Spike10-11

1/19/12 - Here are some new photo's of handsome Buddy on the right. They were taken by our neighbor who looks after him while we are at work. Buddy fell in love with him the first time they met, he walks Buddy every day at midday and I walk him before I go to walk and again when I get home. This burns up some of his energy! I think he is missing your children as he was barking in a friendly manner at the school children waiting to get on the school bus this morning as we walked past them on our daily walk. It was as though he was asking them to please come and play with him. I have used the one Buddy photo as our screen-saver. He and Emma and getting along well, there have been no more growling incidents, they are very content together. He keeps her warm when she is cold, he is sleeping alongside her this evening as it is so chilly.

1/15/12 - We adopted Emma from BAR in April 2010, she is the most wonderful Boxer, she is an angel. Then last Saturday we adopted our second boxer dog from BAR, his name is Buddy. He is the perfect companion for Emma, they have settled down well, it was a smooth transition and they love to play and sleep together. The BAR information on introducing a new dog to your home is very helpful. Buddy is such a well behaved, well trained, friendly loveable dog, we are SO happy we adopted him! We cannot thank his foster family and BAR enough for everything they have done for him. BAR are a fantastic organization, I would recommend them to anyone wanting to adopt a resuce dog!

1/7/12 - Today we brought Buddy to his forever home. What a great family!!! We will miss him soooo much! What a sweet boy. This family was so kind and loving as hard as it was to leave him we are so happy to find a family like them. His new journey will be wonderful!

12/29/11 - Buddy is doing great! He is really doing well on his jumping. He trains beautifully! I do have one problem, my big dog has decided not to like him and we need to keep them separated. I think my guy just finally got sick of him in the house as he has tolerated him this far. Its funny, they must be alpha males as my other two boys do not have any problems with him. Now I am juggleing to give them both time with us, the kids and other dogs. I really hope he finds his forever home soon so he can have the life he desereves. He is such a great dog. Full of wiggles, love and life! He has the softest coat! He loves to play and then cuddle. Please give him a chance to have a normal loving live that he deserves so much.

12/15/11 - Buddy has been doing great here. He was so excited to see the Christmas tree come in. We thought we would be in trouble when his first response was to rip the end limb off of the tree! We told him no, took it away and he hasn't touched it since. It could have been a very long Christmas season! Every day he does better and better. The jumping still seems to be a problem but he is still improving. He hardly barks any more, just when it is appropriate. He still loves being around the kids. Any chance he gets you will find him cuddled up to one of them. Every night when they go to bed, he checks in on them by walking into each room and then finds a comfy spot on one of their floors to spend most of the night. When my husband leaves for work in the early morning he then comes in our room to sleep on the bed. He still is nervous of my big guy Boo, but I am finding him trying to play with him more and more. The thing is that Boo is so laid back, he really doesn't play that much unless he is really prevoked and Buddy is not willing to go that extra step. Instead he pick up a game of tug or keep away with one of the other dogs. He also love to share a bed with my guy Ziggy. We have receintly fund out that the knows when we say "go get your toy". When he is being a pest, we will tell him that and he happily listens either bringing it to you or a dog or playing by himself. His favorite toy is still the kong. Its funy how he can have it in his mouth and still bark! I have been trying to get a video of him wit no sucess. They just come out awful. I will keep trying. We are looking forward to seeing what he thinks of Christmas as it seems everything different is so new to him.

11/29/11 - Buddy is doing great. He is a good boy and is getting along with our three dogs very well. Cutting his nails is still a work in progress for us, but he has no problem with the vet doing it. Buddy loves to play and empties our dogs toy box on a daily basis. He has learned to play nicely with the other dogs and is now comfortable laying next to them on the multiple dog beds laying on our floor. Buddy has not been introduced to the couch or any other furniture and is very comfortable on the floor.

11/9/11 - Buddy continues to do well. He is feeling much better. He is adapting beautifully to a busy house hold. He is now out mingling most of the time and knows how to properly behave in a pack situation. His barking has decreased a lot as well. He just wanted to be with everyone. We have been doing a lot of play time with him and he is beginning to understand that we will not take his toy, we just want to play with him. He is now starting to bring toys to us! All this is never a problem around my kids as he wholeheartedly 100% trusts them. I still will not let my kids be alone with him, but that is just precautionary as he really has no problems around kids. One caution! He loves fuzzy socks on little kids and will try to remove them! It's really funny to watch however it is not proper behavior so while laughing inside I correct him. He is still continuing to get better at taking food from your hand, but make no mistake, if there is food at his level and you are not paying attention he will grab it and run! I guess he still thinks he might not get regular feedings. In time, he will understand. I realized that he knows the command down. He is a really smart puppy. Still not one accident in the house and he doesn't require many potty breaks during the day.

11/4/11 - Well, its decided! Spike is now Buddy. He is too cute for a name like that. He didn't respond to it anyway. Not sure if he got that name from the shelter. Buddy went to the vet today. He was a very good boy. I finally got a weight on him. 57lbs. Except for his cold he is doing great! The vet game me some different meds to help him get over it faster. As I said before, Buddy needs to have things taken slow other wise he gets nervous. After his bath ( which he did excellent with) I wanted to cut his nails. He wasn't crazy about it. Might be because I use a dremmel and he doesn't like the noise. Anyway, I had the vet do it, and altough he was very nervous he was a very good boy! He also saw thier cat 2 times and there were no aggressive behaviors. He was very interested but was wagging his tail the whole time. Buddy is slowly allowed into a larger part of our house and in comfortably interacting with my 3 dogs. He watches curiously and is not scared when they play. I can now let him roam with them in the house. He even shared a toy with Ziggy yesterday. He hasn't been in a crate for about 5 days even though I still keep it open for him. I don't think he needs the security any more. He is dong very well when taking food from us, getting much more gentle. It is a very good feeling giving a sweet dog a second chance. He is turning out to be a wonderful companion!

10/31/11 - Spike is doing well. Unfortunately he got the dreaded cold they all get from being in the shelter. He is on the upswing now. He still is a sweet boy. We are finding besides being potty trained, knowing how to sit and give paw, he hasn't had much manners training. He is now much better at taking food and is slowly learning that we won't take his toys from him. He just needs patients and understanding to learn the ways to live in a home. He still likes to bark. He uses his bark when he doesn't know what to do. I feel the more he learns, the less he barks. He is still so sweet. When he first got here he would bark every time my dogs would play and now he can be in the same room and sit and watch quietly. I do let him have short play periods with one dog at a time as I don't believe he ever played with another dog before and is not quite sure how to. He had a great game of tug of war with Ziggy today! At night we do not crate him any more as he is such a good boy when kept out. He sleeps in his room all night long with out a peep. He never tries to get out or destroy anything. I totally trust him in my house. Boy does he love my kids! He is sooo wiggly when they come home. He goes crazy if they don't go over to say hi. I am still confident that with the proper training and patience he will be the perfect dog for just about any one.

10/26/11 - Spike arrived yesterday and has been a wonderful guest ever since. We went for a walk right away and he did his business. Never pulled on the leash. He is a very happy puppy full of wiggles. When introduces to my dogs it was extremely uneventful. he has his own room where they can visit each other through the gate and they all seem happy with each other. I think he would rather be out with the rest of us, but is quit content as long as he can see some one or another dog. He seems to be very trained. Has not had any accidents! I tell him "lets go potty" and we go outside and he goes. He knows how to sit and give paw very well! He loves to play with toys and carry them around. Half of the time when he goes out to potty he will have a bone or kong in mouth. He is a little thin but loves to eat, so I don;t see a problem getting a little weight on him. H does need some work on his bark. I find he likes to bark a little more than I would like. When I tell him "quiet" he seems to stop. Spike does have an unusual bark though. It is a very deep bark. Any way like I said, so far so good. What a sweet, sweet boy. He will be a joy to have around and very easy to keep. Oh that reminds me. Last night we had him go out one last time before bed. Put him in his crate with no problems and he just curled up and went to sleep. Not a peep from him all night. When my husband was ready to leave the next day, Spike went potty and got back in his crate until the rest of us came down to start our day. Very easy pup. More to come....