Truman 09-282

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I am thrilled to introduce one of RAGOM's newest foster dogs, Truman. Truman is a young male, estimated to be approximately 6 months old (although it wouldn't surprise me if he was a hair younger), with a largely unknown past. What we do know is that at some point in his young life, Truman was picked up as a stray, and taken to an animal shelter in Iowa. While we don't know how long Truman was on the run, or in the shelter, one thing that is for certain is that this isn't a good time in a young man's life to miss out on important learning experiences. Additionally, although he is adapting well to our home, there's no guarantee he's ever lived in a home, or had normal puppy experiences. Truman has been in our home for about three days now, and we've been able to begin learning a little bit about him.

Truman is a puppy through and through. More than once I've watched him enjoy chasing his tail and catching it! He is thrilled at every new experience, and has a puppy's curiosity and childlike delight. Any leaf or piece of fur floating through the air will instantly attract his attention and he'll pounce on it with enthusiasm. Toys are all wondrous for Truman - from a Nylabone to a stick, life with things to chew on is good. So far, Truman hasn't tried to chew on anything inappropriate and has stuck to sticks, leaves and toys.

Since he's a puppy - especially one who has spent time as a stray and in a shelter - it is not surprising that he's had a few accidents. The first two, well I'll take the blame for those - as it takes just one (or two in this case) times of letting him out of your sight for just a few seconds for him to have an accident. The third accident this morning was when we first woke up. As soon as he got out of his crate, we went to the back door, and as foster dad was pulling back the curtains and unlocking the door, Truman had an accident on the floor. However, Truman generally seems pretty good about going to the bathroom outside when he's out there. And - since Truman was neutered at a young age, he doesn't seem to have developed the lifting of the leg, which always makes accidents much easier to clean up! The only time Truman isn't great about going to the bathroom outside (and this tragically seems to afflict many dogs) is when the grass is wet! Most of the day yesterday was soggy and wet, and Truman was more than happy to stand on the deck where it was nice and dry.

When we're sleeping, or not home, Truman stays in a crate. He hasn't had any accidents in his crate, and hasn't really made too much of a fuss about it. When we leave, he doesn't seem to bark, and he's fairly calm when we return (we'll see if this behavior stays consistent as he gets more and more comfortable here!) At night in his crate he'll spend some time chewing on a toy, but mostly sleeps through the night, and hasn't (yet) been the first one up in the morning. A few times, he's gone into the crate on his own - times when he's been really tired, or wanted to take his toy to his "own place," which is great.

Truman does have one thing that he needs to work on, and will likely need to continue working on in his adoptive home. For whatever reason (and having lived as a stray we can only speculate what types of situations the young guy may have found himself in), Truman has developed some resource guarding. After spending some time with him, it appears that his resource guarding is directed at dogs and not humans, although working on learning to be a good "trader" will be a great skill for his adoptive home to help him continue developing with people. As for dogs, we're still watching him to figure out what he reacts to, and how. So far, the first day was when we saw his most vocal, and most numerous instances of resource guarding. When a dog exhibits resource guarding, the first thing that becomes off limits is any high value items such as rawhides or bones. However Truman will resource guard a more "boring" (if there is such a thing to Truman) toy, or even a stick. As Truman's gotten to know our two residents a bit better, I think his warning signs are much more subdued - and probably our resident dogs pick up on them faster. At this point, his guarding seems to be appropriately conveyed to other dogs. Sometimes Truman will take his toys in his crate to better secure them away from anyone who might want them. This is not to say that every time Truman is around a toy he guards it, because sometimes there will be toys laying around that he simply doesn't care about. But when he is really interested in something, unless he drops it first, he isn't very likely to share. Having said that, I have seen Truman and my other dogs trot around the yard before with a shared stick between them, and he did just fine and wasn't phased. But I have no doubt that if he hadn't have wanted to share that stick, he would have made that clear - and as long as he does that appropriately, that's ok.

In addition to toys, Truman will guard his food from other dogs as well. For that reason we've been feeding him in a separate room. One time after he was finished, we opened the door and one of our dogs came in the room, and Truman guarded his empty bowl. Now, we pick up all food bowls before doing anything else after feeding time.

Feeding time is also interesting because it is clear Truman has never learned how to eat without devouring his food. We're working on trying to get him to slow down when he's eating by doing some feeding by hand (although he's still a little too eager to really do that well) and putting small amounts of food in his dish when he eats from there. Both myself and my husband have touched him and talked to him while he's eating, as well as put our hands near or on his food dish, and that has been fine.

Truman has met our resident cat, and goes back and forth between being uninterested, or wanting the cat to play with him. So - he would be fine with cats. Truman also does well with our dogs, although he's been learning the pecking order over and over again, as he seems to maybe be a tad behind in understanding how to play and interact with dogs in a way that other dogs will like. (For example he's learned more than a few times now that our resident male does not tolerate being stepped on by puppy feet!) However since he's been here he has seemed to get more in tune with how to respond to our residents each day. Because he seems to be learning a lot from the way our residents interact with him and in general, I think it wouldn't hurt at all for him to go to a home with other dogs. In fact he often just follows our resident male around like our resident is the greatest thing in the world. If he didn't go to a home with other dogs who could help him learn the ropes, it would be imperative that the adoptive family had a really good plan for how they'd give him a lot of exposure to other dogs, especially while he's still in this important learning stage.

Yesterday (the 4th of July) Truman and I went on a walk, with Truman on an Easy Walk harness. At first, we attempted to go on a walk with both my husband and I, Truman and our two resident Goldens. Truman was really overwhelmed and excited by everything, and for the first half of the block, he was walking mostly on his hind legs, like a little bronco. Early on, Truman and I got a little behind my husband and the other two dogs, which drove Truman into a near frenzy to try to catch up with the other dogs. So - to see what he was really like, Truman and I went our own way and had a walk with just the two of us. Needless to say, he was infinitely better when it was just us - and given that that walk may have been his first one ever, it wasn't too bad overall. He was of course interested in all kinds of smells along the way. Interestingly, given it was the 4th of July there were a lot of local firecrackers going off throughout our walk - and they didn't seem to bother him in the slightest, except for once or twice when he cocked his head as if to try to figure out what they were. We did run into children a few times on our walk. All children were instantly the most interesting thing in the world to him - but the noisier children were the MOST interesting. So, while I haven't seen him actually with children yet, he seems to have that typical Golden love for them. He also doesn't seem to be phased by a lot of commotion, so an active household would probably be fine.

The only thing I would mention with regard to children is that Truman hasn't yet learned the best manners, which might mean he's better suited for a home with children around or above the age of ten. He is still quite ok with jumping on people (although we're working on that with him, and his adopter probably will as well) - and he also has the very typical puppy mouthiness, or the feeling that hands should go in his mouth (not to bite, but Goldens are very oral and unless you teach them that you don't enjoy that behavior, they will naturally do so.)
PLEASE SEE UPDATES ON THIS IN TRUMAN'S 3RD UPDATE (7/09). 

Overall, we're still determining his energy level - but what I've seen so far at least seems to indicate that he'll do well with an average amount of interaction and exercise each day. He will quiet down and rest often times when he's in the house - unless he's working on a toy or trying to get the other dogs to play. So, I don't think he has above average energy demands, at least from what we've seen.

Truman is an adorable, young man - weighing only about 30lbs. He is still too young to have fully developed his feathering on the back of his legs, on his tail and butt, but his coat seems to be losing its puppy fluff and becoming more sleek, so I don't think that will be too far away now. He does still have the fluffy puppy head, which always seems to be the last to go, and ears that are way too big for him still.

In three short days we feel like we've learned a lot about him, but there's still much to learn. He is lucky because he still has a few more months in this critical learning stage that puppies go through, to learn valuable life skills. His perfect forever home is one that knows that socialization and learing experiences are critical for him over the next 3 to 6 months especially, and has the time to devote to it. He is a happy boy and it gives me incredible joy to watch him really thrive and seem to love this experience of living in a house and being a part of a family. Each day he learns more and more how great human love and affection is, and often comes to us for pets and love. Getting to be with other dogs, going on walks, hanging out in the back yard and having some toys of his own - these things really seem to be exciting treasures to him. I can't wait to continue getting to be the one who gets to show him the world, and if he sounds like the kind of dog that will fit into your home, I know you'll love helping him explore this exciting new world of love, attention and adventure too!

Now that I've written a novel, Truman and I will say goodbye until we have another update to share with you! If you think you're the right home for him, please contact your placement advisor!

At a Glance #09-282

Golden Retriever Born: January 2009
Male 35 lbs

Status: Adopted

Profile

I am thrilled to introduce one of RAGOM's newest foster dogs, Truman. Truman is a young male, estimated to be approximately 6 months old (although it wouldn't surprise me if he was a hair younger), with a largely unknown past. What we do know is that at some point in his young life, Truman was picked up as a stray, and taken to an animal shelter in Iowa. While we don't know how long Truman was on the run, or in the shelter, one thing that is for certain is that this isn't a good time in a young man's life to miss out on important learning experiences. Additionally, although he is adapting well to our home, there's no guarantee he's ever lived in a home, or had normal puppy experiences. Truman has been in our home for about three days now, and we've been able to begin learning a little bit about him.

Truman is a puppy through and through. More than once I've watched him enjoy chasing his tail and catching it! He is thrilled at every new experience, and has a puppy's curiosity and childlike delight. Any leaf or piece of fur floating through the air will instantly attract his attention and he'll pounce on it with enthusiasm. Toys are all wondrous for Truman - from a Nylabone to a stick, life with things to chew on is good. So far, Truman hasn't tried to chew on anything inappropriate and has stuck to sticks, leaves and toys.

Since he's a puppy - especially one who has spent time as a stray and in a shelter - it is not surprising that he's had a few accidents. The first two, well I'll take the blame for those - as it takes just one (or two in this case) times of letting him out of your sight for just a few seconds for him to have an accident. The third accident this morning was when we first woke up. As soon as he got out of his crate, we went to the back door, and as foster dad was pulling back the curtains and unlocking the door, Truman had an accident on the floor. However, Truman generally seems pretty good about going to the bathroom outside when he's out there. And - since Truman was neutered at a young age, he doesn't seem to have developed the lifting of the leg, which always makes accidents much easier to clean up! The only time Truman isn't great about going to the bathroom outside (and this tragically seems to afflict many dogs) is when the grass is wet! Most of the day yesterday was soggy and wet, and Truman was more than happy to stand on the deck where it was nice and dry.

When we're sleeping, or not home, Truman stays in a crate. He hasn't had any accidents in his crate, and hasn't really made too much of a fuss about it. When we leave, he doesn't seem to bark, and he's fairly calm when we return (we'll see if this behavior stays consistent as he gets more and more comfortable here!) At night in his crate he'll spend some time chewing on a toy, but mostly sleeps through the night, and hasn't (yet) been the first one up in the morning. A few times, he's gone into the crate on his own - times when he's been really tired, or wanted to take his toy to his "own place," which is great.

Truman does have one thing that he needs to work on, and will likely need to continue working on in his adoptive home. For whatever reason (and having lived as a stray we can only speculate what types of situations the young guy may have found himself in), Truman has developed some resource guarding. After spending some time with him, it appears that his resource guarding is directed at dogs and not humans, although working on learning to be a good "trader" will be a great skill for his adoptive home to help him continue developing with people. As for dogs, we're still watching him to figure out what he reacts to, and how. So far, the first day was when we saw his most vocal, and most numerous instances of resource guarding. When a dog exhibits resource guarding, the first thing that becomes off limits is any high value items such as rawhides or bones. However Truman will resource guard a more "boring" (if there is such a thing to Truman) toy, or even a stick. As Truman's gotten to know our two residents a bit better, I think his warning signs are much more subdued - and probably our resident dogs pick up on them faster. At this point, his guarding seems to be appropriately conveyed to other dogs. Sometimes Truman will take his toys in his crate to better secure them away from anyone who might want them. This is not to say that every time Truman is around a toy he guards it, because sometimes there will be toys laying around that he simply doesn't care about. But when he is really interested in something, unless he drops it first, he isn't very likely to share. Having said that, I have seen Truman and my other dogs trot around the yard before with a shared stick between them, and he did just fine and wasn't phased. But I have no doubt that if he hadn't have wanted to share that stick, he would have made that clear - and as long as he does that appropriately, that's ok.

In addition to toys, Truman will guard his food from other dogs as well. For that reason we've been feeding him in a separate room. One time after he was finished, we opened the door and one of our dogs came in the room, and Truman guarded his empty bowl. Now, we pick up all food bowls before doing anything else after feeding time.

Feeding time is also interesting because it is clear Truman has never learned how to eat without devouring his food. We're working on trying to get him to slow down when he's eating by doing some feeding by hand (although he's still a little too eager to really do that well) and putting small amounts of food in his dish when he eats from there. Both myself and my husband have touched him and talked to him while he's eating, as well as put our hands near or on his food dish, and that has been fine.

Truman has met our resident cat, and goes back and forth between being uninterested, or wanting the cat to play with him. So - he would be fine with cats. Truman also does well with our dogs, although he's been learning the pecking order over and over again, as he seems to maybe be a tad behind in understanding how to play and interact with dogs in a way that other dogs will like. (For example he's learned more than a few times now that our resident male does not tolerate being stepped on by puppy feet!) However since he's been here he has seemed to get more in tune with how to respond to our residents each day. Because he seems to be learning a lot from the way our residents interact with him and in general, I think it wouldn't hurt at all for him to go to a home with other dogs. In fact he often just follows our resident male around like our resident is the greatest thing in the world. If he didn't go to a home with other dogs who could help him learn the ropes, it would be imperative that the adoptive family had a really good plan for how they'd give him a lot of exposure to other dogs, especially while he's still in this important learning stage.

Yesterday (the 4th of July) Truman and I went on a walk, with Truman on an Easy Walk harness. At first, we attempted to go on a walk with both my husband and I, Truman and our two resident Goldens. Truman was really overwhelmed and excited by everything, and for the first half of the block, he was walking mostly on his hind legs, like a little bronco. Early on, Truman and I got a little behind my husband and the other two dogs, which drove Truman into a near frenzy to try to catch up with the other dogs. So - to see what he was really like, Truman and I went our own way and had a walk with just the two of us. Needless to say, he was infinitely better when it was just us - and given that that walk may have been his first one ever, it wasn't too bad overall. He was of course interested in all kinds of smells along the way. Interestingly, given it was the 4th of July there were a lot of local firecrackers going off throughout our walk - and they didn't seem to bother him in the slightest, except for once or twice when he cocked his head as if to try to figure out what they were. We did run into children a few times on our walk. All children were instantly the most interesting thing in the world to him - but the noisier children were the MOST interesting. So, while I haven't seen him actually with children yet, he seems to have that typical Golden love for them. He also doesn't seem to be phased by a lot of commotion, so an active household would probably be fine.

The only thing I would mention with regard to children is that Truman hasn't yet learned the best manners, which might mean he's better suited for a home with children around or above the age of ten. He is still quite ok with jumping on people (although we're working on that with him, and his adopter probably will as well) - and he also has the very typical puppy mouthiness, or the feeling that hands should go in his mouth (not to bite, but Goldens are very oral and unless you teach them that you don't enjoy that behavior, they will naturally do so.)
PLEASE SEE UPDATES ON THIS IN TRUMAN'S 3RD UPDATE (7/09). 

Overall, we're still determining his energy level - but what I've seen so far at least seems to indicate that he'll do well with an average amount of interaction and exercise each day. He will quiet down and rest often times when he's in the house - unless he's working on a toy or trying to get the other dogs to play. So, I don't think he has above average energy demands, at least from what we've seen.

Truman is an adorable, young man - weighing only about 30lbs. He is still too young to have fully developed his feathering on the back of his legs, on his tail and butt, but his coat seems to be losing its puppy fluff and becoming more sleek, so I don't think that will be too far away now. He does still have the fluffy puppy head, which always seems to be the last to go, and ears that are way too big for him still.

In three short days we feel like we've learned a lot about him, but there's still much to learn. He is lucky because he still has a few more months in this critical learning stage that puppies go through, to learn valuable life skills. His perfect forever home is one that knows that socialization and learing experiences are critical for him over the next 3 to 6 months especially, and has the time to devote to it. He is a happy boy and it gives me incredible joy to watch him really thrive and seem to love this experience of living in a house and being a part of a family. Each day he learns more and more how great human love and affection is, and often comes to us for pets and love. Getting to be with other dogs, going on walks, hanging out in the back yard and having some toys of his own - these things really seem to be exciting treasures to him. I can't wait to continue getting to be the one who gets to show him the world, and if he sounds like the kind of dog that will fit into your home, I know you'll love helping him explore this exciting new world of love, attention and adventure too!

Now that I've written a novel, Truman and I will say goodbye until we have another update to share with you! If you think you're the right home for him, please contact your placement advisor!

Updates

Friday, August 28, 2009

Truman has had a very busy last couple of weeks.  He goes to dog daycare 2-3 times per week and loves it.  When he gets home he just looks at you with droopy eyes and runs to his crate for a nap.  He likes to play with other dogs.  Never has a problem with sitting in the crate for an eight hour day.  Truman really loves to remove squeakies and as much stuffing out of his toys as possible.  Has never chewed anything he was not suppose to.  When it comes time to go to bed or settle down at night he would cuddle right in if you let him but still sleep just fine in the crate.
 
He is starting to learn things really fast. Sit and belly rub are his favorite tricks right now.  We have been working on playing fetch, he runs and gets it just great but sometimes he forgets to bring the toy back.
 
He does love his alone time with people and loves breakfast and dinner.  He has slowed down on how fast he is eating.  But still speeds up if you get too close and he thinks you are going to take it.  This has been our main focus on him and he is learning really well.  Truman has never had an accident in the house although he has also never cried to go out; we think he just waits to see when you decide to ask if he needs out.  And no matter what he wants to go outside, I think it is his favorite place to be just lounging in the yard.

 
 
 

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Just wanted to report that Truman is still doing well! I thought everyone might like to see a couple of new pictures of him - as you can see he enjoys hanging out outside with my two residents!