Say hello to Gideon, a fabulous pooch! Housebroken, social with people and other dogs, loves to play with other dogs, crate trained and pretty well leash trained. The only time he really pulls on a leash is if we see wildlife on our walks. His foster home is in the mountains where deer are common and he gets excited when he sees them.
Gideon is a leaner. He comes when you call him and is often known to sit to get your attention. When you start petting him, he leans into you and then slowly slides down to the floor in complete and utter bliss. We've started calling him Melty Man in his foster home. He does it every time! He just really adores attention from humans. We think he'd be great with kids but they should probably be age 10 and up because Gideon sometimes still jumps to greet and bounds through the house with exuberance.
He's a youngster, probably somewhere between 1 and 2 years old and he weighs 60 lb. He's full grown. We don't know why he ended up in a shelter, but whoever gave him up lost out on a great dog. While he is still sometimes puppyish in his behaviors, he is learning fast and seems very eager to learn. Gideon's personality is smart like a shepherd and sweet/goofy like a labrador retriever.
Gideon knows SIT, DOWN, and is currently learning LEAVE IT and OFF. We also recently tested him with cats and he's fine, but a cat that fears dogs would be stressed by his big goofiness. Our cat hissed & swatted and Gideon backed right off. He will need continued obedience training with positive motivation techniques to become a really fabulous well-trained pet. He responds very well to treat training. Still a bit grabby when excited in play, hence the training of the LEAVE IT command. We will also start working on GENTLE soon.
We first heard about this guy in late spring. He was scheduled to come to us in May but then the shelter noticed he was limping. They took him to the vet to get it checked. After meds, rest, x-rays and tests, they eventually discovered he had a torn ACL, so off he went for surgery and months of rehab in a foster home. Gideon finally came into local foster care with us on 9/24. His rehab regimen is complete on 10/11. Most of the rehab work is done. Right now he's leash walking to limber up and continue to strengthen the leg. He is allowed some play time in the yard by himself. He's not allowed to full on play off leash in the yard or with other dogs until the 11th...which is only about a week away. We can tell he's excited all the rehab work is coming to an end because he has such a zest for life! You can see where he was shaved for surgery in his photos. The hair has grown back in but is not quite as thick as the hair on the rest of his body yet.
Please submit an application if you'd like to meet him. We don't think he'll last very long so please hurry if you're seriously interested!
March 25, 2024, 12:03 am
