Brock is making wonderful progress! He was neutered and had a tooth extraction last Wednesday. He seems to be feeling just fine in spite of his new fashion accessory around his head to keep him from disrupting his sutures. It is so funny to watch him trying to navigate his way around the house. He bumps into just everything but he is so good natured that he just plows his way through. He has the softest red fur you would want to run your fingers through! He is such a beautiful animal, with such wonderfully expressive face expressions. He looks at us with such adoration. Not hard to fall in love with this one!

Brock is catching on to the bedtime routine. He kennels with a little prompting and rests quietly. And he is generally settling down around the house. He is also getting the idea of “go potty” outside. We had one accident indoors this week, but we caught him in the act and quickly ushered him outside. He really seems to get it now. We are very pleased with how fast he is catching on to almost everything we have been trying to teach him. He is an excitable boy, though. He does not enjoy being kenneled during our absences and will bark and get very agitated, so we have let him have free reign of our large mud room/laundry with much more success. He is not a destructive dog….no chewing inappropriately He is more comfortable lying on his bed there with his water bowl and chew toys. When we come home he happily greets us at the door and heads outside to go potty. That routine has gone a long way toward his potty training success and his separation anxiety. He is still VERY happy to see us but settles down easily. He is very good at “come” and making great progress with “sit” and “down.” We have some work to do with him on “stay,” but he will get it. He is a very good listener and eager to please. He walks on leash without pulling excessively, even without the gentle leader. We have discovered that he is NOT a counter surfer. Haven’t lost our dinner yet with him! He has very little interest. And he LOVES LOVES LOVES his tennis ball. But when we are done playing, he will sit by me while I do my work at my desk and take a snooze. Who ever gets Brock is going to be very lucky. He is truly turning out to be a gem. We are so very proud of him and his progress. We have such a wonderful sense of accomplishment when we watch Brock’s progress. Fostering a golden retriever is turning out to be such a rewarding experience for us. We recommend it highly!

As we get to know Brock, we’re getting a good sense for what will be best for his forever home:

1. Brock is a very strong, athletic and assertive dog. He does everything with gusto and great enthusiasm, whether it be running after something we have thrown for him or diving into his food and water bowls. He would have to be supervised around small children…not because he would intentionally hurt them,…he has not a malicious bone in his entire tail wagging body! BUT because he would love his family with the gusto he lives the rest of his life. A small child would pet him and Brock would want to love them back!.... and possibly knock them over in the process.
2. Brock needs a family who can spend some time with him to help him along in his journey of settling down and learning the manners of a well behaved dog. He is half the way there right now, but we would like to see him continue on that journey. He is in the prime of his life right now and at his most energetic. With a little training, perhaps with a little help from a doggy training facility, he will mellow into the most wonderful of senior dogs. He LOVES to cuddle with you and SO wants to be part of the “pack”. He would do really well as an only dog in a family with school aged kids on upward. We hear that he LOVES water too. No experience with that yet. Maybe this subject will be the included in a future update! It’s coming up on that time of year!

Brock is cone-less! ….and that aint no April Fool’s joke! As he is healed up from his procedure, the head cone came off today and life is good! Add to that our newly discovered secret key to contentment – tennis balls! Brock loves to chase them, chew them, sleep next to them, or just carry them around! And athletic! Goodness. When he goes after a ball he moves at light speed. Maybe even ludicrous speed for you Mel Brooks fans out there.

And he has got the potty thing down. No accidents. Take him out to one of his favorite trees and say “go potty” and that’s that. He is a smart boy.

While the crate is not his favorite place, he “kennels up” like a trouper at night. I have no doubts that at some point, when he gets comfortable in his new home, he won’t need to be crated at all. So far, we haven’t tried that with him yet…maybe a subject for the next update.

We hope the right family considers Brock soon. We are headed out of town on our 30th wedding anniversary vacation on April 22nd, and the thought of boarding Brock again is awful. He has made so much progress – we would hate to see him backslide. He is “good to go” to his forever home, and we are hoping that maybe one of you reading this would have a spot in your heart for some “Brock love”. We are glad we did…

The good news...

Brock and Sydney, our resident dog, have become buddies and play often with each other these days. Brock has found his “routine” with us... and he likes his routine. Don’t have to tell this guy when or where to do his business. Down like clockwork! He is also losing a bit of his clingy-ness and will venture away from my side if something interests him. He is becoming more aware of things like squirrels and deer and turkeys that frequent our back yard, and even gave one of them a chase the other day, much to my panic. But I put on my “I mean business voice”, and called him and he came back to me immediately, gallumping through the woods with a very self satisfied look on his face for having protected his family. Now it was time to go back to his favorite past time…..TENNIS BALLS! Squirrels be damned! I have TENNIS BALLS!

The bad news...

He is doing all this hard work to make himself acceptable for his new family and we are the only ones to see it. He is figuring out quickly what is expected of him in his role as “Goofball #1” in our family. The longer he stays here, the more he settles in to our family. We have come to appreciate his very special and unique character. Can you picture this big guy’s head in your lap, asking for just one more scratch behind his ear?

I think I can safely say that Brock is now housetrained. No accidents at all lately. He is in the potty routine now and is in such a rut that he goes to the same spots outside to do his business and there is no waiting on our part. The dogs play in the back yard and it strikes me how very tolerant Brock is. Sydney can be brutal and it is rare that Brock gives it back as bad as he gets….unless of course, she gets in the way of him and that tennis ball! Then, permanent paw marks on what ever part got in the way. He loves to go for car rides. Whenever we go outside via the garage, he automatically heads to the car with that look of “Can we can we?” I almost wish I had bought my Mini Cooper with a sun roof. He would have loved that.

We have more stories about Brock in the month we have had him, than we have had with our resident dog, Sydney, in the four years we have had her. There have been so many Kodak moments with him that we have missed because the camera was nowhere around. One of those moments……

Brock had been jumping over the baby gate we had between the mud room and the kitchen . Until we could get somewhere to buy a taller gate, we repositioned the gate higher and left about a six inch gap at the bottom. Well! I came into the kitchen upon hearing a strange sound, to find him with his front legs splayed out in front and his back legs splayed out as far back as he could get them, so that his body was one long tube, and that stinker was inching like a worm UNDER the gate…and he made it! With the gate still intact! I stood there with an expression of pure disbelief and I have to say…..awe! He slid through, got up, shook and then came bumbling over to me like nothing unordinary had happened. Just another day in the life of Brock. “I just wanna be WIF you!” I know……sigh……

Brock has found a home! He will go live with his new family tonight….and what a lovely new home he will have! We are excited about his life going forward, but will truly be sad to see him go. We will miss him so terribly for he has touched our lives in a such special way. I guess we will just have to go to Hawaii and drown our sorrows with a couple of Mai tais. God Bless our wonderful Brock and his new family! “Aloha” and “Mahalo” for the memories, “Brockowokoli”.

From Brock's forever family...

We adopted Brock in April. We thought Champ needed a buddy to keep him busy during the day. Within a day, they were looking for one another and giving each other a lick.

Brock needs to make sure the counters are clear or he will decide to help. The first month we lost 3 loafs of breads and couple pairs of shoes. He loves tennis balls and can take them apart in 20 minutes. He loves to chew, he gets bored if people are not around, so he needs something to keep him busy during the day. Brock has settled in nicely and has found his spot in the family.

Champ 09-032 and Brock

Well it is time for another update and Brock is doing fine. He has learned a few manners, but still wants to jump up on people when he thinks he is being ignored. We did find out the he does love the water and I'm sure he can not wait for summer to be here. Brock is a cuddle bug and would love nothing more to be in your lap all the time.

Champ is doing great. He loves to run. The dog park is his favorite spot. As we get closer to the park, he starts barking and pacing trying to tell me to hurry up. It takes him a little while to warm up to people. He is a big tease, I will just let you think you can pet me and I will run away just as you get a finger length away. Champ always wants to lay close to you, but not on top of you.