Paul Mitchell arrived on 8/22/10 after a long drive from Iowa.  He was a stray rescued from a shelter so we don't know anything about his background and because of that, the vet and shelter estimate his age at 1.5 years.  Paul is very fit, weighing in at 54 pounds and is in good health.  It's been an overwhelming month for Paul, living in the shelter then the drive to MN so he was understandably stressed when he arrived.  He had a few accidents in his crate but now that he has settled in and his tummy has settled down, he has been great at keeping his crate clean.  Not sure if you can tell from his photos how light his fur is, almost white and now that he is eating a more nutritious kibble, his fur is really softening up!

I'm looking for a new lap to rest my head!

Paul gets along great with my two resident females.  We don't have any cats but the shelter said he did fine when he met cats there.  I have a two year child in my house and he does really well with her but he is most interested in playing with resident Alpha, Sophie.  Even though Paul does really well with small children, I don't think a home with small children will be a good fit.  He is still in a "mouthy" stage and likes to have things in his mouth; so far he's swallowed a kid's sock, crayon and he'll eat paper left on the floor and we've lost a number of the resident dog's stuffed babies.  We've been working on "trading" if he drops the item in his mouth, he'll get a treat!
 

When Paul isn't busy trying to engage Sophie in play, he is never far from my side.  He is very friendly and doesn't quite understand that he is not a lap dog; he will do his best to sit on your lap or as close to you as possible!  Paul does well in his crate, once inside, we don't hear a peep out of him, he usually will just lay down and observe what's going on.  Now when we open the crate door, he goes right in because he knows, once in, he's about to get a meat stick.  He is not fond of getting his nails trimmed but I learned that if his mouth is occupied with a rawhide, he doesn't pay any attention to what I'm doing.  We went swimming in the lake last weekend. I think it was his first time trying to swim as he didn't seem quite sure of himself but he was eager to follow Sophie around the lake.  I wish I would have had another human with me at the lake, I took some photos but missed out on the best photo- one of the three dogs laying on the floatie...maybe next time!

Hanging with my foster sister, Sophie; she's my best bud.