Prince Brown

FAREWELL DARLING (January 2013)

We were all very sorry to hear that Prince has gone to Rainbow Bridge. He will be greatly missed by everyone who knew him.

PRINCE’S STORY

Prince is the sweetest 10 year old, neutered Golden Retriever. He hadn’t been the centre of attention in his earlier years and was now ready for the better things that life can offer. He is very fit for his years and enjoys his walks. He is good on the lead but will need a little further training.

He has generated a huge amount of interest but he seemed to have rather specific needs which we had been trying to match in order to give him his perfect retirement home.

We were looking for that special someone for our adorable Prince.

We feel that his owner(s) should either be retired or would work from home so he has the companionship he has missed out on through his entire life and, whilst he is quite good with children, we feel he needs a quiet adult home where he can be the centre of someone’s world as he so deserves to be. We also thought that a home with no other pets, especially cats, would be the best for him but we needed to know for sure how he would behave living with another dog, particularly an older female.

We felt that Prince needed testing in other circumstances as he has had a lot of offers of homes that we have had to discount so he moved a few days ago to new fosterers, Dave and Wendy in Nottinghamshire, who have a 9yr old very friendly Golden Retriever called Lucy.

PRINCE AND LUCY

We are delighted to say that all has been going extremely well and that Prince is definitely very happy to live with an older female Golden Retriever.

Wendy says. “Prince is settling in well, he enjoys his toys, getting them out one by one……… l just need to train him to put them away too. He really does enjoy his walks and is walking very well. We put him on the long lead today attached to his collar and he was fine.

Prince and Lucy are now both sleeping together of their choice. There is another bed at the opposite side that is Lucy’s but she prefers to take up most of the room in Prince’s.

We saw plenty of dogs in the park and on the street today and all were met with waggy tails and plenty of sniffs. Just one, who got a bit too inquisitive and overspent his time sniffing, was dealt with by a quick “grr” but l don’t think it was malicious just “l have had enough now so go!”

Prince will be tested further next week when my daughter returns home with her dog, Hades, a one year old Shar pei x Collie and her house rabbit Bobby which should make for interesting times.”

UPDATE FROM WENDY

“Prince has settled in well now and has certainly found his feet and knows his walk times and meal times. He and Lucy continue to walk well together and sleep together.

Hades who is 9 months old and a Shar Pei x Collie turned up yesterday and, after an initial bout of wariness, and grrs, we decided to let them out in the garden with some space around them. They played really well, much more that Prince had ever done with Lucy, he acted more like a six year old bounding around, rolling, mouthing each other. Although on a few occasions Hades got a bit too much, trying to mount him ! Prince soon sorted him out and they had a fantastic time, coming in and flopping down together.

On the lead is another story though, he walks very well, hardly pulls, sits to cross the road and is generally well behaved until we see another dog. He has lunged and growled at a few dogs in the park now when he is on the lead and, unfortunately, am now having to keep him close to me even though his tail is wagging and he wants to get over to the other dogs. He does however respond really well to being stroked by strangers out in the street and ignores small children and pushchairs.

The rabbit was briefly left in his travel box in the hall, Prince tried his devil best to open the cage and nearly succeeded, no growling but plenty of frantic barking. The rabbit was moved to the conservatory for safekeeping, although Prince spent a good hour trying to hunt it down, l wouldn’t trust him with that one!!!!!!!!

Hoping he is able to find his forever home soon. Once we can get over the lead problem, he will be brilliant.”

UPDATE 16/03/10

Prince is doing fine and is so much more sociable, no worries introducing him to other dogs now. Still a bit sick on journeys over 15 minutes but jumps in the car with waggy tail so not all bad.

Currently we have my son’s English bull terrier staying for a week, she is in season but no problems with Prince for all her flirting!

PRINCE IS STAYING WITH WENDY!

Wendy has decided that Prince is staying! She said: “We have done what l said l was absolutely absolutely not going to be and that’s a failed fosterer, however Prince had other ideas.”

UPDATE 28.09.2010

Wendy says: “Prince continues to be a joy to be around. A proper elegant gentleman, kind and good-natured. Since having him we have gone on to have several foster dogs and his steady calm manner has settled in all the dogs we have taken in. His bond with Lucy is great and they happily sleep, play and walk together.

We recently attended the IRR Reunion where his rather laid back manner didn’t become unnoticed until he realised that most of the adult attendees had treats in their pockets of which he was rather partial, so a steady paw on the leg and an appealing eye worked every time!

We were so pleased that he got a commended in the obedience class, proud when he came runner up in the most improved Goldie and then made us all gob smacked and ecstatic to win not only Golden Oldie but also Best in Show!

This guy has come a long, long way and we are so proud that IRR allowed us to have him.”

PRINCE’S EARLY HISTORY

Prince was originally in foster in Shropshire.

Chris his fosterer said. “He loves meeting people and takes little notice of other animals around (he does bark at pigeons in the garden though). He does take a keen interest in bunnies in the field which makes me think he may have been used to catching them in his past life.

He sleeps well through the night and goes to the back door when he wants to go out.

He is adorable and a real cuddle monster.

He needs someone to give him all the loving care he deserves and they will be rewarded 10,000 fold with the love he gives in return.

Look at him now. Mr Poofy, not Mr Wiffy! He was very good, cried a lot at first but then settled. He went bonkers in the house when he got out, dancing around like a 2 year old.

He isn’t a good traveller but it is probably something he has never been used to. He has now been checked by the vet and is having a low grade ear infection treated. He has a large black mole on his side but the vet says it is nothing sinister. As expected at his age, he does have a little arthritis in his back legs but is now on supplements to help him with this.

Chris, his fosterer, thinks that, whilst he certainly wouldn’t hurt small children, he would probably be better in a quieter adult home where he can be the centre of attention.

Unfortunately, Prince chases cats. He put one poor old thing up a tree in our garden this morning. It was one of Emma’s friends so I think he had a shock when Prince chased him as she always used to be so good with him! It is probably best, therefore, that he is not homed with cats, except extremely dog savvy ones, although, on a brighter note, Prince responds very, very quickly to training. We now have a good “sit” a reasonable “wait” and have just started on recall on the long lead. He is a quick learner and with regular training will be a marvellous dog. Had he been younger he would have probably enjoyed agility or similar.

PRINCE IN FESTIVE MOOD

Prince is eagerly awaiting all his Christmas presents.

UPDATE TWO WEEKS ON

Prince has been with us for just over two weeks and is proving to be the most adorable dog. He has settled in well to our daily routine and is loving all the home comforts.

He is excellent at night and usually goes to bed after Emmerdale ( he likes to watch the animals), he then sleeps through until 7.30 am despite me getting up at 5.30am. He loves his bed now and has just started to enjoy toys. He has a teddy dog which he loves to carry around and proudly presents it to me or to Chris or anyone else who is in the house. He is not food aggressive or toy aggressive, but he loves to pinch tissues!

He loves his morning and afternoon walk and gets very excited when the lead comes out of the draw. He is a very quick learner and is now walking reasonably well on a long leader. He does love bunnies though and spends most of his walks trying to hunt them out. I am sure he has been used for catching rabbits in his previous life. He is okay with other dogs if they ignore him but I think he does need some more socialization. He may be one of those dogs that is fine off the lead but a little tetchy on the lead. He is still not too good in the car but I am sure that is because he has hardly ever been in one and given the speed he learns at I think he will quickly understand that it is nothing terrifying.

His ear infection is nearly all cleared up and he is starting to look so much better than when he arrived.

We will be very very sad to see him go but he needs to be in his forever home with people who can give him all the love and attention a gentleman of his years deserves.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS FROM MR PRINCE HIMSELF

Oh I just had to write a few lines to tell you what a wonderful Christmas I am having. Yesterday morning, I was sooooooo excited. There were lots of parcels of things and a lot of them were for ME! I had great fun ripping them open after Aunty Christine showed me how to. I asked her to take some pictures so that I can show you all what Santa brought me.

We had a lovely walk in the snow after that and then came back and had coffee and biscuits. I don’t drink coffee but I do like a hobble nobble biscuit (I think that’s what they are called).

Dinner was so yummy I wanted more but Aunty Christine said I had had enough. There was LOADS of turkey left and I don’t know why it went in the fridge thing when it could have been in my tummy. We have visitors today. I like visitors because they eat cake! I’m not allowed any though because it will make me sick so I have one of my little doggy treats. I show everybody that comes all my prezzies and take my turkey to bed with me at night. I was really really tired last night and had some lovely dreams.

Love, kisses and hugs from Mr Prince XXXXXX

UPDATE ON MR PRINCE

Firstly a Happy New Year from Mr Prince. He is getting over the celebrations so has asked me to write to a few lines for him.

Prince continues to be the most lovely of dogs. He is gentle and kind and tries his very very hardest to do everything right. I truly believe he just wants to please. He enjoys his walks and despite his grey hair is extremely fit. We have a walk in the morning for about an hour and the same in the afternoon. He wants to do more but I am afraid he is a young mind trapped in an old body and he is more tired than he actually thinks.

He LOVES his toys and rushes into the front room in the morning to check they are all still there. If I didn’t know better I would swear he is counting them!

He is greatly improved on the lead and responds well to training, in fact, he really enjoys learning new things. He is very clever. I have just about got him to “talk” on command although he is quite convinced that I have lost the plot and gives me funny sideways looks :))))

He is an absolute treasure and I only wish I had known him in his younger days.

PRINCE LOVING THE SNOW

Prince has been with us now for nearly seven weeks and has settled so well. He is such a charmer he should be called Prince Charming!

Like most goldies he loves his food but he has found another love …. SNOW …..!!

He has had us in hysterics watching him play in the garden in it. If he did not have the grey on his face you would swear he was a 2 year old. He loves running around in the snow and then throwing himself down on his side and rolling in it. He has also found that snowballs are great fun. When I first threw one for him he just gave me his “crazy woman” look but then realised that he was supposed to chase them. He hasn’t stopped since.

His “learning to talk” is getting better. I have had to change the command to speak and not talk because he was getting “talk” mixed up with “walk” and we were getting in a terrible mess :)))

He goes out just before we go to bed but I think he got distracted by snowflakes the other night and obviously forgot to go to the loo. We were just getting into bed and we heard him bark at the bottom of the stairs to go out so learning to speak is paying dividends.

Here are some pictures of him playing in the snow. He will be sulking when it has all gone by tomorrow.