Ryan

Ryan - now Rebby- went to his forever home in FL in March 2008.

Update from his momma:

Rebby is doing great. He has adjusted very well. We had to put him in his
crate last Saturday night for about an hour and he didn't like that too much.
He barked and cried for a few minutes. But after that, he now goes into his
crate for naps during the day and sleeps in there at night with the door open. He and our other dog are getting along fine. Rebby is mild mannered and listens pretty good. He does like getting things and carrying them around. We left him alone one night in the house for kind of a test run. He had moved the remote for the TV/stereo, moved a blanket, picked up some clothes that were on a bed and got his leash out of a basket. That's pretty much as bad as it has gotten. He likes walks and does very well with them. I take him to my son's baseball practice and he stays by my side the whole time. I see what you mean about him liking rides in the car. He goes to the car every time we walk through the garage. He is a great dog and fits in just right.
T.J.

Name: Ryan
Age:2 years
Gender:male
Spay/neuter: yes
UTD on immunizations: yes
Heartworm status: positive
Date of intake:3/2/08

Ryan was owner relinquished due to a family member developing allergies. Ryan is our fifth and easiest foster dog. He enjoys playing with our resident golden retriever, but isn’t domineering or pushy in his actions. He has a medium energy level. Ryan loves walks and will pick up a leash and carry it around as a hint. He is completely house broken, never having had an accident in our house.

Ryan doesn’t have any destructive bad habits. He will occasionally play bite or jump up on a person in play. However, he always stops when given a firm no or a gentle push away. A true retriever, he sometimes picks things up in his mouth and carries them around. However, the only damages have been to a bag of dog food foolishly left within reach and the tail of a life-like plastic rabbit used as an outside doorstopper.

Ryan must have been trained to not get on furniture. His interpretation of this command is to place his head, two front paws and one back leg on a person’s lap, while always keeping one foot on the ground. While he LOVES this position, he will stay down after being removed.

Ryan rarely barks. He walks well on a leash. When he begins to pull, a gentle tug reestablishes a looser leash walk. While we have not allowed him off the leash in a non-fenced area, he doesn’t rush out an open front door if told to stay. He did get out of our fenced yard through a small opening our larger golden hadn’t shown us, but we found him by the front door nosing around. He easily sleeps through the night without waking the humans of the house.

Ryan did not know any basic commands when he came to us. Within 2 days he knew “sit” and “down”. Since we train with a treat, he now comes up to any person with food and sits in front of them. He also comes when he hears the rattle of the treat bag!

Ryan is heartworm positive, but doesn’t show any symptoms.. Other than that, he is fit and trim. His coloring is more golden than red. My daughter calls his active walk a “show walk”, a prance with head held high.

Within a week we were leaving him inside unrestricted when we left the house for short periods of time. Ryan is an easy dog to like and have around the house.