King #01-064

Dog 01-064 has been awarded the majestic name of King!  He appears to be a "clone" of a golden named King that always walked with my husband when, as a child, he had a paper route!  King enjoys other dogs and is very well behaved!  A friendly, outgoing boy who will adjust beautifully to his new life!

UPDATES:

From King's family...

Hi!  It is quite a love bug that bit me.  King is wonderful!!!!!!!!!  I was gone last week and my husband babysat and bonded with King.  The big fellow (King that is) can now bark, raise his head and howl, and dig big holes in the backyard!  The honeymoon is over, but we love him to death.

If anyone ventures to take a nap he is right there - tail wagging and offering kisses.  Then, naturally, Harley claims the other side of the bed.  The tails are like dual fans.  Should be good on the hot summer nights!  Needless to say - the nap never happens.

Thanks!

4/1/01:  We are fast approaching the end of our first week of fostering.  During this time King's tail has never stopped wagging.  I wish some of his mellowness would rub off on my golden, Harley.  He has had free roam of the house ever since we arrived home from last Saturday's training session.  On Monday he did growl and sound vicious when my golden tried to take his rawhide chewy away.  I just said "no" in a firm voice and the incident stopped.  I then took the chewy out of his mouth with no repercussions.  I did lecture him on sharing, but I don't think he understood anything except, now be a "good boy."  He has continued to sleep in the bedroom along with Harley.  One is on each side of the bed, fortunately on the floor.  However, true to couch potato form, King discovered the comforts of a real bed.  Tuesday evening,  my husband went to bed while I was still brushing my teeth.  When I went to the bedroom, King was stretched out across my side of the bed.  All 87 pounds of him claimed ownership.  He refused to move.  He has a tendency to spread out all fours when he doesn't want to do something.  I pushed him down to the end of the bed and made a space for myself.  I wonder if they make a bed larger than a king-size.  Wednesday we went to the groomer in Burnsville that works will Ragom dogs.  He was clean for a night.  Too much mud in the back yard.  She did a very nice job.  Trimmed his feet and ears.  He had a nice bath.  I'm not sure he thought it was nice, but he smells good.  He definitely did not like being on the grooming table.  He kept wanting to sit down, and then would nearly choke himself in the process.  The dryer was OK until it got close to his head.  He has been shaking his head periodically since we got back from the groomer. It may be water or hair in his ear.  If it continues I will take
him in to see if he has an ear problem.  We noticed he has some thick spots in the cartilage of his ears, so we'll have that checked out too.  We'll have the vet look at the small lump on his eye at the same time.  I was home from school on Wednesday as I had a DDS appointment and I had a chance to see the couch potato in action.  Actually there was no action.   If he wasn't sleeping at my feet, he was on the couch or the bed.  Friday, my husband was home most of the day so they had a chance to go in and out on a more regular basis.  They honeymoon is over as my dog realizes he is definitely the leader of the pack of two.  I would like to see King a little more assertive.  It has been a wonderfullllll week.  King is a majestic and positive addition to the family.  As soon as I can figure out how to get into the volunteer part of the web page I will probably fill out the adoption papers for him to reside here permanently!

3/25/01:  I picked up King following the training session yesterday at Golden Acres.  I have picked up his medication for giardia.  The clinic declared him healthy, but about 10 pounds overweight.  He received his DHLPPC and Rabies vaccinations on 3/19/01 and was given a Bordetella Vaccination and 3/12/01.  He was already neutered when found.  I was concerned how my Golden, Harley, would react to a new dog in the house, as he has not had much interaction with other dogs.  King weighs 87 pounds and Harley weighs 97 pounds so they are both big boys.  With the understanding, that if there was a problem I could return him, we hit the highways and bye-ways for our home.  By the time I was on highway 169, King was asleep in my Tahoe.  He slept all the way home.  He didn't even try to sit in the front seat.  When we arrived home, I left King in the car for a couple of minutes and took Harley out to relieve himself, as it had been a long day.  As soon as that was accomplished my husband had arrived home.  We then introduced the dogs to each other in the backyard.  They played well, until they both decided to mount each other.  Harley became the dominant dog and that appears to be fine with King.  As soon as King has had enough, he just sits down and that's it.  Then Harley sits and pants also.   Once in the house they continued to sniff each other and eventually settled down to their evening meal - a big dish of Pro Plan.  I will be gradually switching to an all natural dog food over the next few weeks.  King is very laid back and easy to control.  He was so well behaved that I didn't even put up the baby gates in the kitchen.  I just let him roam the house like Harley does.   Both dogs ended up sleeping in the bedroom - one on each side of the bed - on the floor.  I gave King his medicine this morning.  The first two pills went down fine with cheese - but the next two were more of a challenge.  He has quite the knack for separating the pill from the food and then spitting it out the side of his mouth!  King and Harley have continued to play and nap throughout the day today.  Both dogs are couch potatoes and like to lounge on the bed or the couch.  Right now they are both asleep in the kitchen.  If they continue to enjoy each other, King will probably become a permanent member of the family.  He is a wonderful animal!