Finally, Rescue, now renamed Riley is here.  

This sweet boy was rescued from a shelter in Big Spring, TX.  He then kept losing his rides into GRR for foster care.  He just arrived and according to this foster report, he was worth the wait.  He is about 5-6 and is heartworm positive.  However, that doesn’t slow him down one bit.

He is a very sweet golden boy.   We named him 'Riley'.   He’s very thin and HW positive as we knew.    We took him to see the vet to get preliminary blood testing done and all results look good for treatment which he will begin this week.

He is good about the crate.  He seems to be house broken but we aren't sure.  Since we didn't know what he had been eating, we started him on Science Diet Adult on Thursday.   By Friday early evening he had diarrhea.  He was a very good boy and let us know that he needed to go out about every 2 or 3 hours (all night!!).  Good boy (I think).  I took him back to see the vet about the diarrhea.  They looked him over very well and tested his feces -- the poop test looked fine.  Diarrhea was probably from change in diet and stress.

This is a very nice boy.  Vet estimates him to be between 5 and 6.  He is very gentle and relatively calm.  I like this guy; he craves affection and will stand for an unlimited period of time with his head in your lap while you pet him.  This is also a polite boy, he has not jumped up on either of us but he does need a little work on walking on a leash.

This guy is definitely not an old man.  We gave him a tennis ball and found he is the king of getting a tennis ball goopy.  He won't give you the ball back but we found that he does understand 'drop it'.  He drops the ball and then goes into an almost pointing stance waiting for you to kick or throw the ball for him.  The vet advised that we don't exercise him too much until after the HW treatment is complete.  Unfortunately the ball will need to be decorative rather than functional for a little while but we'll let him keep it because he really likes it.

It may have been a lot of work but I think this guy was worth it.

Does Riley retrieve? Yes, if you throw a ball (or actually just about anything) he retrieves it. He comes right back to you and responds to 'drop it'. He drops the ball, steps back and almost points waiting patiently for you to throw or kick the ball for him. Don trimmed the bushes in our back yard on Sunday. Riley had fun picking up the big limbs and running around the yard with them. (I don't think Don had quite as much fun.)

Right after he was treated for HW, we took his ball away from him when he went outside. We were trying to keep him from running around too much. Riley discovered that he could take the little plastic cover off the drain in the middle of our back yard. It wasn't a ball but it was flat and round. I think Don has now glued a new cap on the drain. Riley is a very smart boy. No ball, no problem, I can play with this round thing in the grass. ( When the drain wasn't there Riley also found that the water bowl we took out with him was fun to play with.)

This guy is a true golden. He just loves to carry something around. He's a very happy boy. He has such sad eyes but such a happy way about him.

Update 08/13/01:

Riley is a real sweetheart - I really like this guy but he is either laying down sleeping or he's like a bullet.    I can handle his exuberance but it might frighten a small child.  He tries to be a gentleman but sometimes his exuberance gets the better of him. 

The other night, Don was watching TV in the other room with Riley. Dolly was with me in the family room laying on the ottoman by my feet.   (Riley just loooves me).   He came around the corner and spotted me sitting with Dolly. Before I could react, he had cleared Dolly and the ottoman and was sitting in the chair with me.  Riley, the flying dog has lots of love, affection and exuberance.   Now that all his health issues are out of the way he's just a bouncy love sponge.   He will make a great pet for a family that wants a big happy love bug!

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