Kirby, formerly known as B or Baby, has been returned to RAGOM. He was adopted out to a family last fall and they found he had reactions to visitors at their house or when meeting another dog on walks. Kirby wouldn’t tell us what the deal was, but some have thought he was protecting his owners. None the less, his family thought it better he was returned to RAGOM.

Kirby spent time in boarding until he found a foster. He has now been with us for 10 days and is finding his groove in our house. Kirby is a playful 2 year old, golden retriever. Unfortunately, he has been bounced many times in his short live. He is now living in his 7th place in just over 2 years! This causes stress in dogs that can show in many ways, one is chewing. He does like to chew on balls and wants to focus on one toy at a time. Other signs of stress are losing hair, panting and drinking water excessively.

He met our dogs without issue. Kirby listened to the cues of Tyson, who is the more dominant, but playful resident dog. As for Chance, 12-021, he still hasn’t figured out to tell the foster dogs that he doesn’t like an overly affectionate foster mate. Kirby keeps pestering Chance until we pull Kirby off of Chance.  They all play well and chase each other all over the house and yard.

Kirby has shown some insecurity early on, which doesn’t surprise me. The first night, he didn’t know where he was and he was scared, barking when I let the boys out at 2am for a potty break. What did this look like? His insecurity was displayed as barking, backing up away from me and hiding on the other side of the kitchen table. I called his name, held my hand out and found his collar. I led him outside and then all was well.

He has shown this same behavior of insecurity when we tried to get him to go downstairs. He had nothing to do with it.  A few days later, he went down stairs to do laundry with me without any coaching. When I was vacuuming the stairs, he showed his insecurity again when he couldn’t get back up the stairs! Silly puppy! I simple turned off the vacuum and he ran right past me. He was reported to not like loud noises or the vacuum cleaner. He does okay, seems to pace in the room when the vacuum is on instead of avoid it like our other dogs.

Kirby does need a special family to help him become the confident, great companion that he has the potential to be. He doesn’t like loud noises. He doesn’t like people, dogs or noises coming up from behind him. He does need to live with a family that doesn’t have children, is quiet and has a young, confident, adult dog, maybe ages 2-6. Kirby can be very playful and rambunctious, so a play mate is essential to burn off his energy.

He needs others to tell him it is okay to be a dog and give his boundaries. He is eager to please and knows several commands. Listening and following on his commands consistently is where our work is currently. He knows sit, down, off, stay, come, no. He does do a roll over trick and shake. He is learning to leave his ball to play fetch, but does better with a trade. Families interested in a diamond in the rough need to be consistent with Kirby, give him commands to follow and make him feel safe. He needs to be a puppy that can grow into a comfortable companion. We will only consider families with limited exposure to children, have a quiet home and another large dog. For Kirby’s sake, we have to find a great match, so he can be stable for the rest of his life.