. Alara will require an adopter with prior Doberman or working dog experience, and someone providing structure in her life and exposing her to things little by little. She will also need someone who has experience with younger dogs, providing appropriate chews and toys, and understanding puppyish behavior.

Here is a video of Alara enjoying herself in the yard: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/hkN-gcUlhpY.

In Alara’s first several days, she reacted to new noises by barking. She’d bark when the heating unit came on, or the refrigerator came on, and would also bark at external noises. We started calmly saying the word “noisy” and have seen a huge difference in Alara’s composure, and also her ability to bark a little and then settle. Both when she’s relaxed and after she’s been a bit worked up, we’ve been saying “you’re fine”. This has really been helping with her being more relaxed, her ability to fairly quickly calm after getting worked up, and her need for human connection. She will need an adopter’s continuing help with desensitization, and also gradually and slowly seeing a dog at a distance and determining her level of comfort. 

Alara is a sweet, loving girl who hasn’t had the best start in life. She will thrive with a kind, patient person.   Alara is being fostered in Maryland and would love to meet you!

This is My Story

Alara entered foster care with DAR&E in early February by no fault of her own.