Entered: 09/08/2015
Status: Adopted
Age: 3
Color: Liver/White
Weight: 60 lbs.
Gender: Altered Male
Location: Aston, PA
Health: UTD, HW-, Lyme+ and asymptomatic with preventative treatment complete
Temperament: Good with adults, good meeting children as young as 6, good with other dogs, unknown with cats
Original: “His wonderful freckles and sweet eyes are really neat—and his little tiny, tiny stump of a tail wags and wags and wags.”
When Figgie’s (aka Jojo, aka Fliggie) New Jersey owner had a health issue and was changing homes, his daughter turned this handsome boy over to MAESSR. After a quick vet and grooming visit, he came to his foster home. First day there, he was a bit confused at the complete change of lifestyle, but soon warmed up to the friendly female hound while basically ignoring the two male dogs.
Figgie doesn’t like crates, but since he’s been completely housetrained, he is just gated in a part of the house where the other dogs stay. He goes out three times a day. He doesn’t really have a signal when he needs to go, but holds it until one of the others signals. When his foster folks are out, he’s has range of three rooms and seems to just hang out near the others. He does the same with sleeping at night, curling up on a dog bed closest to the foster folks’ bedroom. During the day, he flops at his foster mom’s feet to wait for her to be done with work.
The Springer with three names likes it when the leash comes out and will walk in tandem with his friend, the female hound. Though he stands up taller when the two male dogs approach, he doesn’t challenge them nor seem to set off the more aggressive terrier. While he initially pulled a bit on leash, a gentle leader helped and he’s now much better, only occasionally doing his “anchor” trick when some scent smells very good.
Any counter-surfing stopped after a few minor paws on the counter incidents resulted in stern “off” noises, and this guy doesn’t seem interested in the trash. Figgie doesn’t beg at the table except when popcorn has been made. In fact, he wasn’t really interested in food his first two days until the magical popcorn morsels were added and, presto, he was a good eater. He had no interest in getting on the futon to watch TV, but immediately jumped up on the padded foot stool instead! His humans laughed as they then had to move him because they couldn’t see over him.
This youngster likes to fetch soft toys, usually dropping them but sometimes playing tug of war. If the other dogs beat him to a thrown toy, he just lets them get it and waits until they drop it before picking it up. No resource guarding or aggression at all has been seen out of this guy. He knows “sit” and may know more commands—his foster folks need to figure out the words he knows!
The new boy in town is a little nervous, but okay in the car, loves being brushed and doesn’t mind being touched anywhere. Small children grabbing at him might also make him nervous–his foster family hasn’t been able to test that. Figgie seems to prefer men over women but that’s probably because his prior owner was male. He’s warmed up nicely to his foster mom. And about those three names—his vet records say “JoJo,” the tag from his owner says “Fliggie,” and his incoming records say “Figgie.” What’s a poor dog to do???
Ideally, despite his young age, Figgie would probably like a quieter home. He’s not timid so much as reserved and doesn’t seem to care if he has a dog friend or not. He’s a Velcro boy and would love to sit at someone’s feet and have his ears rubbed and be taken for interesting walks. He’s intelligent and can be stubborn if he wants to smell where the bunnies and deer have passed though. His wonderful freckles and sweet eyes are really neat—and his little tiny, tiny stump of a tail wags and wags and wags. Would you like to feed Figgie some popcorn? But, he is a bit “round” so walks and play in the wonderful autumn weather will need to be combined with that wonderful snack!