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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.