Odie

Profile

 Merry Christmas from Odie..another not-so-Golden! (Don't worry, there's plenty of love here for us, too!)

Let me introduce myself:  my name is Odie - also known as Uh Oh Odie, No No Odie, Go Go Odie, DoDo Odie, Ruh Rho Odie, and any of another of silly names my foster Mom has for me. I am one of those pseudo- goldens that RAGOM takes in from time to time. You may notice that I am a black dog.  I also don't retrieve.  So I guess golden retriever doesn't really describe me very well.  But if you look at the breed description and see the temperament description of reliable, friendly and trustworthy then I fit golden retriever to a "T". 

I'm not spilling the beans on my history, since it is all in the past and I am starting a new chapter.  All I will say is that I lived with some people who decided they couldn't keep me and took me to a shelter.  I stayed there for a month, but my forever family couldn't find me there, so the shelter asked RAGOM to help my family find me.  I spent a few days at a temporary foster home (they were super nice), and now I am hanging out with my permanent foster Mom and foster siblings.  So if you are my forever family I am right here, and I'd love to meet you very soon, so please come and find me.

I will let Foster Mom (FM) tell you a little more so you can figure out if you are my family, and I will check back in soon.

Odie

Foster Mom here to tell you about my big, silly, sweet boy Odie.  His breed mix is unknown, but his big, blocky head and shy, sweet temperament make me think he may have some Newfoundland in him.  He has an amazingly shiny, medium length, single thickness black coat.  I'd say he is a medium on the shed scale - definitely less than a golden!  So far he seems to love cold, as he promptly went out and rolled in the one dusting of snow that we had. He walked into Lake Superior in November with no hesitation and dried quickly with just a toweling off. 

Odie weighs around 70lbs, and is guessed to be about 5 years old.  He is up to date on all shots and negative with all tests for nasty things.  His only health concern is that he has bad teeth, and will likely need some extractions to improve his oral health in the near future.  He is generally on the mellow/lazy side, but when he does decide to play dodge and weave with my dog, or gets a short burst of the zoomies he moves fluidly with no evidence of aging or joint problems.  He can jump up and move in a heartbeat when he hears a food wrapper a mile away. 

As far as behavior he is a little shy and hesitant at first, but warms up quickly and loves affection.  He is not too pushy about begging for attention, but definitely puts those big, brown, sad eyes to good use to try to get you to do his will.  He is crated when I am not home at my house; goes into the crate easily with a treat and keeps his crate clean for a full workday.  I am confident he would be fine with free roam as long as you can close a door or put up a gait between him and the kitchen! He is loose in my house whenever I am home and generally just follows me from room to room and lies down on the most comfortable thing nearby.  He would love to be on the sofa and the bed, and tries very hard to lay a guilt trip on me because those things are off limits here.  About once day he puts his paw or head up on the bed or sofa and looks at me hopefully, and then hangs his head in abject dejection when I tell him no.  He seems to respect barriers, as even a verbal command will keep him out of a designated room or space.  He doesn't have much impulse control, so he will need training to mature a bit with his decision-making! 

He knows sit, no, go on, and inside responds to come.  He is reluctant about down, but can do it with a little encouragement.  To say he is food motivated would be a gross understatement, so I think he could learn new behaviors quickly.  He is learning now not to charge through doors or out of a crate and is picking it up quickly.  He has no leash manners, although has shown improvement with just a couple of walks.  He likes to walk ahead on the leash with some tension, but doesn't pull hard unless he sees two things; the house or a vehicle.  He LOVES vehicles.  He tries to get into every car and truck we walk by.  He will gladly ride along with you anywhere and is happy to just hang out in the car for extended periods.  He rides in a crate in my van and hops right in.  I'm sure shot-gun would put him into a happiness coma.  Basic obedience classes would be great to teach him how to walk better on leash so that everyone can enjoy those trips in the car.

 He appears housebroken, as he has had no accidents at my house in a week.  I have not determined any signal that he needs out - he just goes out whenever my residents do.  Odie's first idiosyncrasy is that he does not potty on leash.  Even on walks he does not mark anywhere.  In the yard he prefers to go behind a barrier or into the woods to do his business.  For this reason I think Odie will need a fenced yard in his home, so he can safely relieve himself off leash. 

The other reason I think Odie needs a fenced yard is that he is a little skittish. He doesn't totally panic, but it is obvious that a lot of things are new to him and he is a little nervous about them.  This mostly happens outside, so I am afraid he may bolt if something really scared him at this point.  As his confidence improves and he attaches to his people I think this risk will diminish, but for now he is safest with a physical barrier.  So far when he gets nervous in the yard he runs to the back door to go inside, but if the situation is right I'm afraid he might run away. 

Inside he has no fear of vacuums, pots and pans (those bring him running), or anything that I've noticed except that he will not go down the basement stairs yet.  We have not had a storm.  He is startled by rapid movements by people. He is excited when I get home at the end of the day, but there is no evidence that he is nervous when I am gone.  He is crated in the same room where my dogs are loose.  He doesn't bark much - just when I first get home or as an alert with neighborhood noises (egged on by my alert-barker resident).  He has a bit of a protective nature and one good "Woof !" from that big head would probably be a good deterrent.

He has met people from a few months old to 80+ this week and been fine with all.  I do think kids should be 10+ in his home because he could knock over small ones and because he is nervous with fast movements. 

Odie's other "issue" is that he is somewhat afraid of men.  This is definitely related to a negative experience in the past as he cowers upon first approaching a man and will slink up to check the man out.  Even if he determines the man is OK he will stay half a step away, ready to run during the interaction.  If I verbally reassure him that a man is good Odie will be a little more enthusiastic with his greeting.  Women, on the other hand, need to be prepared to have a 70 lb. dog trying to climb into their lap. Odie could definitely live with a man in the house; it will just take longer for the man to earn Odie's trust. 

Odie has a "live and let live" attitude about other dogs.  He respects my senior male and has not challenged him at all.  My female flirts with him and tries to engage him and he has decided to play with her on a couple of occasions, but it is just a minute or two of dodge and weave and a couple of laps around the yard and then he quits.  When we pass dogs on a walk he prefers to glance or sniff and keep walking.  He has no resource guarding problems.  He has only briefly chewed on a bone here and has not played with any of the million stuffies in the house.  So I think he could live with or without other dogs.  He has been in a couple of places with resident cats (a vet office and a store) and paid them no attention, but hasn't come face to face with one yet.  Since he seems to have no prey drive I don't think cats will be a problem.

 Let your placement advisor know if you would like to meet this handsome, sweet, slightly silly boy.