Diesel

---

Update 5/14/06: Diesel has fully recovered from his neutering. His incision looks great, and he is back to full speed. He and the resident, 1-year-old English Cocker Spaniel play as much as possible. His foster family has had house guests for the past two weeks, so Diesel and the puppy have had lots of extra playtimes, much to his delight!

Diesel’s also continuing to learn important life skills. He does well when he focuses on his human partner, but at this stage in training, he is easily distracted. Walks are always an adventure with joggers, bicyclists, birds, squirrels, cars, and all sorts of interesting things to catch his eye. An obedience course with his adopting family will help this boy a great deal.

Diesel is ready for his forever home and could fit into many families with ease. A little bit of work with him now can lead to love and great companionship for a lifetime. If you are thinking about a lively buddy for your dog, a playmate for children, a canine friend for yourself, or all of the above, you need to meet Diesel!

Update: 4/23/06 Diesel recently suffered a minor setback on his way to becoming “Available.” As occasionally happens with very active dogs, he managed to tear out his stitches from neutering and the incision became infected. With a return to the vet, Diesel’s wound was cleaned and restitched and is looking much better. Trying to keep him quiet until the vet removes the stitches is proving extremely difficult. Once his restrictions are lifted, his foster home is really looking forward to trying to tire this boy out. Diesel just wants to play, and he loves to play hard.

The older dogs in his foster home are making progress in shaping Diesel’s pack manners. He is still a very pushy guy and doesn’t like to take “NO” for an answer when he wants to play. Still, he is showing more respect for the resident dogs and this is a good start. His biggest mischief in the house is counter surfing, although he hasn’t pulled anything down yet. He will surely give this activity up soon with continued lack of success!

Basic obedience is coming along, and Diesel now “sits”, unless there are too many distractions. He is becoming more reliable to answer when his name is called. Loose leash walking still eludes this bundle of energy, but that too will come with more practice. His housetraining remains very reliable for up to ten hours.

Diesel will need an outlet for all of his energy in his forever home. There are many energetic young Springers who need a job to keep them happy and tired at the end of the day. Diesel is one of them. Do you need a jogging partner? Want to try agility? Do you have resident dogs who need an insistent playmate to keep them active? If so, Diesel may be the dog for you!!

Original: Diesel was relinquished to MAESSR by his owner’s mother. Apparently, Diesel was left with her, and the mother’s dog did not take kindly to sharing their home. Diesel is a beautiful and lively “fieldie” with a full tail. He is also still a typical “teenager” with high energy, friendliness to everyone, and a considerable need for direction from his people. He is housebroken and crates beautifully, but his house manners tend to end there. Though everything around him is a distraction right now, and trumps training efforts, Diesel is intelligent and willing to learn. Once he settles from his move, progress should come easily.

It seems that Diesel may not have been socialized much with other dogs, or, perhaps he was separated from his mother early. Either can affect how a dog interacts with other canines. In Diesel’s case, he is not picking up on the social cues his foster brothers give him. He is so happy to have playmates that he is trying to make up for lost time. When he wants to play and they don’t, he doesn’t understand that he is to back off when they growl at him. There have already been several episodes that a dog-savy dog would have avoided. Diesel remains sweet to everyone throughout all and is learning to chill out when his drive for fun and games exceeds that of his housemates.

Diesel loves any attention from people and has a hard time contenting himself when attention time is over. He is not at all mean; he is just a persistent rascal. He expects to be right beside his family on the couch, so he doesn’t miss a minute of their affection.

More on Diesel as he learns some of life’s most important lessons.