Hamish

HISTORY

Hamish, a neutered male Golden Cross, was approximately 18 months old when he was rescued by IRR from a pound. He was fostered in Boston.

FOSTER ASSESSMENT

Happy Hamish is most likely not a pure-bred Golden, but he is a very close cross. He is an absolutely wonderful, sweet boy who was somewhat nervous when he first came to his foster home. However, he has quickly learned that the world is a friendly place and has started to enjoy life to the full. He absolutely adores his walks and is walking well on his harness. He loves living with other dogs and is learning from them all about canine life in a happy family.

He is great with other dogs but untested with cats.

A DREAM HOME FOR HAMISH

Hamish has had a poor start to life and deserves an amazing home to make up for lost time. He would do better in a quieter home, without small children, where he’ll get lots of patience and love, and help to build his confidence and trust. He would do well placed with other dogs as he seems to be enjoying the opportunity to learn and interact with dogs in his foster home. He is also more confident on walks with another dog.

GREAT NEWS (January 2014)

Hamish has gone to his Forever Home

UPDATE ON HAMISH FROM HIS DAD (February 2014)

Mick tells us Hamish has been with them for a month and is already very settled and used to his routine. He has an enormous crate which is his comfort place. He is good when people visit, giving a few gruffs when the doorbell rings and then retreating to his den but, as soon as the visitors sit down, he goes to them for some loving.

Hamish enjoys meeting dogs when he is out and is even accepting of the people attached to the dogs. He is still quite uncomfortable when there are small children around but he is getting a bit braver. When he sees them, he just goes back to Mick and stays close to his leg until they are gone.

Hamish has been to his vet a couple of times, just to meet them and to get weighed. He is very comfortable in there, happily sitting in the waiting room amongst the other dogs, and has no problems letting the vet staff touch him all over.

The best thing about Hamish is how he is at home, loving to have some fuss but being just as happy to play with toys or just flop in his den or by Mick’s chair. He took to their Collie, Indy, straight away and only had to be “smiled at” by Indy a few times when he showed a lack of manners.

In the last few days, Hamish has become confident enough to play “tumble monkies” with Indy, which is a mix of pouncing on each other and biting ears, necks and arms. This was always a favourite game of their last Retriever, Luca, with Indy and it is, apparently, great fun to watch. 🙂

Mick has a blog and he has started putting a few postings featuring Hamish on it. Unsurprisingly, he has quickly become very popular but who wouldn’t love a big dopey oversized puppy like Hamish?

Mick says”All in all he has made great progress without us even pushing him. We intended to just let him be so that he could open up when he was confident enough to do so and I am pleasantly surprised how quickly this has started to happen 🙂

I have attached a picture taken yesterday of the boys relaxing together on their rug.”

FURTHER UPDATE ON HAMISH (January 2015)

On January 6th 2015 it will be a year since Mick and Julia adopted Hamish and what a difference a year makes.

Hamish arrived nervous of most things but absolutely terrified of new people. He would bark at those coming into the house and do a large swerve around people he saw when out. Thanks to the patience of a large group of dog walkers, who they regularly saw, he has widened the circle of people who he trusts.

Mick says” This Christmas was the culmination of all our work. We have had a lot of visitors as well as taking him to other’s houses and he has been very relaxed and calm. Hamish has always loved other dogs, and he still does, but now he approaches them more calmly so gets more of them to play with him than when he used to run at them and pounce.

We had our first foster dog since Hamish’s arrival in August and this seemed to help him to mature a little. He got on very well with her and she was adopted at the end of November which coincided with his new calm self coming out in the run up to Christmas. We now have another foster dog and Hamish bonded with him instantly.

Hamish has turned out to be a very loving, gentle and loyal friend who enjoys life as every dog should and if it hadn’t been for IRR he would never have had the chance to be the great dog he is now. Thank you all, I can’t imagine life without my mate.”

The first picture is of Hamish with his Collie brother, Indy, and foster dog, Annie. and the second picture is Hamish in the woods with his mum. There are more pictures of Hamish as well as our other dog updates on Mick’s blog: mickcgorman.wordpress.com.