Entered:
Status: Adopted
Age: 8 months
Color: Black & white
Weight:
Gender: Altered Female
Location: VA,
Health: Good, HW-, UTD
Temperament: Great
Original:
Gunner is an 8 month old field bred Springer. This poor boy came to MAESSR after having spent most of his short life in a crate. Gunner’s mom never got the chance to socialize her litter either. Gunner ate, drank, pooped and peed in his cage. He never knew what was supposed to really happen. His foster family surmises that when he defecated, the waste went down though the grating where an attendant would clean out the pan. He then was bought by a young family; two very busy parents and three boys, only one of whom was able to take on any of the responsibility of caring for Gunner. He was not trusted to roam the house and spent long periods of time in his kennel. When Gunner was taken outside on a walk, he truly did not know what to do. He would pee and poop in the house shortly after coming back inside. In addition, he was allowed to sleep with the children in their beds and would, on occasion, defecate on the bed.
Gunner came to his foster family underweight and with no training. In fact, he had been passively trained to do all the wrong things! Gunner has come a long way in foster care thanks to his very dedicated foster family. Gunner has been neutered and has recovered nicely. He was also treated for a yeast infection in his ears and was infested with fleas and treated for those. He sleeps in his crate at night as long as someone is in the room with him. Gunner doesn’t like to be crated when no one is home. He gets himself very worked up and will likely defecate. The time he spent in his crate as such a young dog with lots of energy was too traumatic to him and when left in a crate he can’t rationalize that it will be for a short time. Any time is too much. The vet recommends not even attempting to crate train him for a year and then, if it is to be done at all, it will have to be done very slowly.
That said, Gunner is the sweetest foster his foster family has ever had. He has no problem with you taking anything out of his mouth, playing with his paws or his ears and he has learned to submit to the 15 year old female ESS he lives with and to leave her alone in her retirement. He has also had some very special teachers in his foster home of the feline persuasion. They have taught him the valuable lesson that you don’t mess with the cats when they don’t want to be bothered.
Gunner wants to please, but he is still a puppy after all and sometimes his “puppiness” gets the better of him. He can now hold a sit-stay for 20 seconds. This is a big accomplishment for a high energy boy who has had to hold back for the entire 8 months of his life. However, Gunner is a jumper. He is learning down, but he can leap baby gates like a thoroughbred, jumps to greet people, jumps to look out the window and can jump from a stand still with all four on the floor to all four on the table in the blink of an eye. He has not attempted to jump the fence in his backyard, but he is never left in the backyard unattended and it is recommended that this is ongoing. Gunner will also retrieve anything that is thrown and has a very soft mouth. Given the chance, he also will track the local ducks and geese with gusto. It is likely that Gunner would make a good hunting companion. This boy will definitely require an obedience class!! Once through training, he will shine at agility.
Gunner is in search of a family that will give him lots of opportunity to exercise both his body and mind. Can you keep up?