Murphy

Profile

 Happy Valentine's Day, Murphy!

In addition to LOVE this dog has the following requirements:Date AvailableFenceKid FriendlyAnother DogCat Friendly2/11/2017 Not Required 12+Ok with older dogs dog/cat savvy This is the most recent information available; however, it may change as we learn more about the dog.

Please welcome Murphy to the RAGOM family. He appears to be a pure bred Golden who came to us as a stray found wandering in a St. Paul suburb. We were told by Animal Control that he was an older boy who weighed in at about 80 lbs. They were right about the “older” part as we think that he is at least 10 years old but he only weighs 55 lbs. – a little peanut!

When Murphy met our two dogs (resident dog Beau and foster dog Tank), we initially had a few problems. Beau, who is blind, got excited and accidentally ran right into him. The boys have patched up their differences and now get along well. We still have some grumbling when high value toys are out and about but we watch that pretty carefully. Murph was initially quite interested in our two old cats but never has had any problems with them.

Like many old dogs who come to us off the streets we have several medical issues that we have to sort out. We’re just working through them one at a time. In his first series of blood tests his electrolyte counts were off. He is scheduled for his neuter surgery next week and, if his electrolytes are still not right he will be given an ACTH Stim test to determine if he has Addison’s Disease. We understand that this is treatable with medication but Dr. Danielle doesn’t want to neuter him until she gets a handle on this.

Murphy also has some muscle or joint weakness in his rear end. He doesn’t appear to be in any pain but he has trouble navigating more than a couple of steps at a time and needs some help to get into the van. We have started him on Glucosamine (Glycoflex II) to see if this helps. We’ve already noticed that he able to take longer walks with the pack than when he came to us. Our house has ramps to the front door and we can set it up for one-level living so Murphy is doing fine going in and out and trotting around the house.

Finally, he has a lick granuloma on one of his rear legs. This is described as a spot that the dog starts to lick compulsively so that it gets infected. Gradually the skin turns red and thickens. Murphy does not lick the spot often which makes us think that he may have been chained up in his previous life and began licking out of frustration or boredom. The next step will be to work with our Vet to find a treatment that will soften the skin and calm everything down.

Whew! We know that this seems like a daunting list but, for us and for Murphy they are just boxes we need to tick off one at a time. Daily life for Murph is great. He runs with the pack to greet any and all callers. He loves to go on walks and sleep in front of the fireplace with the other boys. Coming home, when he knows he’ll get a treat back at the house, he will literally gallop to get back faster. Granted his gallop is equivalent to a fast walking pace for us, but it’s great to see him happily heading home with a big smile on his face.

Murphy is very affectionate and has mastered both the golden paw and the nose nudge to assure that you continue to pay attention to him. He has discovered that putting his nose on the computer keyboard will get him lots of attention. We found that he loves his kennel and will “kennel up” on command. One day he was being a bit of a pest for attention and we told him to knock it off or he’d have to take a “time out”. Murphy looked at us and headed right into his kennel and gave himself a 10-minute time-out! He sleeps through the night in his kennel. He is completely house trained and has had no accidents. He’s the epitome of the sweet, happy old dog. He is a light colored Golden and, with age, his entire head is turning white which gives him a wonderful, distinguished look.

For now we’re listing him as unavailable until we get a couple of the medical issues clarified but we hope to soon be able to make him available to potential adopters. Stay tuned!