I’d like to re-introduce you to Riley. He was a previous RAGOM boy and was adopted to a family that loved him to pieces for the past 8 months. Unfortunately, Riley can be fearful (the theory is of men) in certain situations, which resulted in two bites. RAGOM had him evaluated by a behaviorist, who said he is “a fearful dog in unknown situations”. On Friday, he met my husband and our resident golden with absolutely no issue—happy as a clam, tail wagging! Last Sunday, I took him to watch my husband’s softball practice where he met about 5 men and watched them run back and forth on the field and wasn’t fearful. I took him to the vet on Wednesday (with a male vet) and he did pretty well. In all of these situations, I could tell he was unsure of where we were and what we were doing, but didn’t react in any negative way—no barking, growling, hair standing up—anything that would indicate him being uncomfortable. He is an ABSOLUTELY sweet dog, but will need to go to a forever home that can get to know him, watch his body language, and keep Riley out of situations that he may feel threatened.
Now that I’ve given you a little background of how he came into our care, let me tell you about him. Riley is a 2 year old, light colored golden retriever (original RAGOM paperwork says he’s mixed with lab, but he’s a lot of golden!). From our vet visit on Wednesday, he’s only 56 pounds, which is small for a male large breed, but he’s tall and has lots of hair—so he looks bigger. His overall general health looks great. He’s up to date on all his shots, neutered, and housetrained. He had a fecal and heartworm test—both came back negative, so he’s started on the flea/tick and heartworm preventatives for the summer. He is a really nice looking dog.
Riley loves to play ball and when I say that, I mean that! He will play ball until you take the ball away—even if he really is tired and “should” take a break. He’s an all-around goofy guy. When I am sitting on our deck, he will bring the ball to me, drop the ball at my feet, and quickly do an about-face. It’s funny because it’s in one quick motion…unless he didn’t get the ball close enough to me and he had to come back, pick it up, and get it closer to me—which he does. He also runs to get the ball and brings it back always turning to the left on the return. He is on a tie out at our house, so you might imagine that always going to the left might mean a tree could be a problem! We just walk him around in circles to get him untangled. What a goof!
Inside, he is a PERFECT houseguest. He has free roam during the day and has been a model dog—no counter surfing, trash digging, chewing inappropriate items (except a few pieces of paper I left on the floor—oopsies). He sits and waits to get his food. We are working on sitting and waiting to get the tie out on before going through the door. He doesn’t guard over anything. We really haven’t heard a peep from him, except when we get home and he’s so excited to see you. He lets out the cutest sounding barky noise. At night, he sleeps on the dog bed below me. I’ve tried to get him to snuggle with me both on the couch and the bed, but he really doesn’t want to have anything to do with it. He’ll say “hi”, then gets on down and curls up on the floor.
Overall, this dog is wonderful. It will be very important that he has someone that will look out for new situations with new people and introduce them to him slowly. They will need to be able to educate potential people that will be around Riley the proper way to meet dogs. He will not do well in a situation with someone approaching him. They will need to put their hand out and allow him to come to them, which he has to everyone that has tried. It’s for this reason that I think he needs to go to a home without any children. Children may startle him and we wouldn’t want that to happen. Riley gets along great with the dogs he’s met. Hopefully we’ll meet more in the next few weeks to verify that. Cats are unknown, but we could cat test if needed. He doesn’t really need a fence—especially if there is a tennis ball around! He is a “people dog”. He doesn’t stray far from you in the house or in the yard. He’s a great companion.
If you think you might be able to help Riley get over some of his fears and you don’t have any children, contact your Placement Advisor. I’m so glad I took a chance on bringing this guy into my home. I call him my “sweetsie”—that’s just what he is!
PS: Enjoy the new pictures of him. There is one where Riley looks like he has a black eye. That's just from the tennis ball bouncing back up on him--pretty funny!
Riley was loving all the pets that he got last Saturday at the Eden Prairie Petsmart. He did so well that he was tired, so need to lay down in his "frog pose". This is a typical pose for him. After we throw the ball in the backyard, he's tired, so enjoys an ice cube...then plops right on down...two back legs out! If he's really tired, his gigantic tongue hangs out. He looks like one of those cartoon characters that has those big tongues that roll out and hang to the floor. I'll try to get one of those pictures for you. He's a hoot! 
