Warren

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Update 07/07/08:

Warren’s personality is continuing to emerge as he settles in his foster home. He remains good with the resident dogs as long as he isn’t eating. He prefers not to share his toys with them, too. If food and toys are not in the mix, Warren will walk away if the older male snits at him and will meet the younger male in good form when he runs over to him. Steady, consistent training will continue with Warren on his doggie socialization. Warren’s personality is continuing to emerge as he settles in his foster home.

When food or toys are around, Warren is much better with people now. His foster mom can pet him while he eats and has taken away his food bowl for a few seconds. She is not giving him chew treats which might cause a spat but she gives him treats that he can eat right away. As with dogs, positive reinforcement of this progress will continue.

Warren is turning out to be very affectionate and gives kisses. One day his foster mom indulged him big time and let him up on the sofa with her. She fondled his ears and tail, rubbed his belly, and played with his feet. The only part he didn’t like was when she went to check his teeth. He grumbled clearly about it and then wagged his tail. When it was time to get off the couch, he ran to get his toy for her – good boy!!

It’s not uncommon but also clear now that Warren is among those springers who are fearful of thunderstorms. When the weather is sunny, he loves to play fetch and has become very good about the command to give. He has become much better about getting into a crate and is still working on his house-training.

Warren is making good progress with his new opportunities. Check back for updates on this sweetie.

Original:

Warren was surrendered by his owner to a Virginia shelter so virtually nothing is known about this boy’s past. MAESSR came to his rescue and now he is being fostered by one of our volunteer families. 

Warren is not totally housetrained at this point; he still lifts his leg to relieve himself once in a while. During the day when his foster parents are at work, he is kept in a dog run in the basement of the house. There are actually six runs there where the resident Springers stay as well. Once their mom comes home from work, all are let out into the house and yard for play time. At night Warren sleeps in his dog run for now. Crate-training will begin in a few weeks once his foster mom is on summer vacation and eventually Warren will sleep in his crate. 

When no food is involved, Warren is friendly with the resident Springers. He wags his tail and goes up to the other dogs. When his foster mom showed him the resident cat, Warren just wagged his tail and sniffed him. Food may have not been in steady supply in Warren’s past because he tends to be possessive of his food around the other dogs. His foster mom is working on desensitizing him at mealtime, and he is beginning to respond to this behavior modification. She can pick up his food bowl now, and he is very gentle at taking treats by hand. He allows toys to be taken from him with no problem. Warren has been well behaved around dog savvy children when no food has been involved, giving kisses gladly and acting like a happy, loving, and gentle boy. 

Warren has not ridden much in the car. Unless he is restrained or crated, he will try to put his paws on the steering wheel. No driver’s licenses for Springers, Warren! As far as commands, he does seem to understand no and off but that seems to be about it. He pulls very hard on a lead right now, too. His foster family thinks he will be easy to train as he is very food-motivated. They have already been working on the command “kennel up” to get him to go into his run after play time. Warren has a moderate amount of energy, but settles down easily. 

Watch for more on Warren as he progresses in his foster home!