Jax

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Update 08/23/12:

Now is your chance to “Fall in LOVE with a Senior!” MAESSR has a new program to match up our senior and special needs Springers with new, loving families. This is a wonderful opportunity to Fall in LOVE all over again with a dog that really needs you. 

Adoption fees are being waived for all seniors (age 9 and older) and for special needs dogs through the end of September. Keep your eyes open for that special one who would fit perfectly into your life! It could be Jax; it may be another. Let your heart guide the decision and all else will fall into place! 

Jake is the name this gorgeous fieldie goes by these days……..and he is a sweetheart of a springer. He loves to do his happy dance with any item he can find on the floor when he is excited. He is pretty cute and never harms anything, but a few searches for shoe mates means his foster family tries to remember to keep shoes out of his reach.

Other than hanging out with his people (and he is a real Velcro guy), Jake’s favorite thing is running around the yard, following any scent he comes across. He just zooms around and it is difficult to believe he is a senior! He is really agile too. He loves car rides and decided he wanted to have a ride in a work truck, so he jumped from a 6 foot high deck right into the front seat of the truck. Very smart boy!!

He also has an interesting trait his foster mom cannot figure out. He does not like having a picture taken of his head. He will turn sideways, making it is really difficult to snap him head-on, so you have to be fast!

Jake is coming along great in terms of not bolting through doors, etc. He will now sit and wait at the door until he is told it is ok to go. His new family will need to continue to enforce this behavior.

As far as people food is concerned, Jake will always be a real opportunist, so counters have to be kept clean, or, limiting access to the kitchen will be necessary. He will also search through any open trash or recyclables so his foster mom just gates the kitchen. If the gate is open when his people are in the kitchen, just a simple “out Jake” and he will leave.

This is a smart, healthy and affectionate boy who would love to walk with you or run through your yard following his scent trails while you relax in your deck chair. What a perfect dog!

Update 07/31/12:

Jax was originally adopted in 2007. When his owner needed surgery, she turned him in to a shelter, rather than returning him to MAESSR. Fortunately, the shelter read his microchip and notified MAESSR. He was quickly picked up and moved to his current foster home……….once a MAESSR dog, always a MAESSR dog!

Jax’s new foster mom thinks he is a wonderful boy and would never know he is 9 years old. He has great energy and a sparkle that could belong to a younger springer. He is very loving and gentle. He has a soft and beautiful coat and is very handsome. Jax’s previous owner called him Jake and he does respond better to Jake than to Jax.

His house manners are generally pretty good. He does not require crating and has free rein in the house, even when his people are not home. He will counter-surf and trash-pick, given the chance, but it is easy to keep things out of his reach. He is a mighty Velcro boy who loves to be with his people. He adjusted very quickly to a male springer and two cats in his foster home. He is fine with both dogs and the cats. There is a 10 year-old boy in the home too and there are no problems with Jax and the youth. His current foster mom has not seen him around younger children but thinks he would be fine. And, in his ’07 foster home, he lived with slightly younger children well.

Jax has been used to being on furniture and it appears he slept with his previous owner on her bed as he will jump on the bed. It requires a bit of prodding to get him down, but there is no growling or grumbling; he just does not want to leave. If pressed to do something he does not understand or does not want to do, he will lie down and/or come to a dead stop. He does pull a bit on the leash but his foster mom is working on slowing him down with a Gentle Leader.

Perhaps his most challenging habit is bolting out a door or gate. He will press people or dogs out of his way to move ahead. His foster mom is working on having him “sit” and “wait” at doors until told to go. She also does not want him to bolt out of the fenced yard. He got past her once and did some running but returned on his own within 10 minutes………smart boy! This training will require continued work with his foster mom and likely his new family as well.

Jax will pick up shoes or other items and carry them around, especially when excited, but he does not harm them and will drop them when asked. He is actually pretty cute with his tail and body wagging as he carries your shoe while dancing. Jax does not resource guard and is a bit of a slow eater, so he has to be protected or fed separately if there are quicker eaters around him. He loves riding in the car but does want to ride shotgun, so he needs tethering to keep him safely in the back seat.

Barely a senior, Jax checked out well during his recent vet visit and has no known health issues. He was great with the vet and has never shown any aggression to anyone or anything since being a foster. He has no problems with noise or thunderstorms and would take any medication like a champ with some peanut butter as a cover.

Jax should fit easily into any home and will give you all the love and affection you could ask for. He responds very well to direction and, with some consistent work on his few minor bad habits, he will be a stellar springer!!!

Original:

The family that owned Jax since he was a pup needed to move to an apartment and couldn’t take their much loved boy along. A good friend of the family kept Jax for a few weeks until he found a MAESSR foster home.

This 40 pound field bred Springer moved into a foster home with two female resident springers and two kids aged eight and ten. Jax pretty quickly became comfortable around the dogs, but doesn’t want to play with them at this point. He’s happy to run alongside them but moves away if they try and initiate play. His foster mom thinks Jax finds the resident dogs a little too rough in their style of play. He is a very quiet, gentle boy who just LOVES his people. He has one eye on his person almost always, following them everywhere and not wanting to go outside unless accompanied. He was allowed to sleep on his original owner’s bed and sit on furniture and often jumps up into his person’s lap to cuddle. He lived previously with teenagers and a baby, but no small children or toddlers. He lived with several cats for a few weeks and did fine with them.

Jax was bred to be a hunting dog and had some training with hand signals, but never hunted. When out in his fenced yard, he is in CONSTANT motion, with tail wagging a mile a minute, exploring every smell and searching the skies for flying objects. He runs lightly on his feet and leaps effortlessly over any bushes in his way. His foster mom thinks he could be a great agility dog. He seems extremely happy running around doing his thing as his foster family relaxes and watches. His foster family calls him the high-energy, self-exercising springer. His forever family will need a good-sized fenced yard and a good book to read as they watch him exercise. His original family reported he liked fetch, but he is way too involved in the freedom of exploring a big yard to look at the ball at this point.

Indoors, Jax is a pretty mellow fellow. He is very content to nap close by his people, following them as they change locations. To ready himself for his nap, he likes to paw the carpet before curling up for a break. At this point he isn’t interested in chewing or playing with his toys. Jax eats his meals but turns his nose up at treats other than meat. He isn’t a counter surfer, or a trash picker, or a beggar, but he does jump very lightly up on his person for attention. Jax is housebroken but did have a few marking episodes which were quickly corrected. His foster family tried Jax with the crate but he froze up and dropped down onto his side. His foster mom will try and get him comfortable around crates. Since he’s good, he’s allowed free run of the house. During walks, Jax does pull on the leash. As for commands, Jax knows “sit” and “down” and is so attuned to his person that he seldom needs to be called. Jax is very good riding in the car, also.

Jax had a little home grooming to cut out mats and he tolerated that well. His fur is soft and silky and he likes to be brushed. He does not show any annoyance at being touched on any part of his body. He tolerated having his teeth brushed as well, although didn’t look pleased! Jax will be neutered soon and brought up to date on all his shots.

This very sweet boy is looking for a family with a fenced yard and some free time to watch him run and play. He would be a good companion for a calm dog. He’s really hoping to fill an empty nest for a special new family. Do you have any empty nests out there that need filling?