Brady 3

---

Update 05/29/11:

Brady continues to make his foster family smile everyday! An energetic pup, he loves to play, run, and engage in an occasional game of fetch. Sleep? Well, OK – but Brady would rather be in on the action!

Progress continues to be made with Brady’s training. His foster family works diligently with him to break a few bad habits, but each day brings positive movement forward. And he’s learned a new trick – his response to Show me your belly is a full view of his undercarriage! Smart boy!

Feeling comfortable in large groups for extended periods of time is another area of training that his foster family regularly works on with Brady. He does well in group situations for about an hour now; then he becomes a bit restless. The more he is exposed to this type of experience, the longer his threshold grows.

Brady also continues to do well with his crate-training. He enters his crate on demand, but his foster family just wants him to love his crate so much that he goes in on his own to relax without being asked.

Attention to dental hygiene is important to protect Brady’s worn teeth. He receives regular brushing of teeth which understandably many dogs find disagreeable. Brady’s reaction: HE LIKES IT! In addition to his dental hygiene, this boy is very cooperative for baths and ear cleaning. His foster family has noticed that Brady does have some allergies and reacts by licking his front legs. Otherwise, Brady’s in top-notch physical condition! Brady is a fun dog that loves to cuddle, cuddle, and cuddle some more! He loves to be sandwiched in between his foster mom and dad while watching movies in the living room. If allowed, he’d love to sleep up on the big bed with his parents every night!

A home with a big backyard or access to a nearby park would be ideal for this active boy. Brady needs a family that will continue to give him structure and continue his obedience training. His foster family feels that if his future family has children, teenagers would be a good fit for Brady. 

Can you picture yourself with this fun, active, and loveable cuddle bug? Brady’s almost ready for his forever home!

Update 03/30/11:

Brady has made some large strides in the last few weeks. He has taken to his crate well, especially after getting a brand new, comfy bed inside. When instructed to go to your crate, he happily runs to his crate; he’s even been caught napping in there with the door open! 

Indoors, Brady is becoming more and more consistent with responding to commands. New to his repertoire is providing his paw when requested. While out on walks, he has become much more comfortable with his surroundings, and is frequently a good listener when instructed to come or sit. Brady has become accustomed to his usual route, although he still has a few incidents of becoming overly anxious or excited per week.

It seems that Brady has made a truce with the resident cat. While they are not necessarily best friends, they are learning to peacefully cohabitate or generally ignore each other entirely! 

Brady took a car ride to the vet’s office and was excited to jump into the car without instruction. He was all smiles for the first few minutes of the trip, but unfortunately become a bit car sick toward the end. His foster parents now plan to strategically place towels on future car rides until Brady becomes more comfortable while riding! 

Upon arrival at the vet’s office, Brady was anxious and stayed close to his foster parents. It took him some time to warm up to the nurse, but he and the vet became instantaneous friends. Brady received all sorts of compliments, but it was noted that he could use some work in the dental department. It’s not clear what the cause is or what he used to chew on, but a majority of his teeth are considerably worn down. His foster parents will be incorporating into his routine some more dental hygiene treats and teeth cleaning to help keep his mouth as healthy as possible.

Brady continues to work on his guarding issues and is slowly becoming more comfortable with sharing his toys with his foster family. This will continue to be the main training area for Brady.

Are you ready to add Brady to your bunch? Keep posted for more news on this sweet guy’s progress.

Original:

Brady became a MAESSR boy when his New Jersey owner encountered financial difficulties and was no longer able to keep him. He had spent the past four years in New Jersey after being adopted from a shelter in Pennsylvania. Although he is a good-natured boy, Brady is in need of a bit of training and structure to settle comfortably into a new home. He previously had full run of the house and yard, so Brady is currently working on crate training. He understands go to your crate and will generally go in on his own after the first or second command. While inside the house, Brady responds well to sit, stay, come, out, down, and lie down. Since his previous leash walking experience was in a more rural environment, he gets a bit over-anxious with people, traffic, and noises. After two weeks of walking the same route in Brooklyn, he’s gotten significantly better and his foster parents can only imagine that he’ll get better with time. 

A real cuddle bug, Brady will jump up on the couch to be next to you, though he does respond quickly when told to get down. He would sleep with you all night if you let him. Since he is a very inquisitive guy, he will poke around in bags of all kinds (garbage included!), jump up to see what’s on the counter and table, and jump up to look out of the windows. You can catch this circus dog walking on his hind legs many times throughout the day! 

Brady lived with another older Springer in his previous home, but he had no exposure to cats until he moved into his foster home. So, he has been learning to make a new friend. Brady has moved from being very excited by the cat and barking, to generally ignoring her when she’s around. Every now and then, he will become overly excited and jump up to sniff her, but he is quickly learning to play nicely. Brady recently had his first day out at the dog park and seems to get along well with other dogs, although he seemed a bit more interested in getting attention from all the other dog owners in the park!

Not keen on sharing, Brady does have some mild resource guarding issues. He sometimes guards his toys, especially when they are lying on the ground in front of him, but he’s getting better with more and more training. On some occasions, when Brady is in his crate, he will guard his food and/or toys a bit more if they’re inside the crate with him.

When Brady first came into foster care, he had some large mats behind his ears and hind-quarters with some irritated skin beneath them. With a bit of patience and a few treats, his foster parents were able to groom him from head to paw. Needless to say, he is not a very big fan of grooming and will show some displeasure when he’s had enough. Oh, the price some Springers have to pay for being so handsome!

Overall, Brady is a happy dog with a sweet heart and he needs a forever family that will help him become more self-aware and confident.