Meet Jake!  He is being fostered in Pleasant Hill, Iowa (Des Moines area). He is a 7 yr old who came to us from Minnesota still intact, so he is recuperating from his neutering which was done last week. He experienced a lot of swelling and bruising. Jake also had a mass removed from his back at the same time.  Thankfully, it was benign. He did manage to scratch his back wound until he pulled out his stitches and when I got home from work the other night, (at 11:45pm!) his wound was wide open – so off we went to a 24-hour pet hospital to be sedated and have his wound repaired. Jake is a bit on the thin side (only 59 pounds!) due to a case of intestinal parasites that we are currently treating him for. He had never been to the vet, so we are bringing him up to date on all of his vaccinations. His previous home stated that he experiences a seizure about once a year, though we have seen no seizure activity. He has not been on any medicine for this.

Jake loves to go for walks frequently and he does well on a leash. We have found that the walks help calm him.  He has been very anxious since arriving, which is to be expected after being uprooted from everything he has known for 7 yrs.  Jake is experiencing separation anxiety when we leave, so we are crating him and using a product called Rescue Remedy – which is an herbal oil put on food – whenever we leave the house. He is making progress slowly but surely, and he will need a home that has the patience to work with him through this.

Jake has done well with our cat. Don’t know about other dogs since we have not introduced him to any yet because he is wearing a surgical cone to keep him from trying to get his stitches out. Once the cone comes off we will see how he does with other dogs and children.