I've found my furever family!

SAGE ~3-4years old. Good with Kids and dogs. Not good withcats. GSRA adopts to residents of VA NC and SC only Who's the prettiest little sheppie in GSRA? Sage is that's who! Or at least her foster mom thinks so. :-) Sage has been with us for a few months but we've been keeping her under wraps while we worked on a difficult medical condition. She's not quite ready for adoption yet but is much improved so we think it's time to pull back the curtain and let everyone meet this spunky little beauty.Sage is about 3 years old good with medium and large dogs possibly OK with small dogs although I haven't had a chance to test this loves to ride in the car crates beautifully and has recently proved herself trustworthy loose in the house when home alone. She does need a bit of time to get to know a new dog but once the newness wears off she's happy with the companionship and LOVES to play&mdashthere's nothing like a good game of chase or a wrestling match in Sage's world! And although she's a petite 62-lbs she's got enough spunk to hold her own with a much larger dog. She has a high prey drive though so cats are a definite no-go for her and I'd be careful with small dogs. With people Sage has pretty much never met a stranger and will go down for a tummy rub at the drop of a hat. Although in recent months she hasn't gotten out to meet a lot of new people she's ALWAYS happy when she does. She also seems to be fine with children although again we haven't been able to completely test this.So given how perfect Sage is I'm sure you're wondering what her medical issue is. Well she has an autoimmune condition known as perianal fistulas. The closest parallel to this in human disease is probably Crohn's disease. Basically it's a genetic condition that causes her immune system to go into overdrive and attack the tissue in her anal region (yes her butt) causing deep painful lesions. It's something that can be managed and a times gotten into remission but it can't be cured. What does management look like? At the moment it means she takes 1 pill a day to suppress her over-active immune system needs some ointment smeared on her butt once a day (yes one wears a glove for this!) needs a fiber supplement with every meal and eats a special food. We hope that she'll soon be to the point where the pill can be reduced to every-other-day and eventually discontinued but the other things should probably be considered maintenance items.Intentionally adopting a dog with a medical condition is not for everyone and no one would fault you for crossing Sage off your list based on this and moving on to other dogs. But if you're intrigued by her personality and not put off by the prospect of what would be involved in manage the condition we'd love to have you meet her. She's one of those truly magical dogs that I think will quickly worm her way into your heart as she has mine.Please note: Sage (fka Bella)is being treated for painful perianal fistulas and will not be placed in a home until medically cleared. Potentially adopters must be willing to wait.