Entered: 11/24/2008
Status: adopted
Age: 1
Color: Liver/White
Weight:
Gender: Altered Male
Location: Goochland, VA
Health: UTD, HW-, gaining much needed weight
Temperament: Good with people as young as ten, good with other dogs, unknown with cats
Update 12/30/08: Ace has “aced” life as a foster boy and is ready for a forever family. He has gained some much-needed weight and is becoming more and more handsome every day. He has a great start on his house manners and would love to “ace” a basic obedience class with his adopting family next. He is a great boy with lots of energy and will make a winning companion!!
Original: Ace came into MAESSR’s care from a kennel environment in Pennsylvania where he had little training or human attention. He is a loving boy who is crate trained and is doing well in his housetraining. He has not had an accident in his foster home since he arrived. Ace sleeps in his crate at night, although he would prefer being with his foster parents. He also is crated when his foster family is at work.
His foster family has been working with Ace on developing some house manners. Counter surfing and picking in the trash have been chief on the list of behaviors to be modified. The trash picking has improved greatly, but Ace is now hoping that the person correcting him will turn the correction into a game of chase. Obviously, he is still very much a puppy in his behaviors and his forever home will definitely benefit from taking him to the required obedience training. Chewing is more of a game to Ace than a destructive act. He may grab a shoe to get you to play with him. His foster family is teaching him that there are appropriate toys to chew on and play with. Patient training, lots of play time, behavioral limits, and human attention are what this Ace needs.
Sit is the one command that Ace knows once you have his attention. His foster mom works with him on obedience training in the evening when it is dark. He seems to be more focused on her then and will even come when called. The same command does not work as well in the daylight when there are more distractions. When Ace meets people, he gets excited and jumps up on them, and he will jump up on furniture as well. Ace definitely pulls on the leash but has improved somewhat.
Since Ace is such a high energy boy, a forever home with a fenced-in backyard would be the best environment for him. Ace just loves running with and chasing other dogs! He can run with another dog for hours! Without a playmate, though, he just wants to be inside with his people. Ace hasn’t been around any children under school age. He will jump up on them just as he jumps up on adults. For that reason, it would be better if Ace would be placed with older children who could not be knocked down by him.
Ace has a lot of training and learning to do, but he also has a lot of love to give and will make some family a fine companion.