Pot Belly (aka PB) is a sweet, jiggly, affectionate, hilariously quirky 4 year old bulldog that weighs 56 lbs. She is the most loving, cuddly, laid back couch potato. This girl is always happy and her stubby little tail does the cutest little wiggles to let you know she's happy. She is a social butterfly when it comes to meeting new people, and she really loves to show her affection by plopping her booty down in their lap and letting her new human friends give her body rubs. She enjoys being a couch potato and going on leisurely walks on nature trails to sniff around. She is always investigating new things around her and will follow her human from room to room just to see what is in there. She is the perfect "work from home" pup because she is very quiet and calm, and she is great about entertaining herself either with naps or looking out the window to watch the neighbors/cars passing by while her foster mom is working.

PB is pretty low energy for the most part. She is very quiet and calm, and loves to lounge around on comfy dog beds. She takes a minimum of 3 two to three hour naps per day, and in between her snooze sessions, she loves to go on short 15-30 walks around the neighborhood. She's not big on playing with toys, but she loves enjoys mental stimulation games that involve her nose. Her favorite game to play is "hide and treat" in cardboard boxes. When her foster mom gets an Amazon package, her favorite thing to do is help pull the packing paper out and snoot around to see what's in the box. She will snoot around in it and want to play with the box, but won't tear up what's inside the box. She just really loves playing with empty cardboard boxes and she will happily help you destroy the evidence if you don't want your significant other to know you've been ordering Amazon packages to be delivered while they're at work.

PB is able to coexist with calmer, low energy dogs and respectful older children. When it comes to kids, she has enjoyed meeting kids in the neighborhood when she's on walks and is always happy to get some pets from them as they pass by. In her home, she would do best with calmer, respectful older children that understand that she is deaf. Having young kids around that may jump on her or startle her while she's sleeping, or that cannot respect her personal space while she wants to have alone time to nap is not recommended. When she is asleep for one of her 3 naps per day, she will find a calm, low traffic area to sleep in and she will snooze peacefully for hours. For the most part, PB is not interested in other dogs. She was in a foster home with dogs ranging in size from x-small to large, and she coexisted with them. She did her own thing and didn't interact with them in normal play time activities, but she really loved watching the younger foster puppies play and be silly. She would love to be the only dog in her forever home, but she's happy to share her space with a lower energy, respectful dog that is laid back and independent just like her. She has no interest in wrestling or playing rough, but she loves to explore and snoot around the yard with a dog friend that matches her energy and independent nature. Pot Belly does NOT like cats and cannot be in a home with cats. She will not be happy if she has lots of random cats hanging outside in the yard in front of her home that ruin her window view by sitting in front of her window while she is trying to enjoy being a nosy neighbor and people watching. If a cat comes into her yard and she start doing her singing whale noises from the window, just clothes the blinds or shoo the outside kitties away. You can distract her with some yummy treats hidden inside one of her puzzle toys or give her one of her favorite chewies, and she will soon forget they were ever there.

Pot Belly does not like to share her food bowl with other dogs, so feeding separately is necessary if there is another dog in the home. She doesn't care about the other dogs' food bowls that are in the kitchen of her foster home. She just doesn't want the other dogs to go near hers and she will just stand in front of it or try to hide it under a blanket when another dog comes in the room while she's eating. She doesn't mind at all when her humans come near or pick up her food bowl, and will even let you hand her pieces of food she dropped on the floor so she can eat those too.

Pot Belly is leash trained, potty trained, and kennel trained. She will sleep in a kennel and likes to have one as her safe space when she wants to sleep undisturbed. She really likes to have comfy orthopedic dog beds that she can stretch out to take her naps or even a comfy couch in a low traffic area. If you need to wake her up, gently rub your finger down her nose (do not shake her awake, that's just rude). She isn't destructive at all when she is left alone, and won't chew on anything she's not supposed to around the house. She can also be trusted to be left out at night because once this girl falls asleep, she's snoozing for the whole night. When she needs to go to the bathroom, she will tap her feet by the backdoor. If you don't notice her and she really needs to potty, she will start making her singing whale sounds until you open the door for her to go outside. She walks well on a leash and harness, but she is a strong bulldog so she may pull a bit from time to time when she smells something interesting and wants to check it out, but she is easily manageable on a leash. All you have to do to get her to stop pulling is stop walking and then then will turn around to walk back towards you. A good trick is to carry an extra slip leash across your chest when you walk, and if you run into a roaming neighborhood cat and need to redirect her, simply use the slip lead to encourage her to continue walking on.

Pot Belly's ideal home environment is a house with a fenced in backyard in a quiet neighborhood that she can sprawl out on the porch or in the grass to sunbathe in. She would also do fine in a townhome, condo or apartment in a quiet area, and as long as there are nature trails nearby to go on her daily walks, she will be happy. She would prefer not to live in a big, busy city with tons of traffic. Because she is deaf, she senses vibrations more than a hearing dog and lots of traffic and big vehicles will get her attention as she's walking. She really enjoys that simple, slow moving lifestyle and would do better in a more suburban or rural area. She does well going up and down carpeted stairs in her foster home and navigates them quite easily. She loves going on car rides, too, and loves to look out the window for a while before she curls up to go to sleep. She is very calm and laid back, so that it makes her perfect for someone who is looking for a snuggly, cuddly dog that is pretty low maintenance. She is a great dog for a single person or a couple that wants a dog they can spend lots of time with cuddling and hanging out. She's not the type of dog that will be on your lap and that needs to be touching you 24/7, but she's happy to hang out in the same room and get occasional cuddles throughout the day. She would NOT enjoy dog parks or doggy day care simply because she isn't interested in playing with other dogs. She would be much happier going on leisurely walks around the neighborhood or on walking trails instead for her daily exercise. She would prefer being the only dog in her forever home because she is independent and she really just loves being with her human, but would do well with a low energy, laid back doggy companion.

Pot Belly is deaf, so her body language is different than other dogs. She sometimes stares off into space. She can get startled if you sneak up behind her or shake her away when she is in a deep sleep, but once she realizes it is her favorite humans, her little nub tail just wiggles and she will walk over to get some cuddles. If you need help understanding her and learning how to communicate with her, our rescue can provide you with resources to help and can refer you to a trainer that can assist with helping you learn proper ways to communicate with her. One of our trainers will even do a virtual training session with you when she gets home so that she can teach you some pointers on using certain hand signs Pot Belly knows already and help get her acclimated in the home.