James 12-090

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Hi all, I would like to introduce James 12090. James is a 3 year old Golden/Lab mix, he has the coat of a yellow lab but with the golden sparkle to his fur, he is only 57lbs, is UTD on his shots and his blood work all came back negative. James still needs to be fixed and that will happen in the next couple of weeks. James came in from a hoarding situation, he was not house trained and has poor manners, however he is an extremely loving dog who wants to be with people and have as much attention as possible. He loves to give hugs.

James came to our home last week and we have been working with his house training and manners. He is making progress on his house training but manners still need some work. He loves to play and will chase a ball all day if given a chance, he will outrun our resident dog to get the ball and our resident dog just steps aside to watch him run.

Here are some things that I would like you to know about James based on what we have seen so far:

  1. He loves to be outside and we think a fenced in yard would be best for him.
  2. He does tug on the leash but not a lot.
  3. He will not do well with a cat in the house. Our resident cat is very dog savvy, but James is a little too interested in her.
  4. He has done a little counter surfing but mostly because we keep the ball on top of the counters when we are not playing.
  5. He manners need work and we are working on them all the time, he is slowly showing some progress:
    -- He likes to be on top of people and will jump on you when you are sitting anywhere
    -- He uses his paws to get your attention.
    -- He likes to jump up on people and will hold on to you until you push him down. He is like a little kid who doesn’t want to let go of you.
  6. He does not like to sleep in his cage at night but has not earned being out of the cage at night.
  7. He loves a ball and will fetch it as long as you are willing to throw it.
  8. He is not fully house trained yet although he is making progress in this area.

At a Glance #12-090

Mixed Breed Born: November 2008
Male 80 lbs

Status: Adopted

Profile

Hi all, I would like to introduce James 12090. James is a 3 year old Golden/Lab mix, he has the coat of a yellow lab but with the golden sparkle to his fur, he is only 57lbs, is UTD on his shots and his blood work all came back negative. James still needs to be fixed and that will happen in the next couple of weeks. James came in from a hoarding situation, he was not house trained and has poor manners, however he is an extremely loving dog who wants to be with people and have as much attention as possible. He loves to give hugs.

James came to our home last week and we have been working with his house training and manners. He is making progress on his house training but manners still need some work. He loves to play and will chase a ball all day if given a chance, he will outrun our resident dog to get the ball and our resident dog just steps aside to watch him run.

Here are some things that I would like you to know about James based on what we have seen so far:

  1. He loves to be outside and we think a fenced in yard would be best for him.
  2. He does tug on the leash but not a lot.
  3. He will not do well with a cat in the house. Our resident cat is very dog savvy, but James is a little too interested in her.
  4. He has done a little counter surfing but mostly because we keep the ball on top of the counters when we are not playing.
  5. He manners need work and we are working on them all the time, he is slowly showing some progress:
    -- He likes to be on top of people and will jump on you when you are sitting anywhere
    -- He uses his paws to get your attention.
    -- He likes to jump up on people and will hold on to you until you push him down. He is like a little kid who doesn’t want to let go of you.
  6. He does not like to sleep in his cage at night but has not earned being out of the cage at night.
  7. He loves a ball and will fetch it as long as you are willing to throw it.
  8. He is not fully house trained yet although he is making progress in this area.

Updates

Monday, July 23, 2012

Hi everyone, sweet baby James here and I have wonderful news to share with all my RAGOM fans. My forever family found me!! I am moving up north and get to live with a mom and dad. I am an only dog now and I will get to hang out with my folks' grandchildren every weekend. My new family saw the photo of me wearing my Thundershirt and they immediately knew I was the dog for them. They had lost their previous dog to cancer just a short time ago and he too had thunderstorm anxiety and wore a Thundershirt so they know all about that problem and were not worried about having to help me with my anxiety. I get to live close to Lake Superior and will get to go hiking with my dad and run errands with my mom. My dad is recently retired, so he stays home all the time and I get to hang out with him and help him with the honey do list of projects. I have a 2 acre yard that has an invisible fence so I have lots of room to run and play fetch. My new family brought their 6 year old granddaughter with when they came to meet me and when they came back to pick me up today, she brought me a brand new ball to play with....how cool is that. I love kids and I love people so I get to have two humans all to myself. I will get to socialize with other dogs when we go for walks and maybe I'll go to obedience school so I can fine tune my skills. My new family is going to teach me how to do high five and shake a paw since I like to use my paw to get attention. They also love that I like to give hugs. Boy, did I hit the big time or what!!

I want to send a special thank you to my first foster family who took great care of me and helped me learn so many things about living as an inside dog. Thanks for taking a chance on me and teaching me how to behave in the house. I also want to thank my friends at Stone Mountain for taking great care of me and my brother Jesse when we stayed with you. Everyone was so nice to me and took such great care of us. I also want to thank my friends Jimmie, Rocco, Raven and Willow 12-112 for letting me come live with them while I looked for my forever family. And thanks to my foster mom for picking me up from boarding and helping me with my storm anxiety by getting me some medication so I could feel better when it storms. My new family will keep me on my medication and will work with me so I can feel safe when it storms. Last of all thank to you the nice lady Jen, who rescued me and Jesse when we really needed help. Oh and thanks to all the folks who gave me a ride and to RAGOM for helping two Golden/Lab mix boys so they could find forever homes. I'll send in an update to the happy endings page once I get settled into my new home.

Bye for now, your friend Sweet Baby James.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Hi everyone, it's me James sending in a quick update. I've been in my foster home for a week now and things are going pretty well. I have the routine down and am getting along well with all the dogs. Even Willow and I are doing pretty well together. She still growls at me and shows her teeth once in a while, usually when I run into her and knock her down when we are playing or racing around the back yard. I am going for walks everyday, we go early in the morning before it gets too hot out and foster mom brings water with so I can have a drink during the walk. At night I sleep in the bed with foster mom, Willow and what other dogs can fit in the bed. She doesn't have to put the baby gate up now as I stay in the room without any problem. I have not had a single accident in the house, am completely house broken. I've even learned to ring the bell on the back door when I need to go outside, so I am a smart guy. I'm doing pretty good about not pawing at foster mom and don't need to give her hugs all the time. I do like to jump up and hug new people that come to the house and do paw at them so it might take me a while to get catch on to the fact that I'm not supposed to do that.

I do have one more thing I have to have some help with. Foster mom found out that I am afraid of storms and fireworks. Last night we had a thunderstorm and I was pretty stressed out by the noise. Foster mom and the other dogs did not get much sleep because I paced, panted and pawed at everyone and and everything. I also get frightened by fireworks. The neighbor guy keeps setting off a couple of big booms every few hours and has been doing it for 3 or 4 days now. Foster mom talked to him and asked him to either do them all at once or to stop......he's still doing it so that makes me nervous. I get pretty upset so I am now wearing a Thundershirt and she's giving me some over the counter things to help me and has some nice smelling stuff she puts on me and in the house. She said later this week we will take a trip to see the vet so I can get started on some medicine to help with my anxiety. She's not too surprised about my anxiety as I lived outside and probably had to be out when it stormed and when people shot off fireworks. Foster mom said we'll figure out what will help me and I'll be fine.

Well, that's it for now. I'm going to rest up as today we get to hang out in the kiddie pool and have homemade frosty paws because it is a holiday. Foster mom says we might have to stay in a lot if there are lots of fireworks, she said she'll just turn up the volume on the TV so I can't hear them as much and she'll make sure I'm ok.

Bye for now, your friend Sweet Baby James.

Friday, June 29, 2012

Hey everyone, it's me James and I am now in my foster home. A nice lady picked me up from boarding and brought me home with her. I gave all the staff at Stone Mountain a hug before I left. They really liked me and said I have a special place in their hearts. I am now staying with 3 resident dogs and one other foster dog. My new roommates include a 10 year old female yellow lab who is named Jimmie, a 5 year old Chocolate lab named Rocco, a 4 year old Black lab/Golden Retriever named Raven (11-173) and my fellow foster Willow 12-112. I met all the dogs without issue, although Willow was a bit afraid of me and showed me her teeth. I thought she was smiling at me so I just smelled her mouth and kept wagging my tail at her. She backed up and ran off and so I chased her as I thought she wanted to play....she showed me her teeth again and this time included a little growl. I'm still working on winning her over, sometimes she comes up to me and wags her tail and seems to like me and then other times she still shows me her teeth and runs away. Foster mom says it will probably all work out as she just needs to get to know me and learn that I will not hurt her. I like her so no issues on my end.

The first night I slept in the bed with foster mom and a couple of the other dogs. I snuggled right up to foster mom and was a bit restless but it was my first night. So far I've done all my dog business outside and am eating just fine. I love tennis balls and have destroyed a couple of them already.....maybe that's why Willow is not too happy with me as she loves those tennis balls. Foster mom said she will have to call a lady who has used tennis balls so we can restock. I also like to chew on beef bones and kongs and like stuffed toys. Foster mom had picked up all the toys before I came in and she had them in a box on top of a crate. I jumped on top of the crate and just helped myself to the toys, so far so good, no issues with sharing and I back off if Raven growls over a toy.

I did have to spend a few hours in my crate when foster mom had to leave. She gave me a kong with some yummy treats to keep me busy and that worked for a while....then I decided to chew on a blanket that was covering up part of the crate. I didn't eat the blanket, just chewed up part of one side. She said she will try it again today without covering up the crate to see how I do. I love to run around the fenced in back yard and so far have not tried to jump over the 4 foot fence but she keeps a long leash on me just in case I might try to make an escape. I don't want to go anywhere as I love people and want to be with them so she really does not have to worry but she said she is just extra careful with new foster dogs until she knows them a bit better.

I do need to work on two things. First I love to hug people so I jump up to do that. Foster mom said a hug here or there is ok, especially when I am invited to do that but that I do not need to give hugs all the time. Also, I like to paw at her when I want attention so we have to work on knowing when enough is enough and keeping all four feet on the floor. She said I am doing better already and this is just my 2nd day with her. Today she took me for a 3 mile walk to see if that would tire me out and it did, I am not pawing at her and haven't given any hugs since early morning. She said I walked pretty good with a harness and flat collar. I like to walk and do not get frightened by anything. I walked by the golf course and there were lots of golf carts, lawn mowers and even a gun shot (when they started a tournament) and I was not phased by any of it. I also met two small, yippy dogs on the walk and pretty much ignored them even though they were all over the place on long leashes and their mom was talking on her phone and not paying attention to them.

So if you are looking for a sweet, 3.5 year old, 57 pound Golden/lab mix boy who loves people, loves kids, loves dogs and loves attention, I'm the guy for you. I have a shorter lab wash and wear type coat so not much grooming needed. I'd love to go to obedience school with you so I can learn all of what is expected of me and I would be very happy to have a family who is active as I love to play ball, take walks and go for car rides. I listen well, and am ready for my forever home. Please contact your placement adviser if I sound like the guy for you.

Hugs, your friend James (aka Sweet Baby James).

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Hello everyone, it's me James and I'm back in RAGOM's care. I'm sure you are all wondering what happened as the last time you heard of me was at the end of May and I was happy, living in my forever home with a wonderful family of my own. Unfortunately just a few days after I arrived in my new home, the two young children in my new family started wheezing, sneezing and coughing. At first they thought maybe they were getting a cold but they did not get better and they went to the doctor to find out what was going on. The doctor determined that the children (who had never lived with a dog before) were allergic to me!! So they had to make a heart wrenching decision to return me to RAGOM.

My original foster family would have taken me back in a heartbeat but they had a new foster in their home......my own brother Jesse. So I had to go to a nice boarding place called Stone Mountain. It's ok, as I was there before when I first came in to RAGOM and hung out there for a bit before a foster home was ready for me. I love the staff there and they love me so it's all good. I've been getting extra attention and even got to spend the day at Pride working at the RAGOM booth. Thanks Tracy for taking me so I could get lots of pets and attention. I had a lot of fun.

I will be moving to my new foster home in just a couple of days.....can't wait to meet my new foster family and the nice girl dog that they are fostering. So if you are looking for a sweet 3 year old Golden/lab mix who weighs 57 pounds and loves to give hugs, I'm your man. I love all people, any age, any size. I can live with other dogs and cats. I do like to pull on the leash if I have just a flat collar on but do better with a Gentle Leader. I'm housebroken, love dog beds and did I mention, love people. Please contact your placement adviser if I sound like the guy you've been looking for and watch for some new photos and updates once I get into my new foster home. Here's a photo of me working at the RAGOM booth at Pride. Oh, and my nickname from the nice lady that gave me a ride to boarding is "Sweet Baby James".

All for now, your friend James.