Adopted November 2007: Bothell. Wyatt was a challenging placement, because he had been abused and was distrustful of people. Still, we didn't give up on him, and his wonderful adopters found him and didn't give up on him either!

1/2/13:

Here is a picture of Wyatt.  He hates having his picture taken and knew I was taking this one so you don't see his usual smile here.  He has taken to being more and more comfortable with everyone around him and loves, loves, loves going for long walks on the trail by our house and going on car rides especially if it involves drive throughs (bank, coffee shop) and staring intently and drooling at the window attendants until they give him multiple treats.  

Although he has come a really long way in five years, he still is distrustful of many people.  And, once in a while, he still inexplicably jumps away from whatever he thinks is behind him when we are out on walks.  Despite my assurances that it's just him and me and no one is chasing us, he still clearly is fighting some demons.  Poor guy!  But he is doing great considering his original owners.

6/19/08 adopter writes: "Wyatt is happy and loving...openly seeks affection from me, plays, romps, holds his tail high in the air when he's running or walking down the street. I even caught him jumping around like a jumping bean the other day...not sure what that was all about. He loves his bone (especially when it gets stuffed with swiss cheese that he needs to work on getting out), rubber bone-shaped toy and his tennis ball. Squeaky toys are less appealing to him. And, from time to time, Wyatt will throw his toys around his cage, run upstairs where I hear a ruckus overhead, come back downstairs and beat up his bed on the landing and then run back in my office with a big ole smile on his face and full of a lot of happy tail swishing. What a character!

Wyatt also loves running around the backyard, hanging out in the sunshine on the deck, rolling on his back in the grass and sniffing the breeze. And he seeks belly rubs both inside the house and in the yard. He still doesn't come in the house when I call him but will readily come in with me when I go out in the backyard and walk in the house together with him. And he came to me last night when I called him when we got back into the house and I needed to clean off his paws.

He's quite the cuddler and even hogs up pillows, blankets, etc. when hanging out with me. This is all good because it is clear that he has plenty of self-confidence and feels comfortable in our home. When we walk down the street, he stays obediently on my left-hand side on a limp leash and rarely tries to pull me. He looks for pets while we walk and he listens to me when I tell him not to do something which I rarely have to do because he is a really good dog.

Our biggest challenge is that he still acts fearful of Eric. Wyatt runs from Eric and is tense if Eric comes over to pet him or guide him out of the back of the car. The improvement is that Wyatt does not run at top speed from safe spot to safe spot to run away from Eric like he used to. Now he walks quickly away from him and is intensely curious about Eric at all times. But it would be nice to see Wyatt make greater strides in his comfort level with Eric. We work on this every day and know that he needs time and patience.

The dog trainer with whom we have worked believes that Wyatt would benefit greatly having another dog around. And he really loves the companionship of other dogs so we have decided to adopt a playmate for him. Another dog in the house would teach Wyatt that Eric is safe and loving and will not hurt him and it would give Wyatt an in-home doggy companion. Because Wyatt gravitates to female black labs when he's playing at doggie daycare, we have decided to find him a happy, well-adjusted female black lab. We are currently pursuing adoption of Libbie the labbie from Jeane at Saving Grace Rescue in Yakima."

NOTE: These adopters have done wonders with Wyatt; we only wish we had the perfect female black lab to add to their pack! We are delighted that they will be rescuing another homeless dog from this fine rescue in Yakima; every life saved is a life to be celebrated!

4/22/08, adopter writes:

"I realize it's been quite some time since I have written but I wanted to let you know that Wyatt is well and thriving. He's still got a long way to go to trust people but we see improvements in him monthly and sometimes even weekly. You may have heard that we had some uncharacteristic spring weather this past weekend west of the mountains. It snowed Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Wyatt had a wonderful romp in it Friday night and again early on Saturday. He was running around in it at top speed, fielding fly (snow)balls and grounders as well. He's a hoot in the snow and I know that he certainly misses that from Eastern Washington.

Later in the day on Saturday we took Wyatt to The Dining Dog in Edmonds, a restaurant just for dogs. It's run by Dorothy Moore, who was the groomer for our last dog, and she has a full range of appetizers, entrees and desserts just for dogs. Wyatt had a blast...although he seemed to enjoy being fed off of a "golden" platter a bit too much. Hope he's not expecting that every day. I've attached a few pictures that you should find amusing. He wore his little party hat through the entire meal!

Other than that we've been taking Wyatt on a lot of doggy play dates, to doggy daycare so he can play with as many other dogs as possible and having different friends over every weekend. The exposure to different social situations, dogs and people seems to continue to build his confidence. We also took him to a hotel that accepts dogs for the first time two weekends ago. He seemed to love the pampering experience there as well. You should know that every morning when Wyatt and I are walking back up the hill from the park we see the same woman walking a short ways behind us. She is approximately the same age and appearance as you and Wyatt always waits to see her. I think he is always hoping that it is you....looking for a pat on the head. (NOTE: This is a reference to Lin, Wyatt's wonderful foster mom while he was at the shelter)

Anyway, I hope you are well. Enjoy the pictures and know that your boy is well loved. "

Here are photos of Wyatt and his new pal Dorothy Moore at The Dining Dog in Edmonds -- everyone with a pampered, special pooch should go there!!

12/5/07, adopter writes:

"Wyatt is settling in...very slowly. He was up pacing his first night with us and went a full 48 hours before he would eat anything. It is clear that he is looking for Lin and Jim and probably Butchy as well. I'm sure that the change in homes and being away from the people he has grown to love and trust has been very traumatic for him. The good news is that he did cuddle up (sort of) with me on the floor the first night to watch some TV and he does, from time to time, act interested in being around me. He is still cowering quite a bit and running from both me and Eric. The woman we have coming into our home to help us with training told me to ignore Wyatt when he cowers so as not to reward a behavior that we're trying to stop. This is very hard to do, as you can imagine, because my natural instinct is to reassure him that everything is OK when he starts cowering. Wyatt is a complete wild child out in the backyard. He runs into the cedars and hides, sits in the herb garden and digs up the parsley and runs back and forth and back and forth. It's like trying to corral a wild stallion! We are keeping him on a long lead in the backyard for now so that he doesn't crawl under the deck and decide not to come out. Sunday morning he gave me a pleasant surprise by actually coming into the house when I called him. But this came after he had approached the house and backed off six or seven times. He cries the whole while he is doing this. He has repeated this behavior with both me and my husband every morning since. I told Lin that Wyatt has exhibited some extremely promising behavior too. Wyatt has become as comfortable with me now as he has with Eric...not that he is really comfortable with either of us yet...but he isn't cowering more from Eric than from me. This is really important because, as you know, he has a bigger issue with men due to his history. Eric and Wyatt even went to the park together yesterday. Wyatt didn't want to get out of the car but, once he did, they had a relatively good walk together. Wyatt also decided to hang out with me on Sunday as I wrapped presents in the dining room. Previously he had avoided that part of the house. I was surprised to see him wanting to see what I was doing, seeking some attention and then sleeping next to me as I wrapped and packed all the gifts. That night he also popped his head around a kichen cabinet door that I had opened as I was rummaging through it for a pot. It was very cute and quite surprising. And Wyatt also gave Eric and I quite a nice surprise on Sunday when we had to run out to the grocery store for a little under an hour. We left him in my office with the TV on Animal Planet, a light on and with both his food and water. We have a crate set up in there with a blanket, toys and a chew bone. Even though we didn't put Wyatt in the cage before we left and allowed him free range in my office, we came home to him peacefully curled up on the blanket inside the cage. He didn't even hear us come in. So the steps are small but they are definitely there. The trainer comes to the house for the first time on Sunday and we will work with her in helping train Wyatt about coming in the house when we call him, walking on a leash and not cowering. We know that we need to take small steps with him. But, for now, it is nice to wake up in the morning and find him sleeping peacefully on the floor next to me and to have him come up to me and want a pat on the head when I'm working on the computer. I'll send more updates when I have them."