Hunter (Hooch 11-204)

Profile

Hooch is a 9 month old, beautiful purebred Golden Retriever. This dog is absolutely delightful. Hooch came to RAGOM from a home where he lived outside unfenced and allowed to wander. One day the people came home and Hooch was injured with noticeable evidence in the yard of a scuffle. The owners believe he was attacked, perhaps bear, maybe coyote, wolf, raccoon, or another dog. The owners could not afford vet care and he was surrendered to Red Lake Rosie’s Rescue http://www.redlakerosie.org/ who in turn called RAGOM. We are so happy we have him and thank Red Lake Rosie’s for rescuing him.

Hooch was immediately transported to a vet office to look at his wounds. Luckily, none are deep and did not require stitches. He doesn’t want to leave them alone however, so is sporting an e-collar and will do so until the areas have healed and are past the stage of possible infection. I’m sorry, but it’s difficult to take pictures of a dog with a cone on his head, so the pictures of him are as good as I can do at the moment. He doesn’t particularly like the e-collar (and I don’t blame him, he bumps into everything and everybody with it on), so it has already taken some serious wear and tear and as you can see, is duct taped to hold it together. Hooch also has ear infections which we are treating and he scratches a lot. He was covered in ticks which have been removed and he was given a flea/tick preventative. I’ve been waiting for the wounds to heal before giving him a bath. I’m hoping that once he gets a bath, he’ll feel better and not itch. He also has numerous scabs on his skin from the ticks. At the moment, I don’t know if he is scratching because of his skin condition or if he has environmental or food allergies. I give him a Benadryl twice a day along with his antibiotics and am feeding him a grain-free food. He is neutered, up-to-date on shots, heartworm negative and clean fecal (no parasites).

He met the other six dogs (three large, three small) at his foster home with his tail tucked between his legs. Once the meet and greet (one at a time) was completed, and he got the nod of approval from the resident dogs, Hooch lifted his tail and has been great with all the dogs. He fits right in. No aggression towards humans or dogs. I can do anything to him. He also of his own accord, appears to be housetrained and for a recently neutered male, I’m happy to report that I haven’t seen him mark anything either. I crated him for a few hours when he arrived to give him some time to rest and relax. He wasn’t crazy about going in the crate, but was quiet while in there for a couple of hours. Since then, I have not had a need to crate him. He sleeps on the floor in the bedroom at night, doesn’t get up on the furniture, doesn’t chew on things, likes to carry around shoes, but hasn’t damaged anything. Has been left home with free roam with the other five dogs for up to six hours with no problems. He has started to play with a couple of the dogs when outside, enjoying running around the backyard with them.

The perfect home for Hooch will be one that wants to help him develop into becoming all that he can be – which is a great dog. He doesn’t know any commands, so priority will be someone that enjoys taking their dog to positive motivational obedience training. His personality is so gentle and calm that developing into a therapy dog to visit children in hospitals or adults in nursing homes would be a very high possibility for him. He is very much the velcro Golden. I don’t have cats due to my own allergies, but I can’t imagine that they would be an issue with Hooch. His previous home had children so he was socialized to kids at a young age.

Will write more after his bath and let everyone know if that helps the itching and subsequent scratching. His wounds are healing nicely. He may have some permanent hair loss on his backend. I don’t know if the hair will grow back there or not. He is a beautiful boy either way.

At a Glance #11-204

Golden Retriever Born: September 2010
Male Weight not specified

Status: Adopted

Profile

Hooch is a 9 month old, beautiful purebred Golden Retriever. This dog is absolutely delightful. Hooch came to RAGOM from a home where he lived outside unfenced and allowed to wander. One day the people came home and Hooch was injured with noticeable evidence in the yard of a scuffle. The owners believe he was attacked, perhaps bear, maybe coyote, wolf, raccoon, or another dog. The owners could not afford vet care and he was surrendered to Red Lake Rosie’s Rescue http://www.redlakerosie.org/ who in turn called RAGOM. We are so happy we have him and thank Red Lake Rosie’s for rescuing him.

Hooch was immediately transported to a vet office to look at his wounds. Luckily, none are deep and did not require stitches. He doesn’t want to leave them alone however, so is sporting an e-collar and will do so until the areas have healed and are past the stage of possible infection. I’m sorry, but it’s difficult to take pictures of a dog with a cone on his head, so the pictures of him are as good as I can do at the moment. He doesn’t particularly like the e-collar (and I don’t blame him, he bumps into everything and everybody with it on), so it has already taken some serious wear and tear and as you can see, is duct taped to hold it together. Hooch also has ear infections which we are treating and he scratches a lot. He was covered in ticks which have been removed and he was given a flea/tick preventative. I’ve been waiting for the wounds to heal before giving him a bath. I’m hoping that once he gets a bath, he’ll feel better and not itch. He also has numerous scabs on his skin from the ticks. At the moment, I don’t know if he is scratching because of his skin condition or if he has environmental or food allergies. I give him a Benadryl twice a day along with his antibiotics and am feeding him a grain-free food. He is neutered, up-to-date on shots, heartworm negative and clean fecal (no parasites).

He met the other six dogs (three large, three small) at his foster home with his tail tucked between his legs. Once the meet and greet (one at a time) was completed, and he got the nod of approval from the resident dogs, Hooch lifted his tail and has been great with all the dogs. He fits right in. No aggression towards humans or dogs. I can do anything to him. He also of his own accord, appears to be housetrained and for a recently neutered male, I’m happy to report that I haven’t seen him mark anything either. I crated him for a few hours when he arrived to give him some time to rest and relax. He wasn’t crazy about going in the crate, but was quiet while in there for a couple of hours. Since then, I have not had a need to crate him. He sleeps on the floor in the bedroom at night, doesn’t get up on the furniture, doesn’t chew on things, likes to carry around shoes, but hasn’t damaged anything. Has been left home with free roam with the other five dogs for up to six hours with no problems. He has started to play with a couple of the dogs when outside, enjoying running around the backyard with them.

The perfect home for Hooch will be one that wants to help him develop into becoming all that he can be – which is a great dog. He doesn’t know any commands, so priority will be someone that enjoys taking their dog to positive motivational obedience training. His personality is so gentle and calm that developing into a therapy dog to visit children in hospitals or adults in nursing homes would be a very high possibility for him. He is very much the velcro Golden. I don’t have cats due to my own allergies, but I can’t imagine that they would be an issue with Hooch. His previous home had children so he was socialized to kids at a young age.

Will write more after his bath and let everyone know if that helps the itching and subsequent scratching. His wounds are healing nicely. He may have some permanent hair loss on his backend. I don’t know if the hair will grow back there or not. He is a beautiful boy either way.

Updates

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

I can not believe this sweet boy has been with us for two years now!! I can't believe my little puppy is going to be turning three next month (September 2013)!

Hunter, formerly Hooch, has grown so well in the time he has been with us. All of the scars from his ordeal as a puppy are gone, and if you didn't know him, you would never be able to tell he was ever injured!

Hunter will take his final exam to become a therapy dog later this year, but is already registered as a Canine Good Citizen with the AKC.

Hunter quickly became the center of our family. He is my Punkin, my mom's Golden Boy, my dad's Bonfire Buddy and my brother's hunting/fishing partner. His favorite, though, is fishing, hands down! He loves the boat, but he loves jumping off the boat even more! Once Hunt starts swimming, you can't get him to stop!

Hunter goes everywhere with us! His favorite places are Minnehaha Falls because he can swim in the river and Lebanon Park because he can run free on the trails and of course the dog park too.

He loves his two cat "siblings" and is always trying to play with them. He loves to play with the neighbor dogs too and is always sneaking over to their yard to rough house. When he can't sneak out, he loves to play fetch with his humans or throw his octopus around the living room. The octopus gets so much love form Hunter that it has to go to the Hunter Toy Hospital every week to get it's stuffing put back in and be stitched up.

Hunter is the best thing that could have possibly happened to us and I am thankful to RAGOM every day for saving amazing dogs like Hunter.