New stray pup

[Scorpionstar]

Hi there,
one morning when I went to walk my other dogs I opened the back door and found a Labrador X puppy with no ID just sitting there. She just greeted my other dogs and wandered into the house. I gave her some food and water which she very eager took. I called the police, dog warden and the ISPCA and let them know that the pup was at my house and they should send the owner to me. Six days later I called the above again and I was told that nobody had come forward and I could either take the puppy on myself or transfer it over to the dogwarden where her life would have been limited for another five days. So I decided to keep her. I gave her the usual first treatments of flea/worm and a good wash, bought her a new leash, etc.

She is a very fast learner and mirror image most what my other dogs do - all of them are command trained. However she is a very quiet girl, to quiet for my liking. I do have the feeling that there is something not right with her. She is mostly asleep and when I did some sound exercises like clicking with fingers, etc, and her reactions are either very slow or not present at all towards it. What do you think?. I also try to determine her age which isn't easy due to the fact that she is almost as tall as a Sheep dog or Blue Merle. How can I find out what approx. age she is?

Help towards answers would be very much appreciated, thanks.

[Lucky Rescue]

If you haven't taken this pup to the vet for an exam and shots, you might want to do that ASAP.

She could have an illness and pass it on to your dogs! She might also be deaf.

[Scorpionstar]

Well, I've forgot to mention this last time that I did take the pup to the vet and she had a thorough check up and her injections. Nothing is wrong with her ears. She is still not very responsive and she is very different to any dog I had so far. The vet did a hearing test with her and it was o.k.

Now I do wonder whatelse it could be? Maybe you have got some idea?

[Carina]

How old is she, do you think? Your vet should have been able to tell fairly accurately by her teeth. Little bitty puppies do sleep a lot...and some pups are just not very reactive. One of mine was so mellow as a pup people joked that I must be giving him Valium...! Mind you if she's that tall, she's probably a few months old.

Does she get curious and chase things if you throw them, like a ball or toys? Does she react to louder noises, louder than clicking your fingers? Does she play? Could she be uncomfortable because she's teething, or just shy and uncertain because who knows what sort of start she had in life...?

Just throwing out some notions. If she's real listless, and/or doeasn't eat well, I'd ask the vet to do a blood panel on her or something to check for underlying problems...heart, thyroid, like that.

Or, she could just be a very serious, quiet pup! I sort of like dogs like that.