Monty

Profile

October 11, 2012

If you are looking for over-the-top sweet and adorable, Monty is your guy! Monty arrived at our home on Sunday, bounded right into the house and quickly made himself at home. He gets along great with our resident dog, and shows polite, restrained interest in our cats, remaining at a distance with his tail wagging as he tries to get a whiff of them, when he shows any interest at all. At the first hiss or bat of a paw from the inhospitable felines, however, he retreats, moving on to a toy or soliciting some affection from whomever is near. 

Monty is Mister Personality, and  keeps himself entertained by throwing toys up into the air and chasing them. He is perfectly house-trained, and has free roam when we are gone during the day, without incident. I usually arrive home to find him sitting looking out the door as if he is waiting for us. He is already very loyal to our family, and, in fact, when my daughter was home sick one day, he laid at the foot of her bed the entire day. He loves his daily walks, but is just as content hanging out watching tv with the family.

Monty has his quirks (haven't we all) but nothing I would describe as serious. He likes to pull the afghan off the couch and throw it around in play, but we solved this by giving him his own blanket to play with. He will sometimes bark when visitors arrive, but I don't know if he is taking his cues on this from our resident dog, who has this habit, or if he has always done this. The minute our guests walk in the door, however, his tail is wagging and he is making friends. He responds quickly to correction, always comes when called, and stays stays nearby when we take him outside. The final issue is the one that I understand to be the reason his family surrendered him. He will, typically once a day, growl for no apparent reason. We have been trying to figure out a pattern or trigger (the only thing we have noticed is that it is at the end of the day when he is settling onto his bed of choice for the night.) He will growl rather menacingly for about 30 second, then suddenly stop and quickly move into friendly, cuddly mode. When  he does this, we simply back off, give him his time, and wait for it to pass. For this reason, however, I would not recommend Monty for a home with young children. Despite this, we have been thoroughly enjoying this teddy-bear of a dog, who has quickly worked his way into our hearts.