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  1. #1
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    Was he sent to me from Buster?

    As some may know, I lost my 13 year old GSD mix, Buster a couple weeks ago. I had no interest in another dog and hadn't even looked. I still don't know if I am ready, but this stud muffin fell into our laps. He was a stray running around for at last the past week. There have been multiple facebook posts trying to find his owner, and no response. Our city hall kept him in the office until I could talk to my husband and see if we can help. He is super sweet, but has been poorly cared for. We took him to the vet last night to check for a chip - no luck. We had noticed he had worms (turns out he has 3 types of intestinal worms), and that his ears were quite angry. He's got yeast in his ears and coccidia, so we have drops to take care of that and 2 different types of deworming meds.. It also is apparent he has never even been in a car (and I think he was always an outside dog) and has had nothing in the way of training. Vet estimates him to be 8 months to a year old. He is very sweet and loving. We are keeping him at our house and nursing him back to health, while in the meantime we are continuing to look for his owner. If no one claims him by Friday, we are going to take him to get heartworm tested, and vaccinated. I've always wanted a yellow lab, but always dreamed of getting a young puppy.
    Yesterday morning I had a cardinal perch up on my deck, and just stared at me, no fear. I feel this was Buster. Then 30 minutes later I learned of this dog. DH and I feel like Buster was telling us hey I've got a buddy that needs help. Since Buster's passing, I have not even wanted to go to the vet clinic - I make DH go, but when we got this guy, I made the appt to get him checked out, and didn't even think twice about it. They have 6 exam rooms, and last night, we ended up in the same exact room we were in with poor Buster on his last day.
    Can more mature dogs like him be trained? How much work do I have ahead of me? I literally know nothing about his past other than he was poorly cared for. We are keeping him separated from the other dogs and have to do so for 10 days to let him heal.
    Any advice is appreciated. Pic of him is attached. The pic was from when he was being transferred to city hall in someone's back of their truck. We named him Gage.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails -gauge-jpg  

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    ronmcq (12-05-2017), SamsonsMom (12-06-2017)

  3. #2
    Chief Pooper Scooper JenC's Avatar
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    Good luck with the dog. Of course they can be trained, you have a house routine set up, get him on that same routine. there may be some things that require a little extra work, but that can just be bonding time for the 2 of your.

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  5. #3
    Senior Dog smartrock's Avatar
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    Hey, he's a handsome young boy, isn't he? I don't have any experience with training an untrained older pup but it sounds like you have a little time with him while you're getting him back in good condition to determine whether he's a good match for you, plus you're an experienced dog owner. I don't recall what your other dog situation is, how many there are, so if he gets along OK with the rest of the pack, it sounds like he's a guy that needs a good home if you're willing. Almost any young dog you would adopt from a shelter would probably require a fair amount of training, you often don't know their backgrounds anyway. Hopefully Tanya or Mr Kleb or some others who foster pups will come here to give you their thoughts. Keeping him while he's healing up will be like a foster situation, try to think of it that way. You're using the time to assess his temperament, skills, energy needs, etc, and if he is not right for your pack, you're helping him be ready for another lucky family. If he is, consider yourselves foster failures!

    I've heard about cardinals being messengers from departed loved ones also, not that I believe it, but wasn't the timing rather karmic?

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  7. #4
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    I have a 15 yr old Lab Mix, a 7 yr old Choc lab, and a 6 yr old Beagle Shih Tzu mix. They haven't met him yet and vice versa due to us keeping him isolated from them. They have "seen" him while he was outside with us on our screen porch while the others were going potty in the back yard, and they seemed eager, as did he. My pups overall do well with other dogs. We are doing little things with him like making him sit, making him wait for his food, petting him while he's eating. His temperament seems to be a solid sweet and loving guy. I don't think he's ever been given a treat, or fed from hand. It makes me so mad that people treat their dogs like this. He had a little bit more pep in his step already this morning. I do agree it is kind of like a foster situation. I am trying to not get too attached in case his owner does come up, or in case he has heartworm. Plus in some ways I feel guilty for having another dog so soon after losing Buster. However I do feel he got to us for a reason, and I couldn't let him be so sick without at least trying to help him.
    Thanks for the input - I will be busy for a while it seems.

  8. #5
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
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    It was meant to be. Of course he can be trained. Long ago advice we got was to not do any formal training till the dog was a year old, let them be puppies and get the shenanigans out of their systems first. That's likely what he was doing to be running around loose in the first place. This can work and I think you want to do it. Gage lucked out when Buster showed him the way.
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  10. #6
    Senior Dog Blackboy98's Avatar
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    I would say Gage found himself a great home!! Your story is almost exactly how I got Cracker, a stray that found my yard, no owner or info.

    Gage can easily be trained at this age and I think it is best if a young dog has no training and you can train him in your by your methods.

    Hope by Friday, Gage is officially home!
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  12. #7
    Senior Dog labsnewfy's Avatar
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    Oh my Gage is a good looking lad. Thank you for taking him in loving him and keeping him safe, in his new loving home and yes I think Buster had a paw in this rescue.

    Yes dogs can be trained at any age, our Coleman was 5 yrs when we adopted him, while it took a little longer on the leash training he did finally get it and went on to obtain his CGC.
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  13. #8
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    All too sad, the owner came about. This poor pup has been missing for 2 days (or more) and the owners are just now looking for him? The husband is a co-worker of DH's so we have to return him. . My heart is broken again but at least we kept him safe and got him on his meds. With how infested he was this was not a result of him being missing for 2 days..it was a long time of poor care.

  14. #9
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
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    Phooey.
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  15. #10
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    Yep they claim they picked him up as a stray a couple weeks ago and never took him to the vet yet. Amazingly we had him for 3 hours and took him to the vet. How did they not notice the worms? Or his ears? They also said they were gone all weekend and didn't get back until yesterday so they didn't notice he was gone until today...excuse me? Who was taking care of the pup? Probably just threw some food down on the ground and left him for the weekend. No one was home with the dog at all.

 



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