Bond is a 5-6 month old Golden /collie mix.  He is one of the 8 who came in from Cando, ND.  Bond was literally half starved when he arrived. You could count all his bones and his pelvic bones stuck out 1/2" on his back.  It was painful to look at him and his siblings. It was hard to understand how they could still be alive.  Sadly not all of them survived the first weekend, they were that close to death from starvation and disease.

Right from the beginning he was a lover and could not get close enough when he was being held. When I would pick him up he would press every inch of his body against me trying to get as close as possible.  He loved to be held and at times I would pick him up and we would just rock back and forth.  He wanted to play with the other dogs, but I was so afraid that he would be hurt because of how thin he was.

I think of him as a miracle puppy. Some of his siblings were diagnosed with parvo and distemper.  Bond tested Negative for both. How he could be around the others and not have the same diseases is really amazing. He had some worms which is very common with puppies.

Bond is a pretty boy with white markings on his chest and a little white chin. He has little white patches on his two front feet. Where the white patches are he has white toe nails. Where the hair is brown his toe nails are brown/black.  He has beautiful brown eyes that will melt your heart.

Bond is not yet potty trained but he has come a long way.  I was somewhat concerned about how often he was peeing and how much.  We went through almost two weeks of him peeing about every hour on the hour with very little pee each time.  For about 3 days it was about every 20 minutes.  There was concern that maybe there was an infection or blockage that would not allow him to empty his bladder.  We put him through some blood and urine tests. Everything came back negative.  In the last week there has been some great progress.  He is really starting to get the idea that outside is where to pee.  The great treats he gets when he does his business outside has really helped.  He is so excited to go out and very pleased with himself when he has done his duty.

Bond loves to play with the big dogs.  They have been good putting up with a puppy chewing on their ears and legs.  Both Bentley and Max take turns keeping him busy.  It is pretty hard to get a decent picture of him with his eyes open.  When he is not sleeping he is at full throttle.

On Tuesday he had his surgery and is now recuperating.  Trying to keep a 6 month old puppy from running is almost impossible.  He has not had any play time with the big boys this week so guess who has to entertain him.  The other night I was about ready to call for help and reinforcements.

He gets so excited when it is time to eat.  When you spend your life not knowing if you would ever eat again, I suppose to eat is very exciting.  He twirls around and jumps, runs ahead and then runs back to me.  He has learned to sit when being fed.  It did not take long for him to figure this out.  He keeps his eye on me until I tell him to go ahead.  He is one smart little guy and I believe he will be easy to train.