Oz

Oz is a seven year old male Golden Retriever who is now neutered. He has lived with Smudge, a female Golden Retriever, all his life and loves her but will push her out of the way for attention and has possibly been eating much of her food.

After arriving at Simon’s house, as Oz wouldn’t give poor Smudge a moment’s peace and, because he thinks he has to protect Smudge from other male dogs, we decided it would be best to rehome them separately.

Their male owner died about a year and a half ago and their female owner moved out so, apart from when being fed, they had no real contact with people for quite a long time. Their very kind neighbour took pity on the dogs and has been walking them for 3 months. She says they are lovely dogs and she has walked and spent time with them every day but, sadly, is not in a position to keep them. They had shelter and a dog run but she felt this was not sufficient so she suggested to their owner that rehoming them would be for the best.

Oz is very friendly and very energetic for his age. He loves people and adores attention.He enjoys being walked but at first is very excited and will jump up whilst having his lead put on him. He pulls on the lead for the first five mins out walking but he soon settles. He does jump up a lot at the beginning of the walk but it seems like he is simply looking for attention.

He love shoes, boots and anything he can carry in his mouth. He also will take the lead in his mouth to have a game of tug but he will give it back when you open his mouth and tell him to stop. He also loves to be off the lead and will return. He loves water, he will go into puddles, canals lakes etc.and he also loves to be petted and groomed.

It is possible, before the neighbour walked Oz, that he had never been out and he also probably just hasn’t met many dogs before but, with a little patience, in a short time, she says he has come a very long way.

He is in foster in Gloucestershire with Jane. She said “He met loads of other dogs whilst we were in the waiting room at the vets and showed no signs of aggression at all.”

FIRST REPORT FROM HIS FOSTER HOME

Jane says. ” It’s now day 5 since this anxious bundle arrived in Gloucestershire and he’s settled down a treat. There has only been one accident in the house so far when he ‘christened’ a plastic bag of recycling material but that was not really his fault. When he wants to go out he just goes to the door and then looks at you. We found out the hard way that he doesn’t like to be ‘confined’ when we left him in the kitchen on his first night. He made the most unholy racket pawing at the door, barking and whining and then silence!! Oh good I thought, he’s settled down – wrong! – he was waiting for me on the landing with John’s shoe in his mouth when I came out of the bathroom. So he knows how to open door handles and therefore either needs a home with door knobs or somewhere open plan!

He rarely barks, certainly not in the house (with the exception of the first night) and only barks in response to other dogs when they bark at him first.

Despite agreeing that he should not be allowed upstairs or on the furniture as his forever home may not want this, we realised that the only way we were going to get some sleep was to let him sleep by the side of the bed – hey presto – it works.

In actual fact he doesn’t go on the furniture and he isn’t invited to but the deal is that you must have a hand free to give him a pat when he feels the need and yes, he can be very needy in respect of attention.

Oz hasn’t been off lead and so we don’t know about recall. Nor has he been in any water due to his stitches although he is walked by streams, the canal and river without trying to get in them. He’s met a few other dogs and shown no signs of agression. He’s rubbed noses with a few, each time with his tail wagging. To start with he either hid behind my legs and actually froze when faced with a couple of black labs when out with John. He seems to be gaining confidence daily. He can pull for the first few minutes but then settles down and walks well to heel but has a habit of changing sides i.e. walks on the left then on the right.

Bless him he hasn’t got much idea of how to play, on the first morning he caught a ball and actually returned it 3 times but there hasn’t been much interest since – it’s almost a case of yes well, I can do that so what’s the big deal. He’s either got a short attention span or just needs something much more challenging to do and I think the latter is the case.

He doesn’t seem to be either toy or food orientated but likes to pick up the odd shoe or item of clothing from time to time. He hasn’t chewed anything (well except a bone last night) and has shown no destructive tendencies even when left on his own for a short time.

Food wise, he eats his fill without rushing, and then will wander back later to finish off the odd few biscuits he left earlier. I’m sure if he were human he would be able just to have one chocolate out of a box!!! He doesn’t scavenge, or cruise the work surfaces for food although he will put his paws on the work surface and take a glove or hat off if we’ve been daft enough to leave them there. He will even go into the pantry where the bag of treats is open and within and not even touch them!

He adores being groomed and there isn’t a part of him that he won’t allow you to touch, eyes, ears, teeth etc.

He hasn’t been cat tested but will be child tested at the end of the week. He totally ignores birds, horse manure and most mess left by other dogs a huge plus point for anyone who is used to having a dog roll in anything vaguely smelly.

He appears to be used to traffic or at least not bothered by it, totally ignored a bunch of noisy teenagers, some on bicycles on his first night and comes over as generally laid back as long as he’s with a human by his side.

Oz is also totally unphased by the hoover, mop, brush, washing machine and tumbler – guess he has lived in a house before and accepts that these are non threatening every day sounds.

I think he will settle in to any home in a short space of time but would probably best suit a family with lots of things going on to keep him interested.

Even the vet had to admit that he’s a lovely dog and he should know!”

UPDATE MARCH 2010

Oz has now gone to his forever home.