BUDDY HAS A FOREVER FAMILY AND A NEW NAME!

I have to admit, this part has been kind of hard for Dale and me.  We have really grown attached to Buddy!

 But, his new family is amazingly perfect for him, so that makes it ever so much easier.  Buddy has two dog companions, horses, two acres to run around on, llamas next door, a DOG DOOR, and, most importantly, three human beings to love him:  a mom and dad and their 17-year-old son.  They had adopted two GSPs in years past and wanted another one now since the other two both died last fall.  What could be more perfect?

So, meet Bo Duke and his new family!

HAPPY DOG!! LIFE WITH BUDDY

Wow, I am so amazed at all the changes I see in Buddy since we got him at the end of February.  He feels so much better and is even stronger than he was--and he was very strong already!  His coat is healthy now, with his liver patches all soft and no longer faded, and his ribs don't stick out anymore. 

He has made tons of progress in his demeanor with our kitty--which is a blessing since we all had to run for the basement during a scary storm last week that uprooted one of our trees!  (Fortunately, somewhere in his previous life, Buddy had learned to deal with stairs, so that wasn't a problem.)  I am still very careful about the two of them, but I do think that Buddy is capable of coexisting with a kitty without problem if he is given time to learn.

I am giving Buddy much more freedom in the house than he was allowed initially.  He has been free for about three hours right now with no accidents and no reprimands.  He follows me from room to room, and is napping on the floor beside me now as I work at the computer.  We are working on Sit, Stay, Come, and Back.  He has made a lot of progress but still has to work on these.  Being on a leash is still a challenge; he can be very good but he can also be very determined to get from Point A to Point B regardless of who is at the other end of the leash.  :-)  He has not shown any inclination to get on the furniture except once to retrieve a tennis ball. 

He loves toys and enjoys rooting around in the toy basket.  Tennis balls are still his favorite.  :-)  And he loves to roll around in the grass--does that several times a day.  Now that our pool is open, he loves to walk around on the first step but will go no further, even if he is desperate to retrieve his tennis ball.

Buddy can sure be noisy--he has a very penetrating bark!  especially when one of us has just come home--but at night he is always happy to settle down in his crate around 8:30 or 9:00 and he doesn't make a sound until 6 a.m. or thereabouts when we are moving about. I can only think of one or at the most two times that he has let me know that he needed to go out in the middle of the night.  He also stays in his crate when I am gone from the house, as does our own male GSP.  To avoid any problems when the two of them are being fed, Buddy also eats in his crate.  (I don't know that this is necessary for Buddy, but our own GSP has had food issues with some of our other dogs in the past, so it has seemed better to err on the side of caution.)

PUPPY POOL FRUSTRATION!!!

Poor Buddy's first experience with his tennis ball ending up in the pool!

Buddy is free again!

We made it through the six weeks of leash/confinement in May!  Buddy went to see Dr. Fletcher and got a negative heartworm test result, so that was wonderful news.  Here you see Buddy as we let him off the leash for the first time in six weeks.  :-)

THE BIG CHALLENGE!!

Well, the day we were dreading had arrived.  On Monday, April 8 it was time to take Mr. Buddy to the vet for his heartworm treatment.  Dr. Fletcher wanted to keep him the whole week so she could monitor how he was doing.  He had a shot on Monday and another one on Tuesday, and we couldn't wait to pick him up on Friday.  As if that isn't bad enough, he is supposed to be confined or on a leash for six weeks from treatment date.  For a dog as active and energetic as Buddy, that is really hard!  :(  It is so very fortunate that he is so good in his crate.

Do you see the tennis ball?  He loves tennis balls!  He loves other toys, too, but tennis balls seem to be his favorite.  The other day he had three balls in his crate!   :-) 

Sometimes now we have to coax him out of his crate.  The best way to do it?...with a tennis ball!  The other day he was whining, so I thought he wanted to go outside.  I opened the crate, put his leash on, and headed for the door.  He, however, had something else in mind:  he grabbed another tennis ball that was close to his crate, and dashed back in the crate.  Love this dog!  And counting the days until May 20, when he can run around again....

EASTER WEEKEND--March 30, 2013

We have had sweet Buddy over a month now!  The antibiotics and two good meals every day have made a noticeable difference in the brightness of his eyes and his energy level--yes, he has even more energy now!  Buddy is a very strong dog, too, and we have not made much progress in leash training.  He is, however, learning to "sit" and "come."  :-)

Buddy is remarkably good-natured. He and Jameson have only had a couple of very brief  disagreements.  He, typically for a GSP, loves interaction with his humans.  My older daughter got to come for a visit this weekend and meet him--she fell in love with him, too.

Over these weeks that Buddy has been with us, he has adapted to his crate beautifully.  He settles down in it at night with no problem and sleeps from late evening till 6 in the morning (when we are getting breakfast).  During the day, he is in it quite a lot also, as we are unable to let him be free in the house because of our cat.  (That situation seems to be improving, as he is much calmer when he sees her, but we certainly can't take any unnecessary chances.)  He can get quite noisy sometimes during the day, especially when one of us comes home.  As far as housetraining, he has made rapid strides, but of course, he doesn't get much freedom in the house, either.

 

BUDDY'S FIRST TRIP TO VET--March 1, 2013

Today was Buddy's first trip to the vet.  He weighed 51 pounds!  He certainly needs to add a few pounds.  We knew from the Abilene shelter that he was heartworm-positive, and he does have a bad cough (mostly at night) that is likely caused by the heartworms.  He received his vaccinations today and had x-rays to help determine how advanced the heartworms are.  The vet recommended waiting until after his heartworm treatment to proceed with neutering.  First, Buddy will receive a month's course of an antibiotic that will weaken the heartworms.

It is hard sometimes to believe that Buddy has heartworms, because he has LOTS of energy and likes to be moving!  Here is the first picture that I managed to take of him lying down.

LIFE WITH BUDDY--DAY 3

Yesterday (Sunday), Buddy got to hang out at the shop with Dale for several hours while Dale was tilling the garden. Then they came back and he and Jameson helped Dale and me as we worked in the yard on a gorgeous 70 degree afternoon.  Buddy is in constant motion!  He developed an instant bond with Dale on Saturday and doesn't want Dale to be out of his sight when he is home, although he seems fine when Dale is away from the house.

 

Last night was much better than the first.  Buddy settled down in his crate after a short spell of fretting, and was quiet all night.

 

Today we woke up to a blizzard!  Dale is off to work, so I have been working with Buddy on some housetraining.  Right now that consists of walking him around the house on a leash to help him learn his boundaries in the house, and not to hike his leg anywhere.  He seems a little perturbed that there is a human attached to him everywhere he goes!  :-)

 

Oh, while at the shop yesterday, Dale got out a shotgun and Buddy came to stay right by him.  Dale said, "Bird," and Buddy went on point.  So, it seems possible that he has hunted!

 

BUDDY'S ARRIVAL IN LUBBOCK FROM ABILENE SHELTER--February 23, 2013

Busy day!  Had no idea how Buddy would get along with our 6-year-old male GSP (Jameson), especially as Buddy had not been neutered.  Fortunately, there were no problems there.  Our indoor cat is a bigger challenge, however!  Notes from that day:

Working on getting him to like being in his crate

 

Housebreaking--lifts his leg everywhere!

 

Sweet temperament--immediately attached himself to the male of the household!--put one of Dale's T-shirts in his crate to help overnight

 

Runs all over the yard (and the pool cover!) unceasingly

 

Doesn't seem to have had any training whatsoever--doesn't even respond to name particularly well