Because we may have some new members, and perhaps some within range of where I live (Asheville, North Carolina), I figured I'd post again about my foster dog, Charlie. I took two new pictures of him yesterday morning. They are HERE

Charlie is about 1 to 1.5 years old, and I have been fostering him for approximately three months. He's neutered, up to date on his shots, dewormed, on monthly heartworm preventative (he tested heartworm negative), and microchipped. He is a doberman/hound mix with a docked tail, but don't let that fool you! He can wiggle waggle with the best of them when he's happy! He loves everyone, but especially loves kids - even as young as 4 or 5 years old. He is still a bit tentative around men, and will occasionally piddle when men go to pet him, but he is much better than when I first got him. When I first got him, he would bark at and run circles around men, with his tail between his legs. The best I can figure is that he must have been abused by a man somewhere in his past. He also gets along with other dogs, and doesn't bother my cats. If they run past him, he sometimes will chase them, but he has never tried to bite them or hurt them in any way.

He knows how to sit, how to wait at doorways, is learning how to walk on a leash without pulling, and is also learning off (he likes to jump up on people to give them kisses). I'm working on his sit/stay, because he gets distracted easily (that's the hound in him) and after only a couple of seconds he's trying to sniff something and gets up. He does not know down yet, but if I can get him to do a sit/stay for at least 30 seconds I'll be happy. lol

He is crate-trained, and that's where he stays during the day when I'm at work, and also at night. Every night at around 9:00 he goes right in his crate and lays down, ready for bed. He is still not 100% trustworthy when left loose and alone. He will jump over or knock down a baby gate, and he has tried to chew on the coffee table, as well as the kitchen table legs. So I have just been crating him any time I am not able to supervise. When I let him out, he goes right to the door to be let outside to go potty. He hasn't had a housetraining accident in the house in a little over a month, and all of his accidents were peeing. He has never poo'ed in the house. He knows what "wanna go outside?" means, and will run to the door when you ask him. He immediately does his business when he goes out, and usually comes right back in - unless he finds something that smells interesting. Then he sniffs around for a minute before coming back in. He's doing EXTREMELY well at coming when called, though. When you tell him to come, he acts as if he's been shot out of a cannon right towards you!

He LOVES to chew on things - toys, rawhide, pig ears, cow hooves, nylabones, you name it! I'm not a big fan of giving dogs rawhides or cow hooves, but they are the only things that last him more than a day. Everything else is devoured within hours, if not sooner. Plush toys last about 5 minutes. He has no interest in a Kong unless it has filling inside it. Once the filling is gone, he could care less. He absolutely LOVES his tennis ball on a string that I made. I just took a regular tennis ball, drilled a hole all the way through it, and tied a rope to it. When I go out in the yard with him, I hold the end of the rope and stand in one place and turn in a circle with the ball on the ground. He chases it like a greyhound chases a lure! He will also sit to have you throw it for him, but especially loves it when you throw it and reel it in real fast so he has to chase and catch it.

He cannot swim, so if you're someone that likes to go to the lake or whatever, if you take him on a boat you HAVE to keep him leashed because he'll jump off. But once he jumps off, he sinks. I have tried to teach him how to swim, but he just can't. He panics and almost drowns himself, even with a life jacket on.


If you'd like more information, or are interested in him, please e-mail me at blueridgerescue @ gmail.com (without the spaces). For information regarding his adoption fee, you'll need to contact the rescue directly from the Petfinder website.

Kristen

His Petfinder page is HERE

This weekend there's going to be another adoption fair at Wal-Mart. This time I'll get to go, so I'll be able to talk to anyone who seems interested in him. Maybe that will help. I've really been working on his sit/stay this week (Since Sunday), and he's up to about 8 seconds before he starts getting fidgety. Sunday he wouldn't even stay for 2 seconds. Progress is progress, no matter how small!

I've actually noticed more progress this month than in the prior two months combined. I guess it just took him a little time to get acklimated (sp?).

I do hope he finds a home soon, though. He REALLY needs a place with kids, and a fenced yard. I do let both of them out every day to play for about an hour (I have to stay outside with them since I have the invisible fence and I'm not supposed to leave them unsupervised as per the landlord), but he'd be a lot happier if he could be loose in a yard during the day rather than in his crate.

you seem to be really trying...


Good luck with that....

It'll pay off soon enough...

Good deeds eventually get rewards...

I wish every foster put as much work into training the dogs as you do; you'd see a lot more of them going to good homes. Best of luck.

Kristen - any luck with the adoption?

My foster Golden that we had for 7 wks was adopted last Weds, the day before Thanksgiving. It was indeed a time to celebrate and be thankful - he went to a wonderful home of a young woman who is single and recently put her Golden down. Her's was a stray she found 6yrs ago so we knew she would understand the quirks and phobias of our foster and have the patience to work through all that. She walks with a group of dog owners so the Golden will have lots of playmates and attention. It is such a perfect match, and made letting him go so much easier knowing that he would be going to a wonderful home with someone that could give him much more time and attention than we could (we already have 2 dogs, 2 kids and a full schedule). We did the socializing, training, insecurity issues just like you have, and to see him blossom and trust again was such a good feeling. His new owner is going to have an awesome dog some day! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Good luck...hope he's found a nice permanent home by now!

As far as I know, he's still unadopted. Black and tan dogs are hard to adopt out for some strange reason.

The week of Thanksgiving, I closed on my new house, so I had to send him back to the rescue. Due to restrictions I couldn't take him with me to the new house (plus, I didn't think I would be able to handle him and my own dog and cat and moving and Adam coming home and etc. etc. all at one time). The good thing is that the rescue is no-kill, so he won't be put to sleep, but the bad thing is that they have such limited space because all of their animals are in foster homes, so the longer he's there, the fewer dogs they can pull from the kill shelter. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />