Ronja's Fast Facts

General Information

Call Name: Ronja

Breed: Belgian Malinois
Height: 23.8" at the withers
Weight: 54 lbs
Color: Red with Black Overlay
Date of Birth: 14 March 2004*

Microchipped: Yes, with 24PetWatch
Tattooed: No

Titles:
CGC (AKC Canine Good Citizen)
TDI (Therapy Dogs International)

Jobs:
2009 Therapy Dog
2009 Demo Dog at Reenactments

*This is not Ronja's actual date of birth. Since she was adopted from a shelter, her actual birth date is not known. She was estimated as being five, which is how we came up with 2004. The day, March 14, is the day we adopted her.



Ronja's Story

We adopted Ronja from the Peninsula SPCA on 14 March 2009, where she had been kept since being awarded to Animal Control through the courts in November 2008.

Ronja, named "Maley" by the shelter, had quite a history with Animal Control in her area. She had been picked up roaming the neighborhood several times, and she'd been seized from her owner's property by Animal Control several times due to complaints, neglect, and abuse. Each time, however, she was returned to her owners - that is, until the court finally awarded custody of her to Animal Control in November 2008, after a lengthy court battle.

At the time she was awarded to Animal Control and the shelter, she was going through a false pregnancy, having been bred numerous times previously. She was also sick with worms and heartworm, missing most of the fur on her ears from fly bites, and so thin all of her ribs were clearly visible. Her canine teeth had been filed down to prevent her from biting the male she was being bred with, the other dogs on the property, or the abusive owner. Her jaw had been broken in a fight with a large, food-aggressive Rottweiler kept on the same property, resulting in missing teeth, nerve damage to her face, missing part of her lip and drooling since her lower lip did not heal really well.

After being turned over to the SPCA, Ronja started toward her new life. The SPCA's veterinarian treated her for the heartworm and worms, and Animal Control officers worked on her obedience training after hours. When she was finally healthy enough, she received her basic vaccines and was spayed before being offered for adoption with a clean bill of health.

Ronja's age is cause for speculation. She is said to be five years old on the SPCA's paperwork, although the original intake paperwork lists her at one year and eleven months, and Animal Control officers estimate her as being between the ages of six and eight years. At any rate, she does not act her age, and we've decided to go with five years as a good median number. As we don't know her actual date of birth, we've decided Ronja's birthday will be March 14, the day we got her.

At one point in her life, Ronja received extensive training in protection, most likely in a dog sport such as Schutzhund or Ring Sport, and she knows her German commands for basic obedience (sit, down, heel, and stay), as well as for protection work (bark, watch, and "get him"), along with English commands for most of her obedience work. She enjoys protection work immensely and loves getting a good bite on that bite sleeve - her missing teeth making no difference in her bite work at all!

The Animal Control officer who seized Ronja and was working with her at the shelter was hoping to eventually adopt her once she received a clean bill of health, but was unable to, since regulations do not allow for adoption of animals by the officer who seized them.



Additional Information

Ronja currently lives in northern New York.

Ronja's name is pronounced Ron-ya, not Ron-dza. Her full given name is Ronja Rövardotter, which is Swedish and means Ronja, the Robber's Daughter in English. Her name is based on a literary character invented by Astrid Lindgren, the author of Pippi Longstockings.

Ronja is a friendly, outgoing, and sweet-tempered dog. She enjoys interacting with people of all ages, sizes, and shapes. Unusual for a dog, she even enjoys getting hugs and cuddles, and she will actually lean into people or bump them with her muzzle to get attention.

Ronja does well with most dogs, both bigger and smaller than her, but she does like to be the dominant one and will let others know where her boundaries lie. She sometimes tells Abby off when she is annoying her, by giving a quick snarl-bark. She dislikes it when dogs try to be dominant with her or bother her when she's fetching or playing with a toy.

Ronja, like most Malinois, has a lot of energy and needs her exercise, but once she's had her exercise for the day, she can be quite calm and mellow around the house, curling up on the couch or amusing herself with her toys. She will take her toys from the toy box when she is bored and play with them, or bring them over to see if someone will play with her. Tug and fetch are her two favorites.

Ronja is overall a very quiet dog, doing no barking in the crate or car. She rides very well in the car and will just curl up in the back and sleep through the ride. When the bite sleeve comes out, however, she can be very vocal when asked to do a bark and hold, and she will take the sleeve and go at it with much enthusiasm.

Much of Ronja's biography was provided by the Animal Control officers who fought so hard to remove her from her bad living situation and get her healthy, and I'm forever greatful for their filling in of the blanks and giving me more background on her. This fast facts file will be updated should I receive more information from them in the future - I've promised to keep in touch and send updated photos of her.