Ben here....seems to me FM does not know how to do updates so I am taking over. Thank you .....thank you.....Beth for my butterfly you rock!

I have been living in my foster home for just a little over three months now, things sure have changed for me..I love it here. FM says I am the perfect foster (maybe why she is so slow getting me updated), truth is I think she wants to keep me. I really am a good boy. I don't want to get on the furniture I would rather lay at your feet but I sure love it when FM gets on the floor with me and puts her arm around me and then I show my belly and get rubs. I did not like that close attention when I first came I guess I was holding on to my past but not any more. I walk around with my big fluffy tail up all the time now. I never would jump up on anyone. I have perfected my dance in place. FM likes to laugh at me ...she says I look like a circus horse when I get excited. I only bark when someone comes that I don't know but as soon as FM tells me it's ok ....that is good enough for me. If needed I can stay in my very BIG crate for a long time as that is my safe place. FM leaves the door open for me and I can go in when I get tired. I am starting to play with my fur brothers but we don't do any chasing. I prefer to take a run around the yard but I run with, not after them. My favorite thing (next to food) is to play ball. I am very gentle taking treats. Oh....oh....here comes FM to check my work!

FM here, it is true I have struggled with keeping Ben, as tempting as it is I am a foster and if I keep him I cannot help others It has been so rewarding to foster a dog that just two weeks before I got him he had an appointment to be euthanized because of one alleged bite. Three months ago I saw a very freighted dog. He walked with his head low to the ground and moved like he was at least 13 years old with no zest for life. For the first month all he tried to do was to make himself as small as possible and stay out of the way. (hard to do when you are 94 lbs.) To day is is confident, calm, sweet and just a love to have around and a trim 80lbs.

These are the things that would make a perfect home for Ben.

• Someone who is not gone all day.
• Another dog to keep him company, he is not a wrestler but he does love to run for the ball with a friend and just enjoys a dog buddy.
• A physical fence as he does not always come when called and he HAS to play fetch. He will go and get the ball as many times as you will throw it and brings it right back and drops it at your feet, if you are sitting he drops it in your lap.

He really is a gentle dog. Three things to know about him....he does have a checkered past and sometimes you can just open the oven door and he will be standing by you and something about that movement frightens him and he will go to his crate. I have been calling him back when that happens and he comes and I give him a treat. Some simple things like that have a memory attached but he is being conditioned to know when that oven door opens he will get a pat on the head or maybe a cookie.

He will destroy toys by slowly picking them apart. But he is just fine with his balls. So toys not needed.

When I give him a bone he takes it to his crate (which is fine) but when I want to get it back I just call him and offer him a piece of cheese and he drops the bone and I then take it. He will let out a growl if I approach him to take the bone (good boy because he is giving me a warning) then I just apply the above method and have not had one problem. That is the only time he has growled. Because of this no young children.

Ben loves his walks with just his buckle collar and greets big and small dogs calmly and submissively. Even when he passes those loud ankle biters without manners he totally ignores them. He is great around cats and will let them sleep by him.

If you think this big, gentle guy might fit into your home please let you placement advisor know.

Here are a couple more shots of Ben at the lake.

It is always a puzzle when you get in a rescue with a bumpy past so for our family this weekend it was a time of surprises and a very joyful Ben. We don't have children in the house but my seventeen year old nephew was over for the weekend and Ben took to him like he had known him all his life. They could not get enough of each other. My nephew is very dog experienced and he and Ben had a great weekend playing fetch with the ball and then a bit of keep away.

I have to be mindful of Ben's past regarding his alleged bite of his owner but I refuse to keep Ben captive to the past. I can only speak of what we see now and he has not given us any reason to not trust him. He still has his moments of being frightened but his recovery time has been cut in two. I am so pleased with him.

His diet is going well and he enjoys his daily walks and of course his ball playing. He really fits right in to the family.

Enjoy the pictures of Ben and my nephew and if you think he might fit into your family, please contact your advisor.