Adopted April 2010

7/21/10: More pics!!

 

6/22/10:

Just thought I'd give the latest update. Have a couple of pics, he's sitting with our friend's dog, Molekai.

Dave is doing great, still following me around everywhere :) He is still loving his 2 days / week daycare visits - and still absolutely loves meeting & playing with other dogs. We have just begun training classes with him and his first day went great - he picks things up very quickly. We've also just begun letting him off-leash in "off-leash" areas/parks. One is by the beach and his other favourite is in the woods by a large creek. There's always tons of other dogs there and lots of sniffing to do. He's been excellent at recall and even looks behind to make sure we're behind him. I was a bit nervous of this, because we are now sure that he has quite a bit of hound in him, as his sister's adoptive parents have mentioned. He definately has a hound bark. But we're still not sure what type of hound. We have seen him next to a Coonhound, but apart from the markings, there wasn't as much resemblance as we first thought. Coonhounds have way longer ears and very small heads in comparison to their body and pointier muzzles than Dave has. But, today I was looking at a list of hounds on the internet and came across the Transylvanian Hound, he looks just like it! I was amazed at the resemblance, so this may be a possibility. Apparently they are quite rare so I don't think many people know of them.

We noticed from the beginning that Dave was particularly timid of men and brooms and his brush, even though it's a very soft gentle one. We are making sure he is being socialized with many men and people and as many kids as we can. He is improving every day and is much less timid of men now. However, entering into his teens... he has just begun to bark at anything he's a bit unsure of, such as: kids, skateboards, bikes, kids on bikes, kids playing ball, etc. We are addressing this by making sure that when kids approach them they let him come to them and they put their hand under, not over and give him a treat. We brought him to a car show the other day and he was very good with the kids he met there, as long as they were calm with him. I have read that this is a pretty normal thing for puppies to react this way initially to people and things they are unsure of. He is extremely affectionate like you told us and we absolutely adore him - and he is sooooo calm indoors, it's amazing! So happy we adopted him - he's one amazing puppy :) 

4/29/10:

Yes, he's definately the hit of the neighbourhood and the daycare!

He's eating fine now - I'll probably stick with feeding him 3 x a day, as it's fits our schedule better and he seems to have adjusted to it fine. Thanks for the tips.

He's absolutely the best puppy ever! I can't believe how good he's been. Always let's us know when he needs to go to the washroom! amazing! I've allready got him to sit on command too!

He spent 1 hr at Daycare on Monday and 2 hrs yesterday. He absolutely loves it! I think he misses the puppies he was with at his foster home, so he's delighted to get to play with other dogs! He's also meeting tonnes of dogs and people on our walks and loves it. Today is his first full day at the daycare, he likes the trainer there, she's super gentle and affectionate, and of course Dave's all about that!

Thanks so much for all you do for these animals, it's great that someone is there to help! To think that anyone is actually capable of abandoning such sweet puppies is sad :( But because of your help he is now happy and well taken care of. Dave sends a kiss to his foster mum too!

4/26/10:

I thought I'd give you a little update on Dave.

He's doing great! He's unbelievably well-behaved. He seems to be house-trained, we let him out often and so far no accidents - he also has been letting us know when he needs to go out - he's great! We took him for a long walk after we got home, as he'd been stuck in a vehicle all day. He did amazingly, especially considering he is not used to city sounds. We don't live right in the City, but there are main streets and lots of people and other dogs around. He was so excited to meet the other dogs on the walks we've taken him on and gets along great with every one he's met. He's also just as friendly with every person who says hi.
I took him to the daycare for an hour today and he absolutely loved it - he was so excited to be around other dogs again. He also meets many dogs on our walks together and loves it. So we'll definately be bringing him to daycare a couple of times a week so that he can get his socializing in.

One thing I wanted to ask is how much the foster mum has been feeding him lately? I'm assuming to feed him 3 cups in total per day (so 1 cup 3 x per day). He isn't going to his bowl to be fed, he'll only eat so far if I feed him by hand - I think he's just adjusting so that's why. But, otherwise he seems completely happy. He follows me around everywhere, it's so cute.

We'll be starting his training next week - I'm working with him this week on my own for a few minutes a day - with sitting and simple commands.

So happy! he's so great!