O’Sullivan

O’SULLIVAN’S HISTORY

O’Sullivan was surrendered to Carrickfergus Pound in Northern Ireland the week before Christmas by his family as they no long had time for him. He is 15 months old and spent the first 6 months of his life living indoors and the last 9 months outside. He was in a disgusting state and extremely smelly, so the first port of call was to Suzi our groomer who, together with Sandie, spent two and a half hours transforming him this bedraggled pup into the stunner you now see.

O’Sullivan was fostered in Ireland for 2 weeks by Sandie which was key to helping him trust and interact with people. He soon settled in with Sandie’s 8 dogs and was taught by her family of Goldens as to what behaviour was acceptable and what wasn’t. He is house-trained and had no accidents in the house despite the fact that he had been brought to a new environment. He has good recall and is not possessive of toys. He is a big boy and weighs in at 40 kilos! True to form, most big boys have big personalities and this boy is no exception. A striking snow-white Golden Retriever with a bright, bubbly personality who will win anyone round. He has now gone to his foster home in the UK and is awaiting his forever home. He will need an experienced owner who can give him some on-going training and build his confidence, as he has not been taught any boundaries. Due to his size and boundless energy at home without young children would suit him best.

FOSTERER’S 2ND REPORT- UK January 2012

O’Sullivan has been with us now for 3 weeks and what a change in him, he is a much calmer and more relaxed dog.

He is eating all his food but I do keep a little back for rewards when training. He is happy to be groomed everyday but prefers to lie down for this and will roll over on command for the other side to be done, so his coat is now improving

He knows all his basic commands e.g. Sit, give a paw, lie down and stay (albeit not for long). He is now happy to make proper eye contact with me. He does understand “leave it” but does not always take notice straight away, although I am sure this will improve as time goes on. His possessiveness of items has improved, he will now on occasions release items when told and will allow me to take things from his mouth but I am also aware that there are occasions when he may object and for this reason I feel at the moment rehoming him with children could be problematic, as toys would be around for him to steal and an unthinking child could try to retrieve it.

He seems to be fine around cats unless they run when he will chase them but if he catches up with them he just sniffs them. He play fights with my dogs but it is just play, there seems to be no aggression between them and they will all play together with the toys. He will chew through the soft toys given the opportunity (a squeaky ball is his favourite). He has not yet learned to catch or retrieve a ball and he needs more training with recall.

He is fairly good on a lead, pulls a little at first but soon settles down and walks nicely but quite fast, he can be very stubborn when it comes to the return journey or if he doesn’t want to go in the direction you want to go. He will just lie down and won’t budge. I am at the moment working on this and I am hopeful this will improve with time.

He still follows me from room to room and loves to be fussed and curls up with you on the settee but he is not pushy with it. If you ignore his requests for fuss he will go and lie down at your feet. He does not jump up when he greets people.

Summing up, in my opinion O’Sullivan needs a confident owner, as he still has some learning to do, but with the vast improvements he has made in such a short time I am sure with patience and understanding he will make a loving and loyal companion.

MARCH 2012 – O’SULLIVAN HAS GONE TO HIS FOREVER HOME