Entered: 07/25/2019
Status: Adopted
Age: 3; born 09/06/2015
Color: Liver/White
Weight: 45 lbs.
Gender: Altered Male
Location: Newark, DE
Health: UTD, HW-, Lyme-, overall good health
Temperament: Good with adults, would be best with older children, good with other dogs, good with cats
Original: “Willie quickly won the heart of his foster mom and she knows that it will be love at first sight when his forever family meets him.”
Willie was surrendered to a New Jersey shelter by his owners who didn’t have time for his energy and who weren’t keeping up on his grooming or health care. Shelter staff reached out to MAESSR for help with this sweet boy and Willie’s new life began.
Willie quickly won the heart of his foster mom and she knows that it will be love at first sight when his forever family meets him. He is an energetic, almost 4-year-old Springer that is incredibly sweet and loving. He gets along well with the two male resident Springers (ages 10 and 5) and the two resident cats. While he hasn’t had a lot of experience on leash, he is an eager to please and fast learner. Willie quickly fell in step with the resident Springers on walks around the neighborhood. He does not bark at strangers, but does pull when he sees a pesky squirrel.
As for Willie’s house manners, he’s a wonderful house guest. He initially stayed off the furniture, but with the help of the two residents, he’s found himself quite at home on the couch. He sits nicely for treats and is learning “sit,” “stay,” “paw,” “touch” and “look.” Completely housetrained, Willie signals to go out by ringing the bells at the back door.
Willie is crate trained and spends the day in his crate while his foster mom is at work. He has not counter-surfed or gotten into the trash although his foster home’s trash can is dog-proofed! He does not chew inappropriately and enjoys a rawhide bone at the end of the day. At night Willie is tethered to the end of his foster mom’s bed where he sleeps on a dog bed.
Willie enjoys going for walks around the neighborhood and at the local park. He also rides well in the car. His favorite game is tug-of-war and he enjoys rawhides and stuffed animals. There is one thing that Willie loves even more than his walks and that is to have his belly rubbed. He is happiest when lying next to his foster mom having his tummy rubbed.
One behavior that has been frustrating for his foster mom is Willie’s humping of the 5-year-old resident dog. It appeared to start as play, but has been increasing. She is working on redirecting this behavior and realizes that his adoptive family will need to continue redirecting this and teaching him other more appropriate behaviors to do instead. A positive reinforcement training class would be a great place to learn.
Although the groomer reported that she did struggle with Willie initially (since he hadn’t been groomed in a very long time – if ever), she reported that he was fine with his feet, genitals and ears being groomed. Not once did he snap, growl or bare his teeth. She was very impressed with his behavior. Good boy, Willie!
When Willie was at the shelter, he had a very bad ear infection that was very painful for him. While the vet there was treating his ears, Willie did bite the vet. His foster mom has never seen any aggressive behavior in Willie. He lets her brush his ears and feet and he doesn’t appear to have an aggressive bone in his body. With that said, when she took Willie for a recheck with her vet, Willie did snap at the vet tech while the vet was checking his ears. For this reason, his foster mom does not think he should be placed in a home with small children who might inappropriately touch his ears.
His foster mom loved Willie from the first moment she met him. If she didn’t already have two springers, she would add him to her pack. He is delightful, energetic and oh so sweet. He will, however, require continued obedience training. He jumps to greet his foster mom and anyone else who visits. He pulls on leash, but is learning to heel on his frequent walks around the neighborhood. He’s high energy, but also eager to please and be loved. Will you let Willie steal your heart?