After searching for a few weeks, we settled on a rescue from the Lost Dog and Cat Foundation named Odie. The most important factor in the search was the dog had to get along with my girlfriend’s two cats. The other factors were we wanted a large dog, at least 80lbs or so. The dog had to be intelligent. And the dog had to have a reasonable energy level, as we couldn’t handle a dog that was bouncing around all the time, but yet you don’t want a dog that just lays there 24/7.
So we had narrowed it down to two dogs, one was a white Akita in New Jersey named Marshmallow. He had the same face as Luke, but was all-white instead of the reddish brown that Luke was. Marshmallow was of particular interest since we really, really liked the personality of Akitas after our experience with Luke. However, the downside was although marshmallow liked cats, he also liked to chase cats. Hmmm.
So the other dog we were looking at was listed as a Shepard/Hound mix. His description was as follows:
Odie’s photo from the Lost Dog and Cat Rescue FoundationSomething about Odie reminds of us of Rocky Balboa. Even though he’s a big boy, he has a gentle, sensitive soul. Even though he could be the toughest guy around, he’s a marshmallow. He can go on runs with you (even up steep stairs in front of a library), but, at home, he’s calm and mellow. Odie is housetrained, crate-trained, and knows basic commands, too. Odie was adopted from us as a pup but the family’s circumstances caused them to return him to us. When it comes to loyalty and love, Odie is a knockout. This boy gives his whole heart! Just when it seems like he might down-and-out, we know there’s a loving family out there for our Odie. While you consider if you would like to adopt or even foster Odie, we invite you to enjoy a liitle music. Just turn on your sound and click here: www.discoverynet.com/~ajsnead/allsongs_1/rocky.
Can Odie be in your ring forever? He’ll be the best partner you ever had.
Well, when we met him at the adoption event at Petsmart, we really liked him. He seemed much taller and leaner than we thought from the photo, but I think much of that was in comparison to Luke who was 110lbs. This dog is fully 1/4 less mass :) Well, needless to say, we adopted him and took him home that day. First thing we did was take him to the vet, first to check out a limp he had from a cut on his paw and also to make sure he didn’t have any fleas or anything that he would bring into the house. Well, upon further inspection, he had no fleas, but his paw was infected, he also had an (unrelated) ear infection, and a bad case of diarhea probably caused by whipworms. The total dollars spent on the day was about $300 (less?) for the adoption, and about $250 at the vet for the checkup, prescriptions, and a full gamut of blood tests.
So he’s going to be homebound for a few days while his paw heals, the ear infection and diarhea should clear up shortly. After that he should be good to go unless something strange comes back from the tests, but he seems like an otherwise healthy 3 year old. It’s probably for the best that we adopted him, since the ear infection probably would not have been noticed at a kennel or shelter, and he probably would have been running around on that paw for a while before anybody noticed. And its not the fault of the rescue or shelter people as they just really don’t have the resources to give each dog the attention they need.
OK, so on with the story. He was originally adopted as a puppy from the Lost Dog and Cat Rescue and the original owners had him for about 2 years before they had to give him up for “family circumstances” which could be anything from they moved to a place that doesn’t allow (large) dogs, maybe divorce, maybe marriage and the new spouse is allergic, maybe they had a baby, maybe they can’t afford him anymore, etc. Then he was apparently adopted early in the winter, but the family who adopted him gave him back a week later due to fear/aggression issues, specifically threatening strangers who would visit the house. So that raised an eyebrow, but all other indications (including those from the family who gave him back) were that he was extremely nice, friendly, and loving otherwise. And his temperment at the adoption event certainly didn’t show any signs of aggressiveness.
His name was Odie, but we didn’t really like that. Odie was the kinda dumb dog in the Garfield cartoons. Surely he was named that due to his floppy ears, but he is far from a dummy. The description from the rescue group said he was like Rocky Balboa, and that kinda fit, but not quite so we chose a similar name in Bruno. But after a day or so, it didn’t really fit, so then we went with Hunter. Didn’t quite fit either, so we chose Logan. He seems to like the name.
We quickly decided that the “hound” part of shepard/hound mix was a greyhound. His head is very narrow, just a little too small for his body. His chest and shoulders are broad, although the rest of him is lean and slender. He doesn’t have the typical sloped back of a shepard, but he does have their coloring as he is a great sable color with hazel eyes. His snout is also pointy like a shepard. He weighed in at 82lbs at the vet and he will probably stay at that weight. I don’t know what kind of activity level he was at with his prior family and/or the rescue group so he may lose a couple of pounds if hes more active (once his paw heals). If he puts on much more weight he’ll be fat.
So we get him home, and he is absolutely as sweet and gentle as can be. It seems like the greyhound personality is more dominant which is a little shy and reserved, very sweet and gentle. He has already attached himself to both of us, although moreso to my girlfriend who he follows all around the house. He already knows some basic commands like sit, stay, lay down. I suspect he also knows heel but we haven’t had a chance to test that yet. His previous owners must have taught him not to beg at the table since he just sits there and looks hopeful. The kitchen is a different story as he tries to investigate everything you carry in your hands. He seems like the type of dog who likes to “get into” things, and I watch him and he looks like he’s trying to figure out how to open it, or otherwise break into it. We didn’t have to worry about this with Luke who if he couldn’t get to it with brute force he generally left it alone. Time will tell if he starts opening cabinets or (eek) trash cans.
His first interaction with a stranger was on Sunday, when the father of a friend of my girlfriend’s daughter (did you get all that?) came by to pick up his daughter. Logan initially just contemplated him for a second or two, then let loose with a barrage of barks and snarls. He didn’t advance towards the “intruder” but didn’t back away either. He showed the same response when another male guest came by the following day, however, he left my girlfriend’s daughter’s friend alone (young female). It will be interesting to see if he continues to just not like other males (he likes me just fine), or if its any intruder. Of the two males that visited, one was a very large black guy with a baseball cap, the other was a short white guy with close cropped hair, so I can’t initially notice a pattern. One guy was very afraid of the dog (hasn’t been around them), the other was not afraid (always been around dogs) so there isn’t any pattern there that I can discern. We only mildly corrected him, as this behaviour is actually wanted by us should a stranger suddenly appear in the house.
So far, we really like his personality. He is protective of house and owners, but is also very sweet and gentle. He gets along well with the cats so far, although the old one hasn’t tried to bite him yet (he will) and that will be a true test.
