My name is George!

All potential adopter’s will need to be approved to adopt from MWBCR and should visit our website at www.mwbcr.org for more information on the approval process.

6/25
George has proven to be quite the traveler. He, Astro the Aussie, and I headed up to Minnesota in mid-May to plant soybeans. He did quite well on the trip and was very interested in exploring his new surroundings. He was always within sight and on a long line of course. Shortly after our return to Wisconsin, we headed east for a vacation with my family. He headed south to Illinois for his vacation in suburbia. He spent an enjoyable couple of weeks with a family that has border collies, a hamster, and a lacrosse star. He is back with us and we are back splitting our time between the farm and our house in the city. He has more fun on the farm. However, he has quite a fan club in the neighborhood. We spend time playing in both locations. While in the neighborhood, we work on keeping calm while being approached by other dogs on leash. He acts more like a healer/cattle dog when he is one on one with us. I see the border collie come out when he joins our border collies for fun in the field or yard. George is ready to start life in his permanent home. Let me know if you have any questions for him.


4/4/16
George no longer has any restrictions on activity so we have changed his daily routine. His frustration level, digestive distress, and weight have gone down. His cardiovascular conditioning has improved. His daily walks are much longer and at a more vigorous pace. We spend a lot of time walking through the neighborhood and along Lake Michigan. We follow the same routine. He gets pretty excited when he knows he is getting out of the crate. So he has to sit and re-focus on me several times before we get to the door. We encounter lots of people, dogs, bikers, skateboarders, strollers, and kids. So if he gets excited, we play “look at that” if we see them coming. If we are surprised, we put a little distance between them and us, then re-start our walk when he regains his focus.
He does like to travel. So I have started to take him on road trips with the other dogs. We have visited our local dog club. We have visited our farm. At both places, he gets to practice his homework as well as run and play with the my other dogs. George even accompanied me to the monthly meeting of our dog club. He “relaxed” on his mat during the hour long discussion on the pro’s and con’s of various types of electronic starting gates for our agility trails. In other words, he held up much better that I did.
What’s next for George? He has successfully completed his reactive dog class. He will start a basic manners class next week. And he is looking for a full-time position in the right home. If you enjoy working with smart and willful dogs, George would like to make your acquaintance. He will work very hard for his kibble!

2/21
George had a relatively busy week. He is starting to exhibit a bit more enthusiasm as well as frustration for his new daily routine. He is moving a lot easier on his walks and in the yard. He has taken to a “head halter” and that makes our walks much more enjoyable (at least for me). His vet says “keep him quiet” until the beginning of April. So we have introduced some low or no speed activity into his program. His weekly routine involves class on Wednesday nights. So we have some homework to do every day for about 20-30 minutes twice a day. I took him to work with me earlier in the week. We stopped at several farms, including ours. He was curious and well behaved around the cows. I brought him to our neighborhood dog wash on another day. He received a lot of attention from the staff. They told him that he was going to make it on to Facebook. He sat quietly while being washed. He shook only when the spray or scrubbing stopped. I appreciated that. I used a “sock” over his ears when drying him. George was very tight during the whole experience. He needs to get out a bit more but we will continue to take it slowly.

12/21
Hi, everyone-- George here, with a report on my foster family. I think I am going to be able to trust them. The lady likes to go on walks, and the man has started dropping all kinds of treats around the house. Maybe he has a hole in his pocket!! I was wary of him at first, but he and I are going to be friends after all.

Best of all, they have two daughters who just came home from someplace called “college.” I think it is like off-leash training for human kids. I love the girls, and they bring lots of friends around too. I like them all. Thank goodness they haven’t brought any boys…..

They’ve been feeding me well, and encouraging me to play with “toys.” I’m learning what to chew (Kong, rope toys) and what not to chew (crate pad, leash). The more comfortable I become, the more time I get to spend just hanging out with the people. My foster mom would like to add a few words:

Although George does not yet have the run of the house, I’m now fully confident in his house training. It is such a pleasure to see him finally start to relax. Right after the New Year, he will get his heartworm treatments and start the serious business of healing. He is such a fun-loving, active, enthusiastic boy, it will be hard to keep him quietly confined during his recovery. I can’t wait until he is cleared for full activity! I haven’t put his endurance to the test because of the heartworms, but based on his athletic build and zest for life, I think he’s going to be a delightful running or hiking companion.

He doesn’t have much on his Christmas list, but his New Year’s Resolution is to defeat the heartworms and find his forever home in 2016!!

12/4
My name is George, and I spent the weekend after Thanksgiving on a road trip from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, through Tennessee, to the Northwest suburbs of Chicago. I’m thankful to be out of the shelter! I’m settling into my foster home, where they will be “evaluating my temperament and activity level.” I’m not sure what that means, but so far I am getting space to explore my new surroundings, lots of good food, plenty of affection, and a trip to the vet.

The folks at the shelter named me George, and my foster mom said something about how curious I am. I absolutely love squirrels and have a keen eye for movement. My foster mom says I still have a lot of puppy enthusiasm in me, but am old enough to have learned some good manners somewhere along the way. She says I have an excellent “off switch,” because I go in my kennel or mudroom when I need to and lie down without getting anxious.

Did I mention that I love treats? I am learning that when I walk up to my foster mom, sit down and look at her, most of the time a tasty treat appears. I don’t love squeaky toys-- they kinda scare me, unless the tone is very low. My favorite toy so far is a hedgehog that makes a grunting noise.

Foster mom says I look amazingly healthy for a dog with heartworms and three different intestinal parasites. I will be getting rid of those darn heartworms ASAP, and I will be losing something else too…I am an “intact male,” but not for long.

I don’t know many tricks or commands yet, but I don’t have many bad habits, either, and I seem to be a fast learner. Here’s what my foster folks have observed so far:

• Friendly with people and other dogs, including a surprise Rottweiler who happened to be outside the garage as we were opening the door!
• Sits politely for leashing; loves a walk
• Eagerly accepts brushing and touching/drying of feet
• Crate trained; good “off switch.”
• Quiet; seldom barks.
• Treat motivated; gentle mouth for receiving treats
• Not toy motivated
• Active, energetic, athletic
• Recall -- needs work, but emerging
• Sit-- needs work, but coming along
• Down-- not started yet
• “Leave it”-- attentive to the fact that I want him to stop something
• Load up/Load out of car-- learned this in a day. Likes a car ride.
• “Drop”-- so far, this dog has never picked up anything in his mouth, and he looks suspicious when I offer him toys! I haven’t tried a Frisbee or any outdoor fetching because I don’t want to do anything too strenuous until we get the heartworms resolved.
• Has a tendency to mark. Lifted his leg a couple of times at the vet’s office. Hopefully neutering will help resolve this.

We are still getting acquainted. I’m not sure how much time George has spent in an indoor home setting, but we will be introducing him gradually to more areas of the home as he gets comfortable. We haven’t exposed him to cats, kids, bikes, skateboards, etc. but he has only been here four days. Stay tuned! Our first impressions of George are that he is a sweet, friendly, athletic guy who will make a wonderful addition to some lucky family’s home.

For more information go to www.mwbcr.org or contact Pam at graypam@comcast.net
graypam@comcast.net