Petey

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Updated 6/1/06: “Well, Petey is sure a sweetheart.” This comes from his foster family after a month of having this lively youngster in their home. He is also very smart and wants to please, so he is making great headway with their efforts to shape his manners and widen his world.

Petey now does very good in his crate. He has learned about doggie doors and, although there have been a few accidents in the house, he usually goes outside at the proper time. His leash walking is improving, and he has been introduced to the “heel” command. He likes the comfort of reclining on furniture, so another command he has been taught and mastered is “off.” In typical pup fashion, his idea when meeting new folks is to mouth and jump on them, just to be sure they don’t overlook him, of course. He is very capable of learning to greet friendly strangers in a polite way and only needs a little more experience at it.

Petey is a high energy pup who still likes to chew. A few shoes, a glove, and some other “items” have lost their lives to Petey’s need to work something over in his mouth. His foster family has found that keeping a ready supply of frozen Kong’s for him to chew is much to his liking and spares the unacceptable items he might choose on his own.

There are other dogs in his foster home, ranging in age from 18 months through 14 years, and Petey gets along very well with all of them. He went camping over the Memorial Day weekend with his family and met people and dogs of all shapes and sizes and didn’t meet a one he didn’t like. All in all, Petey will make a great dog for some lucky family. He doesn’t have any more issues than a normal pup his age and will benefit greatly from attending an obedience class when he joins his adopting family. He will likely be an endearing “little rascal” for years to come, but Petey has a great start at becoming a well-trained rascal too!!!

Original: Petey was found as a lonesome, little stray in western Virginia. He was housed in a shelter for as long as possible and he hoped to be adopted. The shelter was hopeful as well and had completed all of his vetting. With literally only 24 hours remaining, MAESSR received a frantic message requesting that a foster home be found for him. One of our wonderful MAESSR volunteers did a four-hour, round trip run to rescue this sweetie. That makes Petey one incredibly lucky dog.

As soon as Petey was in his foster home, he charmed his family with his extremely sweet nature and desire for attention. He appears to be housebroken which is an excellent start, but that also may be all that Petey was taught in his short life. He needs an obedience class to help him learn the right way to be a well-behaved member of a family. He is smart and wants to please, so his foster mom does not believe that it will take long to have him well trained.

More details on Petey’s progress will be added as he settles into foster care, but it’s not too soon to be asking yourself if you have room in your life for this “Little Rascal!”