Leo 11-189

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Please welcome Leo to the RAGOM family. This soft little wiggle butt is a Golden Retriever/Lab mix, 3 years old and he weighs 68 pound which is a little over weight. We think with a little bit of exercise he will be at his ideal weight in no time. He has been brought up to date on his vaccines and is already micro chipped & neutered. Leo has been surrendered to RAGOM because his family has fallen on hard times and their house was being foreclosed. We were told Leo used to live with a black lab and a cat, however we have been unable to test him with dogs or cats yet.

Leo has been with us since Wednesday night. Our first impression was that he was so soft; it is our pleasure to pet this guy and his silky smooth coat. Thursday morning we put him in the kennel before leaving for work and he went right in, but by the time I got home he had pulled a Houdini. I am still not sure how he managed to get out of there. Needless to say he is not crate trained. I have worked with him a little since then to show him the kennel is a safe place to be. We were told he has been trusted with free roam of his last home, but we have not left him for more than 25 minutes yet.

Leo was a terrible walker when we first tired to take him for a walk, but thank to his Gentle Leader he is much easier to walk. He is now walking with us instead of pulling us with him. The guy seems to really like his walks too; if you grab a leash he will run right over and sit nicely until he is hooked up and ready to go.

This guy has some anxiety in the car, but is getting better each time we take him somewhere. The first time he came with us, for a ride, he was panting and shuddering. Today however, he was not panting or shuddering, but he wouldn't sit down. We think maybe he just hasn't had too much exposure to car rides. He is learning it is fun to go places with his people.

Leo has not show any thunderstorm or firework anxiety. He has only growled at us once when he was engrossed with a rawhide bone, he does not get those anymore. Leo has not shown that he likes to fetch yet, but he did run around in the yard with us tonight. He seems to like his stuffed toys, but has not paid much attention to his nylabone. We still think he is just getting to know us and has not quite settled in yet.

Click here to check out some of the tricks he knows. We will report back with another update after the holiday weekend.

At a Glance #11-189

Mixed Breed Born: August 2007
Male 60 lbs

Status: Adopted

Profile

Please welcome Leo to the RAGOM family. This soft little wiggle butt is a Golden Retriever/Lab mix, 3 years old and he weighs 68 pound which is a little over weight. We think with a little bit of exercise he will be at his ideal weight in no time. He has been brought up to date on his vaccines and is already micro chipped & neutered. Leo has been surrendered to RAGOM because his family has fallen on hard times and their house was being foreclosed. We were told Leo used to live with a black lab and a cat, however we have been unable to test him with dogs or cats yet.

Leo has been with us since Wednesday night. Our first impression was that he was so soft; it is our pleasure to pet this guy and his silky smooth coat. Thursday morning we put him in the kennel before leaving for work and he went right in, but by the time I got home he had pulled a Houdini. I am still not sure how he managed to get out of there. Needless to say he is not crate trained. I have worked with him a little since then to show him the kennel is a safe place to be. We were told he has been trusted with free roam of his last home, but we have not left him for more than 25 minutes yet.

Leo was a terrible walker when we first tired to take him for a walk, but thank to his Gentle Leader he is much easier to walk. He is now walking with us instead of pulling us with him. The guy seems to really like his walks too; if you grab a leash he will run right over and sit nicely until he is hooked up and ready to go.

This guy has some anxiety in the car, but is getting better each time we take him somewhere. The first time he came with us, for a ride, he was panting and shuddering. Today however, he was not panting or shuddering, but he wouldn't sit down. We think maybe he just hasn't had too much exposure to car rides. He is learning it is fun to go places with his people.

Leo has not show any thunderstorm or firework anxiety. He has only growled at us once when he was engrossed with a rawhide bone, he does not get those anymore. Leo has not shown that he likes to fetch yet, but he did run around in the yard with us tonight. He seems to like his stuffed toys, but has not paid much attention to his nylabone. We still think he is just getting to know us and has not quite settled in yet.

Click here to check out some of the tricks he knows. We will report back with another update after the holiday weekend.

Updates

Friday, September 28, 2012

We received this update on our past foster dog Leo, just before Goldzilla and we wanted to share with you.

Leo is doing well!! His weight is about 59 to 60 lbs...we are feeding him what you had him on and also the coat supplement you used. His hair is still soft! We finally got him weaned off the Prozac for separation anxiety in January. In December we decided to have him allergy tested as we couldn't find any combination of antihistamines that would give him any relief, so he is now on allergy shots and we feel they have really helped a lot and no more itching himself raw.

Now that he has been with us a year, he is quite settled into our routines and has calmed down. He has pretty much decided that I (Mom) am the boss and keeps quite close track of me! That translates to being underfoot in the kitchen and bathroom and etc....ha! I feel he is quite comfortable with us now. His separation anxiety has lessened but not disappeared unfortunately, but we will continue to work with him on it.

I had mentioned about him being a little growly with other dogs so we went to 'Cranky Canine class' where the instructor felt that he wasn't so much growly as just reactive and that he didn't know how to properly greet other dogs. That was in Jan-Feb and since then we have had him meet several other dogs and even put him in a doggy day care with several dogs and he has done real well! What a relief!

We still continue to take daily walks but he likes to be the leader and I haven't been able to teach him the proper way. I think he does understand pretty much what I want but just can't slow down 'cause it is so exciting! Funny thing, when we head for home many times he will walk just perfectly beside me...I can't figure it out. This fall I plan to take him to a training class so maybe we both can learn how to walk properly!

He continues to LOVE going for rides. We recently went to Denver with him and decided to see how he would be in a motel......well.......he turned into Leo the Watchdog! He barked several times during the night at sounds that I think only he could hear and perceived to be a threat. Needless to say, we didn't get any sleep, nor did Leo and I hope that the rooms around us weren't too disturbed. So, guess we will just continue to board him if we have to stay overnight. He hardly ever barks in our house so were quite surprised at his actions.

This spring our yard had a ground squirrel population explosion! (They live in holes in the ground and are about the size of a large mouse) Leo discovered that if he was patient and lucky, he could catch one!! Each time he goes out he checks the yard for them.

Leo and Kissa are o.k. with each other but I doubt if they will ever be 'bosom' buddies. I think Leo would like to be but Kissa has other ideas.

On some occasions, Leo can be a quick learner.....especially learning about the electric fence our neighbors have!! He has learned to sit to get his collar on and off and to sit and wait to be fed dinner. He also has learned that his people go first through the entrance door to the house. He has learned to sit and wait to get into the car for a ride! Also to sit and wait on the car seat until he is allowed out of the car. He gets to use his sniffing skills when we hide his daily dental cleansing chew treat (his favorite treat!) He has learned that the bed is off limits and has learned that rule doesn't apply when people are gone!!! We hope he has learned not to try to investigate skunks anymore!! That encounter, brief though it was, resulted in an unexpected late night bath. And today he learned about bumblebees (I think he got a small sting) as we were picking raspberries!

Well, I guess I have rambled on enough. We love having Leo with us....he keeps us busy and entertained. He is a good dog! Enjoy the pictures!

-Leo’s Mom and DaD

   
   
   

Leo’s Sister Kissa
My Mom and Dad are the best!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

We got ready this morning, just like we always do, but Leo knew something was up because I was gathering his stuff up and even lined up all of his toys as if they were going to be going on an adventure.

Because of his suspicion he didn’t eat and was watching our every move. Then visitors arrived and he realized he knew who the visitors were. With his new found knowledge he was finally able to relax and eat.

We are so excited for Leo! His new mom and dad picked him up today and are taking him to his new home in Iowa. You know what that means…that’s right, shorter winters. J He’s so lucky! His new mom and dad are retired and will be able to spend more time with him. He is also going to have a furry cat companion. He was such a good boy, when it was time to leave, he jumped right into the van and sat in his seat ready to go.

We will be excited to hear how his trip home goes and what he thinks of his forever home in Iowa.

We hear his new back yard may have field mice and voles. Look out vermin... here comes Leo! J

Friday, July 29, 2011

When we got home tonight we told Leo, the nice couple who met him yesterday wanted to adopt him. He was so excited he gave Tyler a high five. Leo’s forever family is going to pick him up on their way back to Iowa on Tuesday. We are so excited for Leo. Not only will he have a mom and dad, but he also gets to live with a cat.

We are also happy to report we have seen significant improvements in Leo’s mood this week. We found out that he is in fact a wiggle butt. He has always wagged his tail, but not much beyond that. We think his medicine is starting to kick in and we are starting to see what a “happy” dog he can be. It is so fun to see him happier.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

My husband and I have noticed when Leo gets off the couch, he doesn’t jump off the couch, he slinks. He sort of drags his legs behind…it is so funny. I have been trying to snap a picture of this all week, but it is hard to get a good shot. The camera is not fast enough. We are just sharing some pictures with you to show you a snap shot of a day in the life of Mr. Leo.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Leo had a great weekend! On Friday we stopped at Chuck and Don’s to pick up and package of marrow bones. Oh boy oh boy, he thought that was such a treat! He was pretty funny though, it took him awhile to figure out if he uses his front paws to hold the bone it is easier to get to the good stuff. I took a couple pictures of him with his treat.

Saturday we went all the way the Shoreview, MN with a promise of a walk in the parade, but the parade ended up being cancelled due to weather. Leo didn’t know what was going on. He was all ready for a walk, he met other dogs who were also ready for a walk and then we just went home. Needless to say, Mr. Leo ended up going for a long walk with Foster Mom when he got home. Good thing too, he was good and ready.

Today we went over to another RAGOM volunteers house to “cat test” Leo.  Now he is cat tested and approved. J The bonus was while we were at the “cat’s” house he got to play with the resident dog, Bogey. Bogey initiated play with Leo and they chased each other around the yard for a couple a minutes and then pooped out. It was fun to see Leo play. He hasn’t “played” much since we have had him, although I did snap a picture of him when he played with his monkey on Friday.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Yes, finally a break in the heat! Leo was very excited to go for a long walk today. The temperature was comfortable enough; he didn’t even want to drink water half way through the walk. Mr. Leo’s walk was very exciting. We were about ¾ of the way through and he was very intent on sniffing the ground, which is normal when he wants to pick a spot to potty. Little did I know…Leo was hunting! I saw him snap and he had some furry little brown thing in his mouth.

I said, “Leo no!” Then I thought to try another command, “Leo drop it.” He dropped it, but he certainly wanted to get it again. The mouse landed on his back then flipped to his feet, stunned; he did not look hurt, just stunned. Poor country mouse! Maybe Leo learned this skill from the cats he used to live with?J

He has finally discovered the heated floors in our bathroom. I caught him laying in the sun on the heated floor today. Smart boy!

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

How can you resist contacting your adoption coordinator, to meet Leo, after you see this face?

He is so desperate to go for a long walk, but with the hot weather it has been unsafe to go. This guy will settle for a short walk though. We made a video tonight to show you what a good boy he is. Just grabbing his leash is enough to get his attention and he will sit so nicely waiting to be hooked up. Click here for the video. (Sorry the camera fogs up from the heat)

We also snapped a couple picture of Leo resting and cooling off when we got back from the walk. :-)

Monday, July 18, 2011

We want to thank every one who came out to see Leo at the Chaska Petco; he loved the attention. Leo also was able to be cat tested. The Petco had about 6 cats in compartments near the window and we went over to check them out. There were three cats in the lower compartments and Leo sniffed the cage. Two cats sniffed back and one swatted right at him. The cat who swatted at him just scared Leo, but not enough that he didn’t try sniffing again, but he quickly learned to go back and sniff the friendlier pair.J

We just realize our camera is filled with pictures of Leo sleeping…he sleeps a lot. He was cuddling with us last night and we took some pictures; this dog has a lot of love to give. We are posting a couple pictures of our water/rest break in the shade from a few weeks ago. Poor Leo’s walks have been cut short the last few days with the hot weather. Have we mentioned he loves to walk?

Thursday, July 14, 2011

We are planning to bring Leo to the RAGOM Educational Booth at the Chaska Petco this Saturday, July 16th.  We plan to have him there from 11AM-2PM, but since we have not brought him to an event before, we may need to leave early. Some dogs get overwhelmed by all the dogs and people. However, this guy really likes to be petted, so we will be surprised if he doesn’t soak up the attention.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Yesterday, we visited the vet with Leo and she confirmed he does seem to have an allergy which explaing the frequent itching. She could tell by the color of his skin that he was having a reaction to something, but we are unsure to what he is reacting. He is taking an allergy pill, or as we call it "a treat", twice a day. He takes the pills really well, because we wrap the pill with a sausage treat. Yummy!

We also talked to the vet about Leo’s mood and anxiety about being left alone. He has not been destructive; he is just stressed when we leave with a fair amount of barking until we are back home. Leo was prescribed Fluoxetine for his anxiety, which we are hoping will put a hop in his step when we are home and get him to relax while we are away. We will be working with him in the evening and weekends by leaving him for varied periods of time to get him to trust us more that we will return. How could we not? Have you seen how cute this guy is?

Now for the best part, pictures! We included one more picture of Bella's recent visit, since there was a cute picture showing how the two sat so nicely in the car on the way back to Stillwater. We also wanted to show how nicely Leo can sit in the car. And finally, we have been trying to get Leo interested in the kiddie pool to see what he thought especially on those 90 deg+ days. We finally got him to step into the pool with all four paws, but he first needed to see his foster Mom put her paws in the pool.J Monkey see monkey do!

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Mr. Leo had a wonderful weekend. First thing Saturday morning we went to our RAGOM mentor's house in Stillwater. Leo was really good on the car ride. He even laid down and relaxed for awhile. That proved he likes to ride in a car, he just needs a little time to settle in. Once we arrived in Stillwater, Leo met the dog savvy Max. (Max is 2 years old) I could see Leo knocking over a toddler, if he gets excited, but there were no problems with Max. Max even said Leo was cute! We have to agree with him.

Leo had the privilege of meeting three other Golden Retrievers: Gracie, Bella, and Andy. Andy was really laid back and didn't really show an interest in Leo. Gracie wanted to play, but wouldn't talk to Leo, so he wasn't a good partner for her. Bella was a pretty good match, Leo initiated play and if she wasn't interested, she would tell him and he would listen. We were really happy to see that Leo had good social skills. After visiting for awhile be decided to take Bella home with us for the night; we have been wanting to see if Leo is less anxious when we leave if there is another dog around.

After getting back to our house, we immediately took the dogs for a long walk. Wow, did they love that! They were both so excited to smell every tree and see where we were going next. After the walk we got back to the house and let the dogs catch their breath. We then left to run an errand; we were gone for about 45 minutes. We again left the the nanny cam up while we were away, so we could see what happened while we were gone. We were pleasantly surprised how the "test" went. Leo and Bella sat at the door when we first left, then Leo propped himself up on the table to "see" out the window. When he let himself down he started to bark a little. He barked for about one minute and then followed Bella's lead and laid down to sleep.

We then decided that maybe Leo was so exhausted after the "big" day and maybe he was going to be okay with or without a dog. We decided to test our theory, and I took Bella with me to get lunch and my husband hung out outside, in case Leo needed to be "rescued." After 5 minutes of barking a howling Tyler came back in to "rescue" him. At this point we realized that Bella was the "magic" bullet. Leo needs a confident companion to know that it is okay.

We left Leo at home a third time, this time he was with Bella again. We went to a dinner party expecting to be gone for 4 hours, but we were actually gone for 6 hours. However, we were able to keep an eye on the pups, with the nanny cam and they did pretty well. Occasionally Leo would bark and Bella would be startled. However, once Leo noticed Bella going back to sleep he would lay down again and relax too. Toward hour five of us being gone Leo was getting more agitated, he did start barking more, but it was nothing like when he was left alone. It helped that Bella would get up and walk to another good sleeping spot; this really was a good distraction for Leo. :-) Thanks Bella!

This brings us to Sunday. After bringing Bella back home and running around the yard with Andy, Gracie and Bella again we made our way back to Hopkins. However, before we went home we made a pit stop at Bubbly Paws and gave Leo a bath. He really likes to be groomed. He soaks up the attention. Leo even made Bubbly Paws' Facebook page. He looks a little sad in the picture, but I think that is because I was not longer scrubbing him. :-)

It was great to find out how much he liked baths and to make sure he was presentable to meet a prospective family, coming to see him. They even have a resident dog! This could be Leo's lucky weekend!

Thanks for checking in, we will send another update soon.

Friday, July 8, 2011

I couldn’t resist sending in another update today! Mr. Leo had the privilege of meeting and walking with Milo, the Puggle, last night. They were both pretty excited to meet each other and were super excited to have a walking buddy. We walked all the way around Centennial Lakes, with a couple of water breaks. This was a busy walk. We saw a lot of other dogs and a lot of people. They were both very good walkers.

The car ride home was great too! Leo was truly exhausted. He sat nicely for most of the ride and smushed his face between the arm rest and seat for the other part of the ride. J I think he was trying to cool down or maybe just prop his head up. He was just too cute!

When we got home he sat by the door and watched for Milo to come over for a visit. I think he heard me mention, maybe next time we will see if Milo wants to come over and play.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

You may have heard of exercise programs such as P90X, but have you heard of L-E-O? This is a tried and true exercise program. We are taking Mr. Leo on a walk at least 2 times a day. He loves to walk and now that he is using a Gentle Leader he is a great walking partner. I am not sure if he is really listening to me or if he is learning to predict my path, but I have been saying “left” and “right” depending on which way I would like to turn and he seems to be listening to me. J He is so smart!

Did I mention how soft Leo’s coat is? He is so nice to pet and loves the attention. He made it through 4th of July weekend without a hitch, no problems with fireworks or thunderstorm anxiety. He even went outside while our neighbors were shooting off a visual and audible firework and didn’t seem to care.

We got to know Leo more over the weekend and learned he doesn’t like being left alone. We have a normal 8 hour work schedules so we spent the weekend getting him used to us not being there 24-7. We left him for small amounts of time though out the weekend, anywhere from 20 minutes to 3 hours. The first day back to work was really tough for him (and us) but today seems to be going slightly better. We have been checking on him throughout the day with our computer “nanny” cam and he is spending most of the day sitting by the door, often barking or howling. Poor boy, he just isn’t used to being home alone.

We snapped a picture of him during one of our “tests.” We shut ourselves in the bedroom, so we were not “with” him and we could see his paws under the door. J

From what we know so far, we think he would do best with someone who is home more often than not, possibly someone with another dog (However, we have not had a chance to dog test him yet). We were told he used to live with a dog and cat, so this is truly the first time he has really been left totally alone. Everything about this guy is great; he just needs to get settled in.